{"id":865,"date":"2009-05-05T09:09:55","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/example.org\/giving-the-customers-what-they-dont-know-they-want"},"modified":"2009-05-05T09:09:55","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T13:09:55","slug":"giving-the-customers-what-they-dont-know-they-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2009\/05\/giving-the-customers-what-they-dont-know-they-want.html","title":{"rendered":"Giving the customers what they don\u2019t know they want"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are days when I pinch myself for the fun I get to
\nhave. That happened again last Friday, when I got to spend the day at
\nSolidWorks' millionth-seat<\/a> customer OGIO
\nInternational<\/a>.  Despite serious jet lag from an international flight,
\nCEO Mike Pratt gave up a part of his busy day to host a few of us so we could
\nget to know OGIO better.<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re into golfing, motocross, BMX or snowboarding, then
\nyou\u2019ve seen their products. If you\u2019ve bought any, chances are you\u2019re a happy
\ncustomer. This is a team that just gets it right when it comes to innovative
\nproducts that solve problems customers don\u2019t even know they have. And that\u2019s
\nthe trick. <\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

I asked Mike how he\u2019s managed to stay on top of his game
\n(and the competition) for the last twenty plus years in such a brutally
\ncompetitive market. I expected him to say that \u201cwe give the customers what they
\nask for.\u201d But, surprisingly, he doesn\u2019t rely on his customers for new ideas.
\nWhat his team does is tantamount to an exhaustive analytical analysis of WHAT
\npeople do when they work and play hard. This method of really, really studying
\nthings, coupled with a relentless dissatisfaction with the status quo, helps
\nOGIO find solutions that customers would never have figured on their own. <\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Look at
\nthis.<\/a> It looks like an ordinary bike stand\u2013until you watch the video. No
\ncustomer told OGIO how to create this, but the problem was very well known. And
\nthe golf bags<\/a><\/a><\/a>\u2013study the features and you\u2019ll see
\nsolutions to problems golfers had, but didn\u2019t know how to fix on their own. <\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

What\u2019s remarkable about the OGIO culture is that by not *just<\/strong>*
\nlistening to their customers, but really paying attention to what their
\ncustomers are doing, they actually show more RESPECT for those customers than
\nanyone around. That\u2019s the trick!<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Henry Ford was once asked about the importance of the \u201cvoice
\nof the customer\u201d when he created the mass market for automobiles. His reply was
\nsurprising, yet respectful: \u201cIf I\u2019d asked people what they wanted, they\u2019d have
\nsaid \u2018faster horses\u2019.\u201c Kudos to Mike and everyone at OGIO for reminding us
\nof what really matters\u2013becoming an intimate part of your customer\u2019s life. <\/p>\n

\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are days when I pinch myself for the fun I get to have. That happened again last Friday, when I got to spend the day at SolidWorks' millionth-seat customer OGIO International.  Despite serious jet lag from an international flight,<\/p>\n... Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[209,19],"class_list":["post-865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webtech","tag-innovation","tag-solidworks-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}