Theater reveals reality of ‘customer focus’

Everyone talks about the importance of being “customer focused.” But in most companies, very few people actually know anything more than just superficial generalities about their customers. Oh, they have lots of data – data on customer buying habits, data on demographics, data on geographics – but no real firsthand knowledge. No human connection.

Introducing your staff to your customers may be a lot easier than you think. And sometimes the best way to make customers real is to present them using fiction.

As I write this, I am flying back to Fort Collins. A high-tech company on the West Coast had…