I am of the belief that no company that makes mayonnaise has ever used their product.  If they have, do they have a magic formula for getting all of the mayo out of the jar?  Maybe you don’t have a problem with it but I struggle when I get to the end.  I simply cannot find a way to get down to the bottom without making a mess of my hands, and/or cannot get a knife, or any other implement for that matter, to bend around that swoop following the opening.  Who thought of putting mayo (or any other substance where you need to get at it with a knife) in this kind of stupid jar?  I can only imagine it was someone who never had to use it.

Who cares, right?  But there’s a valuable lesson here.

We hear a lot about putting the customer at the center of business.  There’s a lot of talk about listening to your customers and seeing things from their perspective but how exactly do you do it?  How do you learn what your customers see and feel and experience?

Well, I think there’s really only one way, and that is to simply go and be your own customer. You have to get out there and experience your own sales process, try your products, and try to get at that metaphorical mayo you put in that tricky jar, and, when it proves to be a total pain, go back to the drawing board and design that perfect, easy jar that makes you and your business stand out.

This is the power of seeing things from the customer perspective; it leads to that next great thing, that innovation that changes everything.  Believe me, if you come up with that perfect mayo jar that will let me get that last smidge of mayo, I will pay more for it and sing your praises.  This is the power of thinking like your customer, increased revenue and increased word of mouth and all by simply experiencing what your customers deal with.

What is your business’s mayo  jar?  What do your customers deal with that you need to rethink?  There’s only one real way to find out.  Get out there!