聽取客戶意見所帶來的限制

原文:

The Limitations of Listening
by Dorothy Leonard


Over the last decade, much has been written about the importance of listening to customers, and companies have spent millions of dollars trying to get inside the heads of their users. Yet the question of how to listen to "the voice of the customer" remains a matter of debate. Why? Because what researchers hear depends upon the degree to which customers know what they are talking about.


Generally speaking, customers can say what they want if they are asked to make selections within a familiar product category. For example, Nissan Design managed to figure out—through questioning and using leather samples—how U.S. customers wanted their new cars to smell. Harley-Davidson’s devoted customers can talk about how their motorcycles sound. They are able to express what they want because of their extensive experience with the product category and their educated, sophisticated tastes.


But when customers are asked to make new product recommendations or to venture into territory about which they have limited or no knowledge, they tend to run into at least two kinds of blocks. The first is what psychologists call "functional fixedness"—the human tendency to fixate on the way products or services are normally used, making people unable to imagine alternative functions. For example, people asked to perform a task requiring the use of a wire are strikingly less likely to think of unbending a paper clip if they are given the clip attached to papers than if they see the clip loose. Another problem is that people may not be able to conceive of a solution because they have apparently contradictory needs. Kimberly-Clark wrestled with this problem when it developed Huggies diapers. Parents told researchers they didn’t want their toddlers to wear diapers any more; at the same time, they didn’t want their children to wet the bed. The solution, the pull-up diaper, dealt with this contradiction.


Asking customers to focus on desired outcomes is an effective way to deal with both of these psychological blocks. Moreover, the further into the future or the unknown one goes, the more one has to eschew direct inquiry for open-ended questions or other techniques. A focus on desired outcomes can help companies identify difficult-to-articulate needs. After all, asking someone what he wants to drill a hole for is likely to yield better information than asking about the desired size of the drill bit. Another technique, behavioral observation, is also useful in determining what customers are trying to achieve. In "Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design" (HBR November–December 1997), I advanced the notion that especially when customers are unaware of their behavior, observation can help uncover their unarticulated needs. When Nightline challenged product development company IDEO to redesign the lowly shopping cart, anthropologists took note of unsafe and inefficient—but unconscious—usage in grocery stores. As a result, the redesigned cart had such features as small removable baskets that customers could take to sections of the store, fill, and then replace in the cart that they had left centrally parked.


How important is the voice of the customer? Very. But discerning the difference between what customers are able to say and what they want, and then acting on those unspoken desires, demands that companies learn to go well beyond listening.



過去幾十年來，許多文章都強調傾聽顧客聲音的重要，企業界不惜耗資數百萬美元，希望能了解顧客腦袋裡到底在想什麼。然而如何去傾聽“顧客的聲音”，卻仍是大家爭議不休的問題。這是何故？因為研究的人能聽到什麼，端賴於顧客對於話題的了解程度有多高。


一般而言，若顧客被要求在熟悉的產品中，做出想要的選擇，那他通常就能充份表達意見。例如美國的日產汽車設計中心，以皮革樣本來詢問顧客，想要車子聞起來是什麼味道；哈雷機車的愛用者，也能對機車發出的聲音津津樂道。由於他們對於相關產品豐富的使用經驗，因此能提出有意義、甚至很高明的見解。


 然而當顧客被要求對全新的產品提供建議，或是首次進入他一無所知的領域，他們傾向遭遇到至少有兩種障礙。第一種是心理學家所謂的“功能鎖定”，人類通常對於產品或服務的一般使用方式深信不疑，而難以去想像它其他的功能。例如必須使用鐵絲時，會想到把夾在文件上的迴紋針拉直的人微乎其微，如果看到的迴紋針是鬆開的，則較容易聯想到。另外一個問題是，人們在面對明顯矛盾的需求時，往往認為找出解決之道，是一種不可能的任務。金百利集團在開發好奇紙尿褲時，就深受這種問題的困擾。受訪的父母一方面告訴研究人員，希望可以不用再替小孩包尿布；但同時又表示，也不想面對小孩還會尿床的現實。而穿脫方便的紙尿褲，就是因應此一矛盾的解決方案。



要求顧客專注在想要的成果上，則是一種有效處理上述兩種心理障礙的方法。而且，若牽涉的是更遠的未來、或更不可知的狀況時，就更要避免以開放式的直接詢問，或採用其他的探詢技巧。專注在想要的成果上，能幫助公司確認出難以描述的需求。畢竟，若有人被問到，要鑽洞做什麼時，可能比問他應該用幾號的鑽頭，更能獲得有用的資訊。其他的技巧，如行為觀察，也在顧客想完成工作的判斷上，發揮一定效果。在“運用設身處地的設計來激發創新（HBR 1997年11、12月號）”一文中，我更進一步運用觀察的方式，來發掘顧客難以描述的需求，特別是由他們不自覺的行為中。當ABC夜線新聞的報導，一些專家指稱產品設計公司IDEO，由於在購物車的設計上高度不夠，可能有安全及效率上的顧慮。但這樣的狀況，卻是一般雜貨店的顧客沒注意到的，。


顧客的聲音有多重要？答案當然是“非常”。但是在了解顧客能否真正表達其想法的差異性，以及針對其難以訴說需求的後續行動配合上，卻是企業界必須去學習，要求自已並不只是聆聽而已。


整篇文章也呼應了Simon Sinek的

How great leaders inspire action

上述不知會不會讓大家聯想到，一般人在“投資”上面對的問題。一是很多人會將投資鎖定在“賺錢”的功能上；另外則是既想要獲利、卻又不想承擔風險的矛盾。不過，以我可能有點一廂情願的想法是，“資本事業”可以同時解決兩種問題：一方面把投資當成事業，可以不必變成眼中只看到錢的的“守財奴”，另一方面將錢轉成資本，因為資本主要只會受到事業營運狀況的影響，而不致因市場價格而變動太多，故可用更理性的方式看待市場風險）