The best learning in business comes from meetings with Customers (or prospective customers). Too often, we want to just talk about the products and solutions we have to offer. Instead, by listening to the problems and challenges that they are facing, we can come up with both features that the market needs and how to position the solutions one has.
The seven meetings I did in the past week has helped enlighten me on how to position the mobility solutions we have better. It was not one meeting that did the trick, but the collective pointers that come up in the various conversations.
That is why, it is so important for top management to go out and meet with customers. When I look back, this is probably the single biggest mistake I made in 2008. Meeting with customers is something which should never be delegated — and even more so, when a new business is being built.