Product innovation is hiding in your customers’ problems — here’s how to find it

I hear this a lot in product meetings: “You know what we need to do?” Before the conversation goes a sentence further, I’ll ask, “What problem are you trying to solve?” If their response is silence or a puzzled look, the discussion’s over. Here’s why: A product without a problem isn’t product innovation. A cool idea, perhaps, but not a product.

I’m not breaking any news, especially to product people. But surprisingly, many organizations have dazzling technology that they introduce with a veritable parade and pony show, only to see it flop. We don’t have to name names, but a quick Google search will reveal a multitude of examples.

The world’s greatest innovators are master problem spotters and solvers. They have a radar for identifying friction. Then—and only then—they apply their product innovation chops to find a solution that doesn’t exist or improve on existing solutions that don’t fully solve the problem. But pinpointing problems isn’t genetic—it’s a learned skill. The following questions will help you forge a direct path to the issues your customers need you to solve.

How well do you know your customers?

Product innovation requires more than ideation, prototyping, commercialization and so on. In my experience, product people often misidentify the magnitude of customer problems because they don’t have consistent contact with them. They usually trick themselves into thinking they’re a “customer company,” but only see customer problems from their own experiences.

Getting access to customers affords product people the opportunity to ask questions, listen and gain an eye-to-eye understanding of what they go through on a daily basis. There are emerging challenges based on unexpected market factors, so customer interactions will help you uncover new problems to solve. You’ll find “aha” moments with each discussion that will educate insightful product ideas and help you execute on strategy.

How do customers view the problem?

Your customers are organizations comprised of human beings who have their own unique take on any given situation. Identifying the most critical problems to solve for them requires a 360-degree view of how various stakeholders view those problems. I’ve found that problem statements help product people determine their next steps. A problem statement is like a positioning statement, in which you ask people to define problems separately. The results will uncover how aligned they are about organizational challenges, reveal fact vs. fiction and give you actual metrics related to which issues cause the most angst.

This exercise will also help you determine how severe a customer problem is and how often it happens. From there, you can figure out what combination of those two factors represents the best opportunity to move forward with a solution. The exact formula will vary from customer to customer, helping lead to a deep understanding of the company, its values and the factors that are most critical to successful innovation.

What’s the root cause of the problem?

When product people solve symptoms of a more significant problem, new product development becomes a game of Whac-A-Mole. In fact, you may be creating a more substantial problem (more on that later). The product people who win go beyond the issues visible just above the surface. They identify the root cause of a problem and create a product that addresses it. Doing so will make their lives incalculably easier. Further, you’ll earn their trust by demonstrating a deep understanding of their businesses and the issues that make accomplishing their goals more difficult.

Are you picking the right problems to solve?

Let’s say you buy a Buick. If it’s your first Buick, you probably never noticed another one until today. Now, every third car is Buick. Same with problem-solving. Once you get good at identifying customer pain points, you’ll notice a lot of them. And you may be compelled to solve them all. Don’t. Because you can’t.

The most innovative companies understand the problems they’re best suited to solve based on technological capabilities, resources, portfolio needs and other factors. Find the most pressing challenges and determine which will deliver the most ROI for the customer and the organization. That said, it’s still good to note all of the pain points your customers identify. You may notice that certain combinations of problems fall within your organization’s wheelhouse. And that’s often where the magic happens.

Does the solution create a bigger problem?

You’ve identified a challenge to solve, and you’re ready to move forward with a product. Here’s what you may not want to consider, but you have to: Will your product result in a more significant challenge down the road? To be fair, none of us are fortune tellers, and predicting sudden market changes, new regulations and other unforeseeable factors is an impossible task. But it’s absolutely critical to take the data you have and discuss with the customer the potential drawbacks of the product.

If they’re not willing to take on new problems once the current one is solved, you may have to hit pause and start over. It’s not ideal, but far better than putting in cycles and revenue to create a product that eventually makes a customer’s life more difficult in the long run.
Take these questions seriously and put them to use. Your customers have problems no one has taken the time to identify, and you have the opportunity to be their superhero.

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This article originally appeared in Forbes.