I spend a lot of my time reading books and listening to tapes about business and marketing. I guess that's understandable.

Many of the authors of these materials are known as experts, gurus or marketing geniuses. However, a few weeks ago I was listening to a discussion about marketing and one of the participants made a point that struck me like a ton of bricks.

He said: "The only true marketing genius is the customer".

What a succinct and powerful statement!

The truth of the matter is that no matter how much good advice or information or training we get in marketing, the only person's opinion that really matters is the customers. No matter how good the idea seems to be, if the customer doesn't respond then nothing else matters.

What's the moral?

Simple. You need to constantly stay in tune with your customers interests and desires and give them what they want, how they want it, when they want it. If they don't respond to a particular offer, you need to do your best to find out why (through follow-up surveys or any other method at your disposal).

If they do respond to an offer it's still a good idea to find out why. It may be for a different reason than you think.

We should all certainly continue to study marketing and listen to what the "experts" say, but we need to give just as much (or more) attention to what our customers are saying as well.