The article discusses the approach for how to grow a business by focusing on non-customers rather than customers.

1. All rights reserved. Copyright 2011@ Canopus Business Management Group
www.collaborat.com | +91 4442851080
Striking a Gold Mine of Growth from Voice of
Non-Customers
It is common to gather the voice of customers (VOC) to understand their changing
needs. This helps any organization to better serve its customers. By learning about
specific needs; products and services can be customized. Thus over a period of time,
organizations build the know-how of segmenting customers very precisely. This helps in
creating and pruning targeted marketing campaigns, in addition to customized products
and services. Such an approach is a staple component of most organization’s customer
acquisition & management strategy.
But a serious flip-side to such an approach is that the cost of acquisition can become
higher.
 Organizations need to run targeted marketing campaigns for each segment.
 With time, number of sub-segments will increase.
 This will lead to increase in the cost of production.
 Additional design costs, incurred for customization, will sky-rocket.
After all, customization works against the scale of economy.
More importantly, customization puts organizations on a trajectory of high cost of
reversal. What if, changing dynamics lead to change in customer needs that you cannot
easily fulfill? Consider the example of Bajaj Auto & Kinetic Motors: ‘Cheetak’ & ‘Kinetic
Honda’ were their flagship products. Around the turn of the century; stringent pollution
norms, and changing demographics of customers (decrease in the average age for 2
wheeler users) led to the downfall and eventual extinction of these products. While
these are just product lines, there are examples of large corporations that have
disappeared too.

2. All rights reserved. Copyright 2011@ Canopus Business Management Group
www.collaborat.com | +91 4442851080
What many companies miss; is the opportunity to attract buyers who don’t resemble
their existing customer segments. Their rationale, such inclusions distorts their well
defined customer segments. But, in reality, they miss the opportunity to reach beyond
existing demand. With shrinking markets, this is imperative for many industries today.
More importantly, knowing what your customers want will only help you serve them
better. Never will it help you attract new buyers. Thus, to grow your business,
organizations need to look at potential non-customers; understand their common needs
and rework offerings to attract them.
To take this one step forward, let’s understand the 3 categories of non-customers as per
Prof. Chan Kim and Prof. Renee Mauborgne of INSEAD as described in Blue Ocean
Strategy:
 Reluctant Customers: Customers who minimally buy from your
industry/company and out of necessity.
 Strong Detractors: Non-customers who refuse to use your industry/company
offerings due to past bad experiences or because they can’t afford.
 True Non-customers: Non-customers who have never thought of your
industry/company offerings as an option or you aren’t aware of such customers.
Let us learn this concept with an example from the cable TV industry.
A major DTH provider in India, TATA Sky and many other DTH operators in India, have
reached out beyond their existing market demand (of just offering TV channels), and
thus, have grown disproportionately.
There are many such examples of enterprises in B2B and B2C that have focused on
common needs of non-customers. They developed simple products and services, and
have successfully captured new markets. The story of how Gillette tapped retail shaving
market beyond supplying blades to saloons, way back in 1900′s, is a standing example
from yesteryears.
If you wish to create a growth strategy based on non-customers, then your
organization’s Strategic Planning Process should drive the following:
 Shift away from segmenting existing customers, and addressing needs by
customization. Rather, look at common needs of non-customers and address
them as a whole.
 List down non-customers for your industry/organization, and identify their
common needs.

3. All rights reserved. Copyright 2011@ Canopus Business Management Group
www.collaborat.com | +91 4442851080
 Most importantly, prioritize these common needs based on market potential and
opportunity.
 Revisit existing product and services to tap new demand.
 Integrate this strategic intent with organization’s overall strategy execution.
 Set up a mechanism to constantly tap the voice of non-customers too.
Thus, the approach is straight forward, but it would require an ample commitment from
the leadership to divert their attention towards consciously targeting non-customers
rather than customers!
About the Author:
Neil started Canopus Business Management Group in 2009.
He helps a range of large enterprises in services and manufacturing, with particular emphasis on execution of
business & functional strategies, customer experience & process transformation. He has worked with banking,
outsourcing, IT, discrete manufacturing & telecom business processes. He draws on extensive experience (15
years) in Hoshin Kanri, Blue Ocean Strategy, Lean, Six Sigma, Outsourcing, Change Management and Touch point
Management to deliver composite solutions that put client’s business in an Advantageous &
Profitable position.
Client engagements aim at eliminating the barriers for seamless execution of strategies, carpet
bombing customer touch points, diagnostic interventions on customer churn & retention and
implementation of transformational projects.
He can be reached at neil@collaborat.com or +91 9176616766.