This is the most efficient approach whereby only actionable data is collected and used for strategic positioning. Often times customers' perceptions of competitors are more valuable than competitor perceptions of themselves. Customers can provide objective information in areas where competitors cannot. For example, competitors may not provide an accurate picture of their product and organizational strengths and weaknesses, innovations and marketing strategies because they are too close. Also, customers' perceptions, even if unrealistic, have a greater effect on an organization because these perceptions are tied to the ultimate buying decision.
Most companies engage in it already.
However, many companies fall short in expanding the number of sources to cover a broad range of functions within the customer organization. Although it is widely accepted that customer insight is valuable, we've discovered that customer data used by many companies is inadequate. The customer interaction processes used in the great majority of companies attempt to achieve quality by carefully controlling a small number of highly thoughtful interactions. In this quest for control, however, companies have significantly constrained the quantity of customer interactions, and consequently, the overall quality of the entire customer interaction. This is exactly the opposite effect from the ones companies sought.