• by Jillian Lakritz , March 2, 2010

I was having coffee recently with a brand manager from a multibillion-dollar food and beverage company who was struggling with the launch of a new brand. "We need to be entrepreneurial," he said, "but I don't know how. How do I start thinking like an entrepreneur?"

As we continued to talk about the presumed consumer need and the demographics driving their marketing decisions, it struck me that the biggest opportunity he was missing to think like an entrepreneur was to stop treating the people who buy his product like consumers and start treating them like customers.

Customers are people we meet in the marketplace -- they have a face and a name. Consumers are people we get to know in PowerPoint decks and belong to cohorts with catchy titles like "Active Annie" or "Budget-Conscious Bob." Customers talk to you when they buy your product and give you real-time, real-life feedback that includes the good, the bad and the ugly.

Consumers are recruited by focus group facilities and get paid to answer questions from a discussion guide. Customers are complex. Their problems are unpredictable and force you to think creatively and make changes quickly in order to earn their loyalty. Consumers are homogeneous. Their problems exist as data points and are often solved by tinkering with concept statements while sitting behind a desk.

And, perhaps most importantly, when you have a genuine relationship with them, customers share their time, their experiences, their ideas and their networks to become your partner in business. With consumers, we have a transactional relationship. While they may reward us with repeat purchases, it is rare that we get more from them than the exchange of cash for goods.

I understand that in the corporate world, the "customer" is the retailer and the "consumer" is the end user but when it comes to launching new products, these are semantics worth changing. Few entrepreneurs I know talk about the people who buy their products as consumers. They use the word customer because they are on the front lines doing the selling.

Unlike the brand manager whose consumer is objectified into demographic criteria, the entrepreneur has an intimate relationship with the people buying their goods through exchanges at the register, on forums and fielding customer service calls. This intimacy frames how they how they solve problems, it results in a rich understanding of real and urgent needs, and is often the catalyst to breakthrough ideas about how to grow the brand.

There are myriad ways in which you can get to know your customers. The key is to put yourself in situations that require a one-to-one interaction and allow you to connect with the customer in a genuine and personal way. Don't know how to get started? Try this:

1. Set up a kiosk at a mall, a fair or an expo and spend a few days selling your products directly to the customer. Give them your contact information and invite them to call you with questions or comments. If they're willing, ask if you can call them back in a few days to get feedback.

2. Join the customer service team. Answer the phones, interact on forums, field questions, try to solve problems and listen to what your customers are saying.

3. Set up a sample station at a retail partner, a community center or a gym. Do more than give away product, engage in conversation and see what you can learn about the people who stop to try your product.

Next time you get stuck on which levers to pull in order to grow your brand, take a moment and ask if you know who your customers are. Step out from behind the desk and go stand behind the register. Put a name and a face and a personal history to the person buying your product. Explore what it's like to be on the front lines. You may be surprised what you learn and soon find yourself treating your consumers like customers.