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Joe Sanda wants to get into his customers' heads. The founder, president and CEO of Astute Solutions says that the only way to understand what your customers want is to ask them.
"We're driven by listening to what some of the problems are with our customers and what their opportunities, needs and wants are," Sanda says.
As head of the $12.8 million provider of software and solutions for consumer-focused companies, Sanda points to Astute's work with British Airways. By paying attention to what the client's needs were, the company recently created a prepaid debit card to compensate passengers at a point of failure, such as when baggage is lost, a concept that Sanda and his 65 employees hope to expand to other airlines.
Smart Business spoke with Sanda about how to create great concepts with your clients and deliver what they want.
Q. What are your keys to growing a successful company?
Focus on your customers. Try to understand what they want, what they think and what they feel. That's something we really strive to do.
Q. How do you keep that focus on the customer?
First, we try to make sure we're driving our product direction based on the market...