Listen Up!

Whom You Listen to Is as Important as Where You Listen

For Michael Rich, and for most other doctors, listening intelligently to "customers" can be a matter of life or death. But for people and organizations not in the business of saving lives, all customers are not created equal. Some are decidedly more profitable than others. Some have a greater impact on the market or on other customers than others do. And some are even smarter than others. "A question that all businesses must answer is 'Which customers do we want to target?' " says Martha Rogers. "Companies need to identify their die-hard customers, figure out what those customers want, and then bring that to them."

That formula has worked wonders for Burton Snowboards, the best-known snowboard brand in one of the world's fastest-growing sports. According to company statistics, more than 2 million snowboarders are hitting the slopes these days, and over the past five years, Burton's market share has increased from 30% to 40%.

The company has garnered those impressive numbers by focusing on one objective: to provide the best equipment to the largest number of snowboarders. But the company doesn't accomplish that by holding focus groups, or by getting its gear in as many stores as possible, or even by trying to please all of its customers all of the time. When Burton wants to find out what customers think, it turns its attention to a market segment whose influence far exceeds its size -- the pros. Burton listens to 300 professional riders worldwide, 39 of whom are on its sponsored team.

Almost every day, staffers talk to those riders -- on the slopes and on the phone. If one of them has a suggestion or a problem, a Burton employee calls back within 24 hours, sometimes attending to one of those 300 riders before helping retailers or other customers. "We insulate staff members from having so much responsibility that they can't talk to a rider," says David Schriber, VP of marketing and himself an avid rider who gets out at least 60 days a year. At Burton, employees who know the pro riders best are held in high esteem. In design meetings, product features live or die depending on riders' preferences -- even when they contradict those of the designers.

Riders help develop virtually every Burton product. For instance, Burton designed a pro board for Shannon Dunn, 27, a bronze medalist in the half-pipe competition at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Dunn believes that female riders should have more choices to suit their different body types. So, 2 years ago, she suggested a line of boards for women to Burton's marketing department. When Dunn got the go-ahead from Burton, she and fellow rider Victoria Jealouse created the company's new Feelgood series of boards for women, which are designed to adapt to their smaller, lighter bodies.

"That's the way the whole company works -- quick turnaround based on rider feedback," says Dunn, who started riding for Burton in 1994. After the 1998 games, Dunn happened to mention that the backs of her bindings were bruising the sides of her ankle bones, and within a week, designers came up with a solution that Burton's 2000 product line now includes: an extra support that can be inserted to keep bindings stiff or left out to increase suppleness.

But Burton staffers don't just sit around waiting for such "squeaky wheels." "We immerse ourselves in our riders' lives," Schriber says. If pro snowboarders travel to Tokyo, a Burton employee tags along, watching where they shop and what they buy, and listening to their comments about the sport and about their equipment.

Designers also look at what riders wear, to get a sense of how the pros like their sports gear to fit. Those who wear low-slung jeans probably wouldn't choose tight-fitting snowboarding pants. Which was the case for Craig Kelly, 34, an old-school backcountry rider and four-time world champion, who prefers a loose style. Two years ago, Burton designers discovered that baggy inner and outer layers created a lot of friction that restricted a rider's movement. To compromise, the designers tried using a stretchy fabric for the long-underwear-like inner layer while keeping the outer layer loose. Now Kelly wears Burton's AK line of pants regularly, stretch and all.

Of course, this relentless focus on professionals could create challenges for the folks at Burton: What if the needs of recreational snowboarders conflicted with those of the pros? Fortunately, the company rarely encounters such situations. Apparently, meeting the pros' needs produces the highest-quality products. And quality is what keeps consumers coming back. "Like most athletes, snowboarders always want better equipment," Schriber says.