CONTENTed

You Should Never Say "What Customers Need to Understand is..." I always cringe when product people utter the words “What customers need to understand is…”.  To me it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to serve a market.  I saw this sentiment reported in a recent  New York Times article  on the hearing aid market which explained that the pricing model is essentially a forced bundle where two thirds of the price was for service, including hearing evaluation, counseling and adjustments over the life of the product.  This approach has put a pair of hearing aids at or about $5,000. The manufacturers believe, and perhaps rightly so, that diagnosing and treating hearing loss are too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional and therefore justifies the forced bundle.  However, in this age of self-service people will search out their own solutions. By assuming a status quo approach with forced bundles and captive customer