Chloe Liang's Comm 101 Section 101 Blog

Many businesses fail to provide products and services to satisfy consumer needs and this phenomenon was thoroughly exemplified in Rita McGrath’s blog post for Harvard Business Review “Bank of America: A Case Study in Tone Deafness.” Bank of America recently forced a debit card fee on its customers, which led to disastrous results. This is a classic example of customer-relations disaster where the directors of large corporations failed to understand basic consumer sentiments. Oftentimes, decision making management members come from a glamorous lifestyle that is estranged from the mass public, thus hindering the success of their products and services. Researchers may have the best of intentions and conduct detailed surveys, but they often make crucial mistakes in translating their research into new features and products, and marketing campaigns. Moreover, very rarely do consumers know what they need or want. For many marketing departments, putting themselves in the shoes of customers is easier said than done. It is time for businesses to understand that profit does not come solely from figures on the charts but also retaining their customer base through insightful research and analysis.  It is not every day that a company can score the next big idea like Apple.

Picture source: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/13/timestopics/topics_bankamerica_395.jpg

Works cited: http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/mcgrath/2011/11/bank-of-america-tone-deaf.html