Read John's post over at Brandshift... good read...
"Companies spend billions on market research to divine the needs and wants of consumers and businesses. Yet the new-product failure rate remains high. And we’re not coming up with better product concepts by listening to the voice of the customer. Why? Maybe the customer isn’t worth listening to."
I worked for John Roth at Nortel - he said the same thing differently... listen to the leading-edge customers. The ones right at the bleading edge. In other words, don't listen to the ordinary. Innovation doesn't come from the ordinary - it comes from the edge.
John W says it right - focus on participating with customers. Inevitably a vast amount of businesses don't sell to the end consumer. We participate in a value stream. We need to participate to truly understand the value our products create. And then we need to innovate around that value.
FD: I write for Brandshift