The authors of Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Breakthrough Experiences recently spoke with Kristyn Benmoussa, Editor-in-Chief of The Pragmatic Marketer, to discuss the background for the Tuned In book.

Q. Where did the idea for Tuned In come from?

The three of us had been independently studying what made some companies, products and/or marketing campaigns resonate while others made us ask “who hit the stupid button on that one?”. And our clients had been telling us for years that they wanted an overview of the process we teach, but in an easy-to-digest package to share with the whole organization. We realized that we had discovered a market problem—a need for a book like this one—and that we had the collective knowledge to solve it.

Q. Why are there three authors?

Because we couldn’t fit four names on the cover? Seriously, the truth is, together we could build the “whole solution” where independently we were only focused on one aspect of the problem. One of the really interesting things we began to understand clearly from the research was that the three dimensions of leadership, product management, and marketing all suffered from the same challenges. And that the concept of “tuning in” was the platform solution that allowed each to excel.

Q. What research went into Tuned In?

We knew a lot of things when we started the project. We had independent research telling us that market-driven companies were 31% more profitable, spent twice as much on research as they did on development, and had 20% higher customer satisfaction rates. We wanted to dig deeper though so we dug into the seven yearly surveys Pragmatic Marketing has conducted since 2000, personally interviewed more than 100 CEO’s and organizational leaders, and ran a quantitative analysis across 2,700 respondents. The objective was to identify and correlate the winning DNA behind successful businesses, leaders, products and marketing campaigns. We learned exactly why some of their products and services fail while others succeed.

Q. What is the essence of what you uncovered?

That getting tuned in isn’t just a nice-to-have ingredient, it’s a got-to-have for success. We found that it works for individuals in their jobs, organizations in their plans for growth and for virtually any key strategy decisions such as how to choose which product to invest in. The Tuned In Process identifies six steps that are simple in their own right but so powerful in combination that they form an actionable roadmap for creating products, services, or ideas that resonate right out the gate and, maybe even more importantly, sustain value over time.

Q. Who should read Tuned In?

Tuned In is for everyone who markets a product or service, from product managers to marketers to leaders. Size of business or opportunity is irrelevant. We found single employee entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, politicians, authors, entertainers, even rock stars who applied the process to succeed. Non-profits and for-profit businesses. Million dollar businesses to multi-billion dollar conglomerates. High fliers to turnarounds. The foundation applies universally. We developed the book to provide a common baseline for success in any situation.

Q. How easy was it to determine who was tuned in and who was tuned out?

Easier than we initially thought. You simply observe what they do and where they spend their time. Tuned in companies know exactly who they are—they’ve discovered what their market values most and they operate in a world of clarity. They spend time on things that really matter and ignore those that don’t. Surprisingly, tuned in companies spend very little time worrying about competition. Tuned out individuals and companies are just the opposite. They self-justify, self-rationalize and spend lots of time internally thrashing around identity-oriented questions like “what business are we really in?”

Q. What was the biggest surprise in the book research?

For us, that experiences matter so much. Going in, we suspected that a major accelerator to the Tuned In Process was focusing on finding problems vs. finding breakthroughs. But, the value of building a complete customer experience and focusing on all the touch points to ensure that they resonate and connect was pretty enlightening. When we found a minister in Washington DC who created the fastest-growing church by transforming the Sunday experience and each day of the week, we had a real “aha! moment.” It’s not the product, it’s the experience that is your competitive edge.

Q. Is there anything you’ll do differently at Pragmatic Marketing now that you’ve written the book?

Yes. Lots of things. One of the really compelling aspects of the Tuned In concept is that it isn’t a Six Sigma rating system that takes you years to measure and a decade to perfect. It’s a daily index. We do some things really well at Pragmatic Marketing otherwise we wouldn’t have had such success. But, we can tell you with certainty that we’ll move much more rapidly to continuously improve the experience we offer our customers so that adopting the Pragmatic Marketing methodology is not an infrequent training exercise but an everyday support system that enables our customers to be at their absolute best at being tuned in.

You can read more from Craig, Phil and David on their blog at www.TunedInblog.com.