My Turn

‘For our business to grow, we must do more than simply satisfy the needs of our customers—we must inspire them to want the things that we produce.’

We sometimes send teams of engineers and marketing people to visit some of our customers in their own homes. This type of contact inspires manufacturers, marketers and retailers to do things that they otherwise might not do. To observe the fruits of one's efforts at close range deepens one's appreciation for what one creates. In other words, Kando starts with us.

The spirit of Kando not only applies to products but also to programs and services. Recreational music-making related to wellness may be the best example. As the "baby boomer" generation advances toward its post-retirement years, the emphasis on products may somewhat shift toward a greater focus on programs which use our products to make people feel happier, more fulfilled, less lonely and healthier. There is emerging scientific evidence that music participation, especially among seniors may help people live longer and enjoy a better quality of life than any previous generation has experienced.

Our True Competitors
No one manufacturer or single industry organization can accomplish this alone. Expansion of the musical products industry depends on the ability of suppliers, retailers and industry associations to join hands to serve this emerging market better than our true competitors. Who are these competitors? Simply put, all products and services that compete for the senior market's discretionary dollars, none of whom make musical products.

The alternative is to waste our industry's energy, creativity and time battling for market share in a stagnant or shrinking market.

I would like to invite the entire industry to "Create Kando Together" for the future well-being of our musical products markets and become an ever-growing presence in the lives of American consumers who will set a global example for markets of the future.

Reprinted with permission from Music Inc, August 2001 issue.

In the musical products industry we are fortunate to have the privilege of selling and marketing products that bring joy and excitement to the people who use them. We have often observed users of our products who express themselves in an emotional manner in response to a particular sound, feature, design or technological advance. As a manufacturer, we are always inspired by such sentiments about our products and we want to continually search for new ways to maintain this excitement and enthusiasm among our customers.

We have an advantage that is unavailable to most producers of consumer goods. People can become passionate about our products.

We also face a fundamental disadvantage. People don't really need our products. They must want them. To want something requires the presence of emotion. A need is, well, just a need.

Satisfying a need is a simple decision. If your refrigerator breaks down you have to replace it. But it is not likely that there is a high degree of emotion in the decision to buy it, nor is it likely that you will tell many of your friends about your new refrigerator and invite them to your home to see it.

Nonetheless, if you are in the market for, say, a digital piano and your refrigerator needs to be replaced the needed appliance will naturally come first. The digital piano will have to wait. And it's possible that your desire may wane after temporarily spending most of your disposable income on something that you absolutely need.

‘Satisfaction’ Is Not Satisfactory
For our business to grow, we must do more than simply satisfy the needs of our customers—we must inspire them to want the things that we produce. And to do this we must know our customers in great depth—know who they are, how they think and what they feel.

In Japan, we have a word that describes how a customer may feel when he or she encounters a product or service of superb quality, beauty or performance. It is a concept called Kando (KAHN-doh). Like many foreign words, Kando has no precise equivalent in English, thus it cannot be easily translated with just one word. The word Kando captures a whole range of human emotions such as intense excitement, inspiration, deep satisfaction and appreciation that a person may feel about the quality and value of a product, a service or an experience. We might say that it is a feeling that is so emotionally moving that it "touches the soul." This is what we want every customer to feel when he or she encounters one of our products.

Creating Kando
At Yamaha, our new global corporate slogan is "Creating Kando Together". We really believe this. It is difficult to inspire our customers if we are not inspired ourselves.

But first we have to understand our customers and get closer to them. This is more than just a market research exercise with written and telephone surveys. This means gathering all of the input that is available to us—through dealers, service technicians, teachers and first-hand contact with customers.