@benkunz, whose Thought Gadgets blog never fails to provoke, just had a piece on listening, arguing that in some cases it's over rated.
If you don't read Ben, you should.

My response to this piece.

Maybe. If you listened to consumers four/five years ago you still heard complaints about US car quality, you saw preferences for European performance, and yes, there was fondness for SUVs, but that was out of context of a recession and higher gas prices. I'm not sure you should just listen to customers re your product, brand, category, but rather develop the skill of hearing the potential cultural change that will inform future behavior. There are many things we can't accurately predict. If so, the NY Times would have created USA Today and CNN and AOL would have invented Facebook. And print media would have gotten digital before digital made them obsolete. Anyone who paid attention to the iPod when it first came out would have heard more than music, they would have heard a new desire for portability, small, accessible. That's perhaps what could have informed smart phones. think listening is good. But perhaps your post should get to more than the limits of listening and more into what should we pay attention to. For example, look at today's trends. Gen Y relationships, fear of commitment, lack of loyalty to employer, etc. What will that mean for housing, energy, luxury goods? Listen to complaints form everyone about cost and fear of health care and Rx. What will that mean for delayed retirement, cost of living, future tax impositions on working classes. Sure, Dominos Pizza and peers can listen to customers and figure out what they do and don't like about products. And they can make changes in response. But smart marketers know that it takes more, as you suggest. But exactly what? And how? Those are the real questions Ben Kunz should answer. :-