How a Company’s Customer-centric Approach Separates It From The Rest

Editor’s note: In our Voice of Small Business series, we highlight a handful of the more than 19,000 business leaders that represent the best of the Vistage community.

It was some years ago that David Sternlight, CEO of Cabeau (pronounced CAH-bo), found a moment of discomfort in a flight to be inspiring.

David was stuck in the dreaded economy cabin middle seat during his flight to and from Hong Kong. As a 6-foot-8 traveler who had to pack himself into his seat, David was looking for something he could get comfortable with and eventually settled on a U-shaped pillow for his flight back home.

To his dismay, the pillow was as good as crinkling up a jacket for a makeshift cushion. That’s what got David thinking that he probably wasn’t alone in his futile attempts to make traveling comfortable.

“So I found myself in the next 18 months interviewing over 2,500 travelers to get many people’s feedback [including] people who owned travel pillows and people who didn’t,” David said. “And for the first time in my business career I did something that Vistage always preaches.”

So he started his award-winning travel product company, Cabeau, with the philosophy: “It doesn’t really matter what you think, what really matters is what the customer thinks.”

By feeling the pulse of how customers responded to a variety of travel products, David dove deep into his market research. And he responded by coming up with a line of products that directly adheres to what customers said they wanted and needed.

“Innovation is very important to our company, we are always really trying to find out from the customer what they are going to be looking for tomorrow or next year,” he said.

Learn more about Cabeau here.

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