Microfinance Myopia: Lessons from the Mainstream

This paper states that most MFIs are victims of marketing myopia as they focus on finance, accounting, forecasting, collections, and MIS, discounting marketing strategies or on face-to-face selling.

This paper attempts to remove the shades that blind the microfinance sector to the value of its customers and what its customers truly value. It proposes that the social agenda and financial health of microfinance institutions would be strengthened if players understood who customers are, why they leave, what they really want, and the real business of microfinance. It states that:

• Some businesses and industries faded or nearly faded because they were oriented only to product and process because they failed to see how their customers actually used their products and services;
• To avoid marketing myopia is to see products or services through the eyes of customers: see beyond the product to the solution that customers are seeking;
• MFIs lack the drive to operate creatively and the mandate to respond to customers, but that the myopia cannot last indefinitely. 

The paper concludes that institutions guilty of marketing myopia have defined their businesses too narrowly, never seeing their product or service through the eyes of customers. It also offers bottom line tips on how to be more customer-focused.