I can’t hear you, I’m not listening!
As parents or grandparents, how often have we heard those words from a toddler with hands clasped over ears, eyes averted, stomping determinedly on the spot?!
Kids seem to grow out of that phase pretty quick.
Quicker it would seem that most business owners.
How many services or products do you buy that are really made for you?
When was the last time a business asked you what YOU wanted?
Most businesses ‘make something / devise a service’, and then get the design people and marketing people to jazz it up to make buyers want it.
Then they spend lots of money on ad campaigns convincing potential customers to purchase the ‘thing’ they have made.
It turns out that American car manufacturers are awesome at this method!
Wouldn’t it be better to find out what your customers wanted, and then make it for them?
Toyota do this. Perhaps GM, Chrysler, Ford et al should have taken a leaf out of Toyota’s book. It’s way too late now.
Toyota listened to their customers years ago, and made what their customers wanted – reliability and hybrid technology. Now, just 60 years after WWII and only 50 years in existence, Toyota is the #1 selling car in the US, and the world!
It is not just billion dollar multi national companies who can decide to listen to their customers.
Here in sleepy old Matakana, our own substantially-less-than-a-billion-dollar-company has always worked hard to listen to what our guests are saying – and I can tell you that food & wine is a business where guests have very high and specific expectations!
We personally telephone at least 40 customers every week to discuss their visit.
We started doing that long before the economy hit the fan.
Prior to that, for years we actively sought customer opinions in other ways.
And we have always listened and shared those opinions with our team.
Our customers have actually driven most of the changes and much of the innovation here in the last 9 years!
Recently we had almost 400 responses to our online survey – way more than we had expected. We are lucky we have so many people who care enough about what we do want to help us make it better.
And we are listening. You will notice a MAJOR change in our restaurant menu from mid-May.
We’re not changing it because we think it is the right thing to do – we are changing it because our customers have TOLD us what they want.
Our customers aren’t toddlers.
Our customers pay the bills here.
Why wouldn’t we listen to you?
Perhaps more businesses need to treat their customers like adults instead of toddlers.
Hi Darryl, First time I’ve read your blog- you are turning into quite the philosopher! Have been following your career for some years now; you have certainly exceeded all I dreamt for you kids in my classes. “Well done that lad!” as Terry Laver would have said. You were always meticulous in all you did, and it appears you have not changed.
I have occasionally wondered if 5th-7th form Geography has played any conscious part in what you have achieved:man/land relationships et al?
I left teaching end of 2006 and now live at Mangawhai Heads with my partner, Lindsay, where we run a seasonal business selling spring bulbs by mail/net order.
Best wishes to you and yours. Juliet.