How well do you listen to what your customers have to say?
It’s easy to hang on every positive word a customer utters, and quietly dismiss any negative criticisms, but as Richard Branson points out in this short interview segment with Seth Godin, listening to all customer feedback should be part of your business strategy.
Listening is Free
In the past week we’ve featured many ways for you to save your business money, but listening may be one of the best uses of your energy. And the best part of it is, listening is free!
Mr. Branson points out that when you really listen to what your customers have to say you’re opening yourself up to a world of innovative ideas. Think about it, customers tell us:
- What we’re doing well
- What we can do better
- What they’d like to see us do
- What they have no interest in
- What’s important to them
- What’s not
- What they’d pay more for
- What they think should be cheaper
Customers give us all the information we need to get better for free.
Put More Smart People on Your Team
A concept that struck me during this clip was that some of your customers, my customers, our customers – are smarter than we are. They may be better at business, have more skills, or just plain brilliant, and that’s a good thing.
When we listen to their ideas we are effectively adding more smart people to our team to make us better. Usually in order to get smart people on your team you have to pay them – sometimes a lot – but that’s not the case with customers.
They willing share their thoughts and ideas with us for free, and then we can pick and choose the best ideas to implement. It doesn’t get better than having a perpetual think tank giving us fresh ideas about our business from people smarter than we are.
Granted not all feedback or ideas will be good ones, and our job will be to know the difference. But it begins with listening, and when something that doesn’t cost a dime and only takes a small amount of my time, can radically change my business, I’m on board.
Are you listening?
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