As an investor I ask this question all the time. It's no...

As an investor I ask this question all the time. It's not because I don't understand their business, but I am trying to gauge how well management does. I agree that this probably isn't the best question to ask customers, but I have found that getting them to talk is often the best way to get to a sale. Customers buy from people they like, and from people they feel listen to them. Perhaps "what keeps you up at night" is the wrong wording, but I have had great success starting meetings with "what are your biggest sources of frustration with your current solution." You would be surprised what kind of flood gates that opens.

This post really spoke to me. As a small-business owner,...

This post really spoke to me. As a small-business owner, I find myself in my office doing this sometimes. Hoping. I have to kick myself into action cause hope only breeds wishes and action breeds results. Just was saying thanks for the reminder.

Hi Jim -- This is excellent advice and I think along t...

Hi Jim --

This is excellent advice and I think along the same lines. I recommend this to all of my clients. Another suggestion is to make sure you send yourself any mail that goes out to customers. You'd be amazed at how some mail can get mangled in the delivery process. Certainly not the type of impression you want to give to your customers.

Best regards,

Denise O'Berry ...

Denise! Excellent addition! I can't belive I left that ...

Denise! Excellent addition! I can't belive I left that off the list, customer contact and impression begin there, as well as your web presence. Something I should also add is web navigation and ease of findig information on the web.

Have you ever been on the website of a company and not be able to find basic information like a telephone number or address?

These are the easiest "customer things" to correct if you're looking for them. That's the purpose of living the customer experience as this exercise suggests.

Thanks!

Jim, I agree. One of the lessons I've learned in business...

Jim, I agree. One of the lessons I've learned in business as well as life is that results come from action. In fact, I have a formula I use: Time x Activity = Results. Do the right things well enough, for long enough and you will accomplish what you want.

I think a better comparison would come from a poor produc...

I think a better comparison would come from a poor product and great marketing or a great product and poor marketing. In your example I would rather have a grate product and mediocre marketing. Great products like TiVo do sell themselves and marketing does little but to help get the name out there. I would judge TiVo's marketing efforts as mediocre, but word of mouth has been golden for them.

No to mince words, but mediocre is pretty bad :-) me...

No to mince words, but mediocre is pretty bad :-)

me·di·o·cre Moderate to inferior in quality; ordinary

Thanks for the comment!
...

Are you writing from Chico, CA or another 'college town'?...

Are you writing from Chico, CA or another 'college town'? People in downtown Chico go nuts trying to maintain parking for patrons and staff. Good Luck!

Yep. I've seen it in many places. It's frustrating for bu...

Yep. I've seen it in many places. It's frustrating for business owners and customers alike.

So here's my question. What are you and the other business owners doing about it besides talking with each other?

Your businesses represent a lot of revenue for your city. I bet your city leaders would listen to you. You may have to stay "in their face" about it, but you can make the change happen.

Best regards,

Denise O'Berry ...

BLB...I'm not writing from Chico, but not too far off...A...

BLB...I'm not writing from Chico, but not too far off...Auburn, CA :-) ...

Denise, oddly enough, we're trying to stop the city from ...

Denise, oddly enough, we're trying to stop the city from changing parking to hourly. There are a mix of businesses in the area - retail and professional - some with limited reserved parking. There are several retail shops that want parking terms reduced to open more nearby parking for their "drop in" shoppers.

Overall, very poor planning by the city...IMHO :-)

You're point however, is well taken. Thanks!

You're not negative at all...keep the comments coming whe...

You're not negative at all...keep the comments coming whenever you fee compelled to speak. It helps my thought process and makes me better at communicating with others.

I appreciate you reading my blog!

Thanks for the offer, you seem to have a good handle on a...

Thanks for the offer, you seem to have a good handle on all aspects of the medium, I may ask you for some advice. I hope I am not being too negative when I post. I think you are entirely correct when you say we are at an unfortunate point in the development of blogs. Two years from now most of the complaints I have about design flaws and the internal focus of many bloggers will have largely been solved, just as they were solved with websites. The analogy of Windows and DOS fits perfectly with the situation. I have full faith in the creativity of people in the industry to solve the problem. It's just a little frustrating for me being the "business person" waiting for the right product! It helps that the medium actually allows me to hold a conversation with people like you from the comfort of my own den and without hiring a complete programming staff. Imagine if I could have done that with my old IBM system 36 twenty years ago!

Bruce, Thanks for the kind words! You make an excellen...

Bruce, Thanks for the kind words!

You make an excellent point...the fans and coaches are an important part of the game.

I think you're experiencing what I agree is an unfortunate point in time for blogs and blog associated tools, all are currently technology driven. Installation, configuration, and operation are not in all cases intuitive. To customize many of the blogs I have takes a substantial amount of HTML and PHP manipulation. Sure there are a few point-n-click blogging solutions out there, but even they require some HTML confidence to fully feature and personalize. This is where Blogging Consultants like to step in and install, customize and ?stand up? a blog for someone that isn?t tech savvy.

I believe when blogs become more intuitive to administer and require less HTML to feature, more ?serious? business people will get in the game. This is an area where Blog Consultants offer help however; more advancement of blogging software is a better long term solution. This may not be unlike the advent of Windows as compared to DOS or WYSIWYG editors as opposed to plain text. "Nerds" start with technology solutions and business people tend to humanize them.

In the mean time, feel free to contact me if you?d like some assistance in establishing a blog. I?ll share what I know and help as I can.

Cheers!

...

Jim, Concise and insightful as always. It once again hig...

Jim,
Concise and insightful as always. It once again highlights the problem that we've talked about in the past. The model that you describe is accurate, however the model leaves out one constituency- the fans. There's a handful of players, cheerleaders and commentators (maybe add coaches to round out the analogy!). There are millions of potential fans that have no idea the sport exists or if it does how to get to the stadium and how the game is played if you get there. When I read about blogs I feel like I'm back in 1982 listening to my programming staff talk shop. Incomprehensible, nerd-speak. As I put together a couple of test blogs I find myself shaking my head at the acronyms and the "insert your cache in line 3 and remove the language in line 7 to modify the look of your blog" instructions. Huh? Talk about design flaws. Content will have to drive the media, but the designers need to make the process much easier to build, much easier to market and much easier to access if we want to use the media for anything more than conversations among the chosen.

Keivn, good closing point! The current hype-n-holler...

Keivn, good closing point!

The current hype-n-holler is just that. Blogs are cool, blogs have potential, and blogs have great and appropriate uses.

But blogs are not by any means the cure-all for every business ill. They are a marketing tool and as such have an appropriate place and time.

I blog and have experienced great benefits from blogging. Not everyone will have the same experience and not every business needs to blog. Period.
...

Not me :-) ...

Not me :-) ...

"Beer - it's a natural." ...

"Beer - it's a natural." ...

Right on Jim. I agree completely. Too many people fall in...

Right on Jim. I agree completely. Too many people fall in love with the latest, greatest, sexiest trend and they forget about their goal. Or, they buy what the salesperson is selling without thinking beyond the salesperson's pitch.

I see this all the time in my business. For example, a local retailer might spend most of their advertising budget on a big direct mail drop and then wonder why their revenue is up and down like a roller coaster. If they balanced the big mail drop with some weekly print advertsing they could get a steady stream of new business punctuated by bursts of new revenue. It doesn't cost any more. It just takes some thought and some planning. Use the right tools in the right way!

"a 200 milliter (six fluid ounce) glass of beer has less ...

"a 200 milliter (six fluid ounce) glass of beer has less calories than a quarter litre (quarter pint) cup of sugarless orange juice or a similar sized cup of milk."

but who drinks HALF A CAN of beer??