Whether you sell a product or service, all your colleagues are experienced customers. Maybe they don’t buy what you sell. But they are pretty clued up about Value For Money (VFM) and what constitutes quality service.
Involving them stimulates their commitment and loyalty to your business. Plus, motivated people enjoy a challenge and relish the chance to get their teeth into something different at work. So it makes sense to encourage colleagues to find out what the end user of their daily endeavours really thinks.
Your business pays them for their work and (hopefully) management praise them for their efforts. But imagine how pride in their work grows by opening up communications with your customers or consumers? And consider the possible rewards........
The MD of a UK engineering company was spitting feathers because they had lost a major sale to foreign competition. It had seemed their offers were very similar and loyalty to them as a home supplier was rather expected.
What clinched the deal it seems was an invitation to visit the competitor’s factory where the equipment would be manufactured and a chance to meet the people who would make it.
When they visited they found the staff at the overseas company were so enthusiastic about winning the work they were learning to speak English. Oh yes; they were doing this in their own time and their employer was paying for the training.
To cap it all, the prospective customer’s engineering staff agreed to set up a phone directly to the engineers manufacturing the equipment so they could resolve any issues.
And where did all these great innovations come from? A lunchtime team 'brain storming' session in an overseas factory aimed at trying to get new business.
If your business needs an injection of innovation please contact me barry@barryelliott.biz. There’s more on my website at www.thebusinessandmanagementcoach.co.uk
