Issue No. 8

September 5, 2013

So profoundly valuable is a new perspective that people do all sorts of things from the sublime to the ridiculous to gain a fresh view. Rock climbing, paint ball, team building with stand-up comics, etc. Many people object to these sorts of activities because they appear ridiculous. An equally important downside is the difficulty in translating insights into pragmatic action. So, what can you do?

Ask yourself where you are getting your information. Is it from inside your company?
Sift through your company website. Is it easy to use? Informative? How easy or difficult is it to obtain contact information?
Call in, act like a customer. What is that experience like? How long do you wait? How many times do you respond to a menu?
Visit your location(s) without a specific agenda. What do you see?
Talk to your customers. Don’t just survey them every other day talk to them.
Talk to people in your market who aren’t your customers. Not about you or your products but about them.