How important are improved customer relationships to your business? The Sales Cooke is amazed at how many clients miss easy opportunities to enhance or improve their customer relationships.  Too many times, businesses are so internally focused on process, service, and customer satisfaction that they fail to realize that great ideas exist nearby–with their customers.  The SalesCooke is committed that businesses can enhance client relationships and increase customer satisfaction if they would just engage their customers in the process improvement discussion.  For some reason, businesses seek to improve their processes and their service by facing inward to develop these enhancements.  Why not ask the customer?  Aren’t these improvements being developed for them?

There was an excellent story in Business Week that reinforces this notion.  It talks about how Starbucks is engaging its customers to provide ideas for improvements and enhancements through an interactive program called MyStarbucksIdea.com.  This site is pretty exciting.   It provides Starbucks junkies an opportunity to suggest ideas, vote on ideas, and potentially discuss these ideas with Starbucks “hosts” who monitor and interact with the contributors on the site.  Imagine a website that allows customers to develop ideas to improve the products, the service, or the experience at Starbucks.

SalesCooke realizes that this is Starbucks, a multi-national company with deep pockets and seemingly unlimited resources, especially when compared to your small business.  However, the message is clear.  Your customers need to be included and involved in your business.  They have ideas, they have a vested interest in the performance of your organization, and they know your business as well, if not better than you.  Why not get them involved.  These do not have to be formal interactive focus groups, they could be as simple as a meeting with your client that asks the open ended question, “what can we do to serve you better?”  Imagine what that conversation might sound like.  I am willing to bet it would be an informative and productive one for your business.  I am also willing to bet that it is one that would be quite appreciated by your customers.