Feedback Can Transform Valia the Don to Valmiki the Sage

All Indian readers must be aware about the Valia to Valmiki story.

In short the story is : d Don Valia was looting the people in his area , one day sage Naradji asked him - for whom are you doing this anti social things. His reply was - for his family. Naradji asked him to check with his family whether they are partner in his wrong doings? Family refused to bear the fruits of his wrong doings. That made d don Valia to think for whom I am doing these activities. And that thinking turned him to great sage known as Valmiki. Rest is history. 

Most companies can be compared with feedback less Don Valia. Thinking they offer great value and customer services to their customers and all stake holders, however they are not aware about what their customers and stake holders thinking about them. Neither they care to talk to them. 

When was the last time your company took customer feedback?  Feedback which is relevant and asking right questions affecting the customers. Your employee policy, CSR activities, social and anti social activities (tax evasion and pollution) , suppliers policy and customer experience design. Everything requires great insight and feedback from the stake holders. Unless companies have them & act on them, they live in illusion and spreading great social unhappiness and stress. 

Feedback and action on feedback is so important that it can make or break and even set stage to transform the companies. Periodic feedback is not only essential but its a compulsory practice. Is your company practicing it?

Great Content is Greater Business Enabler

Great Content is Greater Business Enabler. 

Yes people are interested to great insights. They are interested in solving their problems. They deal with companies { be it product or service } to solve their life problems or get rid of their life problems. 

All of us who are on the other side of offering great products or services MUST know this. MUST know Why we are offering WHAT we are offering. All of US are solution provider, transaction of sale is JUST a means to the solution. Ultimate objective of the CONSUMERs of solving problem MUST fructify with our offerings.

If require we MUST go out of the way { its never out of the way if U have solution mindset } & enable solution by supporting CONSUMERs with extra efforts over and above selling and offering our MENU of a  services. 

- If you are a group buying site - Provide Content on Why U buy what u buy, various product variations and its implications , suitability of products for the buyers, what to take care if buying from retail store,how to use the products, how to maintain etc. (Groupon.com is hugely successful mainly due to powerful content creation)

- If you are a Real Estate company -  Provide content on home buying precaution, how to manage the asset, how to form various interest groups in the society, Hoe to celebrate public festivals ,  how to maintain the flat and society etc.

- If you are in restaurant business - Provide content on what to eat, when to eat , how to eat, ow even to cook at home, culinary science etc

- If you are a Dentist - Provide content on maintenance of healthy gum/teeth,  what to eat and what not, how to avoid dental decay, what to know before any treatment etc

- If you are into Hospital Business - Provide content on preventive health, fitness regime, diet and food, precaution before any treatments at {any} hospitals, regular maintenance and health check up tips, how to buy medical insurance etc etc.

- If you are a Bank - Money Management, investment avenues and risk associated, wealth planning, will and various loans and its nuances, how to get better ratings, how to avoid CIBIL reporting and remove names from CIBIL, financial discipline, your family and your finances etc etc. 

- If you are a Travel Tour Company -  Where to go, how to go, what to take care, when to go, what to carry, real life experiences of other travelers, How to enjoy the journey, how to plan for journey of your own, where to stay, what to see en-route etc etc.

Likewise any and every industry can create powerful supportive and holistic content for the customers. Helping them 100% should be the motive. It may mean less focus on marketing efforts and more focus on reaching out to help genuinely in solving customer problems.   

Going beyond the MENU into the shoes of COSTUMERs. Its easy if you sit other-side of the table & think and plan but difficult if you are obsessed with your products and offering.  

Feedback to Feed Forward

Feedback is the most POWERFUL tool to know how enterprise is performing. Feedback from customers, vendors and employees. 

Free and Fair feedback from these stake holders will shape the management policies to navigate into the future. 

TOP Management does lot of things assuming our stakeholders must be happy about it or with whatever I /We do is always correct. Who better than us can know it better ???

Its always a myth. Feedback from Family made Valmiki a GREAT SAGE. He was notorious as long as he was living of his OWN without the feedback for whom he assumed he was doing what he was doing.

Does yr company has feedback system which regularly map the performance against the expectations of three stake holders stated above??? (Shareholders will be anyway happy if the other three stakeholders r happy).When was the last time your company took feed backs and it also reached to the TOP management?

Are we awake or DREAMING???