Pump Up the Inputs -- Two

In Pump Up the Inputs, we discussed how increasing the number of ideas increases innovation. Curiousity is one reason creative people come up with new ideas, since they accumulate “old elements” and combine them to create new ideas. What if you were curious about what your customer’s are thinking?

In "Fight the Fear: The 10 Golden Rules of Customer Feedback", Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba tell us how to turn curiosity into action. Here’s the phrase that captured my imagination.

Make it easy for customers to provide feedback. Companies as feedback machines employ multiple input points: in person, email, Web sites, point-of-purchase cards or receipts, conferences and the telephone. After all, being a feedback machine is about making it easy—for the customer—to provide feedback, not what’s convenient for you.

Do you see the correlation between customer feedback and new ideas? The authors don’t suggest just one input point, but many. This not only increases the number of ideas, but also the kind of ideas. You see, different feedback methods and contexts generate a variety of ideas, giving us more ideas to combine.

Have you ever read a book and thought there was nothing more to be learned from that book? Try the audio version, and see what new ideas you discover.