Businesses often fail when it comes to doing something as simple as talking to their customers. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re lazy or if because they don’t feel the need to, but it’s probably the one big thing that can make or break a company Don’t ignore your customers! Few thoughts:

1) Ignore the customers and they’ll flock to the competitor. When I board an airplane, I expect the pilot to greet me. (thank you, Jetblue) When I buy my clothing from Barney’s, I expect store assistants to help me with figuring out what I want to buy. When the help isn’t there, I’ll just cross the street and buy from the better company.

True story: I was looking for sun glasses in a shopping mall, and I was prepared to buy. I walked in, but the store assistant was too busy tooling around with his Facebook, so I left. I went to the store next door and spent $400 because the man at the door greeted me and gave me his honest feedback on which sunglasses looked good and which didn’t. Lesson of the story, always talk to your customers.

2) Ignore your customers and miss out on what they’re actually looking for. Company executives are apparently so busy working on their companies that they have little time to solicit the feedback of customers. Problem is, how are the execs to know what’s working and what isn’t? I think a great example would be Mattel: they sell Barbie dolls to preteen girls, but the execs are probably in their 40’s. Unfortunately, girls don’t aspire to elegantly dressed dolls anymore. How are the execs to know that the girls of today aspire to be anorexic sluts? Without the constant feedback, the execs would never have known this!

3) Talking to users = Making new friends. I love it when people talk to their users, whether it be about the product or about nothing at all. Hair stylists do this best: You’re stuck in a chair and they’re cutting your hair. What else is there to do besides talk to the hair stylist about the latest gossip on Valleywag? Encourage casual contact between you and your users and maybe you’ll meet your most loyal word-of-mouth marketers.

All of this comes back to how I run this blog. I write a lot, but I want to hear from readers. Matter of fact, this blog post was inspired by a blog reader! Without the feedback, I wouldn’t know what you guys wanted to hear. As always, please feel free to reach out and/or comment with your thoughts.

With much love to my passionate readers,

Jessica

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don’t hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.