You probably reach out to your customers to solicit feedback on your products or services, but you may be missing out on some invaluable suggestions from the people closest to you – your employees.
In Carol’s recent post on Bank of America’s Small Business Community, “8 Things to Immediately Ask Your Employees,” she recommends several questions. But I’ll bet you you can think of many others. Carol begins:
While you keep your head down running the macro and micro duties of your business, you may forget you are surrounded by people who can help run your business better—your employees! Your employees are on the front lines, often knowing what tasks are creating bottlenecks and even missed marketing opportunities.
Here are eight things that you should ask your employees about immediately. You can do it formally through one-on-one interviews, through a survey or even a good-old-fashioned suggestion box. But, regardless of what form you ask for the feedback, make sure you review and act on it afterwards!
1. What do you spend too much time doing?
Employees know exactly what the time-wasters are in business. Whether it’s an onerous form-filling process or other jobs that can be simplified, asking your employees for their input can help you streamline your operations.
2. Where could technology make your job easier?
Technology is another great catalyst for making employees more productive. Ask them what tasks they wish were faster and
easier and see if they can be streamlined with a technology solution.
3. What are customers complaining about?
Employees who interact with customers know where the business pain points are. If shipping is always making mistakes or you are constantly out of stock on bestselling items, your employees will be able to give you the head’s up on where you should be focused on.
You can read the rest of the post here.
