Rarely do businesses look at their processes with a fresh pair of eyes — a new customer’s eyes.
For example, I’m sure this city’s leaders and the downtown merchant association thought the answer to scarce parking was a 3-story garage. The merchants probably saw an increase in business for awhile, especially among locals.
But as the trees grew and obscured the “Parking” sign, new customers — like me — couldn’t find the garage. Luckily, I found parking 3 blocks away from the downtown, but what about others who circled without finding on-street parking? Did they give up and take their business elsewhere? Probably.
If the leaders approached doing business downtown donning new lenses, they’d see that the trees need to be trimmed, new signs added on the street-side of the trees, or the sign moved. This would allow new customers to easily find their way to convenient parking, and yield more revenue for the merchants and city.
How can you experience your processes as if you are new to your organization? Sometimes it means engaging someone else to have a fresh take on what could be a stumbling block to bringing you new business. I do this for my clients. Let me know if you’d like me to do it for you.
