We had a new roof fitted to our conservatory in the Spring. I’m informed by the salesman of the company that fitted it that we should now call it an orangery.
Pretentious, moi?
I hear a chorus of “why is this of interest to me?” Well, stick with it. Everything was fine until the autumn brought rainy weather. Our new ‘orangery’ had sprung a leak.
The installer came around to take a look. I pointed out places where I thought water was getting into the guttering and that was the cause of the leak.
The pitying look I received from the installer was a picture. It said ‘dear customer, leave the technical stuff to us, just make sure there’s plenty of tea for us to drink.’
They devised the scheme to alter the outlets from the guttering in order to take water away more quickly. They duly made the changes and it rained the following day. And leaked the day after that.
Back they came and this time they suggested they would seal the areas I had highlighted earlier. Of course it was their idea but it does appear to have worked.
Remember, you might be the expert in your product/service but your customers use it everyday and can make sensible suggestions on how to improve or repair it. Don’t dismiss their ideas without thinking about them.