What do you think – Not!

Don’t get too involved in asking everyone’s general opinions. I believe most folks don’t know what they want when they are asked. I talk to meeting planners all the time who send out general questionnaires to their members asking what they want at the next convention. They compile the answers, hire speakers, rent a huge facility at some resort and no one show up. Why? Because people don’t know what they want, but don’t have the nerve or intelligence to tell you. Henry Ford said, “If we had asked the public what they wanted, they would have said ’faster horses’.” He trusted his intuition and was generally correct. Coca Cola used product surveys in the early 1980’s that told them that a sweeter flavor of their number 1 soft drink would outsell the competition. Yielding to “the experts” the executives changed the formula amid a fanfare of bands, media blitz and hoopla. Within days they began receiving complaints from the consuming public who wanted their Old Coke” back. You can’t always rely on what the experts tell you. They are often giving you an opinion just to get a check from you. Trust your gut and what you know about your top customers. You do know them, don’t you?