Does your business seek advice from clients?

Bulletproof InfoTech played host to a number of our clients today who were open to serving as members of our Advisory Council.  Rene, Jeff and myself all sit in on different panels in the technology field however this was the first time we hosted our own council and left ourselves open to feedback from our clients.

I have to admit I was a tad bit nervous going into this exercise.  In the past I have been shot down for even suggesting this, not sure why but I was.  Not at Bulletproof mind you, our company is very open to having ideas come to us from multiple different directions and our clients play an active role in the development of our business.  I am not sure why many companies are fearful of leaving themselves exposed to critique by those who are here to help them and care about their success.

Speaking from personal experience only, I have been a bit fearful of having what I already know to be my weaknesses exposed to the general public, what did I have to hide?  I know I suck at some things and have great talents in other, it is OK. Then one day I grew up and realized one important life lesson.  In order to get better at what I do, I need to come to terms with my weaknesses and focus on my strengths.

You don’t need to be fearful of having your clients come in and serve on your client advisory panel, it is a very rewarding process and I encourage all of you to open your business up to your clients and have them come in and offer their feedback on how things are going.  What I learned was every single member of our client advisory panel was open to helping and they were very appreciative of being invited to help us out.

What are you hiding anyways?

The world is talking amongst itself.  Don’t kid yourselves, your prospects are sharing your proposals, clients may be sharing what rate they have and guess what, your staff compares pay cheques.  This is just human nature.  I know this idea has been shot down in the past because people were nervous about clients talking amongst themselves, actually they were and they were networking with each other.  What a great experience.

Bulletproof had 6 clients out and it was a wonderful lunch hour of sharing.  Go for it.