Simple though it seems, I am too often amazed at how small business owners fail to lend their ears and listen what their customers have to say about the product or service the receive. This has been amplified as of late around the office as the visually-impaired gentlemen that provides the vending machine snacks and drinks simply has not heeded the requests of my fellow team

members (myself included) about provided "healthy" snacks instead of the candy bars and potato chips he has supplied since he first started his business years ago. I see people bring in 100 calorie packs of almonds and other low calorie or otherwise healthy snacks. I mentioned to him about three months ago that if he would put some 100 calorie packs, he would get much more business. He readily agreed to do that. Nothing has changed. When I shared this with other team members, they echoed similar circumstances. Don't get me wrong, we are happy to support him through his vending business, but how hard is it to at least provide some healthier alternatives to the candy bars, chocolate and potato chips, and as a result, increase his revenue?

I read the headline for an article about the government requiring healthier snacks in schools today, and before reading the article, thought about how small businesses could benefit from the law. With a little thought and creativity, it could be a small business boon. So I started reading the article and came across the following:

Affecting the child's ability to think? Really? That is fantastic, if you think about it! Forget about the fact that another instance of the Federal government sticking their hands where it shouldn't be. Forget about the fact that it is just better to serve healthier food to kids. What this small company did was demonstrate to their potential customer how they could make their customer successful. Ever since George W. implemented "No Child Left Behind" (which was a nice idea, but poorly implemented - schools now "cheat" to pass the exams), ensuring kids have sharp minds has become suddenly important to an otherwise "I just want to get through the school year alive" mentality. In my niece's senior year, she decided (and I have no idea why) to take Physics. She never passed a test. In fact, the best score she got was a 56 on the very first test. But she passed, and so did the entire school. No one failed. If her high school didn't meet certain graduation requirements, then they would stop getting federal funding. So now you can see how Fresh Healthy Vending played to their customer's basic need: success. They proactively "listened" to their customer and offered a solution in a manner in which the customer probably wasn't actively looking for.

So what type of small business are you? Are you listening to your customer, then doing your own thing or are you actively seeking solutions that your customers don't yet realize they need? You can actively listen to your customer by understanding what makes them a success, then play on that basic instinct. Just realize that your customer's success is your success.