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Marketing and gathering the comments from your customers does not have to be expensive.  Try something quick, simple and open-ended.  Try asking your customers to finish the statement, “I wish…”  Tell them to answer the question in regards to what they desire of your company.  Give them a small desk or table at the front of the store to complete a postcard and submit it.  They can sign it with their name or not.

Reward great ideas regardless of the source. Regard it as a suggestion program and give away store credits or a store debit card for the best ideas or comments submitted, or just simply pick one from the batch and give out a reward.  Give them a postage paid card to take home with them if you wish.  Give them an option and wait for the responses.  You may be surprised.  You may be amazed.

Monitor the results; your next great product may start here.  Whatever the result, make sure to read what your customers are saying to you about your store and your products.  You may very well be able to change your product or service that will add value and increase sales in the future, all from customers wishing with you in mind.

Examples of customers’ possible “I wish…” statements:

• I wish you had longer hours during the week; I cannot get here through the traffic before you close.  (Review store revenue by time periods and consider changing or extending store hours, especially if this comment occurs frequently or your competitors close earlier than you.)
• I wish your website wasn’t so confusing.  I tried to buy something once stopped; it did not seem very safe using my credit card.  The main problem is that  it is hard to understand what to do next.  Your instructions are too vague, the buttons to click are too small, (why white buttons on a white background?) and when I do click something, nothing happens so I leave the website.  It hangs up too often and the email box you provide does not work.  I hope you are not paying a lot to someone to manage that site; if you are, you are being cheated.
• I wish it was easier to return defective products in your store.  I do not know why it takes so long; you are understaffed and the ones that do work there have no authority; they must call a manager from the back of the store every time.  Who set up this process?  It is not working.
• I wish your sale items were more clearly marked.  More than once when I take items to the counter, they charge me the wrong price.  (Who is responsible for marking products?  Check and review the job description and discuss the task with the employee.  Bad prices ruin customer loyalty and embarrass buyers who have to call out your employees’ errors.)
• I wish you would mark ‘sale items’ with the right prices.  I have to argue with the clerk at checkout to get the right price because they are not marked, so when this happens, everyone is held up in line.  I hate to buy anything when you have to deal with this unnecessary hassle.
• I wish you had the new fall pullover sweaters in the front of the store offered in at least a couple of shades of red.  Did you talk to anyone about the new colors that are out this year?  (Who is the buyer?  Can other shades be purchased quickly? if this was comment was received several times?)
• I wish you had an easier bag to carry; this stiff paper handles cut into the carrier’s hands.  Your competitor has a really easy to carry bag with plastic on the handle; they just started using them about a month ago.  (Ask marketing people to review packaging and the distributor for packaging options in the market.)
• I wish your store was not so cold with the air conditioning; the air blows directly down on you when standing in line to check out.  I know it is a little thing, but three people plus the clerk checking me out said the same thing.  (See if an air deflector can be installed to divert air flow.)
• I wish you had a security guard in the parking lot since there are no outside lights.  I do not feel really safe outside after dark.  (Who can be assigned after dark to make trips out to the lot or to escort shoppers from the front of the store?)
• I wish it was easier to get hold of someone when I call the store.  No one picks up even after I get a recorded message and try to hit “0”.  (What is the procedure and who is assigned in the front office to handle incoming calls?  When that person is not working, who is the alternative?)
• I wish you had an extra person in the shoe department.  The man back there tries his best, but five or six people are waiting on one person and then you have personnel standing in other departments talking.
• I wish someone would respond when I send email inquiries on your website.  Sometimes I get a response but it is only a computerized general answer and does not answer my question.  It is not worth trying to email anything when you cannot reach anyone.
• I wish I could get some help in your billings department to get my account straightened out.  One time my check cleared the bank and I showed this to your manager, but no one credited my account.  The next time I came to the store, the manager changed and I had to start the process over.
• I wish I could push a buzzer in the aisle or department to call for help (an employee or clerk) to help me when I have a question about a product.  I cannot find anyone, and then by the time I get to the front of the store, I just go ahead and leave because it is useless to try to get anyone’s attention.
• I wish it was as easy to get out of your store as it is getting into your store.  I hate to come in and find anything I want to buy because it is a hassle to pay for it.
• I wish someone would offer to help; I look at your employees and they ignore me.
• I wish I could look up products on a simple keyboard at the front of your store when I enter; something really simple where I enter four or five characters and it looks up the matching words and tells me the aisles or locations in the store, maybe with a simple map from where I am standing.  It takes forever to find anybody and they normally say they don’t know the part of the store that I ask about.
• I wish you guys would smile occasionally.  Too many people look depressed.  I sometimes wonder about my safety in your store given the type of employees you have hired.  They act bothered when I ask a question.
• I wish there was an easy way to get product instructions after I get home. My problem is that I cannot find how to, 1.  put my product together, 2.  wash the piece of clothing I bought, 3. where to buy replacement parts, bulbs, fixtures, etc., 4. how to contact a repairman for this product, 5. how to contact the manufacturer.  Is there an 800 number for these types of questions?
• I wish your people were more friendly when they answer the telephone.  They talk so fast, I cannot understand what they are saying.  If they are busy, they cut me off or put me on hold.  Am I the only one who has problems with getting through to someone in your organization?  One day when the young lady cut me off, I simply called your competitor to place the $50,000 order.  I did not know if you wanted to know that or not.  I don’t even like to deal with your competition, but in a way, you forced me to call them, didn’t you?
• I wish I could ask someone there for a history of what I have purchased over the last 12 months.  I bought some things but do not know their names.  I wanted to buy some more but do not know the names of the articles.  I wish I could see my purchases in chronological order.  I asked someone this question once but they were certain this was impossible and if you did this for one, you would have to do it for everyone.  I do not think that person is with you anymore.

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