Use Your Own Products
One of the typical aspects of traveling is that you end up using a lot of products and services you usually don’t need in your daily life. Like hotels, all kinds of transportation services, bed-and-breakfasts, etc. You also eat out much more.
During my trip, I noticed over and over how many businesses could perform so much better if only their management team was using their own products!
We stayed at a bed and breakfast type of place for a few days. The cabins were right on the beach and the spot was secluded and really beautiful. But there’s so much more that can be done with this business! The cabins were lacking the small details that can make all the difference – details that you notice only if you actually stay and sleep there. If the owner of that business could spend just a couple of days a month in her own cabins, she could greatly improve the business over time just by changing small things here and there. But if you don’t use your own products, you just have no idea what’s missing (or what’s unnecessary). Moving that hammock from this tree to that tree that has more shade and a better view could make a significant difference in the customer experience.
So use your own products! Or better yet – don’t offer a product you don’t need or won’t use. Why would you care about your business if it doesn’t provide a solution to a problem you personally experience? Think about the difference in the quality of the products and services you use everyday if the people who provide them actually cared!
I use our products all the time. For example, I wanted to sublet my apartment for the Month of March while we were away. I quickly setup one of our CMS website templates – edited the content and added images with the interface that comes with the product. The result was a great website that took me about 10 minutes to complete and we were able to find someone to sublet our house in just a few days. Setting up the websites we design and actually using them for specific purposes is what helps us keep our products “real”, useful, simple and targeted.