Asking for customer input is cheaper, more client-driven
Entrepreneurs working on their business model may not have to hire external consultants to help develop their ideas - their best consultants may be their very own customers.
Many small businesses and startups are turning to their customers - who are often willing advisers based on incentives or the chance to win prizes, or just because of passion alone - to help decide everything from the company logo to the floor plan or even the name, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Tapping into the consumer psyche to influence business decisions has its benefits and drawbacks, the Journal noted.
Asking for public opinion is likely the cheapest way to get business advice, and increases the chances that the resulting business will be tailored to clients' needs and wishes.
However, there is no guarantee that the advising consumers will end up being the buying consumers, making the latter benefit irrelevant.
In addition, this approach may stifle innovation - Babson College entrepreneurship professor Erik Noyes told the news provider that too much "democratization of innovation" usually leads to choosing the common consensus instead of "groundbreaking ideas."
Small businesses looking to implement this strategy are advised to balance consumer opinion with professional contributions and executive decisions, Noyes told the newspaper.
Despite the recession, many entrepreneurs are using creative strategies like these to work outside the box - a recent Ernst & Young survey of entrepreneurs found that 67 percent are exploring new market opportunities, as compared to 19 percent of mature multi-national corporations.
