Today I read a funny article that really makes you think. Whether or not it’s true, it highlights how companies often spend millions of dollars studying their customers when they could simply look at themselves or just ask people directly.
For example, the article claimed that big fast-food chains like McDonald’s were puzzled about why customers had stopped coming in as frequently. As you can imagine, that hits their bottom line hard. So instead of just looking at their prices, they decided to invest millions in research to figure it out. This sparked a lot of funny remarks from regular people, who basically said it comes down to one simple reason: everything has gotten way too expensive compared to the past.
In recent years, a fast-food meal has become almost as pricey as eating at a sit-down restaurant. I remember not long ago when you could get a combo — burger, fries, and a drink — for five to seven dollars. Now that same meal often costs ten to fifteen dollars, which is comparable to ordering something like a steak at a more traditional restaurant.
It makes you wonder: when you’re a highly paid executive with so much money to spend, do you lose touch with everyday prices? Could you not just go to your own store, look at the menu, and immediately see the problem? You can even go online and read the comments on social media — it’s all right there. You don’t need to spend millions to figure this out.
It’s surprising how big companies with so many departments end up creating unnecessary complexity and wasting money on basic problems. Sometimes you just need to get back to basics and actually listen to what people are openly saying. That feedback is free.