Consumer Forum

I think our lives are enjoyed most when we centre them around other people. Forget money, disregard technology, take your mind off your rights – I think that our happiest days will be those we remember for the emotions and experiences with real people!  A child’s laugh is infectious, and an unexpected “thank you” makes our day, the feeling of being listened to makes us feel better.  I see businesses as simply collections of people, people that make stuff, create services or offer solutions to…. other people.  Simple really.  And I see the businesses that work best are those that focus on their human interaction most and do it really, really well.

 

Here at Ella’s Kitchen, our business completely revolves around the little-big people who eat our products and the bigger people who choose to buy them. I know that understanding why they do this is critical to our success, as is understanding why other people may have stopped buying them or indeed may have never tried. So, what makes these people tick??  The answer is most easily found by talking directly to them – as person to person, not as corporation to consumer, and building a relationship.  We learn loads this way, improving our products, brand reputation and minimising stuff that can go wrong with the relationships.  Our heroes (children and babies) and their heroes (mums and dads) are at the very centre of everything we do and we are really passionate about them. If we get the relationship right our products, our finances and our reputation will look after themselves.  We think about it as ‘making friends’ and we know that best friends not only have stuff in common and good times together, but also that they are honest with each other, put themselves in their friend’s shoes, and don’t shirk away from talking over stuff when its gone a little bit wrong.

 

I am therefore absolutely delighted to have been a little bit of help in conceiving the Consumer Forum.  After Ella’s Kitchen won the National Business Award for Most Consumer Focused Business in the South East in 2008, I was really keen to use our growing reputation to influence others in connecting with their customers and in learning from other companies who have similar views on life.  When we first started talking, I was really impressed with the outlook, ethics, products, services and people-focus of the other Forum founding businesses and was inspired by the enthusiasm and desire to champion the consumer by the other entrepreneurs and leaders around the table.

 

I know that the way we try and build our brand and keep the brand loyalty of our family of “Ella’s Friends” – the people who trust our brand and buy our products – can always be improved.  This is true no matter how much time and focus we dedicate to excellence in our relationships with our mums and dads.  We also know that we don’t always get it right, and if – for whatever reason – we haven’t excelled with an individual person there will be no more important decision or action, across our business, than learning from what went wrong and why our particular friend has got cross with us.  We focus on prioritising putting stuff in place to minimise it going wrong again and – most vitally – in keeping our disappointed consumer informed and feeling listened to in a personal and timely way, especially if we have let ourselves down.

 

By joining with like minded, people-spirited, successful businesses who we respect and who respect their customers as individuals, I believe that we will learn, influence and be inspired to improve our customer relationships and those of the other Forum businesses.

 

A smile costs nothing, nor does a conversation. Passion is free, as is humility. Corporate smiles and friendships with their consumers are invaluable to successful businesses and happier communities.  I am investing Ella’s Kitchen’s time and energies in the Consumer Forum’s development so that we can have the best relationships with our consumers, and they with us. It’s an exciting adventure in which I’m both proud and humbled to be a part.

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