If Amazon, this trillion-dollar business, can ask for feedback, why can’t you? Feedback is an essential part of your business growth and customer experience and customer service.
Key Points:
- The benefits and challenges of adult children working with their parents in family businesses
- Learning from Home Depot’s $20 billion flower business about expanding customer offerings
- How Google’s AI innovations are boosting ad revenue despite changing search behaviors
- The importance of regularly seeking customer feedback to improve service
- Adapting business strategies during economic uncertainty and technological change
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Adult Children in Family Business: Building Multi-Generational Success
Ramon opened the show with insights on the growing trend of adult children working with their parents in family businesses. He highlighted how these partnerships can strengthen businesses while requiring careful relationship management.
“You can’t just put them on time out and tell them to go sit in the corner. They’re adults,” Ramon observed about working with adult children. “They may have their own kids. They can make their own decisions.”
Ramon emphasized three key benefits of these family partnerships: different perspectives that bring fresh ideas, built-in trust that most business relationships lack, and the opportunity for parents to mentor their children through business challenges.
Drawing from his own experience working with his son, Ramon noted that successful family business relationships require addressing any underlying tensions first: “If you have a contentious relationship with your child and you’re trying to bring your child in, that could be difficult to do… the first thing we need to do is bring healing and make sure we’re at peace.”
For businesses aiming for longevity, Ramon referenced successful family enterprises like Black Enterprise (now in its second generation) and Carter Myers Automotive (a century-old business in its fourth generation) as examples of what’s possible when family businesses are managed effectively.
Expanding Customer Offerings: Lessons from Home Depot’s Flower Business
One of the most practical insights Ramon shared came from Home Depot’s surprising success story – their $20 billion flower business that now outperforms their traditional offerings. This led to a powerful question for entrepreneurs: “What else can you serve your customers now that they trust you?”
Ramon explained how customer trust creates opportunities for business expansion, using Uber’s evolution from ride-sharing to delivery services as an example of strategic growth through diversification.
“Now that you have a customer, now that you built the trust, now that they’ve declared that they wanna work with you… how else can you serve them? What else can you provide for them?” Ramon challenged listeners, framing this approach as both a business growth strategy and improved customer service.
This perspective positions expansion not as simply selling more, but as solving additional problems for customers who already trust your business. As Ramon noted, “They don’t have to think too hard about saying, ‘Let’s work with [you] about doing something else.'”
AI’s Impact on Ad Revenue and Business Opportunities
Ramon highlighted Google’s impressive financial results to illustrate how AI is transforming business models. Despite concerns that Google’s AI-enhanced search results would reduce clicks to external websites, their ad revenue has actually increased substantially.
“Google parent Alphabet posted stronger than expected profit and revenue for the first quarter as artificial intelligence helps bolster advertising growth in its search business. Revenue rose 12% to $90 billion in the quarter,” Ramon reported.
This led to a broader discussion about business adaptation during technological change. Rather than focusing on what might be lost, Ramon encouraged entrepreneurs to look for new possibilities: “In the midst of this economic uncertainty and with the screaming progress of AI… what are the solutions that you can have for your customers? How can you serve your customers better?”
The Simple Power of Customer Feedback
A seemingly basic Amazon feedback request prompted Ramon to discuss the importance of regularly seeking customer input. Showing Amazon’s simple “Tell us what you think” message, Ramon explained why feedback processes are crucial for business improvement.
“Why is feedback important? Because Amazon knows that the more and more and more they can get feedback from their customers… they can know that they’re doing their best job to serve,” Ramon observed.
He encouraged business owners to implement similar feedback systems not just with customers but also with team members and business partners, emphasizing that continuous improvement requires ongoing evaluation.
Navigating Economic Uncertainty
With many large companies revising their financial forecasts due to economic volatility, Ramon acknowledged the challenges but urged small business owners to maintain an opportunity mindset.
“If the bigger companies are tearing up their forecast… this doesn’t mean you should tear up your forecast. But here’s what I’d love to do. Keep your eye always open for the opportunity,” Ramon advised.
He contrasted playing checkers (reactive, basic moves) with playing chess (strategic, forward-thinking) as a metaphor for business adaptation: “If you’re just playing checkers and have your thumb stuck in your mouth, you’re gonna lose. But if you’re seeing always how you can play chess in the crazy economy we’re in and be proactive, you’ll win every single day.”
Ramon concluded with a powerful metaphor about influence, urging listeners to “be the thermostat in the room and change the temperature everywhere we are” rather than being “the thermometer of the room and let everything around us change us.”
Throughout the episode, Ramon maintained his signature energetic delivery while providing practical advice that small business owners could immediately apply to strengthen their operations and identify new growth opportunities.
