Ask the right question of the right people

Not sure if this story is apocryphal or not, but it does make an excellent point. It seems there was a recent college graduate asked to sit in on a critical discussion in which a significant capital investment was being considered. In this competitive marketplace, this world-class yet older hotel was considering new elevators because customer surveys conclusively revealed customers were not happy with the speed of the older elevators. As a consequence, management was considering spending millions of dollars installing new ones. After listening for what seemed to be hours the executive leading the discussion asked the young man sheepishly his thoughts. 

The young man thanked the executive for asking his opinion and then reservedly said, well in preparing for the meeting and knowing this was going to be a point of discussion he asked several maids their opinion. The executive interrupted wishing to clarify the question and ask what maids know about a multi-million dollar capital proposal? The young man said that one of his professors suggested whenever an important decision has to be made, it was a good idea to ask the people closest to the problem.  In this case, maids use elevators all day and interact with customers, so as a consequence, they are in an excellent position of knowing customer likes and dislikes. The young man said one maid in her late 50's said, she'd been a maid at several hotels for the past 30 years, and as far as she was able to tell, this hotel's elevators were no faster or slower than anywhere else she'd worked. She went on, what's missing is mirrors and perhaps one of those shoe-shine machines to occupy people while they wait. 

The lessons are many and too obvious to require explanation.