We all have a range of customers, some who have been with us for years, and some who are relatively new. In addition, we hope that every business has a database of entries representing those customers that have purchased from us in the past. If any database is to be useful, it should contain information such as when the customer first inquired, when they purchased and what they purchased. It will also contain contact details such as email addresses and contact phone numbers.
Let us demonstrate how your business’s database is one of the biggest assets to your company. This asset will help you find out more about your customers to a very large extent. Once we understand what the customers experience has been in the past, you can change your service procedures and service offerings to ensure the flow of customers customer coming through your door.
Clever organisations survey their customers to find out what the experience has been like in previous transactions or visits to the company.
Some of the questions that should be on your mind should include:
- What has the customer service been like in the past?
- Did your company provide an amazing experience in the past?
- Was the experience so grand, this is the reason in particular the client returned?
- Did the product meet expectations of value and quality?
- Is your company easy to deal with?
- Most importantly, did the clients feel important and of value?
This information can be extremely valuable to ensure that we are well poised to serve our valuable customers again in the future. Mediocrity in past transactions is the greatest killer of future sales in any organisation.
How can we survey the clients of our business?
Make up a set of questions that will give a snapshot of different service levels, and the satisfaction of the customer. Consider what would work best for you, in terms of making contact with the customer.
Hello?
Call a variety of customers. Ask them for a few minutes of their time to answer a few questions over the phone. If the survey takes more than ten minutes, you may struggle to find customers that wish to participate.
If you have a 3rd party organisation call on the companies behalf, you’ll be surprised as to how much more feedback you will receive. Customers will be more honest if they are not surveyed directly by your company, which is a huge advantage!
Convenient & Boundless
Send the clients a survey in the mail. This is a less invasive way of conducting a survey. Also, it will give the respondent time to complete the survey on their own time and it will also give them the opportunity to write as much as they want. The rate of participation may be generally less than telephone surveys. However, it is generally more cost effective and you may gain more feedback.
In-Store Feedback
Ask the clients a few key questions directly after the sale. In addition, this can also be a simple way of gauging reaction to your service offerings.
Email Invitations to Your Surveys
Surveys can also be sent by email – this works well, and is even better if it is automated. Be sure the client has agreed to receive emails/offers from the business surveying. If they never agreed, they are more likely to mark surveying companies emails as spam or delete.
Goodies?
Offer an incentive for customers to participate in a survey. For example, offer a small gift, a discount on the next purchase, or enter their name into a drawing for a prize.
In the End
You will be very surprised by the feedback customers give your business. Therefore some of the feedback will leave you shocked, and some will impress you.
It is only when you get to the bottom of customer perceptions when you will truly be able to make the necessary changes to your sales processes. This will then pave the way for having your customers lining up at your front counter for more of your products and services.
George Manolis is a speaker and author who delivers public and in-house training programs in sales all around Australia. Contact him at 1300 791 571 or via email: george@sfsi.com.au. You may also view the comprehensive range of sales tools which include training videos for download – visit www.salesforce.au.com