P
Paul Vragel
Before considering a survey as a solution, also consider what you are prepared to do based on the range of answers you receive. As a customer, if you ask me what to correct and then you don't take action, that may be enough for me to go elsewhere.
I often pose this series of questions to a company or group: How many of you have been surveyed today? (Many hands go up - the question itself is also a short survey). Consider how much thought and effort went into your reply. NOW you have been instantly transformed into the CEO of the company that surveyed you, with full knowledge of how much throughe/effort you put into the reply. Would you make any significant business decision based on the results of that survey?
In contrast, your day-to-day activities contain a lot of information to help you assess how customers percieve you are doing, and what you can do to improve.
It takes a little effort, but you can look through your processes and identify what interactions would tell you something meaningful (either alone, or in combination). Things like:
- volume of new inquiries
- number of changes to products in production
- number of changes to products in engineering
- repeat orders
- number and type of returns
- changes to customer-supplied information (such as on a form)
You can directly link these measures to your processes. This tells you not only something about customer perceptions, but also helps you identify what specifically you can do to improve the results you are getting.
Sometimes, you can identify entirely new busines opportunites.
Example:
Just by knowing the pattern of people's stays in a hotel (through a frequent guest program, for example), a hotel chain can design specific promotions and/or services to accomodate different patterns. The once-a-quarter stay in Tokyo vs the once a week stay at a hotel in the Midwest.
I often pose this series of questions to a company or group: How many of you have been surveyed today? (Many hands go up - the question itself is also a short survey). Consider how much thought and effort went into your reply. NOW you have been instantly transformed into the CEO of the company that surveyed you, with full knowledge of how much throughe/effort you put into the reply. Would you make any significant business decision based on the results of that survey?
In contrast, your day-to-day activities contain a lot of information to help you assess how customers percieve you are doing, and what you can do to improve.
It takes a little effort, but you can look through your processes and identify what interactions would tell you something meaningful (either alone, or in combination). Things like:
- volume of new inquiries
- number of changes to products in production
- number of changes to products in engineering
- repeat orders
- number and type of returns
- changes to customer-supplied information (such as on a form)
You can directly link these measures to your processes. This tells you not only something about customer perceptions, but also helps you identify what specifically you can do to improve the results you are getting.
Sometimes, you can identify entirely new busines opportunites.
Example:
Just by knowing the pattern of people's stays in a hotel (through a frequent guest program, for example), a hotel chain can design specific promotions and/or services to accomodate different patterns. The once-a-quarter stay in Tokyo vs the once a week stay at a hotel in the Midwest.