As you’re putting the finishing touches on 2009, do you know what your customers think of you and your work? Do you really?
Surveys – set out through the mail, e-mail or conducted over the phone – can be a great tool for collecting data on your people, services, performance and to gauge client expectations for next year.
If done right, a customer survey will give you honest feedback and valid opinions and provide you with a jump start on next year.
Listen to the Harvest Group’s fourth installment of the Grow Show here.
Five key elements of a successful survey:
1. Getting to the Right Person
- The survey must reach the right people or you will end up wasting money and valuable time.
- Make sure all the names, titles, and addresses and email addresses are correct if you are conducting an online survey.
- Don’t just randomly send to the customer such as sending with the invoice.
- Know your targeted person (s) within the organization where you wish to get feedback.
2. Design the Survey Questions
- Determine ahead of time what you want to accomplish.
- Some examples: Are you looking for information about pricing? About the quality of specific services you provide?
- Determine level of your customer’s satisfaction: Are they willing to refer you to others? Identifying new niche services that would be of interest to them
- Be sure to set up a rating scale that will provide you with reliable information. Use a 1-5 scale
- You can use an expectation scale, such as: exceeds expectations, better than expected, meets expectations, worse than expected, unacceptable, far below expectations
- Keep it short.
- Keep it simple.
- Keep it real.
- Keep it organized.
3. Key Survey Opportunities
- Survey after not being awarded the contract.
- Survey at the new start of a relationship.
- Survey at or near renewal time.
- Survey as an exit interview.
4. Survey Methods
- Conducted internally/in house or externally/by outside service.
- Mail (sort of old school), e-mail (Zoomerang), phone or in-person.
- Send smaller batches out so you can respond in a timely manner to any requests.
5. Analyze the Results/Follow Up
- Track percentage of responses. A typical good response rate is: 50 percent-plus if done over phone live, 30 percent of total participants for an online survey, 10 percent of total participants for a mail or paper survey
- Note common areas needing attention.
- Remember: What get measured gets managed and what gets managed gets improved.
The Follow-Up
- Share the results with your people.
- Respond immediately to any requests or issues.
- Make any system or process adjustments as pointed out by the customer.
- Use it as an opportunity to communicate with your people on how they are doing.
- Connect to performance reviews.
Our next podcast starts a new segment on gaining new customers. We’ll start by showing you how to get past the gatekeepers.
Sample survey questions from The Harvest Group.
Satisfaction with Our Performance:
At the current time how satisfied are you with our overall "job" performance? (Circle One)
- Very Satisfied
- Somewhat Satisfied
- Neutral
- Somewhat Dissatisfied
- Very Dissatisfied
Primary reasons for stated level of satisfaction:
Suggestions for Improvement:
Your company could improve my overall satisfaction by doing the following:
If asked today, how likely would you choose to continue to do business with us? (Circle One)
- Definitely Would
- Probably Would
- Might or Might Not
- Probably Would Not
- Definitely Would Not
Why?
If asked today, how likely are you to renew your maintenance agreement with us? (Circle One)
- Definitely Would
- Probably Would
- Might or Might Not
- Probably Would Not
- Definitely Would Not
Why?