When did you last survey your key customers? Do a bit of research about how you’re doing? Couple of times a year? Annually Never?
A survey is different from – let’s say – a peer to peer relationship. We can maintain those, nurture them and pay attention to them. However, in larger businesses which often rely on a spiders web of contacts between two businesses, it’s amazing how opinion can differ. Leaders aren’t always connected with the detail. That’s where a survey can come in and give you a healthcheck, beyond the parameters of “do we like each other as people”.
The trick with surveys is to keep them short. Don’t expect too much of people, they are busy with their own stuff. If you keep it concise, targetted, simple and easy to complete you will get greater response. I regularly use Survey Monkey, a free cloud based application, which allows you to create a basic on-line survey for free. All you have to do is decide your questions, decide what format you want the answers in – multiple choice etc – and then publish the URL to your customers. Easy as that.
Well, it’s easy is you really focus your questions down and make them relevant. Surveys have to give the recipient a right of reply. Not everyone is comfortable with being “totally honest”. I like Survey Monkey as it is done anonymously, so you tend to get to the real truth.
Sometimes it can be difficult to read difficult things, sometimes people fill them in when “in the grip” of a difficult situation, so the timing triggers a negative response. Regardless, they should always be seen as an indicator for you to take action and investigate further if things aren’t going your way. It’s surprising what you can learn and in our world of “user generated content” the most important voice we should be listening to – is our customers.
