SATISFACTION GUARANTEED:
The Value Behind "Wow" Customer Service

Everyone likes to be heard. It's human nature. Finding out what your customers really need and want from your business is critical to your success. After all, hopefully your customers are growing which means their needs are changing. How you were working with them a couple of years ago may not be working as effectively today. Adapting and responding to these changes is key to building your customer's loyalty and making you stand out from the legions of competitors waiting for the opportunity to steal your customer away.

Lisa O'Quinn of LYF-TYM Building Products Co., Inc., agrees. "The survey removed any doubts about what our strengths were in our industry. We would encourage other companies to participate in the same 'self-examination'," states O'Quinn. "In a day where customer service has become very competitive, we are always looking for ways to out-service our competition. We found (conducting the surveys) was money well spent."

When Training Resources found out that our clients preferred differing ways of receiving our newsletter, we adapted our method of delivery so that we could effectively deliver each issue via email, fax or mail according to a specific client's preference. Of course, this brings another important point. You must be willing to take the requested action, otherwise, don't bother asking their opinion in the first place. You will be slapping your customers in the face and hurting your relationship if you ask for their collective feedback and then choose to ignore the collective recommendations.

So how do you ensure that you're getting the most out of surveying your customers? Consider these tips to get you headed in the right direction:

1. KNOW YOUR OPTIONS: There are three ways to get customer feedback: 1) Written survey; 2) Telephone Interview Surveying; and 3) Focus Group. Knowing what will work best for you and your customers is the first step in doing an initial satisfaction survey if you've never done one before.

2. SWITCH GEARS: If you've been doing customer satisfaction surveys and aren't getting as high of a level of participation, you may want to change the format. If you've been telephoning, try a written survey or vice versa.

3. PREPARE PROPERLY: We were thrilled to receive 90% participation from our client list in our survey. While we conducted phone interviews, which has a higher participation rate in general percentage-wise, alerting our clients ahead of time and properly informing them of what and why we were conducting the survey is a key reason so many were ready and willing to help.

4. DON'T DO IT YOURSELF: The old adage of "finding comfort in a stranger" is never more true than when it comes to getting a customer's complete perspective. Let someone outside your firm do the telephone interviews. Involve an outside firm or individual in the questionnaire's or survey's content. Professionals in the field know ways to get more information out of your customers simply by the way a question in asked or the order in which it is asked.

5. TAKE ACTION: Develop an action plan in response to the survey results and then be sure to alert customers to the changes and action you will be taking as a result of their feedback. Most important of all, follow through with the action and let them "witness" and "experience" the results of their valued suggestions. When a local government agency found out they could do better in responding to requests or in supplying information, they also discovered that this is a common issue not only for the customer but also internally from department to department. In response, they now encourage responses to phone calls to be initiated within 24 hours. Everyone is aware that a timely response is an important issue and works toward responding to whomever may be inquiring and in need of follow-up.