Advertising is a great way to get your company’s name recognized, while belly-to-belly sales is a key factor in driving revenue.
But Charles Stuart — who lectures nationally on building business relationships — says research is too often brushed aside when business owners draft marketing strategies.
Customer inquires don’t have to be limited to hit-and-miss comment cards or time-consuming telephone calls, which provide a grainy picture at best of how customers view your company. Stuart says the most effective way to gauge customer satisfaction and collect valuable feedback is to enlist the help of your sales staff.
If members of your sales team visit their clients once a week, Stuart suggests arming them with questions to ask at the end of each sales call. A question like, “What are the two or three things you wish we did better?” can generate surprising and valuable responses.
“It’s something we should all do much more of,” says Stuart. “At the end of the year, you could have 52 questions answered in-depth.”
Here is his simple four-step approach to successfully mining customers for feedback.
Ask useful questions
If you’re going to poll your customers, determine what you want to know about the perception of your company. It sounds simple, but Stuart warns even the best intentions are often derailed by half-baked questions that really provide no useful information.
“You have to ask and you have to ask well,” he says. “That means coming up with questions in advance and crafting them perfectly.”
Wait for a response
Don’t hurry an answer. Once you ask the question, give the person enough time to collect an intelligent and thorough response. Silence, says Stuart, is the best weapon in your arsenal when trying to learn what people really think.
“Silence is powerful,” he says. “In all of your conversations with other human beings, especially when you’re trying to create a relationship, the most powerful thing you can say is nothing.”
Take detailed notes
Jot down the response on the same note card on which the question was written for easy reference later. Taking notes also shows the person you really care about their answer, not to mention it keeps you from interrupting the flow of valuable feedback.
“The moment they start speaking, ask the person to pause so you can write it down,” says Stuart. “It engages you to do something else besides talking.”
Don’t argue
No matter what kind of criticism is leveled at your company, do not try to argue or fashion some sort of defense. The fastest way to kill the effectiveness of customer research, Stuart says, is insinuating that your customers’ opinions are wrong.
“If you argue with people, they’ll quit talking to you,” says Stuart. “When you argue with somebody’s response to your question, they’re going to stop responding.”
How to reach: Charles Stuart, www.charlesstuart.com
Jim Vickers ([email protected]) is associate editor at SBN.
