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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 18 – CUSTOMER FEEDBACK METHODS
Do you chug along busy as a bee and happy as a pig wallowing in the mud? Are you a born worrier, spending endless hours fretting over every little detail? Somewhere in between is a sensible, confident business person who knows that however busy they are, however scared they are, they need to be very aware about their customer needs and to gather as much knowledge about their business using customer feedback methods.
Today, I start with repeating my mantra, feedback, feedback, feedback. You need to have a method of gathering information about your products and services in order to make sure that you are giving customer satisfaction and that you are reaching the maximum number of customers.
There are many different methods you can use, from surveys to asking questions on social media sites, to chatting to customers face to face, and so on. You can invest in a mobile marketing app, offering a gift or discount for questions answered, you could start a customer club where you can eavesdrop on customer chat online via a chat group, blog or free membership site, and from time to time, offering rewards to your customers for loyalty and ideas about how their customer response can be improved, or unmet needs satisfied product wise.
Sometimes just the simplest and cheapest methods work the best. If you have face to face contact with your customers then why not just spend a few moments asking them about your products and services and if, in an idea world, there is something else that you can do to make their experience or your product even better for them. It can be done without raising their expectations by telling them that you are asking all your customers that you meet what their thoughts are so you can evaluate how well you are doing and what future changes you might make.
Your customer feedback methods are only limited by your willingness to recognise how important this element of your business is, and overcome any reluctance to discover for yourself how you are meeting your customers needs. After all, not only do you owe it to your customers to take on this task, but to yourself, for without this information you may be robbing yourself of the chance to attract many more customers.