Do You Know What They Are Saying About Your Business

In the business world, many of us rely on repeat customers and word of mouth to survive, if not succeed. Do you really know, however, how you compare to your competition? What are your customers saying? If they come back, why do they come back? Do the ones who go away leave with a good feeling and maybe recommend you to others or are they disappointed or angry?

Doing a customer satisfaction study is the way to go. A well developed survey can provide you with information that is not only valuable but invaluable. You will learn your strengths and weaknesses, what people are saying about you and how you stack up against the competition. Depending on who is doing the survey, it can also be done very affordably.

One thing which you want to know is how you want to administer the survey. It can be done person to person but that can get to be expensive as often times you are paying for people to fly all over the world (or a particular country). Surveys can be administered on-line which allows a person to take it at his or her convenience. The problem is, it can often give the respondent too much flexibility and when she or he answers an open-ended question, they may not fully answer it. For instance, if a person talking about a product says, "It's good," the comment is of little value to a client. What is good about it? Do you like the color, the sweet taste, the sour taste, the size, or something else. This is crucial and often times not answered effectively in an on-line survey.

I believe the most effective way is to use a phone campaign. Of course, if you go this way, t is also important to think about who you want to make the calls. Do you want to send it out to the cheapest place, even if that is in another country or do you want to use a company in your country? I think using a local company is very helpful.

When you develop the survey, try to keep the following two items in mind. First, do you ask the questions that you need to in order to get the information you want? Second, how long is the study going to take the respondent to answer. I have seen surveys that are 30 minutes or longer. People at home, or at work, usually do not want to stay on the phone that long. Surveys where you are questioning a consumer should be 20 minutes or shorter; Business to Business surveys should be 15 minutes or less if possible.

If you do these things and you are willing to adhere to the advice the survey gives you, I believe the survey will help enhance your profit. That, at least, is what some clients have told me.