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Listening
to Customers - 5 Ways to Capture Their Feedback
by
Paul Schwartz
Your
customers are talking a lot, and they have plenty to
say. Are you listening? Whether you refer
to them as customers, clients, or members these people
are the life-blood of your company or organization -
they are your reason for being. They can be
great at promoting your business, but they can just as
easily demote and destroy your business if you don't
consistently listen and learn from them:
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Up to 90% of
dissatisfied customers will not buy from you
again, and may not tell you why.
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Dissatisfied
customers tell an average of 10 other people about
their bad experiences.
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Satisfied customers
will tell, on the average, 5 other people.
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It costs
approximately 5 times more to attract a new
customer than to keep an existing one.
In
the last
issue I discussed how to design effective online
surveys. This month I'll present five additional
ways you can get closer to your customers so you
can turn their feedback into fortunes:
1.
Customer Service and Sales Force feedback.
Customer
Service and Sales Representatives are significant
customer "touch-points." As such,
they offer great insight into your customer's
beliefs about your products and services. Do
you have a process to allow your Customer Service
and Sales Representatives to log the feedback given
by customers? This may be as simple as sending
an email to a designated contact in your Marketing
Department or as thorough as a CRM system that
allows anyone who interacts with the customer the
ability to capture feedback during all phases of the
customer relationship. Michael Dell,
founder and CEO of Dell Computer, spends a
significant amount of time listening to tapes of
both satisfied and dissatisfied customers.
2.
Online Communities and
Portals.
The
Internet has become an amazing tool for individuals
to share their wisdom, insight, and frustrations. Many online sites such as
Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL have online communities where
users can share thoughts about pretty much
anything. In addition, websites such as www.epinions.com
and www.bizrate.com
offer consumers the chance to rate your company and
it's products and services. Depending upon how
large your company is, you may want to assign one or
two individuals the responsibility to track and
trend online discussions and ratings for your
company.
3.
Executive Team Customer Visits.
I
haven't met an executive yet who doesn't value the
ability to interact with their customers. The
trick is finding the time to do it, so formalize the process
and schedule your visits. Identify your key
customers, assign an executive to be the contact and
schedule quarterly visits to those customers.
Determine what questions will be asked to insure
consistency and define a process to use the
feedback. Let that customer know their executive
contact is always available and that it isn't
necessary to wait for the quarterly visit to provide
feedback. Don't forget the other customers -
depending upon your business it may be hard to
identify key customers (i.e retail
businesses). Routinely find the time interact
with all types of customers to get a feel for your
larger customer base. Jack Welch, who led the
legendary growth of General Electric as CEO, is
reported to have devoted 100 days each year to being
with customers.
4.
Customer Advisory Boards.
Customer
Advisory Boards (CAB) can be both formal and informal in their
structure. They typically include 5-10
participants
who are key customers or significant members of your
market segment. A CAB can assist with
insight into both strategic and product issues for
the company. This group is typically lead by a
key member of the management team within your company,
and a formal process is required to make this
successful. Remember, you are inviting these
individuals to take a close look at your company, so
put your best foot forward. Customer Advisory
Boards can offer a unique level of interaction
between
customers and your management team to help gain a
competitive advantage.
5.
Focus Groups
and Customer Interviews.
Focus
groups and customer interviews are one of the most
formal and detailed of the tools listed here.
They can also provide some of the most valuable
feedback you will receive. Focus groups are
comprised of various individuals from various
customer segments where a skilled facilitator works
through a defined agenda and objective to elicit
feedback from your customers. Customer
interviews are also lead by a skilled facilitator
and are done one-on-one with a customer. Some
professionals believe this format elicits more
accurate and valuable feedback than focus
groups. Sergio Zaltman, a Harvard Business
School professor, has written a book that involves
the use of metaphors, images, and memories to elicit
customer feedback.
In both of these situations it is best to bring in
an outside facilitator to avoid any bias that may
come from within your company.
These
are a sample of ways to collect valuable customer
feedback. Remember, once you have a process to
capture the feedback, you will want to look for
trends, and turn that knowledge into action steps.
For more ideas on how to connect with your customers please
visit us on the web at www.congruity.biz
Copyright © 2003
CONGRUITY.
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