Using Feedback to Benefit Your Business

By Matt Hoffman

Whether your business is still struggling through the economic slump or experiencing skyrocketing sales, it's critical to regularly gather feedback that gives you an accurate reading of the pulse of your customers and employees. If they're not satisfied, it's time to make some changes.

You can gather feedback in several ways, from asking questions verbally to having people complete written surveys. Following are some pointers that will help you get the feedback you need to ensure the success of your business.

Verbal Customer Feedback

The only way to know if your customers are really happy is to ask them—and to listen to what they say. Make sure your employees directly ask customers for their opinions regarding your business services or products.

One of the simplest ways to gather feedback from your customers is to simply have your employees ask them, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" or "Is there any way in which we are failing to meet your needs?"

Pay attention to what your customers say and record it to analyze later.

Questionnaires

Another way to gather feedback from customers is to have them complete a questionnaire. Ask them, "Did we ask everything you expected us to ask?" "How did we meet your expectations?" and "Were you satisfied with the service you received?"

While you certainly need to listen to the words your customers say, also read between the lines. Even though a customer may say she's happy, does her tone of voice really reflect that sentiment? Most communication is non-verbal, and if you're talking with someone over the phone, you cannot read the expression on the person's face or their body language. But you may be able to pick up on subtle reactions they have, like a sigh.

You can also pay attention to the questions a customer asks. For example, if a customer asks, "What about that great offer you had a month ago; whatever happened to that?" After the employee gives a standard response, the customer may respond with: "Oh, okay." You may just write it off as a passing comment, but maybe it isn't. Track how many customers ask that same question. If you know that question always leads to three more questions, you can manage their expectations (and perhaps prevent disappointment) by developing a response that answers the initial question but also answers the next three questions in advance. Anticipating your customer's needs makes them happy and shows them that you "know" them. This helps build relationships.

Written Surveys

These are also good tools to collect information from customers. They can either be done by phone by a representative or through IVR, over the Internet or through direct mail. Remember to respect your customers' time by keeping the survey quick and easy. Importantly though, make sure you include at least one question on the survey that allows customers the opportunity to give specific feedback (both good and bad) using free form text.

How to Use Customer Feedback to Your Advantage

Now that you have gathered feedback, what do you do with it? The first step is to evaluate what you have. Develop a database tailored to the information you want to track (i.e. pricing structure, quality, service, etc.). Then look at the percentage of your top two positive responses to get a good representative sample. Don't count the neutrals. If you want to do some service recovery, look at the two lowest responses as well. Once you have a representative negative response, you can research why people are disappointed and find a way to remedy it.

Just as it is important to turn unhappy customers around, it is also important to reward people who already think you're good. Keep your loyal people happy. If you follow up with customers about their feedback, they may think, "Hey, those people actually paid attention to me. They value my opinion. I'm going to keep going back to them."

Finally, you can use customer feedback as a tool to evaluate employee performance. To do that, ask specific questions about the employees, such as "Was the person who helped you knowledgeable, polite and friendly?" With specific information about employees, you'll know who needs more training and who is performing well.

Front Line Feedback

Your front line employees are a key resource for customer feedback since they actually interact with your customers. These employees can give you both general and specific observations (for instance, that customers have mentioned they liked the quality of one product but have not been happy with the quality of another).

Your employees are on the front line taking care of the customers, so you need to keep them as happy as possible. Listen to any input they offer; show them how much you appreciate their efforts. Consider holding a monthly focus group with different employees in order to keep on top of any new issues. Focus groups allow employees to vent and voice their opinions about the many issues that affect their jobs—whether they are consumer related or not. Additionally, many employees feel more empowered to speak as a group, and in some cases may say more than if you speak to them individually. Employees will also feel empowered and valued when they see that you have taken action based upon their recommendations.

You may want to have employees complete a survey. Offer them some incentive to participate—-perhaps a raffle. When employees drop off their surveys into the box, they receive a ticket stub that enters them for a chance to win a prize. Or, offer employees a dollar, a company-paid lunch or movie tickets as incentives to participate.

You might try an online survey for anonymity or even hire a third party to conduct the survey for you. This way you'll be more likely to get honest results. Use the information gathered from these surveys to make changes within your organization that benefit employees and management. Ask employees about any policies that affect them directly (the attendance policy, for example, or on how much they feel the company values them).

Institute a Feedback Policy Today

The only way to know what your employees and customers expect is to ask them. Decide what information you need and develop a plan for gathering feedback. Analyze the data you receive and put it to good use. Only then will you have the inside information you need to keep your company strong and profitable for years to come.

Learn more about customer and employee motivation at these AMA Seminars:

• Customer Service Excellence, How to Win and Keep Customers
• Motivating for Results: How to Bring Out the Best in People

Author Bio: Matthew Hoffman is a consultant and quality assurance manager at Kowal Associates, Inc., a customer service consulting firm located in Boston, MA. For more information visit www.kowalassociates.com or call 617-892-9000.