Question
I am slow on business right now and thought that a customer survey and follow up letter would help past clients keep me in mind. Also, with the survey I could find out what they liked and what they didn't like about my services. Has anyone done this? What kind of questions and comments were in your survey and letter?
Forum Responses
(Business and Management Forum)
From contributor G:
Personal opinion only. No marketing study to back me up.
1. My mind flashed back 50 some years ago to notes passed around in second grade asking someone if they liked you, and if so to check here and return. Seems a little lame, like you are asking for a pat on the back.
2. EBay and such have ruined the honest "how was my service?" questionnaire by making anything less than a perfect report constitute a failure.
3. I would find such a survey to be junk mail, and be annoyed at having to throw it away.
How about a letter thanking them for being a past customer and announcing, with a few pictures, something recent that you are proud of, and saying that you have available booking time to work on special projects as well as your normal services. Or use the time to contact, in person, a number of contractors (or whoever your customers are) who have not used your services. Ask to present your credentials in the form of a projects completed/view of our shop book. If not in person, then by brochure.
The thing about surveys is to gather what resonates with the customer. Your customer uses emotional reasoning. Watch TV advertising - it is all about emotions. This is why you should do it in person. You are looking for what gets a rise out of them, good or bad. Use leading questions.
What is your favorite part about using your new kitchen?
What do you dislike about having remodeling done?
What do you most like about our service? (surveys show cleanliness)
What do your friends like about your new kitchen?
What made you feel you could trust us to do work on your house?
Although I've never had anyone seriously disappointed, I have had customers mention something they thought could be improved, and it hasn't always been what I thought. Furthermore, if you find the area mentioned is always the same (for me for a long time it was always something related to getting the project done on time), then you know where to focus.
For example, this was a response from a customer a few years back: "Timeliness is still the most important issue I think that needs to be addressed. The quality is there, the presentation is on its way, just work on schedule."
Well, we've been trying to do just that. Take a look at a recent response from a designer customer: "The timing was totally impressive! I was used to late cabinet companies..."
It's the first thing she mentioned. She also went on to say that my quote was higher than she expected, but the quality (specifically naming the finish) and timing were better than she was used to. That's helpful to know.
Believe it or not, this is still classified under the moniker of "sales" – not direct, but still selling. What you’re trying to do is what many deep pocketed retailers already do; create top of mind positioning. When you think of cheese, you might immediately think "Kraft" or if someone says "soft drink," you might immediately blurt out "Coke." Sure these companies have some advantages over us with their endless financial resources for billboards, magazine ads, television ads, in store displays, etc. Well, you don’t have to worry about resources like that because we aren’t looking for millions of customers.
What we are looking for is a simple approach to connect with our customers and not be intrusive. Some experts have called this "permission marketing" and others have coined it "nurture marketing/selling" – those titles aside, I call it "indirect, direct selling." You need to target a specific person and indirectly market to them in the form of providing value.
A very basic outline of what you might create could look like this: Identify your top 25 most important customers that you want to touch on a consistent basis. I recommend this be a list of people you know well and already have a relationship with, definitely not a cold call type of list. Although you can do that type of list, it would require a slightly different approach.
Create a form to monitor your action steps and results. Lay out a full year-long plan.
Month 1, Letter with enclosure (seeds)
Month 2, Letter with client survey (report card - be brief)!
Month 3, Letter with helpful enclosure (i.e. 115 ways to organize your business life)
Month 4, White paper on technology and the impact on business
Month 5, Employee survey
Begin with a letter, maybe two or three short paragraphs. Here is one such letter we wrote.
Dear X,
“When you need a friend, it’s too late to make one” - Mark Twain
That Mark Twain quote really hits home. We at (your company name) hope to prove that we're a good friend. Unfortunately, it’s often hard for us to prove our friendship to a valuable customer like you until you experience a problem – and we certainly don’t wish that on anybody!
I hope that every time you call our office, somebody makes you feel glad you chose (your company mane) as your partner.
I saw this little packet of forget-me-not seeds the other day, and they reminded me of the importance of always growing your support and loyalty. We certainly remember you and we don’t want you to forget that we're here to support your business. Thanks for helping me grow ours.
Sincerely
- Hand signed in blue ink
ME
(title)
Of course the packet of seeds was included in the envelope and the envelope was hand addressed; don’t use some impersonal label; you need to create the feeling of personal. You wouldn’t use a laser printer to sign your family Christmas cards, so don’t do it here. These are just a few top level points of what a successful campaign might look like – you can create and do virtually anything to add value to your client's life, you just need to think!
I would also caution you against sending anything with your name pasted all over it like most marketers would tell you. Sending a 20 cent pen isn’t what this approach is about. When we have a brochure or something printed, we do put our name and logo on the back or a relatively inconspicuous place. We want to do everything possible not to deliver something that gives a cheap, slimy feeling to our customers.
Remember, you aren’t asking for anything – only giving value because you care. Someday, you may want to make a withdrawal from this account you’ve created; make sure you fill it properly and abundantly.
The point about positioning is very salient, as the idea in the book "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" was about communicating a lot of information quickly. Albeit this is commonly used by mass marketers, I think it can easily have the same effect in a focused campaign to your existing customers and potential new ones. It works for me. The key to using it besides repetition is being able to resonate with the customers instantly; this is done through emotional reasoning and positioning. You ascertain this information with surveys done in person, not by mail. This is the difference between finding the gold mine or more worthless dirt.
If you come up with a strategy before doing this, you are getting the cart before the horse. With existing customers I can see where the friend thing might work, but I don't see how that would work with someone you don't know.
Unless your identity is slimy, I wouldn't worry about looking slimy. Point is the last thing I would want to be is inconspicuous; conspicuous does not necessarily mean anything negative.
The surveys are the guidepost as to what people think is slimy and, more importantly, desirable. What you think has nothing to do with it; what they think has everything to do with it.
Years ago I was looking at joining a contractor franchise group called Dial One. They did extensive surveys; one of the main points that their surveys pointed out was that the customer judged the quality of a contractor by his cleanliness. I don't know about you, but the last way I would judge the quality of a cabinet job was by how well he cleaned up. But what I think has nothing to do with it.
In Guerrilla Marketing, they said out of 32 main points about advertising the single most important was positioning. Although they didn’t call it that, the book Blue Ocean Strategy was about companies that had done a great job of positioning. The examples they gave were Southwest Airlines versus other airlines, Cirque du Soleil versus Barnum & Bailey or Ringling Brothers, Yellow Tail wine versus typical wineries. The position in the mind of the customer dictates your strategy from advertising to what machinery you need, soup to nuts. It is worth spending some time on.
