We’re going to assume for the purpose of this discussion that you have a top-notch business and this is an outlier in your reputation.  We’re also going to make the assumption that most of our clients are “the best in the world” but that every now and then we do have that “one wacko” who sends our season in a whirl.  What is a wedding pro to do?  What are you to do with this blemish in your otherwise spotless record?

Be Proactive

It’s important that if your business is featured on any rating sites to make sure you follow your reviews closely.  Reward and thank those people that have given you high marks.  Their word is worth gold and you should do everything to shower them with love and attention.  And, for the occasional Sour Sally my recommendation is this:

• Be Graceful
  Remember that you are in the public arena… the way that you response is often more valuable than what it is that she or you say.
• Leave Emotion at the Door
  It’s easy to get upset by things like this but remember that this is only one customer’s opinion.  If you stand beside your product, do not let this phase you.  It’s easy to start pointing fingers when you are angry or sad.  This only makes you look worse.
• Resolve to Resolve the Issue
  Talk to your client offline about the review and express a deep desire to correct the problem.  If you are earnest (and have left emotion at the door) you will be able to communicate openly and the client will soften their approach.
• If Appropriate, Show Resolution
  If it is appropriate, share with the online community how you have worked to resolve the problem.  Keep in mind that no one likes excuses, so steer clear of sounding like you are full of them (regardless of who’s at fault).

Don’t Shy Away

I was terrified when Wedding Wire first went online, “Oh my God, my once-in-a-year- wacko-client will get on there and say bad things about me.”  I’ve told you before that we survey all of our customers and am proud of our reputation.  But it’s that one bridezilla that always scares me.  One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel, right?

Well… maybe not!

Fortune Small Business Magazine recently had an article that you can read here that shows how even bad product reviews can boost sales.  In the article, a retailer takes a risk by posting products to a review site.  Even though there are those occassional bad reviews, the good far outweigh the bad.  And, ultimately people want to be able to comparison shop.  In other words, the marketing benefit of being exposed to these “comparison shoppers” far outweighs the threat of a bad review.  It also gives the retailer a great opportunity to interact with clients and potential customers.

Seth Godin also talks about this in his book Tribes:  “When I get a bad review, my feelings are hurt.  But, it’s not enough to ruin my day because I realize that my book got noticed.  Most people loved it.  A few people hated it.  I realize what a badge of honor it is to get a bit of criticism at all.”

Maybe it’s true what they say… bad press is better than no press?  Well, I don’t know if I’d intentionally take my business down that road… but it helps know that I don’t need to lose sleep over something like the occasional poor review.

This week we’ve been discussing the importance of surveying your customers and the methods for aquiring information.  Today, let’s get int the nitty-gritty: WHAT questions to ask them.

Tips for Writing Your Survey

First, a few tips…

These are not only from the persepective of a surveyer, but also from the perspective of the customer.

• Keep it short
  Less is more.  Your survey should not take more than a page (or, god bless you if it’s only a postcard!)  You want to get them to return the survey.  Don’t give them a reason to pass.
• Keep it simple
  The easier the questions, the more likely you’ll get your survey back.  Give them a scale on which to grade your business.  Encourage quick responses.
• Keep it anonymous for some people
  When I survey my clients, I ask for their name.  We have a relationship and I want to know what they think. When I survey people who passed on doing business with them, I let them know that their identity is optional.  With them, I want information.  And, I want them to be honest.

Questions

The following are MY favorite questions to ask clients.  These questions give me information I need to make design and sales decisions in the future.  Share with us! I’d love to know what you ask your clients!  (Please post your comments below.)

Questions to grade on a scale from 5-1 (outstanding-poor):

• your overall experience with our salesperson/designer
• our accessibility and timeliness in returning your call or e-mail
• responsiveness to your concerns and questions
• the quality of the finished product
• our overall performance

Questions with an opportunity to answer in greater detail (for those that like to share):

• If you circled any “1′s” or “2′s”, we’d appreciate any feedback.
• In what areas should we concentrate our efforts to improve?

And, here’s the clincher… It’s called “The Ultimate Question“:

• On a scale from 1-10, how likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?

(More on that last question in a minute.)  I imagine people can probably fill out this survey in less than 5 minutes and stick in the mail with their other bills.  We have an ~70% return rate and it’s like Christmas when they arrive.   I love getting confirmation that we are doing things right.

The Ultimate Question

The last question on your survey is the most important:

On a scale from 1-10, how likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?

This is a question on which you can derive a lot of information.  It is based on Fred Reichheld’s book, “The Ultimate Question“.  By asking this question of your customers and tabulating the results, you will come up with a “Net Promoter Score” (NPS).  This is the score that shows how healthy your company is in terms of promoters and detractors.  (Who is shouting about your business positively or negatively.)

This is how you come up with your company’s NPS:

Customers fall into one of three categories: Promoters, Passives, or Detractors.  They will answer The Ultimate Question as such:

Courtesty of: www.netpromoter.com

To come up with the NPS take the % of promoters (those people who scored 9s and 10s) and subtract the % of detractors.  For example, if you survey 10 people and you have:

• 6 people who score you with 10 (flying colors) = 60%
• 2 people who score you with 8 (passive people who generally don’t promote or detract) = 20%
• 2 people who score you with a 6 (hmmm… suspcious) = 20%

Your NPS is then 40.  Time to do some work!  The book states that most high growth companies hover around the 50-80% NPS rating.  It also gives tips on how to get that score to increase and how to get a high rate of return on your surveys.  If you are seeking a little inspiration on companies that have used the Net Promoter Score to improve their business, here is a great story from Fortune Small Business on 4 companies that have done just that.

Food for thought

A few things to think about:

• Information is only as good as what you do with it
  Come up with a system for reviewing your results.  Make a quarterly date to take a temperature on your survey results.  Make plans to build upon your strengths and improve your weaknesses.
• Share with your team
  If you have people that you employ, share the survey results with them!  It’s important for them to understand how they impact the client.
• Survey not just your customers, but also those who pass you up
  It’s important to know if you’ve serviced your clients well.  But, it’s also important to know why people have chosen to do business elsewhere.  (In the wedding industry, it’s a one-time sale.  There is no opportunity to get that customer back.)  Keep in mind, that sometimes it simply is “not a match”.  (Be true to your niche!)  But, if you start to see patterns of negative feedback, this could be a sign that your sales approach needs work.
• Mix it up
  If you aren’t getting enough of your surveys back… or, if you aren’t getting the information you want… change your surveys.  Find a formula that works for you and gives you the power to make decisions.

So, there you have it!  Go for it!  Make a survey… get into your clients’ heads!  See you back here tomorrow for an AWESOME industry insider!

When to Survey

Before we go over the different ways to collect information from your customers, let’s talk about when to survey them.  The when of surveying will impact the likelihood of getting the survey back.  And, this largely depends on your business and what service or product you sell.  For example, if you are a wedding planner, you may not ever see a completed paper survey if you give it to them the day before the wedding.

For me, I include a little paper survey (and self-addressed stamped envelope) with their wedding invites.  My team and I had discussed the possibility of sending this to them later, via email or snail-mail.  We didn’t think that they would return the survey long after receiving their invites.  We also felt that while they are going through the instructions on assembling their invites, it would be natural for them to see a survey.  We receive ~70% of our surveys back from our clients because it works with the timing of our relationship.

So, when should YOU send your survey?  In the wedding industry, I think it’s good to get feedback on performance when you are done servicing the client.

• Do you deliver any goods to your clients?  Get feedback when you deliver the order.
• Do you provide your clients with a service?  Do so the day following the service.  (If this happens to fall the day after the wedding, I recommend you wait until a month after the wedding.)

How to Survey

Here are three of my favorite ways to survey customers:

Good Old Paper and Envelope

• How: Create a survey, print out multiple copies, have them ready to go with SASE envelopes
• Pros: Easy to get to the client when they pick up goods from you, No extra step required of you or your team, Gives client something tangible to fill out, More personal
• Cons: Cost of postage, Not convenient for some clients who prefer electronic communications, No automatic tabulation of results

Survey Monkey

• How: Create a survey online, email it to them
• Pros: Easy to get to the client via email, Easy to tabulate results, Sometimes quicker for the client to fill out than paper
• Cons: Clients can easily disregard (delete!), Requires an added step from you or your team (emailing the survey request after the job is done), $19.95 for version which allows you to receive tabulated results (reports)

Google Forms

• How: Create a survey online, email it to them
• Pros: Extremely EASY to make, Easy to get to the client via email, FREE, tabulates results in a google spreadsheet, Single survey page (easy / less intimidating for the client)
• Cons: Not useful for more complex (lengthy) surveys, Clients can easily disregard (delete!), Requires an added step from you or your team (emailing the survey request after the job is done)

Of these three, the Paper & Envelope is still the best method for my wedding invite business.  However, I LOVE the Google Forms for gathering information for Sage Wedding Pros and Get Hitched Give Hope.

So… now what?  What to ask your customer?  On to that tomorrow!

Creative Commons License

You know your clients love you because they tell you so.  You know they are pleased with your service and the quality of your work.  You’ve got a pretty good feeling that your customer service is top-notch.  But, how do you know for sure?  Do you ask them directly?  Do you survey them?

Over the next few days, we are going to discuss surveying your customers.  A few years ago, I got in the practice of surveying my customers when they pick up their wedding invites.  What I found continues to be very useful to my business.

5 reasons why surveying your customers is important:

1. It gives you an opportunity to make immediate changes to your business. When you get feedback from a client, you are brought quickly to the attention of any problems.  Without this feedback it could become a festering problem before you are aware enough to react.
2. It gives you the opportunity to address any problems with the client. The client may not be the type to send her steak back to the kitchen, but may tell all her friends that the food is horrible at that restaurant.  The same goes for your business.  It is better to ask a client directly if they are pleased with your performance.  When faced with the question, he or she is more likely to give you a straight answer.  It also gives you the chance to resolve the problem with them, before they tell the town about it.
3. It gives you something tangible on which to grade your business.  If the customer is happy, your business is doing well!  If the customer is not, your business is not.  This gives you a tangible way of analyzing your business that is separate from your financial results.
4. It gives you and your employees warm fuzzies (morale booster!). Often times, your surveys will confirm your suspicions that your clients think you are the bomb-diggety.  This is a great morale booster for your team.  When you and your team see that your client appreciates all the work that you put into their wedding, it connects everyone to the purpose of your business.  It ties your team to the product, the customer, and your mission.  To see a client’s nice comments about our work on a dull day raises our spirits and keeps us going.
5. It shows that you care. I’m sure this has happened to you.  You are at that wonderful hotel on vacation.  Everything has been amazing.  On your last day, you receive the survey under the door.  I instantly think, “This company cares about their customers.  This company values the service that they provide.”  The fact that you survey gives your customers the understanding that you are a smart business person that is interested in growing your strengths and improving your weaknesses.

So now that you know WHY it’s important to survey your customers, we’ll move onto the HOW.  See you back here tomorrow!