Strategy squared

What one question, if answered, could provide your business with enough information that it could see a dramatic increase in sales, revenue and performance? The answer is “What one thing is your prospective customers looking for in relationship to your products or services?” Today, like never before, it is easy to obtain this information using surveys.

The problem most companies have is they are trapped in old offline means of communication with customers, and phoning or mailing surveys is both ineffective and costly. But with the internet, surveying both customers and prospects is simple and cheap.

Like everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to proceed with a survey that get’s the results you need. Let’s look at both.

First the “wrong way” or how to throw money down the drain. I received a mailing from my bank the other day asking me to please go online and complete a short customer service survey. In the letter there was a web address. Think about this for a minute; they want me to take time out of my day to physically transfer a web address from a letter to a web browser, and then answer however many questions they have on the survey. The reason I say “however many questions” is simple; I didn’t take the survey. Neither did a vast majority of the people they sent that letter to. They just wasted thousands of dollars. And you wonder why your banking fees are so high.

Now let’s look at this from the “right way” perspective. I get an email from my bank, thanking me for being a valued customer. There also is a link on the email to click to be taken directly to an online survey form. There is no work on my part to get to the survey other than a click of the mouse. The survey is mostly multiple choice questions, with space available for comments, if I so desire. Once the survey is completed, I simply click a button, send it off and exit. The bank gets the information it needs at a much lower cost; I don’t waste a lot of time and get a “thank you” from a vendor. A WIN-WIN situation for all involved.

There are numerous online survey services, some even will allow you to sign up for free and send a minimal number of monthly surveys out at no charge. One of the most popular is Survey Monkey. I have found that they are both easy to navigate, set up forms and send. They also offer a free service.

You have no better source of information than your customers, because they and they alone can inform you what they are looking for and what you can improve on with your business. Like anything else, once you center your business on the needs of your customers, it will forever change your life.

The author, Michael Simmons, owned his own business for 27 years before going into web marketing. He now specializes in optimizing the web presence for local businesses through website development. You can visit his website at http://www.gmsimmons.com He also utilizes video, developing web video ads thru http://www.proweb-video.com He can be emailed at mike@gmsimmons.com