Follow Up Messages and Confirmation Calls in Marketing Part III

Once you made the sale, ask how you did…

This is easy, can be automated, and should be part of your process.

You want to know (from your customer’s point of view) what you did well, poorly, or horrible.

You may think this is too much trouble. You’re busy enough marketing for new sales. And asking your customers “how you did” will slow you down. But…

How many businesses have you dealt with that you absolutely knew you would never do business with again?

If you were that business wouldn’t you want to know? Most of the time it was just basic customer service, or manners, or missed expectations. A lot of times the problems are simple and fast to fix.

I’m a firm believer that more restaurants would stay in business longer and more profitably if they just asked their customers for the good, bad, and ugly – and then made the appropriate changes.

Very big corporations hire and pay huge sums of money to “secret shoppers”

These firms, for a fee, will send an employee posing as a regular shopper to make a purchase at a store, over the phone, and online. It’s a method of quality control. They’re testing if the business is running smoothly and customers are treated well.

If you still think this is too much trouble, how else do you expect to improve and grow? You can’t please everyone, but you can get close.

This information is Marketing Gold

Don’t shy away from it. Here are some benefits you’ll gain by surveying (asking how you did).

1. Any good news or comment can be turned into a testimonial and used in your marketing.
2. If they really liked you that customer may agree to endorse you or be a volunteer spokesperson.
3. The simple act of asking their valued opinion can win you a loyal customer for life.
4. Investing the time in your customer’s satisfaction will reduce the number of returns.
5. Showing you care about your customer and about the success of your business (from the customer’s point of view) can turn into word of mouth and lucrative referrals.
6. You’ll get into the mind of your customer. What pleases one, will please dozens. What dissatisfies one dissatisfies hundreds. Ask them and they’ll tell you. And when you implement their comments into your business you will literally start printing your own money!

I hope you can see that this is not a waste of time. It’s not one extra task you have to do. This IS the business.

You competition doesn’t do any of this. Tough luck for them. They might not survive this economic storm. You, on the other hand, don’t have any excuses…

Luckily, you don’t have to hire a “secret shopper” or “market research” firm to help you

Here are a few simple and cheap ways to get started fast.

• You, or an assistant, can call into your office and see what happens.
• You can send a friend to shop your store and give you feedback.
• Place an order online (using an alias) and see if there are any glitches.
• Print a short comment card and make sure all customers get it and ask them to write their comments anonymously.
• Email a survey a few days after the sale.
• Write up a short survey and go over it with clients in person or by phone.

A live interview (in person or by phone) will always get more, deeper, and more useful information. And you tend to get more responses too.

Questions you want to ask are:

• Did we miss anything that you’d like us to take care of now?
• What were the top 3 reasons you hired us?
• What were your preconceptions of working with us and how have they changed?
• Describe your experience working with us.
• What could we do better?
• Will you use us again? Why or why not.
• Will you refer us? Why or why not.

Make sure your customer understands (and feels) it is safe for them to speak honestly. Tell them that it really helps you and you appreciate their honest response. Offering a gift for their input may help increase the number of responses.

And, of course, remember to implement what you learned.

I’ll go over the last area of this four part article (Bonuses) in an upcoming post…