When Gary Vaccariello first considered mailing a survey to his customers to gauge satisfaction and get a read on their business plans, he was told to expect a response rate of 30 to 40 percent.
For Vaccariello, that wasn’t good enough. “I’ve got to know what my customers are going to do, so I can forecast what my goals are for the next year,” says the owner of Willoughby Hills-based Corporate Electronic Stationery, which sells paper, printing and promotional products. “If I don’t know what they’re doing, there’s no way I can figure out what I’m going to do or what I should focus on.”
Vaccariello sent out the survey, and the response rate, he says, is 85 to 90 percent.
The survey is four pages and takes less than 30 minutes. To overcome resistance, Vaccariello starts with a bribe.
“I send out the evaluation with two movie tickets,” he says. “Not a big deal.” While he declines to say precisely how much he spends per ticket, he buys them by the bundle at a discount.
For customers who still don’t fill it out, Vaccariello gently prods with a phone call.
“I don’t believe in just sending something out and not calling them on it. I’ve got some responses back within 48 hours or less from some people. And some took almost a month. But they told me, ‘Gary, I can’t do it right now. It’s month’s end. I’m doing something. I’m booked. I can’t get it to you. Can you wait? Can we do it some other time?’”
One phone call is usually enough.
Vaccariello has made the survey a regular practice, so his customers are in the habit of responding.
“The biggest thing that’s helped me learn more about the accounts, or what I call taking their temperature, is by doing this every six months. It cost me like 400, 500 bucks to mail them out, including the tickets and so forth. But at least it gives me a real good overview of that customer. It also gives me another chance to go in and talk to them.”
Even after direct contact, though, some customers still don’t respond. That’s where Vaccariello draws the fine line between being persistent and being a nuisance.
“There’s a few people, like anything else. You think you’re going to get it, but they never do, even though you talk to them.”
But they still get to see a movie.
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