Get customer feedback
Implementing your purpose statement can be the hardest part. Even if you know where you’re trying to go, the biggest challenge is knowing how to get there.
You can get strategic hints by reading the latest trade publications to see what your competitors are doing. But your customers know best when it comes to what they need, so they’re your best source for determining what you should deliver.
Allen and his team meet regularly with clients through focus groups, conferences and advisory boards.
Customers will come if it’s convenient and there’s something in it for them. G&A’s annual client conference, for example, offers a weekend mix of educational classes and feedback sessions. G&A covers the cost of hotel rooms, registration fees and meals at destination resorts in Texas. All their clients have to do is arrive.
While setups differ, the feedback you want from customers is the same.
“We’ve assembled a group of clients and prospects together and we talk about what’s important to them, which of our services do they value, which of our services don’t they value, what else they’d like to see us do for them, what other needs they have,” Allen says. “That’s probably been the most valuable way of really getting a feel for what we ought to be doing to address the needs of our small business clients.”
To get clients to open up, all G&A employees are excused from the room before the questioning begins. An outside facilitator, like the company’s external public relations representative, takes over.
Creating an open environment is also about setting clear explanations of what input you’re seeking and why.
“People are willing to open up if you give them permission to be brutally honest and if they think that their candor will make a difference,” Allen says. “We let our clients know that we are always trying to improve and that we need their help in that effort.”
G&A invites all clients to certain events, but inclusiveness has implications. When you involve more people, you lose the intimate environment that makes them open up. That’s why some companies focus on feedback from their largest customers. But G&A compensates with semiannual online surveys where clients can be frank.
“We try to limit the number of questions so it’s fairly straightforward and simple for them to respond, not too time-consuming,” Allen says.
You shouldn’t just get customer feedback one or two times a year, though. Make those interactions routine. Share the responsibility by letting the employees who contact customers also collect their input. Because the manager of the customer care center has already built trusting relationships with a lot of clients, for example, Allen often calls on her to solicit feedback. Because salespeople initially set expectations with clients, he counts on them to revisit each account and gauge satisfaction.
It seems simple, but feedback from clients can help situate you to meet their needs. Those interactions can keep you on track to achieve your purpose — which is why you serve customers in the first place.
“As they share things with us that fall in line with the purpose statement, then we can develop strategies to provide products and services that address those needs,” Allen says.
