Q. How do you word surveys so that you elicit such a high response rate?
No. 1, it’s got to be easy. Clients don’t want to fill
out something that they
can’t fill out in less than
30 seconds.
You should be asking
questions that rate a person based on how they’re
handled. The most important question is, ‘Did you
succeed in what you
wanted to do?’ That in
itself will tell you whether the
person working it did a good
job or not. Did they feel there’s a
sense of success there?
You can directly translate the
comments into new products
and services or improvements
in processes.
Q. How often should executives communicate with their clients?
All the time. You have to do it
all the time. You can’t get caught
in this bubble where you’re constantly trying to innovate your
products and services based on
what you think is best.
That’s probably one of the
biggest mistakes you can do.
You have to innovate based on
not what your competitors are
doing or not on what you think
needs to be done but on what
your clients want.
Q. How can other executives become better communicators?
First off, you have to have the
client’s success in mind. You
can’t have your company in
mind first or whatever thing
you’re selling. Once you have
the client’s success in mind, you
have to talk to the client and figure out what their definition of
the final successful result is.
Then work backward from there.
The benefit is that suddenly
you have raving fans in your
clients. For example, we don’t
cold call. We get most of our
business because … we get so
many client referrals.
Once they feel that they’ve
been given something that helps
their business or generates
leads, No. 1, they come back,
and they want to upgrade a
package. No. 2 is that they tell
everybody around them, ‘Here’s
how I became successful. Here’s
how I generate more business.’
Suddenly, you get all these calls
coming in.
Q. Is there anything else to remember when communicating with clients?
When people do a search for
your company in Los Angeles
or wherever it may be, they
know that your Web site is
basically stuff that you control.
There are many, many other
Web sites out there where customers are talking about your
products and your practices
and talking about your company and your services. You have
to embrace that.
We’re in a new age where
there are just so many other
tools that people use to look at
your company before they
even call you. You have to take
advantage of those tools.
You have to make an active
campaign to get your customers to post testimonials.
HOW TO REACH: The Design People Inc., (800) 850-7707 or www.thedesignpeople.com
