5 Key Questions for Customers #1
from Duct Tape Marketing.com – a Marketing Consultant of Startups
enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz 8/10
Constantly seeking Feedback from your customers is a great way to learn how to market your business more effectively. If you’ve never done this before, do it immediately as it is one of the best ways to discover what you do, that actually differentiates you from your competition. At DT Mktg, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with a small business that had no idea what its competitive advantage was until we heard it right from the mouths of happy customers. Seeking feedback is also a great way to get better and plug gaps. I can tell you that if you’re not receiving a large amount of your business by way of referral or word of mouth, you’ve probably got some gaps in your processes. Below are 5 questions I like to pose to customers, because they can provide a great discussion base for getting at what’s truly important to your customers. Create a form and get in the habit of surveying a significant number of your key customers every month – until you have cover all of them. [A key Customer is about the top 20% that give you 80% of your business] I think you’ll be rewarded with tremendous insight and your customers will know that you really care – by being asked what they think. One word of caution, don’t accept vague answers like “you provide good service.” While that may be true and good to hear, you can’t work with that. Push a bit and ask what specific about the “good service” do they like.
1. What made you decide to Buy from/Hire us in the first place?
This is a good baseline question for your marketing. It can get at how effective your advertising, message & lead conversion processes are working. I’ve also heard customers talk about the personal connection or culture that felt right in this question.
2. What’s one thing we do “better” than others you do business with?
In this question you are trying to discover something that you can work with as a true “differentiator”. This is probably the question you’ll need to work hardest at getting specifics. You want to look for words & phrases + actual experiences that keep coming up over & over again – no matter how insignificant they may seem to you. If your customers are explaining what they value about what you do, you may want to consider making that the core marketing message for your business.
[ What could we Improve? Would you refer us to others? Did you use Google or another Search Engine to find us? continued in Premium Content ]