How do you know if your customers are happy with the level of service offered by your business or service?

The simple answer is (a) watch your sales figures and (b) ask your customers.

If your sales results indicate a slowing down, there could be a number of reasons for it. Often people will look at increasing their advertising, or offering specials, when the real reason is that customers do not have a positive experience when they are doing business with you. You need to ask your customers about your service.

How do you ask them?

Large companies use “secret shoppers� to play the role of a shopper. I know this, as I am one, and have done this work for some time. It can be a real eye opener as we often have a long list of things to do, or items to check and you have to look with a critical eye at quite few things that I as a quick shopper would not often do.

But in a small business, you probably don’t have the funds to employ someone to do that. The best thing is to ask your customers. You might choose to create a list of questions, and e-mail or post to customers with an incentive to return the feedback form. You might like to say when either on the phone or face to face with a customer, “Can I take 5 minutes of your time to ask your opinion of some things? Now you see I have highlighted three words. If you ask someone for their opinion, they are more likely to respond to you in a positive way, than if you ask in any other way.

Question one might be to ask something like – “How did you find out ……………� insert the right tag – it might be “about this store�, or “ this service�.

The answer will be very interesting. If it is as a result of advertising, or a listing on a website, or in a directory, you can start to gather information about the success or otherwise of your advertising. It is was “a friend� you may be able to capture the friends name and details, to send a thank you, or you might give the customer something to pass on to the friend, as a way of thanks. (What I am saying is don’t be too pushy about getting someone’s details!) This information is invaluable!

Question two might be – How would you rate the experience of doing business with us on a scale of 0 – 5 if 0 was very poor, and 5 was exceptional?

Just a tip here – if you get negative feedback, you need to acknowledge that that is how the customer felt, and perhaps find out what went wrong, but don’t get into an argument with the customer. You are looking for constructive feedback, and if it is criticism, you need to quietly take notes without making the customer or yourself uncomfortable. In fact if there is negative feedback, you need to genuinely thank your customer for the feedback.

Question three and four might be other rating questions. Perhaps about the product or service. Sit down and create your own list of questions.

Question five would be something like – Are you likely to be doing business with us again in the future? Ask them to explain their answer.

Just five questions. You might choose to ask these questions of just 10 people a week, and then sit down and dissect the answers.

This is a simple start – but should be enlightening.

Doing this, and other research will help you create a Customer Service Policy, that if done well, and put into action every day, will find you creating a wonderful success story.