Most business owners we talk to would love to know that their clients really think about them. Many are nervous to ask.
Not because they are worried about what they might be told, but there’s no easy way to introduce the subject into a ‘business as usual’ conversation.
An ideal way to find out what a customer really thinks about you and your business is to ask a third party to talk to them. This can either be face-to-face or over Zoom or the telephone. Feedback is a legitimate exercise when it is constructed as a client feedback or client project.
Face-to-face -v- telephone interviews. Which is better?
The short answer is in our experience, face-to-face is better (or via Zoom if meeting is not possible). Across the table the interviewer gets a much better feel for the responses because all of the communication elements are open to interpretation, not just the voice. The interviewer is better able to know when to dig deeper into an answer and those extra questions an dialogue often yield the piece of information that the client considers a ‘nugget’ and provides a real opportunity to develop and deepen the existing relationship.
Face-to-face interviews are more expensive and they take longer to undertake. The value and location of the client is often a determining factor. The increasing use of online meeting platforms allows for a best of both worlds solution.
The benefits of asking a third party to get client feedback on your behalf is that:
- It shows your client they are important to your business and that their opinion matters.
- An opportunity to show client care is important by tweaking your service in response to feedback received.
- You can aske questions that you would like answers to which you would not easily be able to ask yourself.
- Independent comments about the service provided by your business that can be used in marketing materials such as case studies.
- Projects are most useful where the interaction between the supplier and the customer is an ongoing relationship rather than a transaction (where online feedback platforms might be more appropriate).
If there is information that you would like from your clients so that you can improve your service to them, talk to us about creating a feedback project to show that your business is listening.
