If you’re in business, every time customers or potential customers interact with you, they make an assessment of the quality of the service or product you provide. This is true regardless of whether you compete with others or are in an industry with seemingly no competition.
During an economic slump or crisis, customer research is often one of the first items on the chopping block. This, though, is short-sighted. One small element of actionable information can have significant financial implications and can critically impact the success or failure of a business. It’s just too expensive not to know what your customers think.
Customers have an internal set of criteria for judging an enterprise. This criteria may include how quickly a service is rendered, how much a product or service costs, what happens when something unexpected happens (the car accelerates dangerously all by itself, the flight is canceled, the merchandise is “out of stock.”) Research sets a solid foundation for performance benchmarking, allowing companies, like yours, to track trends in customer satisfaction.
One of the best ways to avoid costly mistakes is to develop a philosophy of “asking your customers.” What do they need? How satisfied are they with the services you provide? What can you do to improve? How quickly do you provide service? Is this fast enough? How do your customers evaluate your company in terms of safety and reliability? How much do they trust your explanation and solution when a problem occurs? How does what you offer measure up to competitive offerings?
Obtaining benchmark customer information is an essential first step. Knowing what customers think and want provides the foundation for developing and prioritizing operational improvement plans. Which items need major retooling? Which just require minor adjustments? What strengths do we have that we can leverage to achieve other desired outcomes?
This data should also become the foundation of your strategic communication plan targeted to reach your key constituencies: customers, community leaders, employees, regulators and the media. What did you learn about the needs and wants of your customers that can be translated into enhanced satisfaction levels. Collecting information is only the first stop on the road to success; putting the information to use and developing loyal customers is the destination.
Play ‘Em Like You Got ‘Em
I think it’s time for all of us to begin treating our collective economic challenges like my mother did when she played cards. A little explanation is in order.
As Wikipedia describes, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_(card_game)) the standard “500” deck contains 43 playing cards: a Joker is included, and the 2s, 3s, and two 4s (typically the black ones) are removed. Cards are dealt to each of the four players and three are dealt face down on the table to form the kitty (also known as the widow or blind.) Players play in pairs.
After the deal, players call in turn, electing either to bid or to pass. A bid indicates the combined number of tricks the bidder believes he and his partner will take and the suit that will be trump for that hand, or that there will be no trump suit. For instance, a bid of “seven spades” indicates that the player intends to win seven or more tricks with spades being the trump suit, whereas a bid of “seven no-trumps” indicates that the player intends to win seven or more tricks with no trump suit (in which case the only trump card is the joker).
The goal is for the team who wins the bid to take at least as many tricks as they bid. Points are awarded according to the number of tricks taken and the suit. For example, 6 spade tricks earn 40 points, while 6 hearts is scored as 100. Both diamonds and hearts are more valuable than spades or clubs. The first team to reach 500 is declared the winner.
Now, my mother was a fierce competitor. She and I typically teamed up and she wanted to win! About the second or third hand of the game, she would look over at my dad (who always served as scorekeeper) and say “Honey, how many tricks do I need to win?” Dad would check his sheet and announce something like “8 hearts.” Mom would quickly quip, “I’m bidding 8 hearts.” About this time, my heart would nearly stop because, invariably, all I had in my hand were spades and clubs.
But no matter. She’d say, “Ok… we’re going to play ‘em like we got ‘em.” It didn’t matter what we had in our hands, we were going to win. And by being creative, taking risks and generally just acting like we were on top of our game, we usually were.
While the recession is supposed to be over, I think our collective psyche is still paralyzed by the fear that we’re only holding spades and clubs, when what we need are diamonds and hearts. It’s time to take some risks – time for banks to fund business loans, for companies to make acquisitions or invest in capital projects (and thus create jobs and hire additional employees), for our elected officials to stop bickering and for individuals who have money in their wallets to open them and start spending those green backs.
So, how about it? Let’s play ‘em like we got ‘em. Let’s act like winners!
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