Methods of getting information from customers

Many business managers think they know what their customers think and want. This feeling is derived from their gut feel which often times is contrary to what is obtainable in the market place. Businesses can not survive and excel  if they don’t meet the needs of their customers. Thats a fact of life.  In order to be relevant and competitive in the modern day market place businesses need to continually look for information which gives them direction with regards to the ever changing consumer needs.

The advent of modern technology brought about a different type of consumer who is sophisticated with many choices at his disposal. This scenario poses a great challenge to any business, as concerted effort is required  to keep in touch with such a hyperactive consumer’s general behavior.

Many companies frown at the mention of information gathering as they think market research budget is a sheer waste of resources. There are several ways companies can use to gather information without spending so much money. Important information about your customers can be gathered from the following sources:

Employees

Your employees interface with your customer on a daily basis. Ask them about products and services that customers are asking for. Also ask them about what the customers complain about. Is it service related or product related. This information will provide a vital platform on which you can start re-engineering your service/product offering.

Customers – Comment Cards

Provide brief, half-page comment cards on which your customers can answer basic questions such as: Were you satisfied with our services? How can we improve on our service offering? Are there any services you would like to see which we are not offering at the moment? Make the comment card very SIMPLE in order to get more responses from customers. You can have maximum 10 questions on the score card, the response should be close-end with the comment are left open in order to solicit qualitative feedback

Analyze internal Records

You can mine data in your sales records to see what customers are buying most across your business. This will provide you with monthly, weekly or bi-monthly trend analysis. With this information you will be able to see where your customers are spending most of their money.

Telephone Surveys

Hire summer students or part-time people for a few days every six months to do telephone surveys with your customers. This provides you with an opportunity to get information about your business from your customers. This information will help you in mitigating service short falls before they become catastrophic.

So there you are. Before you think about spending top dollar in conducting market research, you can start by collecting information internally before engaging an external research agency. It is however, important to note that the above information gathering methods DO NOT SUBSTITUTE an independent survey which can be commission with an external market research agency. It is advisable to do a robust market survey every six months in order to keep abreast with market trends and consumer behaviour.

To your success!!!!