How are you tracking customer satisfaction levels with your customers? Are you asking whether they are satisfied? If so, you are probably not getting a true answer.
Today, customers are so conditioned that when we are asked questions like this, they just say “Yes”. Think about your own experiences. How often have you said things were fine simply because you couldn’t be bothered commenting? Unfortunately, lurking under all those “Yes’s” may be a list of issues you never hear about and resultant, never have the chance to correct.
At least when you have a complaint, you have the opportunity to dig deeper to find out what the issue is — and correct it, which results in a happier, more loyal customer. Plus you have the opportunity to change your process or service to better reflect the needs of customers.
So, rather than asking “Were you satisfied with the service you received?” try “How could we have improved your service experience today?” Then really listen. You will be amazed not only by what you find out, but your genuine interest will delight your customer.
At least when you have a customer complaint, you have the opportunity to find out what the issue is. Customers will tell you how to modify your procedures so that they are in line with their needs and add real value in their mind, sometimes in ways that will actually save you time and money.
Then when they say “everything was great”, you can feel confident that the measure is a reliable reflection of the true customer feeling.
About the Author
Bill Hogg is widely recognized as the Performance Excelerator™. This is due to his ability to create profound change and deliver extraordinary results within the most demanding organizations. He works with senior leadership teams to navigate change and transform organizations into high performance, customer-focused cultures that create long-term, profitable relationships with your customers and ‘excelerate’ performance and productivity with leaders and employees.
