Survey your clients
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August 11, 2000: 12:15 p.m. ET
Get information from customers about what you're doing right and wrong
By Jane Applegate
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Spend some time this month drafting a customer or client survey. This can be conducted via phone, fax or e-mail.
Your goal is to collect as much information as possible about what you are doing right and wrong, according to your customers. Many business owners forget that it's cheaper to sell more products and services to existing customers than to go out and find new ones. So ask your loyal customers to tell you what else you can be doing to make their lives easier and more productive.
Be sure to ask how they prefer to communicate with your company. If they don't use the Internet, it doesn't pay to develop an elaborate Web site. If they prefer new product information and prices via fax, send it that way. If you survey your customers over the telephone, be sure to update contact information. People change jobs, phone numbers, cell phones and addresses frequently.
Finally, offer everyone an incentive for participating in the survey. Offer them a discount on their next order, a gift with purchase or some token of your appreciation.
(Jane Applegate, a syndicated columnist and author of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, covers small business for CNNfn.)
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