Customer Surveys – A Strangely Interesting Phenomenon

We have done a lot of Voice of the Customer Surveys for our clients lately. Along the way we discovered something strangely interesting. And, it has nothing to do with the customer. Allow me to share.

After collecting several of these surveys, we observed a bit of reluctance, perhaps hesitance, of the front-line sales teams when asked to promote the surveys. Maybe it was caused by fear of the unknown, things like how management might use the survey, or wondering if customers might see the survey as an intrusion or perhaps the results would reflect poorly on the team. Some salespeople believed the process was redundant because after all, they represented “the eyes and ears of the company,” ever vigilant for changes in behavior and shifts in thought.

After receiving the final report, most view the survey information as a positive tool for better understanding what’s going on in the minds of their customers. However, during the early stages, the actions of the group are, at best, neutral to the implementation of the tool.
To alleviate anxiety over precisely what is on the survey, we started asking the sales team to anonymously complete a trial run of the survey. This process allowed them to:
• See exactly what questions would be asked of their customers.
• Understand the minimal the time required to complete the on-line portion of the survey.

• Better understand the mechanics and see the very gracious wording used to ask customers for the gift of feedback.
• Demonstrate that nobody in management can see answers.  Responses are truly anonymous, protecting the customer as well as the seller.
• Learn of the nice gift awarded for participation in the survey (we generally recommend a $10 Amazon gift card, a cool tee-shirt or some other memento).

As part of the live trial, we ask the distributor staff to go through the survey and answer questions as they feel one of their best customers might. Here-in we have discovered some very interesting results.

The value of the anonymous report
Before we get to the interesting stuff we have discovered, let’s drill into the “anonymous” third party survey thing.  Both employees and customers are weary of providing brutally candid comments if they feel the remarks might be traced back to them.   While you probably enjoy great relationships with customers and your team, it is human nature to sugar coat negative information.  

If there is one point I have noticed after over four decades in sales, it’s this.  Customers would rather say, “Your price is too high…” than go into details about slow response time, erratic delivery schedule and lack of knowledgeable sales people.  It’s their way of being nice folks.  Adding a degree of separation to your survey gets better results. 

Further, in spite of all the online templates designed for gathering customer information, very few, if any, have been designed with our industry in mind.  The questions necessary to gather the right kind of information take time, effort and experience in developing.  Your customers are busy.  A poorly worded question can be all it takes for them to abandon the survey giving you zero feedback.

A good third party survey combines online surveying along with short (and opt in) phone interviews.  These one-on-one sessions allow the customer to elaborate and provide more detail on their specific experiences.  Plus, a good third party survey understands your business well enough to ask the right kind of follow-up questions.  With the right kind of follow-up, the answers to these questions become immediately actionable, providing quick fixes to urgent issues of the day.

Your staff knows some of the issues
Deep down inside, the staff knows many of the issues associated with customer relationships. Allow me to elaborate.
Speed of response time comes to the surface when inside sales and customer support is short staffed. The team knows customers are frustrated; they hear off handed comments about how hard it is to speak to a live person on the first call. Products missing from the portfolio are often defined to a tee.  So too are inadequacies in shipping times and paperwork flow.

One of the other issues we see are needs for training. The distributor staff often outlines product, technology and regulation training required by customers, but deeper exploration points to needs for internal training on the same topics.

Distributor teams indicate lack of internal skills through the eyes of their customers. While the distributor personnel tend to be harsher on themselves than customers, reviewing and interpreting the data is always an exercise in learning.

A few final thoughts
Here are some thoughts and observations on the topic of customer surveys:
• Customer feedback is a gift.
• Your best customers want to help you improve and they will provide valuable feedback.
• Many will not share this information with your sales team directly. Why? Your people become defensive and often launch into a litany of excuses for less than adequate service. Other times, they simply don’t want the information to come from them or any potential recoil from negative feedback.
• The Customers’ world is changing. Without feedback it is easy to misjudge current trends such as the real reason for internet purchases.
• Feedback today has a short “shelf life.” In the old days, conducting a meaningful distributor “voice of the customer” exercise was massively expensive. Wholesalers only conducted one every 5-10 years, if ever.
• Doing a customer survey with a third party, like River Heights Consulting, costs 80 percent less than just a decade ago.  (In a past life, I paid upwards of $30,000 for something similar!)
• Feedback from RHC is compiled quantitatively and qualitatively, meaning you will receive hard numbers, how to read them and statements/comments backing them up.


~Self-serving, blatant and crass promotion~
River Heights Consulting does "voice of customer" surveys.












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