Have you heard of black magic roses? Our designers loved them, but our customers hated them. As soon as they were delivered I started getting phone calls complaining that the roses look dead. Worse yet, customers completed the survey and I got docked because they felt our roses were old. If you ask a designer, they’d say you just need to “educate the customer," but I disagree. It's not up to me to talk a customer into liking a flower – that’s not marketing, it's manipulation. If my customers like what I offer, I love it! That's all that matters, and the ONLY way I will ever know is SURVEYS.
Here’s another real world example of the effectiveness of surveys:
After having an air conditioning call at my home recently, I experienced exceptional service from a company called COOL IT TODAY. While they are known as great marketers, they have also raised the bar for service in town. They begin by sending an email with your technician's name and photo and clean history and then follow up with another email. This is more than marketing; it's the beginning, middle and end, to a complete business operation.
This marketer running the air company may be marketing but he is also fishing for knowledge. He wants to know that his staff is on the ball. Best of all, everyone knows he is watching - his customers, and his employees.
The moment the technician left my home I received this. If nothing else, (as if I didn't know?) I am assured they do care.
Do you run surveys at your shop? Are your flowers being left on doorsteps without being reported? I can assure you when I operated Beneva they were not.
Surveys are the ONLY way you will know how your business is truly doing. If surveys come in clean, I can assure you that it will reflect in your P&L. Happy customers can be made profitable if they’re not already, while unhappy customers that leave will never be an opportunity again, they’re gone.
So if I can remind you just one more time: Before you invest in any kind of marketing - whether it's PPC, SEO, print or something else - be sure you have a check system in place with surveys. We can show you how to do them or we can do them for you. Just ask.