Whenever you talk about success, people want to know your ‘secret.’ It’s a fair question because they probably see you succeeding in areas where they struggle, but it isn’t the question they should be asking.

The truth is, there is no ‘secret’ path to success. The only way to get there is through hard work, smart decisions, and sometimes, a little luck. So, instead of asking about your secret, what they should be asking is what formula you use to as a foundation for your business. Mine is simple, and certainly not a secret:

Passion + Perseverance + Quality…and SURVEYS!

It sounds so simple – and it is simple when you see it spelled out. The not-so-simple part, the thing that every business owner should strive for, is perfecting all four of those aspects. You can certainly achieve some level of success without all four, but your business will never truly run like a ‘well-oiled machine’ if you are deficient in any one of those areas.

Passion is easy, you either have it or you don’t. The more passionate you are about what you do, the more likely you are to persevere. Quality is something that everyone should want to be associated with and it includes every aspect of your business from the products you offer to the people you hire and the way you treat customers.

The final element to my formula is my favorite – surveys! Why do I love them so much? Because hearing the voice of my customer was one of the greatest tools I ever had. No matter how well I performed in the other three areas, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t what the customers wanted.

Valentine's Day is a holiday built on expectations, but how do we know what our customers expect from us unless we ask them? Wouldn’t it be incredible to be able to sit down and visit with each and every customer face-to-face to discuss their thoughts, feelings, and concerns about their shopping experience as well as their overall impression of our business?

Of course, that isn’t possible so in many circumstances our only real feedback comes from one of two places – upset customers who are extremely dissatisfied, or the opposite end of the spectrum where longtime loyal customers think we can do no wrong.

Both groups provide valuable input and deserve our attention. However, if we only listen to the fringe we’re missing out on a vast majority of our customers. It’s easy to sit back and think we have all our bases covered by making our most vocal customers happy, but our perception isn’t always as accurate as we imagine.

Now is the perfect time to start utilizing surveys

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner and Mother’s Day on the horizon, now is the perfect time to reach out to your customers in order to gain valuable feedback about the experience they had with your shop. The information you gain will not only help you make improvements for the next big holiday but will also help shape the future of your business.

Business owners should not only value customer feedback but depend on it as an essential part of their day-to-day operations. However, trends change fast, and today’s hot seller may be an outdated fad in a month or two. Your impeccable sense of style and design doesn’t help your business if customers don’t share your vision.

The only way to get the most accurate pulse of your business is by listening to your customers and the more of them you listen to, the more knowledge you’ll gain. Surveys are a perfect way to find out how they’re feeling and an outstanding way to identify areas for improvement. Many people won’t offer feedback unless you ask, and those are often the customers with the most beneficial feedback.

As I said earlier, there are no secrets to guarantee success. But there was one simple thing that I did that set me apart from almost everyone else – that was surveying my customers. I can’t believe that so many businesses neglect to do this, even with all the resources available to help them. It truly is one of the best things you can do to improve your business and I’m here to help, every step of the way.

Call me anytime at (941) 806-1911 or leave us a note below for more information on our survey management program from Bloomerang Solutions and leave the guesswork out of your business strategy.