Survey Advantage Press » Customer Satisfaction Surveying

Peer Group Effectiveness: Why Not Share & Benchmark Customer Loyalty?

Michael Casey — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:00:12 +0000

Thousands of business owners and executives participate in peer groups, typically comprised of six to eight people who meet every 6 months. The goal is to drive business by learning from each other and to leave with fresh ideas from a respected source. Usually the best-run businesses in their industry participate in peer groups because these owners continue to invest in themselves and their business, and they are open to criticism, objective feedback and fresh ideas. Each member benefits from:

*Learning what others are doing.
*Leaving with fresh ideas.
*Being held accountable for results
*Networking and cultivating friendships with successful people.
*Trending and driving performance over time.
*Hearing candid feedback and opinions from industry experts.
*Specific, expert advice from owners dealing with the same issues.

Standardizing Customer Loyalty Metrics

Most peer groups standardize on reports to pinpoint opportunities for improvement and growth. Many use benchmarks similar to those published by their industry; benchmarks such as wages, pricing, and financial benchmark studies. The best peer groups benchmark customer loyalty and share at each meeting a standardized SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) based on customer feedback. Benefits of implementing customer feedback into peer groups include:

*Customer-centered goal setting.
*Increasing customer loyalty levels with all members of the group.
*Challenging peer group members to drive improvements based on facts.
*Disciplined, focused discussions around marketing, customer service and sales efforts
*Quantified, fact-based decision making tied to customer needs.

Standardize on the customer loyalty question(s), the way customer feedback is obtained and how it will be shared. Make each owner responsible for bringing one improvement area and one opportunity for growth identified from customer feedback. Each owner brings his or her customer loyalty scores to the meeting, and those scores are displayed, side by side, to help during discussions.

We all stress how important loyalty is to our survival and growth, yet we know we can do a better job measuring, monitoring and leveraging customer information in a disciplined, deliberate way. Standardizing on how customer feedback is shared during peer group meetings and setting better, customer-centered goals is one more way best-in-class businesses continue to distance themselves from their competitors.

The top 5 things to consider when surveying your print buyers.

Michael Casey — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:58:20 +0000

You may survey customers regularly, but how frequently do you analyze the results? Even more importantly, have you implemented any changes based on the feedback?

Bottom line is that you must take action on the results or don’t bother surveying. Surveying should be conducted for process improvement and expansion. It shouldn’t be to get that ISO auditor out your door and do it just to say you do something! Surveying is not an event, but an ongoing process.” Below are the top 5 questions we are asked when printers are setting up a print buyer feedback process.

Should I survey customers with every print order?

For repeat buyers we suggest surveying no more than every 90 days. If surveyed too often, regular repeat buyers will become annoyed and you will drive down loyalty. Also, in your email message state something like “You won’t get this survey more often than every 90 days if you buy from us regularly.” Tell customers upfront so they won’t assume the survey process is going to turn into a spam issue. If you are correctly managing the frequency of surveys to repeat buyers, you can anticipate a 20% to 35% response rate on a continuous basis. Let the feedback flow and let customers know that the survey is just another way to stay connected and responsive.

How many questions should I ask?

Keep the survey to less than 30 seconds (5-7 questions maximum). State In the email invitation that it will take less than a minute of their time and stick to that promise. Don’t say that it will take 30 seconds and then ask 30 questions. You may want to change the questions regularly and the invitation email to keep it fresh and inviting.

When considering the number of questions, be aware that there are two types of surveys. A strategic survey helps to map out necessary investments during the upcoming year. Customers appreciate this type of survey. If it’s positioned correctly and you promise to share the results with them, they will give you 5 minutes and answer around 20 questions. The second type of survey is the post-job survey or the 90-day pulse type survey to keep connected in an ongoing fashion. We suggest doing both because one is strategic and one tactical, but if budget and time is a constraint, go for the tactical survey asking customers for 1 minute to answer 5 or 6 questions and keep communication open all the time.

If I can only ask one question, what should it be?

“How likely are you to recommend us to colleagues and friends?” This is the ultimate question and there is an entire book dedicated to this question called “The Ultimate Question.”

What are the biggest mistakes I should avoid when surveying customers?

Waiting too long between surveys. I spoke to a printer last week that hadn’t surveyed customers in 10 years. He got good results, but when I asked why he waited 10 years he said it took too much time. Using today’s technology, surveying should not be that time consuming. Just read Lori Fuller’s case study from University of Nebraska at www.surveyadvantage.com/printers
Making the survey too long.
Making the process too complicated so it isn’t done continuously.
Assigning the wrong person to manage the process. I have seen “gaming” of the system where an internal person doesn’t survey certain customers because they don’t want to hear complaints. That’s a bad reason not to survey. You need to hear from everyone.
Not continually monitoring the process. If management doesn’t watch the process and the person assigned looks at surveying as an optional task, it might not get done regularly. Or it may stop and management never realizes that it has stopped. Gathering and monitoring customer feedback starts at the top and must be part of the culture of the operation — not just another task thrown out there.

Once the information is gathered, what should I do?

The best, most successful printers contact every customer who responds to the survey. That is right, every one. There is a story behind every survey even the glowing ones. Thanking those customers with great comments shows you listened and appreciate their comments. If you get a referral call, thank them so you get more referrals. Thankfulness breeds more good work. Those who are neutral about the experience should be asked how you can change to get top marks. Comments that are positive should be acknowledged and once again respondents should be thanked for their time and candidness. Negative survey results are typically the ones that gain the most attention, but there is usually more opportunity to sell to those customers who are happy and will share with you other services that they buy elsewhere or provide a referral. Remember contacting respondents builds loyalty, and they are more likely to fill out the survey once again later in the year.

The best, most successful printers also share the glowing comments with their teams to build moral. Post it on the lunchroom bulletin board. Managers can tell an employee that their efforts are appreciated, but it means so much more to get it from the customer directly. Approximately 95% of survey comments are positive. Don’t bury them in the customer feedback database. Share them. In addition, the best printers put questions on the survey that probe for other selling opportunities. Keep the survey to around 5 questions, but build one question in to learn what services they are buying elsewhere or to ask for a referral.

Don’t just look at surveying as a reactive, passive process. It can be a selling process as well.
Take the compiled information and do something with it. Just today I spoke with a printer who had 30% of his customers share what they bought elsewhere. Sadly, he hadn’t followed up on any of them because he was so busy in production. He did say over the next few months he is going to make a conscious effort to pursue those leads to expand client share. The good news was that he followed up on every referral and closed two new accounts.

Another great strategy is to print out the survey results weekly and review them with your team. Discuss what customers are saying and together come up with a game plan. One printer does an annual survey and then goes through all the nearly 300 responses, does his own SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), and delegates at the account level and strategic execution level. This printer has done this for 4 years now and has had tremendous success even in a weak Michigan economy.

If sending out a survey is the first and last step, you are dropping the ball at the most important time. Put the information to work for your business. If conducted properly, surveys are indispensable tools for growing your business, enhancing performance and making informed decisions about the allocation of resources.
For more information, read printer case studies at http://www.surveyadvantage.com/printers

We can learn a lot from a business owner who closed his doors.

Michael Casey — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:53:45 +0000

It is easy to hear the success stories of businesses that have gone to the moon, but most of these business owners have lived through tough times as well. Just read a book on Edison’s life and you will see the # of failures he had before his great invention.

Recently a business owner closed his doors, but shared his lessons learned with “What They Think”, an organization focused on sharing lessons with the printing industry. Below is an interview and details. Any business owner dealing with this economy can take some valuable lessons from this.

The Rise and Fall of Mallard Press

By Cary Sherburne
Published: October 12, 2009

The recent closure of Mallard Press caught our eye. While I don’t know Bob Gay or the company personally, a review of its web site revealed a company that appeared to be on the right track and making the right investments for the future. Bob Gay was kind enough to speak frankly with us about the factors that led to the demise of the company. Perhaps there are lessons here for others in the industry who may be teetering on the edge or worried about the future. Mallard Press was an independently owned and operated commercial printing business that had been in operation in the Chicago area for 30 years. At its peak, it brought in revenues of over $5 million. Here’s what Bob had to say. In Part One of the article, he discusses what happened; in Part Two, we move to what perhaps should have happened.

WTT: Bob, what would you say was the major contributing factor that led to closing the business?

BG: My biggest problem was that I had taken on too much debt. I had made investments that were required to take my business where I wanted it to go, and I had about three and a half years to the finish line. We were doing fine until about December of 2007, which was our first bad month, with sales off 18%. I remember seeing those numbers as if it were yesterday.

WTT: What were some of those investments?

BG: We had invested in Canon color and black & white digital to the tune of $10,000 to $15,000 per month. We were into Komori for about $14,000 per month. And the KBA press, which is a marvelous press and probably the most versatile printing press in the world, bar none, was an $11,000-per-month investment. That is a lot of debt service for a company with $5 million in revenues. We were building to grow, but any downtick in revenues was painful because of that debt service.

WTT: When you saw the December 2007 results, what actions did you take?

BG: We did make some adjustments to the business, and as a result were able to go through the spring of 2008 fairly strong, although the June through September period was below average, down 15-20%. It gets tough to recover from four months of consecutive losses.

WTT: To what did you attribute the revenue decline?

BG: To a change in customer buying habits. We did an analysis of our client base. We were not losing clients; they were just spending less, due to the economy and possibly to more use of electronic media.

WTT: So what did you do next?

BG: We then looked at increasing our client base through acquisitions. AGS, a die cutting operation, was basically closing its doors and we made a deal with them that would keep their company together, because the services they offered were services we were outsourcing anyway. There was also another company that was closing its doors and we purchased some of their assets as well. This was about $2 million in business and we took 10 of their 18 employees on board. As a result of all of that, we had a terrific December.

WTT: Then what happened as the new year began?

BG: From January through now, everything tailed off. Sales were down 27%. We again looked at our customer base, and it was the same Top Ten customers, but their sales volumes were down. We even had some loyal print brokers that were getting less work for the same reason—their customers were also dialing down.

WTT: I am sure all of this must have led to some painful decisions.

BG: Absolutely. We made some first quarter adjustments to get things in line, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be enough. After the second quarter, I really needed to make some deep cuts. This was extremely painful, because people who had done nothing wrong were losing their jobs. The remaining staff took pay cuts to keep their jobs.

WTT: In hindsight, would you have made staff cuts earlier?

BG: Yes, but I was slow to do so because it is just not in my nature. These people worked hard, and I was optimistic that the services we provided would help bring the business back. This is how we had always survived before—because of our diversification. If one area was not performing, the other two areas could pick up the slack. But with the decrease in sales and additional 10 employees, I increased payroll by $400,000 but only increased sales by 1.5%. I was operating as a man in business, not a businessman. A businessman would have made the cuts sooner, but the man in business had hoped it would come back.

WTT: What else did you do to try to salvage the situation?

BG: We went to the equipment finance companies, Wells Fargo, GE and IKON Financial, and working with them was tremendous; they were all on board to help us. We were able to negotiate six months interest only payments to help us weather the storm and work to get our sales up. We also went to our landlord to see what they would be willing to do. We let them know that others were participating and we weren’t just coming to them for help. They were a bit reluctant to help and I basically had to sell my soul a little to get their cooperation. They gave us six months at half rent, but the negotiations gave them the full right to kick us out if they didn’t think I was going to perform after these six months.

WTT: I take it that resulted in the crowning blow, then.

BG: About three-quarters of the way through the process, we provided the landlord with a financial statement per the agreement. It was a bad June and we were not making any headway. They performed their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders by exercising their right to evict. We looked around for other spaces and looked to our lender for some additional support. Even though we eliminated 12 employees and took some other steps that brought us back to break-even, our lender decided not to extend our line of credit or to provide us with the funding to move the business to a different location.

WTT: Why was that? Presumably you had been doing business with them for a long time.

BG: Yes, but their position was that we were maxed out on our line of credit with no good outlook for being able to pay it all back, and they were simply not in a position to lend us the $100,000 or more it would have cost us to move. This was on a Friday afternoon, and rather abruptly, the next Monday, per the request of the bank, the company went into receivership in order to pay down the line of credit and the other creditors as well as take control of all receivables. That obviously brought the business to a screeching halt.

WTT: Why do you think the banks took that position after working with you for so long?

BG: I have probably always been the exception when they have discussions in their board room. I can just hear the discussions: “They are out of factor, but Bob has a passion for the business and we believe in what he is doing. He has built a unique company that has advantages over standard printing companies, and he will be a survivor. He has done it before.” To be honest with you, in 2008, I was swinging back and forth between being three to five months behind in rent. I never thought 2009 sales would still just not materialize. Clients are simply buying differently, and I don’t know if those levels are going to continue to decline or whether they are even going to continue to use print in many cases.

WTT: What about all of the government talk about bailing out small businesses, stimulus, TARP and all of that? Did you try for any of that money?

BG: Sure did. I asked about an SBA loan that could spread the short-term debt over a longer term with a lower interest rate and I couldn’t even get that. Now 38 people are without jobs. So much for economic stimulus.

Read the second half of this interview

Yeh, but what about survey burnout? We get so many.

Michael Casey — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:11:32 +0000

Recently there was a discussion between business owners who were concerned with surveying their customers and causing a negative reaction. They shared how much they hate getting surveys. In a Business to Consumer relationship many times we get pounded with surveys and get numb to them hitting “delete” as quick as we can. But, I would warn you not to generalize. Know thy customer!

Depends on the relationship one has with the specific supplier, how important that supplier is to their business, how long the survey it, and most importantly if the company responses quickly the first time the customer shares their thoughts. If I have a good ongoing relationship with the supplier as a partner, they are important to my well being, the survey is short and covers points most interesting to me and not you, and the company responds quickly maybe even call me, then I feel it is a way to get things changed and get a reaction. I will fill out surveys for them.

Example, if I have a partnership type relationship with my printer, rely on them to perform to drive marketing efforts, the survey takes a minute, and they call to discuss, then I DO NOT get survey burn-out.

If you are just another printer, who puts out average work with no skin in my game, the survey doesn’t respect my time, and you do nothing when I gave feedback of any kind in the past, then I hate to get your survey, wouldn’t take it, and WOULD get survey burnt out quickly. I would be burnt out the first time I got a survey and maybe even use it as an excuse to stop using you because I was thinking of moving on anyway and needed a reason.

We get so many surveys, but the ones I take are the ones where I respect their business, enjoy working with them, they know me, or I know they will do something with my information.

I would argue that burnout is an indication that the supplier is missing something in their relationship with the customer or they lack an understanding of how frequently to go to the well for feedback or how to approach customers for feedback.

Survey Advantage shares with On-Demand e-newsletter community how to leverage customer comments effectively with the team.

Michael Casey — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:08:16 +0000

In the September 25th issue of the On-Demand E-Newsletter issue, Survey Advantage President, Michael Casey, shares with the community effective ways of implementing best practice surveying processes to stay connected with print buyers.

Read the article

Survey Advantage rolls out on-demand training to meet executives busy schedule

Michael Casey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:12:37 +0000

Survey Advantage now is offering busy managers the ability to view recorded trainings focused on customer retention, client share expansion, and referral generation, on-demand. Many times managers and business owners are unable to make the specific days and times of our webinars due to their busy schedule.

We have released several 7 to 8 minute, recorded trainings to explain how to survey using different printer MIS installations; PrintSmith, Printer’s Plan, Technique, Enterprise Print Management Solutions, Printer’s Plus, and a session on how to survey using all other MIS installations. To view the on-demand library and select your specific printer MIS, visit www.surveyadvantage.com/printers.

We are planning to release several new trainings in the future focused on our other verticals; marine services, association research, business services, parking facility feedback, manufacturing, education, finance, and healthcare.