Talking with Customers is Better Than a Survey

Dec 15

There is a not so sneaky way to get your clients to appreciate you and to extend their thanks for all you do for them. It has to do with your responsiveness, but it’s more than customer service and doing what you say you will do. When you nurture your relationship with your client so that it’s deeper than your last transaction, you can find ways to bring more value to them, and at the same time make client retention the top growth strategy for your own company. The best way to do this is to make person to person conversations an integral part of your ongoing communications.

Better Than Surveys

If you rely on surveys to get intelligence on your customers, you’re going to miss the chance to get the data that can have the greatest impact on your relationship and your business. Why? Talking allows your client to tell their story. As you travel down their unique path with them, guiding them with open-ended questions, you can gain insights from the thoughts and feelings that they share that can be transformational for your business. You can:

Uncover problems that have not been addressed
Discover unmet needs that you can fill
Demonstrate that you care

Conversations With Your Customers

If you’re looking for a script here, you won’t find one. Scripts are great for processing your ideas about the kind of questions that you might ask, but sticking to a script when you’re in the middle of that conversation doesn’t give you the freedom to go where your customer wants to go.

The purpose of your conversation is to get the client to share their thoughts and feelings about their experiences with your company. The person conducting the interview should be able to think on their feet, and come up with open-ended questions that help the client tell their story without intentionally leading them one way or another.

The Secret of Companies that Listen to Their Clients

Companies that can get clients to tell the stories of their experiences with them, and then use the insights to improve their business can count on customer retention as a growth strategy. In addition to learning about ways to be a better supplier, clients will view your relationship as more valuable because you act as more of a partner than a vendor.

Customer Conversations Are Good for Business

As a business grows, it’s too easy to put customer feedback on autopilot with a survey so that you can give your attention to building processes and scaling. However, when your company is intentional about getting person to person feedback that is shared and used to take action, you might just find that the insights go both ways.

You won’t be the only one saying thanks for their business. They will be thanking you, and when it comes to customer retention, you can take that to the bank.

Just Guessing or Real Client Insights?

I help companies climb inside their clients' heads in order to discover the insights that makes marketing more focused on the people they want to reach. Call me for a consultation.

Lori Creighton

I work with small businesses to improve their recruiting outcomes by creating an 'always on' employer brand. By shifting from job-specific promotions to a value-driven message based on employee experiences, a brand narrative is crafted that resonates with what employees value most in their workplace. Eager to share what I’ve learned, I offer my insights and strategies to marketing peers through resources and courses, designed to enhance their employer branding efforts and integrate recruitment marketing into their skill set.