When we find out customer opinions about our service, we automatically think about satisfaction surveys. And here many questions arise, because it is not something so simple to make useful surveys, and that produce the result that is sought with them: improve the service to, in short, increase customer satisfaction.
Satisfaction surveys are a recurring query: how to do them, how to get a better response rate, how to analyze the information they give, etc.
However, there are other resources that are rarely used systematically for this same purpose. And the best thing is that they are as simple and effective as a satisfaction survey can be. Oh, and also, they do not require additional resources, technology or specialists, that is, they are zero cost!
In this article I am going to mention three of them, with no intention of making a finished list:
- Upward communication of employees in contact with the client. Identification of demanding and communicative clients. Simulation of the client role.
Let's see what each of them can give us.
1. Upward communication of employees in contact with the client.
There is nothing better than employees who have daily contact with customers, to know them. It is they who know what makes them angry, how to make them leave happy, the waiting time that makes them impatient, the shortcomings of the service they exploit in front of the customer…
However, this valuable experience is rarely used. Furthermore, ignoring the value of the information that these personnel have, their sensitivity gradually fades. They themselves are not aware that they have a key to initiate significant service improvements.
It is necessary to put them in value (you will increase at the same time their self-esteem and willingness to collaborate), exercise their sensitivity and ability to analyze their own experience. How about holding frequent meetings so that they expose the problems they see in their daily contact with the client? Nothing complex is needed. Simply drink from their experience, and make the most of it by making that information available to those who have it in their hands to improve the main shortcomings.
2. Identification of demanding and communicative clients.
The large number of customers who answer the satisfaction surveys will not be as clear and direct as a good demanding customer. They are those punctilious, detailed customers, who are not satisfied with a service that does not reach the highest standards.
But not only this, but they do us the great favor of communicating their dissatisfaction. Instead of putting them on the opposite sidewalk, and labeling them as "difficult customers", why not take advantage of the information they are giving us, for free? They say what many other clients keep quiet while leaving us.
Ignoring the voice of these customers is foolish. Identify them and take advantage of them!
3. Simulation of the customer role.
I have developed this resource in greater detail in the article “Testing the quality of service from the client's sidewalk”. It is just about putting yourself in his place, living the service in the first person.
This exercise is extremely useful, and can be done by management, middle managers, or front-line personnel. Living your own service will show us many opportunities for improvement, which we cannot afford to ignore.
I invite you to use these resources in your organization. If you already have a statistical measurement method, such as a survey, supplement it with this “soft” information. And if you don't have any method yet, start with these. They are simpler and more immediate. You can apply them without preamble or additional costs, and the information they will provide you is not wasted.
