Customer Surveys
Recently, I had a conversation with the owner of one of my clients about implementing a new customer survey policy.
“Does your company take a written survey from your customers asking them how you did concerning delivering your products and services?” Jordan responded, “We do not. Should we?” I quickly responded, “Yes, you should! It is a great opportunity for your salespeople to generate another contact with your customers. It also gives management the ability to see if your customers are happy with how the sales team and shop techs are treating the customers.”
I continued, “We should place a preprinted survey form (see form below) in a stamped envelope on the dashboard of every vehicle that leaves the shop when the technician finishes his work on their truck or jeep. The survey should have the customer’s name and the date of the service already recorded on the form. The pre-addressed company envelope should go directly to the president/owner of the company. The customer should only have to open the envelope, answer the six questions, and mail their questionnaire to your office. I believe you are going to receive back some interesting surveys!”
“Another real benefit of this survey procedure, you are going to find that the techs will be more conscientious about their work on the customer’s vehicle. When the techs know their customers are going to send surveys to the owners rating their work, the quality of their work will improve. You are also going to find that the salespeople treat their customers better. The salesmen will know that each customer can easily tell management/owners about their level of treatment during the sales transaction.
When employees know that their work may be subject to an audit, they will be more careful. Just like with the IRS, people filing their tax returns are more cautious with the accuracy of the tax return, knowing that the IRS may audit them.”
“The survey form is very simple for customers to complete. It will take your customers less than five minutes to answer the questions.” Jordan remarked, “Bob, I love the idea. We do need to improve the quality of the work in our shop! This questionnaire will be a brand-new policy for our company, a great addition. It sounds easy to implement. All we need to do is order some pre-stamped company pre-addressed envelopes, and then design a survey questionnaire and make some copies. That is not going to be hard at all, and it is going to have a ton of benefits.
ABC COMPANY
100 Main Street
City, State Zipcode
Mr. Satisfied Customer
Street Address
City, State Zipcode
Dear Mr. Customer,
SUBJECT: HOW DID WE DO?
We want to thank you for purchasing our products and services. For us to improve the quality of our products and the delivery of our services, I would like to ask you to grade us. Our employees and management team are measured and compensated for the quality of their work. We, the owners of ABC Company, use this valuable information to understand better how we are servicing our customers. Thank you in advance for your time and effort in answering these questions and mailing this survey back to me in the envelope provided.
5 = Excellent 4 = Good 3 = Satisfactory 2 = Fair 1 = Poor
- How would you rate the quality of our work on your vehicle?
- How would you rate the salesperson as being courteous and friendly?
- How would you rate the responsiveness of our salesperson?
- How would you rate the professionalism of the salesperson?
- How would you rate our service team regarding the delivery of your completed vehicle?
- How would you rate our salesperson: did he answer your questions about your vehicle?
- Comments:________________________________________________________
Respectfully,
Jordan Smith
ABC Company Owner
Salesman : ________
Service Manager : ________
Technician :_________
My name is Robert Curry, and I am an Author, CEO Coach, Keynote Speaker, and Turnaround Specialist. Over the past 20 years, I have worked with more than 70 companies taking their businesses from Loses to Profits.
Please click on the links below to read some my other articles like Custom Surveys.
Work Should be More Fun Than Stress!
Dealing with Unproductive employees!
I have recently published two books about turnarounds: “From Red to Black – A Business Turnaround” and “The Turnaround.” Both books are true stories about turnarounds of real companies that I have turned around during my career. In both books, I have shared all my Profit Improvement Recommendations (“PIR’s”). PIR’s helped to grow sales, reduce expenses, improve cash flow, and most importantly, strengthen the management teams.
If the information in this article Customer Surveys helps you, your family or a business associate, please email me at bob@ceorsc.com and share with me the story.
If you would like to purchase either or both books autographed by the author, please click on the following link: Red to Black books.
