Do You Have a Suggestion Box?
by Adele Sommers
If you have a suggestion box for your business, how sincerely do you consider the recommendations and complaints you receive? If you haven't yet tapped this invaluable resource, I encourage you to create a collection repository and actively seek to fill it. This article offers several tips for using the input you receive to greatly strengthen your business and bring in more revenue.
Raising the Bar for Suggestion-Gathering
 Starbucks just recently designed an online suggestion site to find ways to revive its struggling U.S. beverage business. Despite its astronomical growth and success worldwide, this giant has recognized the importance of seriously soliciting its customers' concerns and desires in order to remain viable in the marketplace it dominates.
The Starbucks suggestion site resembles an online social network that lets visitors share, vote, discuss, and see what actions Starbucks is taking to implement the ideas. What more powerful way to show patrons that you are listening than by disclosing exactly what you're doing!
Just a few of the suggestions Starbucks has received so far, and is seriously considering, include:
- Providing educational coffee classes
- Giving customers a *free* cup of birthday coffee
- Offering discounts when patrons bring their own mugs
- Offering high-protein breakfasts and gluten-free baked goods
- Letting customers swipe cards as they come in the door to bypass long lines
- Creating a punch-card system for a *free* beverage after so many purchases
- Creating a media-based community to foster conversation on arts and events
As you can see from just this short list, ideas for new offerings, as well as possible remedies for concerns (such as waiting in line, foods that don't satisfy everyone, or a perceived lack of sensitivity to the environment) have surfaced in the process.
The Risks of Ignoring Your Audiences
 In contrast, if you've ever tried to offer constructive ideas to business owners or customer service representatives -- only to learn that they had no way to collect them -- how did it make you feel?
The last three out of five times I've tried giving suggestions, I've slammed into a dead end. Since I'm always bubbling over with ideas about how companies can improve their customer service, I'm chronically disappointed when I find they're not waiting with open arms and ears to receive to them -- even when the issue has caused me considerable angst as a customer.
These very same sentiments can cause people to quietly stop patronizing your enterprise and take their business elsewhere, often without ever telling you why.
Ideas for Mining Your Data
Your customers deserve no less than the very best of experiences with every facet of your offerings. Revealing and remedying annoying hassles can stem the exodus of any cranky customers and help you begin building a base of "raving fans." Also, as Starbucks has demonstrated, requesting and carefully listening to creative ideas can spark a new romance with your audience base.
 So, once you have a suggestion box or even technical support logs that contain customer feedback, you can comb through them to identify suggestions of every type. What's really been bugging your customers or stopping them from getting things done? Are they recommending improvements in any area? See which kinds of trends you can spot.
For example, are people having trouble purchasing, using, or installing something, or wrestling with just getting started? Are they reporting bugs or service problems? Are the instructions incomplete or confusing? Are customers asking about features that you don't yet support? Look for the following possibilities:
- Immediate but basic problems that you can remedy right away.
- Major malfunctions occurring that should be documented and fixed.
- Gaps in the internal hand-offs for converting prospects into customers.
- Customers or prospects needing something that you don't offer, which could ignite ideas for new offerings, accessories, and promotional campaigns. They might be telling you exactly what you need to know to spin off your next product version!
More Ways to Work with Customer Feedback
Below are additional ideas for revealing your customers' aggravations and creative suggestions, and then addressing them.
1. Poll customers using Web, mail, or e-mail surveys, or support calls.
 You might ask what your customers love and don't love about your products and services, and how they might suggest improving them.
For example, consider expanding routine customer support calls by asking customers: "Is there anything you can think of that could enable our products or services to better assist you?"
Customers may find it very refreshing to finally reveal their pet peeves or suggestions. Imagine how thrilled they will be to finally be heard and taken seriously!
2. Observe your customers using your products at their own facilities.
It may be a real eye-opener to watch your customers try to install, set up, learn, and troubleshoot your product without having someone guide them through every step. If you had intended your products to be self-explanatory and simple to use, this could reveal several aspects in which they are not.
3. Examine and prioritize your findings using the 80:20 rule.
 Try to determine which 20% of the hassles (the "vital few") seem to be giving your customers 80% of the grief. These are the issues that may be sending customers running for the door. Conversely, you could look for that handful of creative ideas that, once implemented, could generate the majority of the resulting new revenue streams.
In either case, continuously work with the top-most issues until you've addressed everything down to the noise level. It's easier said than done, but in the long run, your customers will really appreciate it!
In conclusion, your suggestion box, customer database, or other observations may represent an under-exploited source of new income streams. The information you glean can eliminate customer headaches, boost customer loyalty, and lead to new or improved offerings and precisely targeted marketing campaigns that open revenue doors. Therefore, you have everything to gain by taking charge of this data and mining its treasure!
Copyright 2008 Adele Sommers
|
What do small companies, coffee, suggestions, and customer satisfaction all share in common?
