Do you know what other people think about you?
As kids and teenagers we are taught to say, “I don’t care what other people think or say about me.”
However in business that isn’t going to work very well for you.
What people think of you in business matters a great deal, particularly when it is easy to spread the word to thousands with the roll-on affect of social media and email. I am not just talking about your reputation, but also the experience your customers have when doing business with you and what people perceive of your business.
Do they know what you do, do they value it, does it look like you know what you are doing etc?
We are also taught to not take these things personally.
However I believe as business owners, we do need to take it personally because only then will we improve.
Business is personal. It is certainly personal to your customers.
There is a great deal of priceless information that you can gain from your existing client base.
Ask your clients questions about your business to hear their perspective and the impressions that you have given them of you and your business.
Note:
- Be careful about what questions you ask. If you give them the opportunity to make suggestions, are you prepared to alter your business accordingly? If not – don’t ask.
- If you know they have had an unpleasant experience with you, talk to them personally about the specific experience and try and win them back. Do not ask them the same questions as your delighted customers.
- You don’t want to give the impression that you don’t know what you are doing and are asking them to help you run your business.
- Finally, you don’t want to trigger their thinking toward what you do wrong. If you do that they will continue to think about that after the phone call or email is over, and being human they will find an abundance of areas that need improvement.
The aim of asking your customers questions is to:
- Show them that their desires and opinion matters to you, because they matter to you.
- Find areas for improvement in your image, branding and messaging, customer service, and business offering.
- Learn more about your target market and what is important to them. You may be giving 110% in areas that do not matter as much to them as the areas that you are putting 80% in to.
Scroll down to see examples of some good, easy questions to ask your clients.
Do you monitor what people say and think about your business? How do you do that?
Do you think that one of the reasons many businesses don’t keep their ear to the ground is because they are worried about what their business’ reputation is?
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