Friday, October 28, 2011

Tough Questions and Honest Answers to Propel Your Business Forward

When answering your own questions about business development issues, it can be challenging to remain unbiased. If you want to learn more about your business, here are some questions to ask not only yourself, but your clients and staff. Just be sure you want to hear the truth, and commit to using the results in a positive manner to better your business, not to berate yourself over any less-than-encouraging responses.

Ask your clients:

· What do you think are the elements of excellent customer service?
· When you experience exceptional customer service from us, what is it you are experiencing?
· Have you witnessed obstacles to us providing better customer service? How can we overcome them?
· What are the specific benefits of doing business with us?
· What two services could we provide that we don’t currently offer?
· What have we done to show you appreciation for being our customer? Did this expression of appreciation hold value for you?
· Do you refer us to your network? Why/why not?

Ask your Employees:

· What do you think are the elements of excellent customer service?
· When we demonstrate experience exceptional customer service, what is it that our clients experience?
· What are the obstacles to providing better customer service? How can we overcome them?
· What do our clients see as the specific benefits of doing business with us?
· What two services could we provide that we don’t currently offer?
· What could we do to show you appreciation for being our customer that would be meaningful to them?
· Are there new initiatives we could implement that could lead to more referrals from clients?

Cross reference the answers from clients and staff for an insightful 180 degree perspective. Add in a competitive SWOT analysis to make it a 360 approach to propelling your business forward.

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