baldrigeplus adding value to excellence in your organisation Exhibit Customer satisfaction measurement COPYRIGHT 1999 Macpherson Publishing, PO Box 270, Alexandra, New Zealand Telephone +64 03 448 9524, Fax +64 03 448 7986, Email macalex1@xtra.co.nz This document is not to be reproduced without the prior consent of the copyright holder MISSION The mission of baldrigeplus.com is to add value to your investments in excellence by publishing and supporting a set of analytical tools that make the Baldrige system accessible, understandable and applicable to your organisation Customer satisfaction measurement A primer Introduction Baldrigeplus.com exhibits are single-topic publications designed to illustrate and explain key Baldrige concepts Used with the associated workshops, worksheets, case studies and Baldrige-sourced material, exhibits are intended to add value to your performance excellence activities Return to the Welcome page for links to the other resources Do you know if your customers are satisfied? Answer this questionnaire to see if there is anything you could be doing to know your customers better Does your small business have a strong customer-retention program in place? Do you receive feedback from customers on a regular basis? Has your small business made changes or implemented ideas at the request of customers? Do you call on customers just to see how your company’s products and services are working? Do you have an idea about what products or services your customers plan to purchase in the next year? Do you send out surveys on a regular basis to solicit input from your customers? Are your customers happy and can you quantify their satisfaction level? Do you know who your best and most loyal customers are? Source - smallbiz.symantec.com Your customers have the answers Knowing your customers is key to growing your business Customer satisfaction is essential for long term success You want your customers to be happy with the products and services you provide and you want them to stick with you as their needs grow and change Your customers have the answers, but getting them to tell you what’s good about your business, and where you need improvement is the challenge Surveys are an excellent way to find out how your customers feel about a new product, service, location, store policy or virtually anything that's important to your business A survey will tell you what your customers expect of you and your company, and clarify how well you are performing in their eyes A customer satisfaction survey is one way to gather vital information There are a number of ways to get copies of the survey to your customers Copies can be included with orders, mailed directly to customers or done via a phone survey Not all your customers will return their surveys, but those who will make it worth your while If executed properly, you can achieve impressive results without spending a lot of money Customer service experts estimate it can cost between $3,000 - $5,000 to sample a representative segment of your customers Better customer surveys Surveys are an excellent way to find out what your customers think about your products and/or services, telling you what your customers expect and what they are and aren't getting But the secret to any good survey is the questions! If you don't ask the right questions, you are just wasting your time and that of your customers Here are ten tips for better customer questionnaires Start with a clear objective What are you trying to learn? Understanding why you are surveying your customers is an essential first step for better results A strong survey has a clear goal or focus (to find out how customers feel about a new location or store layout; get response to a new product or service; learn why once loyal customers are now shopping elsewhere) Be clear about why you're surveying your customers, and you will get results that will help you make your business more effective Be honest Tell your customers why you are asking them questions and why their feedback is important Don’t dress-up your survey as something else Keep your survey short and simple You are asking customers for their valuable time so don't waste it Keep questions direct, simple and brief Long, wordy multi-part questions should be avoided The longer the survey, the less likely you are to get responses Keep the questions short Scaled questions (strongly agree, agree, slightly agree, don't care) or yes/no questions are the easiest to answer An example of a good question: How well you feel your accountant meets your tax needs? Ideally, your survey should consist of 10-12 such questions, on one page Consider using a response scale (called a Lickert scale) with an even number of options, usually four or six, to force a positive or negative response: m Strongly agree m Agree m Disagree m Strongly disagree That way, your customers can’t sit on the fence by marking a ‘neither agree nor disagree’ option Ask questions that are important to your customers, Make sure the questions you ask directly affect the customer If you ask them questions they don't care about you are less likely to get useful information Customers aren't concerned with issues that not pertain to them (hiring, promotion or store policies, outreach programs) Make sure that each question is important to your customers' needs, not your internal management, and remember that successful surveys are fun to fill out Don't waste your customers' time Give them an incentive for responding It might be as simple as a sentence at the top of the survey indicating that you are using the input to evaluate current policies/products and create new ones − customers like to feel like they can have an impact on your company Ron Zemke, author of Coaching Knock Your Socks Off Service suggests including discount coupons for certain products or services with the survey, particularly if you're using your survey to prospect for new customers Encourage opinions If you are seeking actionable data, and that’s surely the key purpose of your survey, leave space at the end for comments – or better still, add a comments line after every question, encouraging respondents to express their opinions Many service businesses, for example, have been successful with questions such as, "If this were your business, what would you differently?" If respondents feel strongly about the issue, pro or con, there's an excellent chance they'll answer it Look at IBM’s customer survey approach (see the exhibit Customer relationship management at IBM Rochester) If customers have the option of marking your products or service unsatisfactory, or worse, always ask ‘what could we to improve your satisfaction …’ Use a confidential self-mailer to generate higher response rates The easier it is for people to respond, the higher the response rate will be Selfmailers are highly recommended because they require less paper and postage Next best is including an addressed pre-stamped envelope ( It's presumptuous to expect respondents to use their own postage.) Also, stressing the survey's confidentiality increases your chances of getting honest answers Test your survey before mailing it Andy Mosko, managing principal of Organizational Research Forum, Inc., Vernon Hills, IL, a company that specializes in designing customer surveys, advises testing a survey before mailing it Try it out on a few good customers, he says You'll be pleasantly surprised to discover it can be improved Focus your surveys on your most important customers These are the people whose opinions you value most If the lion's share of your business comes from only or 10 customers (as may be the case with a small service business), design your survey with their needs in mind (and take a look at the Solectron on customer relationship management in the baldrigeplus.com case study collection and the related exhibits) 10 Preview your survey with postcard arousing curiosity A brief attention-commanding announcement should be delivered a week before the survey is officially sent It's an opportunity to highlight the benefits (premium, discount or special money-saving coupon) of filling out the survey and sending it back promptly Sources - Symantec’s small business resources, at smallbiz.symantec.com, americanexpress.com How Big Is Big Enough? From an article by Tom McGoldrick, David Hyatt, and Lori Laflin, of American Demographics/Marketing Tools, a unit of Cowles Business Media When it comes to sampling, size matters One of the most common sampling questions is, ‘How many people I need to survey to have valid data?’ There's only one answer: ‘It depends,’ … on what you want to with the data you collect The goal of surveying is to find out how everyone who matters feels about a topic, but most of the time it's impractical to ask them all, so we ask a small number, a sample, and use the results to make assumptions about what all of them think We want to know how the population feels, but we are only asking a slice of the population One of the first things to before deciding on a sample is to think about the characteristics of the population that will be important to you This ensures that when you're drawing your sample, you will represent those groups appropriately A sample is only valid to the extent that it mirrors the population of interest There are any number of ways to select a sample, most fall into one of two groups: probability and non-probability Probability sampling is a type of sampling where every member of the population has a known (usually random, and equal) probability of being sampled Non-probability sampling is when certain members of the population are chosen because of a judgment on the characteristics of the population and the needs of the survey Non-probability samples are created because the units appear representative or because they can be conveniently assembled; hardto-find groups, surveys of specific groups, and surveys in pilot work Nonprobability is not random because not all members have the same chance of being drawn for the survey Some have no chance at all Types of probability sampling Simple random sampling where each member of the population has the same chance of being selected In order to achieve a true simple random sample, you will need to develop a list that includes all of the members of the population, then randomly pull names from the list The biggest advantage to a simple random sample is that it provides an unbiased sample fairly easily The biggest downside is that it may not capture all elements of the population that are of interest Stratified random sampling where the population has been classified into strata, or subgroups, and then a random sample is pulled from each subgroup A common question is, what strata you use? The answer is to develop strata based on characteristics that should have an effect on the results, think about what groups you will want to compare when analyzing the data Systematic sampling where names are taken systematically from a population using a ratio of population to desired sample For example, if you had a random list of 3,000 customers and wanted to send surveys to 500 of them, you would select every 6th person and send them a survey You need to be sure the population is not ordered to begin with, or that there is no naturally reoccurring pattern Cluster sampling The final type of probability sampling, cluster sampling, uses naturally occurring clusters such as business units, schools, hospitals, or city blocks, randomly selects a subset of them, and then samples everyone in the chosen cluster Cluster sampling is traditionally only used in large-scale surveys It is different from stratified sampling in that you start with naturally occurring clusters; you don't develop them Types of non-probability sampling Convenience sampling A convenience sample is a group of people whom you can conveniently locate and survey The sample may not generalize to the target population Snowball sampling requires you to identify members of the desired population who are then asked to nominate other members, so that the sample snowballs in size For example, if you were interested in surveying a certain type of doctor, you might ask the known ones to nominate others, who would in turn be asked to nominate others, and so on Quota sampling divides the population into subgroups, which are then sampled in proportion to their presence in the population The key is estimating the percentage in each subgroup The difference between this and stratified sampling is that in quota sampling, you don't care how you got the people as long as the quota groups are filled appropriately Sampling errors No matter how good samples are, bias or error will slip in There are several types of error that can occur when you only sample part of the population: Non-sampling errors − one of the biggest sources of error − consist of definitions, or inclusion/exclusion criteria issues; and non-response issues - The definitions you work with in describing your population of interest can greatly affect the accuracy of your sample - Non-response error is an important consideration In survey research, it is necessary to assume that the people who respond are not too different from those who choose not to The question is whether that is a valid assumption or not Because we don't know, we usually have to qualify our interpretations Sampling errors can enter into the sampling process as well Names may be duplicated on a list, increasing the likelihood that someone will be selected, or the list may not be complete Sample size There are three ways to determine the sample size: Copy what others do, or just doing what you've always done (the easiest) Pick what is convenient, or what you can afford (not the best way but realistic) Guess the level of accuracy you feel is right for the issues you are investigating Sampling tables will save you from the detailed calculations, but you will need to consider: your desired level of confidence, how much sampling error can be tolerated, population size if the population is small, how varied the population is with respect to the characteristics of interest, and the smallest subgroup within the sample for which estimates are needed Level of confidence refers to how likely the sample estimate will contain the value of the population Recall that we are trying to estimate what the population is like by selecting a sample from it We need a confidence level because we assume there will be some error Common confidence levels are 95% and 99%, which means that 95 or 99 times out of 100, the sample we pull will be within the specified error range of the population Sampling error refers to how accurate our estimates of the population need to be It is important to remember that if you are interested in comparing groups, you need to consider the number in each group, not the size of the total population It is also very important to note that all discussions of sample sizes are talking about the number of surveys that are actually completed and returned In order to achieve the proper sample size, you'll have to consider your expected response rate and work backward, calculating the number of people to whom you will need to send your survey For example, if you expect to receive a 25% response to your survey, and you know that you need to receive 500 surveys to reach the appropriate levels of confidence, you will need to send out 2,000 surveys to your target population How to…measure customer satisfaction From an article by Entrepreneurial Edge Online, a service of The Edward Lowe Foundation The costs of poor service Businesses survive because they have customers that are willing to buy their product or service However, many times businesses fail to “check in” with their customers to determine whether they are happy or not and what it will take to make or keep them happy According to the US Consumer Affairs Department, it costs five times more to gain a new customer than to retain an existing one Other studies have reported that with just a 5% increase in customer retention a firm can raise its profitability by 25% and in some cases as much as 85% Similar studies also show the longer a company keeps a customer, the more money it will make What happens is that consumers spend slowly at first, but with succeeding years of good experiences, they will spend increasingly more The Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) data base shows that firms perceived as having better customer service can charge more for their products and services and still have higher market shares and returns on sales than their competitors TARP, a management consulting research company, reports only 2-4% of dissatisfied customers ever complain to a business regarding a poor experience The others just leave and potentially business with competitors Of customers that leave in a given year, 68% because of supplier indifference or poor attitude A General Electric study found that word-of-mouth has a significant influence on consumer decisions, twice as much as advertising Negative word-of-mouth can be really dangerous since dissatisfied customers are usually more vocal than satisfied customers Depending on the industry and the nature of the bad experience, dissatisfied customers will complain to 10 to 20 friends and acquaintances, which is three times more than those with good experiences Furthermore, this negative information is influential, and consumers generally place significant weight on it when making a decision If that isn't reason enough, fierce competition is requiring more and more innovations to differentiate firms from one another With technology available to virtually everyone today, the traditional feature and cost advantages are no longer relevant Still, product and service quality provide an enormous opportunity to distinguish a firm from the rest According to futurist and corporate advisor, Faith Popcorn, a new type of customer is emerging in the '90s They are ‘vigilante consumers’ — a new generation of super consumers that are smart, discriminating and vocal They demand value for their money and expect the companies that they buy from to be responsible and accountable When companies don't respond, vigilante consumers will make sure that they will tell anyone who will listen why they shouldn't business with those companies Satisfying these smarter consumers just makes good business sense The customer service payoff Customers are your best source of business information — whether it's to improve an existing product or service or whether you're planning to launch something new Customer data allows you open up the lines of communication; align resources; and make changes or launch products more quickly Talking to customers directly increases the odds for achieving success; mistake-proofs decisions and provides a focus on what really matters When you routinely ask your customers for feedback and involve them in your business, they, in turn, become committed to the success of your business Watch out for … Even the best intentions are subject to problems along the way Temptations to avoid are: Complacency — Customer surveying should be continuous Asking occasionally is not enough Change is certain, and priorities shift The most successful companies are those that can detect and respond to customer changes quickly Analysis paralysis — When you get your data, don't analyze it to death Many corporations have departments full of statisticians to determine the reliability and validity of their data; but they never anything with it In most cases the lessons will be obvious Get started immediately Doing nothing with the feedback — Do nothing with their suggestions, and your customers will lose interest Show them that you appreciate their input as well as communicate to them what has changed as a result of their input Failing to listen to your experts — Employees are a valuable source of customer information They deal with customers constantly and often have first hand knowledge on what the customers' hot buttons are Too often employers ignore this valuable resource De-motivator for employees — Customer feedback should not be used to punish employees Instead, use it to detect areas for improvement If customers discover that their input is used to discipline employees, they may stop providing constructive feedback altogether Assessing satisfaction Sources of customer data Do you know what influences customer buying decisions, how important each influencer is, or how they measure up to your competition in the areas most important to your customers? Your own organization — Uncover potential areas of customer discontent by reviewing operational data Check on the status of backlogs or stock-outs If these are significant you may have customers that are not happy with your delivery cycle time Review your ‘returns and allowances.’ If they are high, then your customers are sending you a strong message that they were not happy with the product they purchased Look also at internal reject or yield rates If rejects are high or yields low, you can bet that some bad product is leaking out to your customer Your employees are a valuable source of information on customer satisfaction They interact with customers constantly and probably know a great deal about your customers' likes and dislikes If you are a one-person organization, then you are the one dealing with customers You know what's going well, what needs fine-tuning, and what needs a major overhaul You should begin your search for customer data in-house Most likely you'll uncover some things that you can fix immediately, which will make your customers happy and get you started on the right track Customers — Start with a review of customer complaints and inquiries If you don't have a systematic way of collecting these, you should develop one Both are good indicators of opportunity areas Don't limit yourself to just complaints and inquiries — only 2-4% of dissatisfied customers ever complain If you're only looking at complaints, you're missing the other 96-98% who have problems with you Surveys and focus groups are two popular methods for gathering information on customer needs Surveys are written assessments given to individual customers; focus groups are oral assessments administered to groups of customers Both must have clear and specific A broad questionnaire or focus group session provides you with a lot of information, but it's usually too general to anything with Objectives must be clear and questions specific if they are to provide results that can be acted upon Surveys are relatively easy and cheap to run, and can reach large numbers of customers, but the information can sometimes be limited; it’s a one-way exchange Focus groups take more time and effort, tend to cost more, and don’t reach as many customers but they’re interactive and may produce clearer feedback The best results are found when combinations of both techniques are used to identify customer requirements and expectations The best customer data More is not necessarily better, but getting the right kind of data is critical The key characteristics of good customer data are: • Ongoing — Change is going to happen Your customers may change; their needs may change; the environment may change; and most certainly you will change As you improve, your customers expectations will likely rise, too In order to respond to these changing needs, you'll need to constantly assess your customers • Specific — In order to make the kind of improvements your customers will appreciate, you'll need to have specific feedback While general inputs may give you an overall tone of the customer, you can only respond to specific feedback • Timely — If you're working with old data, it may be obsolete and no longer relevant • Focused — Organizations have limited resources While the problems can be overwhelming, you can realistically work on just a few If you try to too much, you might not anything well • • Weighted (according to importance) — This will help to narrow the list of opportunities to just the few on which you should concentrate You can rate the relative importance, but it will be much better if your customer does it Competitive comparison — You should always know where you stand in comparison to your competition If your customers are willing to provide you with that feedback, take it And you won't need a separate survey Look at the sample survey at the end of the module to find out how you can incorporate this information in the same survey Surveying The steps of a successful survey are: Decide on your objectives Decide who to ask Develop the survey Analyze the results Communicate the results Decide on your objectives What you want to know from the survey? Be specific Your objectives will form the basis from which your survey questions will be developed Limit your objectives to just a few If you try to include too much, you will make the survey too long (customers may not complete it), and you may uncover more than you can handle (you can't respond to it Decide who to ask First and foremost, know who your customers are and which are appropriate to survey! As obvious as this sounds, it is not so obvious in practice If your market is large, you may have different segments of customers Or depending upon the industry you may have different levels of customers Nevertheless, your survey objective(s) will usually determine which customers you should survey Also, give some thought to the amount of customers you want to survey Do you have a couple of key accounts? Maybe you want to survey each of them If you have several customers, you may have to select a portion of those to survey Also, you may want to hear from different individuals at the same customer site Often, it is enlightening to get feedback from individuals other than your direct contact They may have problems that you never hear about because it never gets to your contact and never is reported to you Develop the survey Develop the questions, which should relate to your objectives and be relevant to what you want to measure Ask concise questions Long questions are difficult to read and discourage customers from completing it Eliminate unnecessary words Instead of: Did the clerk provide you with personal service when you asked to be helped with your selection? Ask: Was the clerk personable? Avoid vague and ambiguous questions The customer should be able to understand exactly what you are asking Instead of: Was the bank transaction by the teller acceptable? Ask: Did the transaction occur quickly enough? (and) Did the teller talk to you in a pleasant way? 10 Make each question single-purpose More than one idea in a question can be confusing Instead of: Was the clerk pleasant and did s/he handle your transaction in a short amount of time? Ask: Was the clerk pleasant? (and) Did the clerk handle your transaction in a short amount of time? Decide on the response format This will determine how your customers will provide their answers to your survey questions There are two commonly used formats — checklist and Likert scale For each question in a checklist format, the customer will be able to respond either yes or no While this is the simpler of the two, it can be confusing if the customer's answer is actually maybe, sometimes, or mostly The other format, developed by RA Likert in 1932, is a continuum … Examples are strongly disagree/disagree/neutral/agree/strongly agree, very dissatisfied/dissatisfied/indifferent/satisfied/very satisfied, very poor/poor/average/good/very good NR (not relevant) or NA (not appropriate) may be added to indicate that the customer is not a valid respondent for that question The advantages of the Likert scale are; they allow the customer to express their degree of opinion, and scales with five response items have shown to be higher in reliability than those with just two Reliability appears to level off after five responses so keep in mind that while a 5-point scale is better than a 2-point, 10 is not necessarily better than Determine the level of importance for each question Some of the questions you ask will be important to your customers, some less so Give them the option of telling you which matter the most If you know what is most important to your customer, it's only logical that you should start there first, especially if your customer is not satisfied with your performance level This is one of the most critical components of surveys, but it is one that is frequently omitted Without it, you can't prioritize your work The simplest method for determining level of importance is to use a three point scale — for high, for medium and for low Refer to the sample survey below to see how it's done Introduce the survey Explain the purpose of the survey and include any instructions in an introduction Customers are more likely to complete your survey if they know why you need it and how to complete it You may also want to collect information such as name, function, or company so you can segregate the data Trial the survey before you send it out This will flag potentially confusing questions You can either have some of your employees complete the questionnaire or sample a group of customers Keep it short Long surveys will reduce the number of responses that you'll get Aim for two pages, front and back (for a total of 4), no more than 30 questions Set a deadline Don't extend it too long because it'll never get beyond your customer's in tray At the same time, don't make it too soon Two weeks from receipt of the survey usually works well Clearly identify who should receive the completed survey This should be included in your introduction If it is to be returned to you directly, include a self-addressed stamped envelope to facilitate the return of the completed survey 11 Thank all who participated Everyone is asked to complete surveys these days Make sure you include a thank-you in the survey introduction Also, if the respondent provides his name, it is customary to send a note or card thanking him again and explaining the appropriate follow-up actions Analyze the results Once you have the completed surveys, you are ready to compile the data and analyze the results In most cases, competency with a computer spreadsheet program is all you'll need First, you'll need to design the spreadsheet, enter the data, then choose the graphs to summarize the results These might be pie charts, bar graphs, or line graphs which are available in all of the popular spreadsheet programs For both the checklist and Likert format, you'll be able to determine the percentages of positive and negative responses for each response With the Likert scale, you can determine positive and negative percentages by combining the responses on each end of the continuum For instance, strongly agree and agree become positive; disagree and strongly disagree become negative, transforming the 5-point to a 3-point scale, comparable to the importance scale If your customers decide to fill in the biographical information (name, function, company), you'll be able to sort the survey data by type of customer, function, sales level, product purchased or whatever makes sense to determine if any trends are developing Communicate the results Get your customers involved when you can This gives them ownership of the process, makes them part of the solutions and allows them to experience firsthand your dedication in satisfying their needs You might also want to solicit their input for your annual goals and objectives Then, tell them how you're doing against the goals, and tell them frequently That way they know that progress is being made and that you value their opinions and their participation Plus, it provides you with some great public relations Next Steps Once you've identified your customers' needs, your strengths and weaknesses, and the priority for improvements from the surveys, pick a few areas on which to concentrate your organization's efforts If there are some quick fixes, make them, but focus your efforts on the vital few that will achieve the biggest gains Identify some key performance indicators for customer satisfaction, develop goals, and measure your progress against the indicators Also, under-promise and over-deliver Keeping expectations slightly below perceived performance keeps your customer happy and makes you look good Ongoing assessments are needed to keep a current and accurate account of customer satisfaction Remember, surveys and focus groups are valuable in detecting shifts and spotting trends in satisfaction levels, for providing incentive for continuing progress, and in identifying new opportunities for improvements Direct customer input is imperative A system that doesn't include large doses of customer input is meaningless Also, updates or revisions to performance indicators are often necessary to reflect changes in customer needs 12 How to save money Do it yourself Don't be intimidated by survey houses who will try to convince you that this is much too complex a process for you to undertake alone You know your customers Who better than you could design a survey that assesses their needs? A thorough knowledge of statistics will not be necessary If this is the first time you've asked for feedback, it will be very obvious what you are doing well… and not so well With each succeeding survey, you'll perfect the process Furthermore, when you conduct the survey yourself, you internalize it, and it becomes the cornerstone from which you make some very important business decisions — not just another program performed by an unrelated third party Use proprietary software There are heaps of software packages that provide a selection of questions and perform both elementary and complex statistical manipulation You can spend several thousand dollars for lots of bells and whistles, but there are also more moderately priced packages Sample Survey Name (optional) Address (optional) Company Date / / Phone (optional) Department (optional) Role/Function (optional) Instructions This survey asks about how well we measure up to your expectations Being the best in our business is important to us, and we appreciate the advice of our customers as we seek continuous improvement Please mark the questions below according to the following scale: for poor, for average, for world class In the last column indicate how important you feel this service is to you Please circle H for highly important, L for low importance If in between, circle M If you wish to add information or provide examples that describe your opinions, please so in the sections provided at the end of each question Your comments are valuable in improving our understanding of your requirements, and we appreciate each one of them Reliability Individual staff member’s ability to perform dependably and accurately Follow through with commitments in a timely manner 12345HML Show a sincere interest in solving my problems 12345HML Perform the service right the first time 12345HML Are dependable 12345HML Insist on error-free records 12345HML 13 Empathy Caring, individualized attention provided to customers Has convenient service features (hours, contacts) Gives me personal attention Has my best interests at heart Understands my specific needs 12345HML 12345HML 12345HML 12345HML Tangibles Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials Has modern and appropriate facilities and equipment 12345HML Physical facilities are visually appealing 12345HML Projects a professional image 12345HML Responsiveness Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service Employees inform me when services will be performed Employees give me prompt service Employees are always willing to help me Employees are never too busy to respond to my requests 12345HML 12345HML 12345HML 12345HML Assurance Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence The behaviour of employees instils confidence in me 12345HML I feel safe in my transactions with employees 12345HML Employees are courteous 12345HML Employees have the knowledge to answer my questions 12345HML Additional Comments: Listed below are five features of suppliers and the services they offer We would like to know how important each of these is to you Please allocate a total of 100 points to the five features based on how important each is to you — the more important a feature is to you, the more points you should allocate to it Appropriate facilities/equipment; professional personnel points Accurate and dependable service performance points Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service points Knowledgeable, courteous employees that inspire trust and confidence points Caring, individualized attention to customers points 14 ... your best and most loyal customers are? Source - smallbiz.symantec.com Your customers have the answers Knowing your customers is key to growing your business Customer satisfaction is essential... out to your customer Your employees are a valuable source of information on customer satisfaction They interact with customers constantly and probably know a great deal about your customers'' likes... services your customers plan to purchase in the next year? Do you send out surveys on a regular basis to solicit input from your customers? Are your customers happy and can you quantify their satisfaction