Remember the days of the suggestion box?
Of course I’m not old enough to remember this – ahem – but there was a time when businesses would leave a shoe box, a few scraps of paper, and a pen on the counter for patrons to write down suggestions. The customers would write their suggestions, fold them up, and insert them into the box. The purpose was for the business to see how their customers genuinely felt. It gave them ideas about what to improve, what wasn’t working, and what was going well. The customers could also choose to remain anonymous when they left their little slip of paper without fear of retribution from the business. It was really a win-win for everyone.
The practice isn’t as widely used since computers are such a huge part of business now, but it really was a smart idea. Who better to listen to than your clients? For example, if you owned a pet store and several customers suggested you stock a certain accessory, would you order it? Of course you would! Suggestion boxes are basically a form of free market research.
Feedback is important and I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that. It allows you to see your product or service from the other side of the fence. Your clients are the reason you have a business in the first place. Not listening to them means missed opportunities to grow. If your business isn’t meeting their needs, your clients will be taking their business elsewhere.
Do you encourage and ask for feedback from your clients and customers? More often than not, businesses don’t ask for feedback (except for the words “How’s My Driving?” and a 1-800 number on the back of a tractor trailer.) It’s not always safe to assume that “no news is good news.” The truth is that your clients might feel exactly the same way as you do about feedback; it can seem awkward. The good news is that the more you practice it, the easier it gets. Really.
If you feel like you’re never going to be comfortable asking for feedback, that’s okay too (because who’s fabulous at absolutely everything, right?). You can add a virtual suggestion box to your website. Don’t know how to do that? Hey, no worries, because we do! A virtual assistant can add a form page to your site to encourage your clients to leave anonymous feedback and suggestions. You can have the page created and just leave it there, or you can ask your assistant to monitor it for you too.
Another option for getting valuable feedback is to have your virtual assistant call your current and past customers/clients and ask them for it. We’re offering a new service here at AngCo that involves collecting testimonials and posting them to your website, but if you truly just want to hear what your clients’ suggestions are, your assistant can simply contact and ask them.
Feedback is a good thing and nothing to be feared. We’re here to help! Let’s talk about the feedback your business gets – I’ll show you how easy it is!
Thanks for reading. Until next time,
Angie
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