Don’t ASSume

Lets face it, we all know the old cliché: “When you assume, you make an ass of you and me.” It’s natural to assume we know what our clients are looking for, but taking the time to really ask with the intent to understand is something of critical importance.

Simply doing a survey can help you receive feedback on what is working, what isn’t working, and how you can improve your overall performance.

There are some key questions to ask before you kick off a survey. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:  

• Identify your objective – Specifically what do you want to get out of your survey and only ask questions geared towards that outcome.
• Keep it short – Surveys come in all shapes and sizes, but it’s critical to be as concise as possible. Be sure to only ask questions that you intend to use by the information gathered. Don’t waste your client’s time.
• Survey Time – Be sure to keep the response timeframe to a minimum. Allowing too much time to do a survey will not garner more responses; rather it could prolong the analysis.
• Incentivize – Although not required, incentivizing your customers to take the time to fill out your survey can help the response rate.
• Use the information you obtain – It’s great to do surveys, but if you don’t intend to listen to your customer, don’t waste the time doing the survey in the first place. Your clients will tell you what is working and what isn’t, so listen with the intent to understand.

Do you have any advice for giving surveys? Share it with us by commenting below!

Written by: Kasie Smith, president and publisher of Groups Today magazine.