How Can You Train Your Clients To Give You Better Feedback?
7 Simple Strategies to Motivate Exceptional Feedback
Getting feedback from customers is arguably one of the most important aspects of being an owner of a creative agency. Feedback from clients can help you to understand your business’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s the best way to know what your clients prefer and dislike about a service or product. It can help improve their experience with the company and even generate more sales.
You know this, though, don’t you? Then why is it that a Gallup study found two-thirds of employees have direct customer contact every day but don’t have a clue what their customers care about? How much better could your business be if your customers gave you regular feedback?
Why is getting feedback from customers so difficult?
Getting feedback from customers is a challenge that many business owners face.
Your employees could be afraid to ask for feedback because they are scared that it will lead to confrontation. They might also feel like they are too busy and don’t have time for this. The employees might also feel like asking for feedback will make them appear less confident about their performance, the service your company provides, and the products it sells.
Customers also find it difficult to give feedback. Reasons include that they:
-
Don’t have enough time to give feedback
-
Don’t realize how valuable their feedback is
-
Are too busy to give feedback
-
Are not aware of their opinion or they have low self-esteem when giving feedback
How to get feedback from customers
If your employees don’t ask for feedback, it is very unlikely that your will receive any. You won’t know what your customers want. Consequently, you will always be in the dark about what you need to do to meet your clients’ needs and stay ahead of your competition.
The following seven ways to get feedback from clients act not only to encourage your customers to provide feedback, but also act as a framework that your employees can use when asking for feedback.
-
Motivate feedback from clients
Some clients may not know what is expected of them when it comes to giving feedback, so it is worth giving them a heads up on how your business will use the feedback and what you expect from them.
Always ask for feedback in a way that will let them know how much their opinion matters to you and how it will be used to improve your services. Let them know how much you value their input and opinion. This way you ensure they know their voice matters and they have a say in what you do together.
-
Be grateful and gracious
What if we could turn customer feedback into something tangible? Feedback would be more than just a tool for customer service to get better. It would be the foundation for growth for businesses.
Therefore, customer feedback is a gift from the customer to the business. It’s an opportunity to get better. It’s a way to improve your products and services to offer the best quality and service. It can be used as data for future marketing campaigns. You can analyze it and use it to improve your process or production.
Always thank your clients for their feedback, whether it is positive or negative.
-
Ask for honest opinions
It is crucial to garner honest opinions, therefore you must not only ask for honesty but be prepared for honesty. When you are open to receiving good and bad feedback, your clients will find it easier to give feedback.
-
Be specific
The quality of the feedback you get from your clients is directly related to how you elicit it. For example, just saying, “What are your thoughts?” may not encourage the most truthful response. Instead, ask for feedback on specific elements of your services and products. You are more likely to receive honest appraisals with the level of detail needed to identify issues and produce solutions.
-
Ask open questions
If you ask closed questions, clients will give you vague answers like ‘yes’ or ‘no’. This can be very frustrating since they are not providing any context or explanation for their answer. As a result, the feedback that you receive does not give you any information to work with.
To avoid this, ask open questions during client meetings. These allow your client to share more of what they think, and will foster an open dialogue with them where you learn about their needs and wants.
-
Ask for feedback when things are going well as well as when they are going poorly
When things are going well, it’s important to take the time to ask your clients about their experience with you and your company. If things are not going well, make sure that you ask for feedback as soon as possible.
By asking for feedback consistently, you’ll build a picture of what works best and what is failing you. This will help improve your work and make sure that nobody is dissatisfied with your service.
-
Learn about their motivation behind complaints and compliments
Asking people about their thoughts and feelings on your product or service is important because it will help you understand what they like, dislike, and need. The more information you can gather from your customers about what they like and don’t like, the better your company will be able to provide services that meet their needs.
Always ask, “Why is this important to you?”. Knowing your customers’ why will help you develop services, products, and marketing campaigns that encourage positive emotions within the customer – and scientific research has confirmed that 95% of buying decisions are emotional.
Customer feedback is essential for business success
Feedback from customers is crucial, but it can be challenging. The trick is to use strategies that will make you more confident when asking for feedback and your customer more confident about giving feedback. Best of all, when you act upon the feedback you receive from your clients, your own confidence will grow, and so, too, will the confidence your clients have in you to deliver.
To learn more about building your self-confidence as the leader of a creative agency, watch my new ‘Consistent Confidence’ webinar.
