Customer feedback is a golden opportunity

When a customer enters your premises you have a golden opportunity. Your customer is right there in front of you, in person, in the palm of your hand. This is your chance to get valuable feedback by asking the right questions. Yet not all businesses do this. Every day businesses pass up amazing opportunities to gather customer feedback and improve their products and services.

In my experience people don’t ask for feedback either because they are not confident enough to ask, they don’t know how to ask, or they ask the wrong questions and the response isn’t of value to them. I’m going to cover some solutions to all of these issues later on.   

Asking for feedback is a golden opportunity to connect with your customers and make their experience so exceptional that they choose to either:

• stay and experience what you have to offer

• come back as a returning customer, or

• tell their friends and family all about your wonderful business.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if they liked your business so much they do all three!

The opportunity of customer feedback 

Customer feedback, positive and not so positive, represents a valuable opportunity to improve. It’s a chance to demonstrate how you can flex and respond to customer needs, maybe become even better than you are today. Most importantly, asking for customer feedback shows that you really care about the level of service or quality of product you and your team deliver.

Not so long ago, I stayed in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. We were on a short trip and only staying for a few days. When we got to our room it was damp. You could feel it and smell it, but I didn’t complain. I’m not sure why I chose not to. Throughout our stay no member of reception or restaurant staff asked us how our stay was going. It was only on check-out, when a member of hotel staff asked us if everything had been satisfactory, that I told them about the dampness in our room. They asked me why I hadn’t reported it.

The moral of the story?

Make it easy for your customers to give you feedback at every stage of their journey with you. It shows that you care and are interested in what they have to say.

The right questions are open questions

The way you communicate and the questions you ask your customers could be the difference between a sale and no sale; a single visit or a repeat client. Using open questions, creating free flowing conversation, and taking a genuine interest in the customer’s responses is the best approach.

Great restaurants do this best. Let’s take a look at how they take their opportunities to open a conversation.  

1. A member of waiting staff takes your order.

2. They recite your order back to you to ensure they have the details correct. They are giving you an opportunity to correct any mistakes.

3. The waiter passes your order to the kitchen feeling confident it is the right order.

4. Your food is served.

5. A few minutes later, after you have eaten a small amount of your meal, the waiter returns to ask ‘How is your meal?’. They are offering another opportunity to speak up and say if something is unsatisfactory. At this point, they can do something to change the experience i.e. if the steak is not cooked properly. They never wait until the end of the meal when there is little that can be done to correct any issues.

Open questions allow for better quality feedback instead of prompting a yes/no response.

‘How is your meal?’ is very different to ‘Is everything alright with your meal?’   

This lesson can be applied to all types of businesses, not just the hospitality industry. Take e-commerce businesses as an example. Consumers receive several feedback requests every week (I probably have two or three in my inbox right now). Most ask for a star rating, which is all well and good for statistics, whereas an open feedback question would deliver the most valuable feedback of all.   

Another example is a retail clothing store. Asking ‘How was your experience today?’ is much better than ‘Did you find everything you were looking for?’. The latter might gain you an extra sale, but the former asks for thoughts, feelings and suggestions for improvement - things you can work on to get even better.

Think about your customer journey. What opportunities are there to ask questions and gain feedback? When will you ask your customers? What kind of feedback do you anticipate?

Building confidence to ask the right questions 

There is no value in knowing what questions to ask if your team don’t feel confident to ask them. To deliver this level of service you need customer oriented staff who love to help and want to make a difference. They need great communication and listening skills and the ability to problem-solve and act quickly to make improvements.  

Confidence can be developed through training, regular practice, and the encouragement of a good line manager and supportive colleagues. Take a look at our Exceptional Service Makes Sense programme if this is something your organisation would like to explore.

Customer service training and development will equip your team with the skills, knowledge and confidence to:

1. Ask the right kind of questions

2. Listen to customer feedback with genuine care and interest

3. Seek solutions to customer complaints

4. Respond to problems with pace and positivity

5. Thank customers for their valuable input

6. Create a loyal, returning customer base.

Let’s unearth those golden nuggets of feedback

Communicating with customers at different stages of their experience is a way of gaining valuable feedback to help you and your team improve and grow. Why not have a go at adding some open questions to your customer conversations and see what golden nuggets you discover. Don’t forget to share what you learn!