Here’s a crazy idea. Why not invite customers to attend your next board meeting and address your key decision makers? Sounds a little crazy, but some savvy executives have already concluded it’s effective.Customers enter the board room once executives value and engage customers. Information executives should rely on is ¾ feedback. Executives need to know what customers and prospective customers are saying.If they are looking for an honest answer who better to ask about products, services, and experience than customers? Who better to have access to objective feedback than executives?
Customer Feedback:Whether good or bad, executives should have access to feedback.Many take the time to review competitor feedback, why not their own? Ongoing feedback, typically collected through in-person, phone or on-line surveys can provide decision makers a map of success and failures. One customer’s perspective can impact change within a company.Collective perspective from several customers can impact the course of a company. Who better to ask than customers about services and products offered, available resources, staff, technology, experience, or the likelihood of giving a referral?Decisions for the organization based on up-to-date customer feedback can dramatically impact its balance sheet. Decision Making:As decisions are being made for organizations how many are based on current objective feedback provided by customers? The real debate shouldn’t be on whether or not feedback is useful, but rather how feedback is utilized.More are seeking feedback through various forms of surveys, but many fail to get the most from their investment.The exchange can be more beneficial by asking the right questions, having skilled staff managing survey campaigns and then assembling feedback into report form for executive review. Customer feedback and analysis reports are excellent decision making tools when they are brought into the board room, not left behind in someone’s office. Monitor Feedback:It’s hard to imagine why more executives aren’t tracking likes, dislikes, and expectations taken directly from customers.Customers make the best consultants and advocates. Executives need the ability to monitor customer experiences throughout the life cycle and use those experiences to drive decisions.The way to get customer experience is different for each company, but the reasons to collect feedback are the same.Executives need to know they are targeting the right customers.They need to know advertising dollars are working.They need to know how customers view service provided. They need to know if the products offered met the customer’s expectation. They need to know if the staff they have servicing customers have the tools and experience it takes to meet the customer expectations. Customer Satisfaction:Is it realistic for executives to rely on direct hires to be objective about how customers view the organization?If staff is collecting feedback from customers, what happens if their management teams aren’t interested in the results?If organizations as a whole aren’t open to customer opinions and feedback then it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor satisfaction. Decisions made to keep customers and acquire customers should be driven by customers, not company hierarchy or office politics.By asking customers about their own experience; projects, budgets, and organizational changes can be accurately developed and prioritized. By asking customers about staff or processes, staffing and training issues can be identified proactively.There’s not one group within an organization who wouldn’t benefit by reviewing customer feedback. Customer Loyalty and Advocacy: Sales staff or customer service representatives are usually tasked to survey customers or do it on their own.A more risky approach is when a company has one person interacting with the customer.Accountability to customers means allowing either an outside firm or an objective staff member to manage customer surveys.Customer survey campaigns can be used to measure customer loyalty to the organization and not just a single staff member or department.Surveys can also be used to interview customers not actively purchasing.These surveys can identify customers who may consider future purchases or even those who left on good terms but are advocates for the company.Surveys should be viewed as a conversation between the organization and the buyer.Contact made can definitely provide an opportunity to build the relationship with the organization. Will your customers be invited to your next meeting?Customers can enter the board room by sharing their feedback and then their feedback presented through reports and analysis. Customers appreciate knowing their comments are being reviewed by company executives and used to drive decisions within the organization.If people knew upfront how their feedback was being utilized, there would certainly be more interested in spending 5 or 10 minutes sharing their opinions.
