Assessing Your Business

Assessing customer needs and satisfaction levels should be an ongoing activity for businesses.

Below you will find several methods of assessment. Some of these methods may not be appropriate for your business. Treat this list as a buffet; use the ideas that are palatable and disregard the rest.

"The one who listens is the one who understands."
--Jabo Proverb

• Management By Wandering Around

At one time, bosses prided themselves on their "open-door" policy. Everyone was encouraged to bring their concerns to the direct attention of top management. This policy sounds great, but it didn't work very well. Those who came to management were the most vocal and strident employees. Others never came. The interactions it spawned were almost always negative. The scenarios presented to top management were usually one-sided. Management consultants Tom Peters and Nancy Austin suggested a different policy; "Management By Wandering Around." (MBWA)

MBWA is simple. Get out of your office and visit employees where they work. Learn what they are doing, ask questions, watch and listen. The benefits are immeasurable; gleaning new information, creating good will, and making people feel like part of the team.

• Set aside time to absorb new information.

Monitor emerging trends by reading material that describes the world beyond your four walls. Look at newspaper, magazines, etc. and scout for themes and trends.

• Bench marking

Compare practices within your company to the practices in some of the very best companies in your industry.

• Conduct customer surveys

Use mail or telephone surveys to find your strengths and weaknesses. Spin-off benefits include good marketing and relationship building with your customers. Your survey needs to be designed to get honest and helpful answers.

Poor Survey Question: "Do you like our service?"

Good Survey Question: "Please rate our customer service from one to ten with ten being the best." Follow up question: "How can we improve our service to you?"

The second example gives your customers a scale for you to use, (instead of the heaven or hell approach). It also gives customers the chance to tell you what they want.

Incentives for Response from Survey-Takers: Coupons, free gifts, discounts, etc. Be creative.

• Conduct employee surveys

1) Share your goals with employees.

"The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say. It's terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys." --Sam Walton

• Talk to your suppliers

Your suppliers have an insider's view of your industry. Ask them for ideas, comparisons of your firm with other like firms, and observations they have for your company. Ask them for a blunt appraisal, and don't forget to thank people for bad news.

• Form a "tiger committee" within your company

Gather a diverse group of people from different company levels to assess your company. Don't be afraid to tear into things in your company to find out if there is a better way to do things.

• Conduct focus groups

Focus groups are interviews of small groups (7-12 people) conducted to assess specific areas of your company (products, service, facility, prices, advertising, etc.)

Groups can vary a lot. Don't rely on one group to represent a population. You may have to conduct several focus groups to obtain a balanced response.

Focus Group Suggestions:

• Create a "catcher" system to identify company heroes.

One company pays several consultants to come in and periodically assess the business from an outside perspective. The consultant often poses as a customer or salesperson. One of the roles the consultant fills is to "catch" employees doing great things; solving problems, providing great service, going the extra mile, etc. The people who are "caught" are rewarded for their efforts. (Buy them lunch, give them football or theater tickets, etc.)

Cheaper Option - You can also assign a group of employees, managers, or even customers to "catch" people doing good things for the company.

Summary: Businesses need to continually strive to get better. By assessing your business, both internally and externally, you will find ways to get better.