Get Honest Feedback From Your Customers

by Bill Collier

The Importance Of Asking For and Receiving Direct Feedback

I had one of the worst customer service experiences of my life this week.

We received a recall notice for my wife’s car, and it was due for an inspection. I called the dealer to arrange to drop it off for a day. And so my frustration began.

The person I spoke with on the phone turned indifference into an art form. I had no reason to suspect that this interaction – unpleasant as it was – would be the best part of the transaction.

Virtually every other part of this ordeal, starting with a 30-minute wait for someone to help us when we dropped off the car, was painful. Since the dealership didn’t call us to let us know what time we could pick the car up, I tried calling. An unnecessarily complicated automated phone system and more indifferent employees ensured that my suffering would be prolonged and intense. To make matters worse, the system depended on us knowing the identity of our service writer. Apparently the lack of this information relegates one to second-class-customer status. The lengthy process for picking up the car and finishing up our paperwork was particularly diabolical.

As we were paying our bill, the checkout person pulled out a customer satisfaction survey and made an appeal for us to give a good score. “I know you’ve had a tough time, but some of us are judged by these surveys,” she said.

I told her that I appreciated her concern for her co-workers but that my intent was to fill out the survey honestly.

How many times have you been coached on completion of a satisfaction survey? “If there’s any reason you can’t give me a 10, let me know so I can fix it before you fill in the survey.” Or “My pay is determined by my survey results, so please give me the maximum score.”

Clearly this dealership and other companies employing customer satisfaction surveys know that this customer coaching goes on. Why do they turn their heads and let it happen?

If an organization is genuinely interested in candid customer feedback, it won’t game the system. So when I see such coaching going on – regardless of who’s doing it or condoning it – I assume the company doesn’t really care to hear my input.

Here’s the kind of coaching these places should be supporting: “Here’s your customer satisfaction survey. Please fill it out as honestly as you possibly can, even if it’s bad news. And be as specific as possible. We need to know where we can improve, and we really do value your feedback.”

I hope you’re surveying your customers, and I hope you’re asking for and receiving honest, direct feedback.

And by the way ... I’m confident this dealership isn’t interested in customer feedback, and we won’t be going back.

Bill Collier is the St. Louis-area coach for The Great Game of Business. He works with organizations that want to improve financial results, engage their employees and create a winning culture. Bill can be reached at 314-221-8558, GreatGame.com/stl, GGOBSTL.com or billcollier@greatgame.com.