Improving Customer Service and Selection 

 With a Customer Survey! 



Tina Sawtelle 



X t's prime time to let your customers 

 tell you what they want from you in 

 service and selection of products. We 

 must change with market demands. 

 You have to know what products are 

 in demand. Customer surveys help 

 you keep on top of these demands. 

 Do you know what your customers 

 are looking for when they come to 

 your business? Are they satisfied 

 with your service? What other items 

 would they buy if you had them? 

 You may think you know the an- 

 swers to most of these questions but 

 you might be surprised with the valu- 

 able information you may obtain with 

 a customer survey.. .right from the 

 horse's mouth. 



Before doing a survey, you need to 

 decide what information will be most 

 valuable to you. What information do 

 you want? Are you thinking of add- 

 ing an enterprise and need help with 

 this decision? 



There are various types of surveys 

 you could perform: in-store, survey, or 

 at locations with large groups of peo- 

 ple. The in-store survey asks ques- 

 tions of your present customers. This 

 is the type we will discuss. The ques- 



tions ask about product selection 

 and services. Sample questions might 

 be: "Are you satisfied with the prod- 

 ucts and service we provide?"; "Are 

 our salespeople courteous?"; "What 

 products and services would you like 

 that are not offered?". 



You may also want to identify your 

 target market. That is, what are the 

 characteristics of the customers that 

 are buying from you? "Do you own a 

 home?"; "What age group are you 

 in?" (offer groups); "Are you a male 

 or female?"; "How far did you drive 

 to get to our store?"; 'What town 

 do you live in?"; "What best de- 

 scribes your profession?" (offer 

 choices); "Learn about your adver- 

 tising effectiveness by asking, "How 

 did you learn about our store?" 

 (offer choices). 



Find out about your customer base 

 and how frequently they come to 

 your store. "How often do you come 

 to our store?" (offer choices); "When 

 did you last come to our store?"; 

 "What do you buy from our store?" 

 (offer choices); "How much do you 

 usually spend at each visit?" (offer 

 choices) . 



Remember these pointers about de- 

 signing a survey. 

 m The questions should be easy to 



read and understand. 

 ■*■ Offer multiple choice questions 



whenever possible. These have a 



much better chance of being 



answered. 

 ■*■ Keep the survey to one page. 

 %■ Ask customers to fill the survey 



out. Usually they won't do it on 



their own unless something is 



wrong. 



e Ask for name and address 

 as an option for your customer 

 mailing list. 

 Think about designing a survey now 

 for this season. Smart marketers stay 

 on top of their customer needs and 

 desires. 

 Keep marketing! 



Tina Sawtelle, principal of Sawtelle 

 Marketing Associates, consults with 

 agricultural direct retail businesses on 

 marketing and merchandising. In 

 addition, she teaches agricultural 

 business management techniques at 

 the Ttiompson School at UNH. ^ 



Carino Nurseries 



Lining Out Stock 



Million of Seedlings 

 High Quality Reasonable Prices 



Over 100 selections for Christmas trees, ornamentals, windbreaks, timber, soil conservation, wildlife cover. 

 Free Catalog: Carino Nurseries Box 538, Dept. CC, Indiana, Pensylvania 15701 



PHONE: 412-463-3350 or 463-7480 



June/ July 1991 



