By IAN FERGUSON WE AGREE that a stronger focus on our customers enhances our ability to grow and expand our businesses, and to deepen our ability to maximise customer satisfaction. We say often that the customer is 'KING', and that they are the driving force behind our economic viability. Yet research tells us that 85 per cent of businesses fail to formally solicit feedback from their customers. No level of observing your customers or analysing business and financial records can replace the necessity of a company seeking vital information from customers. It is quite dangerous, and perhaps a fantasy world, if we continue to believe that our products and services are so essential and superior that we do not need to consult with our target market. Many have made this mistake and found themselves in dire straits. Your success depends on listening to your customers' needs. Between 60 to 90 per cent of new product initiatives fail because companies don't get feedback from their target audience. Listening to the voice of your customers is vital because: 1. It helps you improve, on a sustained basis, your products and services. 2. It helps you streamline products and services, developing those that are in greater demand. 3. It helps you sharpen your service and problem solving skills. 4. It helps you identify the gaps in service delivery. 5. It helps you gain the competitive edge on your customers. Operating a successful company in 2012, the year of ORDER, requires that we do things differently. Time out for randomly or casually getting customer feedback. We need to develop systems that will assist in retrieving the objective feedback from our employees. Here are a few tips to make this happen: 1. Develop a survey for getting detailed feedback. Make sure you're looking at the product from your customers' point of view. Ask how it fits their needs, not how well your company created it. 2. Create a feedback centre or customer feedback blog on your website where customers can answer questions when it's convenient for them. Allow them to get out of the process at any time, but make sure the system records and sends you whatever they've filled out. Some feedback is better than none. 3. Design an attractive and simple commend card system for your customers to answer. Keep these short and send them to segments of your customer base, i.e., by product or date of purchase, for example. This also gives you an excuse to keep in touch, so you maintain your visibility. 4. If you have the resources, hire phone survey experts to call your customers for feedback. You want to choose your targets carefully. In our marketing saturated world, you may turn certain customers off with a phone call. Train your callers to be polite and unaggressive. 5. Station feedback takers in your stores to survey consumers. Find out who's a return customer and why. Make sure they ask if the person decided not to buy a product to see what potential problems prevent a sale. 6. Offer a reward for participating in a survey. Take both satisfied and dissatisfied customers into consideration here. Discounts work well for repeat customers, but a free gift can get you valuable criticism from someone who's stopped buying from you. 7. Come up with an attractive incentive for filling out a feedback form. This can be a random drawing or contest. Be aware that some customers will give feedback just for the chance to get something back, so use this with non-incentive feedback methods. 8. Use your company Facebook, Twitter or other social network page to encourage customers to leave their impressions on your service. Remember, you need to solicit feedback from at least a quarter of your customers or potential customers to truly benefit from the process. To receive the information is one thing, but to design a system for how you will use the data to your advantage is another. For support in developing Customer Feedback Systems or to introduce a personal Secret Shopping Program for your company, e-mail institute@thebahamaschamber.com or call 322.2145 or 376-1166. NB: About the author Ian R. Ferguson has a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Miami. During the course of his nearly 20 years in education, talent management and human resources, he has served both the public and private sector. He currently serves as manager of the Chamber Institute.