How are you today? This seems like such a simple question; one that we have all answered thousands of times. But have you ever thought about how you are able to answer this question? When we answer the question "How are you today?" we rely on information stored in our memory about how we were yesterday, last week, and perhaps, even last month or last year. We compare how we were in the past with how we perceive ourselves in the present and we answer the question to a large degree by making this comparison. Thus, if someone were to ask me how I am today and last week I had the flu, I might say "I'm still a little weak but I am doing better."

In the past few weeks, the nation has been in the grip of a financial crisis that has shaken once mighty Wall Street institutions to the core, while Americans on Main Street nervously bite their nails.

“People are waking up from a gigantic hangover, trying to figure out what’s next,” John Schloegel, vice president of investment strategies for Austin-based Capital Cities Asset Management, told Reuters recently.

Frankly, the entire year has been one giant hangover for many Americans who have watched food and fuel prices elevate and their 401k’s and home values deflate. They’ve been whipsawed by fear that achieving affluence and a better world for their children has been derailed. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington, D.C. think tank, the current financial stall marked the first time since World War II that the typical family was worse off at the end of an economic expansion than at the start.

DIGG THIS ARTICLE

Since first joining the National Business Research Institute as a Marketing Analyst in May of 2007, I have been hard at work trying to learn and understand the entire survey process in order to better know how to present and promote the industry (and of course NBRI, itself).

Conducting a survey can seem like a very daunting process, but It is not as complex as you might think. Don’t take that the wrong way. Conducting a survey is a science. It follows the old computer adage, garbage in - garbage out. If you do not conduct your survey in a strictly scientific manner you can end up with a lot of useless data and wasted months of work. Worse yet, you could create action plans based on that data and do more harm than good. However, the basic structure of a survey is easily understood.

When it comes to guest services, it takes a formidable strategy to be successful in the gaming industry. Satisfying guests who aren’t too happy about dropping $500 at the craps table in 20 minutes can be extremely challenging. The bottom line for the casino is to use every possible angle of guest services to achieve what every executive wants from their customers: lifetime loyalty.

Surveys come in all shapes, styles and sizes, and one of the most important factors in implementing a survey is selecting the deployment methodology. The telephone survey has been used for some time, but some of its shortcomings have opened the door for other forms of collecting information.

The Customer Loyalty Clause; Keep Online Holiday Shoppers Smiling In the mid-1990s, Amazon.com, Dell and Cisco systems were among the first major players to start selling products over the Internet, launching an online buying revolution that has shown tremendous growth year after year.

Conventional wisdom points toward customer satisfaction surveys as the best way to pinpoint what specifically draws the customer back or pushes them away.  Long relied upon to explain a customer’s flitting from one company to another in search of the best experience, these surveys fall short of explaining the customer replies that pertain to the trust and respect of your employees.

Studies have shown that there is a direct link between satisfied employees and happy customers, so it makes good business sense to invest in discovering what your employees need to stay loyal and satisfied.  This creates an environment of positive, helpful people ready to bend over backwards for the customer.  The use of employee opinion surveys along with customer surveys gives a great overall picture of a company’s strengths and weaknesses and provides a blue print for developing a strong culture of loyal employees and customers.

What does having satisfied employees have to do with retaining customers?  It has everything to do with losing developed or developing relationships, the reason behind almost every return customer.  Companies who pay attention to their surveyed employees end up with a much lower turnover rate, which by itself saves them millions of dollars every year in rehiring costs as well as in lost customers.  Seems outrageous, doesn’t it? Surely that lack of retention can’t possibly cost so much!

On average, though, the loss of one dissatisfied employee will result in about 150% of his or her yearly salary between advertising for a replacement, training the new person, lost productivity, and overtime of others to compensate while waiting for the new employee to get up to speed.  When the lost employee is management, the number increases to closer to 200%.   This isn’t even taking into consideration the loss of valuable knowledge and insight provided to the customer by the employee!  No amount of training will replace the knowledge that comes from doing the job every day.

From the customer perspective, this lack of turnover means a more stable, responsive team to address their needs and concerns, something that those surveyed worry about.  Customer loyalty, like employee loyalty, stems from a strong interpersonal connection to a common goal.  They want to know who they’ll be dealing with when they pick up the phone or send an email.  Merry-Go-Rep doesn’t encourage faith in a company and the downtime during training means time taken away from providing quality service.

Having a culture of open, responsive communication by well-known representatives engenders the kind of trust that many believe washed away with the last millennium.  Thankfully, that’s not the case, because that kind of confidence and conviction can keep a customer during the most trying times.

No matter how hard we try, everyone makes mistakes, and they will eventually affect the customer.  This being said, even the most hideous mistake can be corrected if the customer knows that it’s a one-off rather than a regular occurrence.  This can only be proven through constant attention from employees they have confidence in before the slip-up happens.  A calm voice and reassuring presence can be taught, but believing that the voice on the other end of the phone actually cares about them as people comes from familiarity, not the training room.

The most effective way to maintain a positive attitude during a crisis is to cultivate it in the office everyday.  Employees who feel valued as people make the extra effort to go beyond what’s expected.  They want to invest as much in their career as their career has invested in them.  It’s a measure of respect and self-worth to know that if the employees weren’t there they would be missed.  This positive attitude then spills over into everything the employees do and everyone they come in contact with from the start of the day to the end no matter what may happen.  The customer is in tune with the idea that they, too, would be missed if they were to go elsewhere, and not just because of their investment, because of who they are.  This kind of relationship can’t be bought, and customers know it.

Surveying the lay of the land in order to find the smoothest path toward a happy coexistence should be every company’s primary goal.  This requires more than just surveying employees and customers.  It requires a commitment to hearing and responding to the survey results in a way that benefits everyone:  the employer, the employee, and the customer.

Tags: customersurvey, employeesurvey, customer satisfaction surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, market research, hr