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At one company I worked for, we developed a short oral survey and
delivered it via telephone to our customers. This was an amazing
experience from which we received terriffic feedback.
Should you take this path, consider these tips:
1. If possible, a couple weeks before you make any calls, send a letter
to customers you'll survey announcing the effort and telling them
exactly what to expect. This way, they're not blindsided by your call.
2. Make the survey no longer than 15 minutes. In the introduction you
read to customers, say you'll need 15 minutes of their time and ask
whether they have the time right now. If not, schedule a time you'll
call back.
3. Write quantifiable questions but be prepared to scribble down raw
comments. The 1-to-5 satisfaction scale questions gave us hard evidence
from which to make decisions, but the raw comments really drove some
points home.
Peace,
jim
jim grey \ Manager, Documentation
Made2Manage Systems, Inc. \ jgrey -at- made2manage -dot- com
