Feedback! How Important Is It To Your Business?

Did you know that customer feedback is the key to your business's success?

Customers write reviews hoping to get a response and when they don't get one they assume the business doesn't care. Yes, there are times when the information may not be accurate or completely fake however when you don't respond any new customer who visits your site, they assumes it's true. This may be costing you business. I have always said customer feedback is GOLDEN! There is so much you and your team can learn from feedback. Remember this: Feedback is a customer's perspective of your business and making sure they stay happy is critical to your continued success.

I can't tell you how many times I have put a comment on Yelp, Google, or a Website and have never heard back from the business. In most cases I won't return to that business if I post a bad review and never hear back. Do you respond to your reviews good or bad? If you don't have the time, hire a person to do this for you or have a manager take care of the responses.

Almost all businesses, including restaurants, hotels, event planners, and vendors get customer feedback in some way. Let's look at some sites you should be checking for good and bad reviews:

• Yelp
• TripAdvisor
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website
• Email
• X (Twitter)

Remember the best way to get feedback is to have a manager on the floor who speaks to customers and gets their comments immediately so that they can address and resolve them immediately. How you address the problem and how quickly it is resolved can make the difference if they return and refer to your business.

As a mystery shop business we understand the importance of getting a customer's perspective. Many times it starts with little things like smiles, greetings, lack of knowledge, or a bad product. These small things become big things if not addressed, like employee rudeness, lack of training, no teamwork, and not caring to listen to supervisors.

When we perform a mystery shop our shoppers are required to complete a report and take pictures. After the report is completed it is sent to the appropriate person and reviewed. After that it should be reviewed with the manager and the team. If the report isn't reviewed with employees, you will continuously see the same mistakes. The key is to make sure you and your managers take the report seriously and share the information in the report with the team.

You need customer feedback in order for your business to be successful. I see many businesses closing their doors these days and I would venture to say it's due to poor management. When you hire a mystery shopping company you are not only getting information about employees but you are getting a good look at your management team. Many times managers say they are on the floor talking to customers and helping the team yet in many of our shopper reports the shoppers state they never saw a manager.

It's important that you as a business owner know what is happening in your business while you aren't there. In next week's article we will discuss employee feedback which is just as important as customer feedback.

If you want to learn more about mystery shopping and how it can help your business contact Debbie at 602.717.3271 or [email protected]

https://www.thehartexperience.com