6/6/2020 Steps for improving listening posts - Steps - Apply - Customer Focus - Harvard ManageMentor
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Customer Focus
Steps for improving listening posts
1.
Review the feedback that is being received
.
2.
Look at the timing of information received
.
Is the information coming in at the right time? Can the feedback be obtained earlier?
Many listening posts can be used more proactively to prevent problems before they
occur.
3.
Decide what you want to know about customer behavior
.
There are information gaps about customers in every organization. Why are customers
loyal? Why do satisfied customers defect? Why do new customers come here?
Brainstorm the big-picture information the organization needs about retention,
defection, and overall satisfaction and ways of getting it.
4.
Design ways to use listening posts to find out what you want to know
.
Develop questions to uncover patterns in customer behavior. For example, when an
order is being taken, representatives in many organizations ask new customers, "How
did you hear about us?" When properly recorded and tracked, the answer to this simple
question is invaluable. It helps assess advertising and marketing efforts, as well as the
rate of referrals.
5.
Establish a process to build in new questions at key listening posts
.
People asking questions must understand why they are asking the questions, and they
must have an easy-to-follow process to gather the information. Simple forms, brief
weekly meetings, and informal chats are all ways to be sure that good questions are
being asked at the right time.
