A while back, Kevin began his column with this: "Member Dick Lunde . . . notes that we printers tend to attend a trade show such as Graph Expo and pat ourselves on the back for 'keeping up.' Dick asks, how can we pretend to understand our customers' expectations if our only attempt at staying current involves talking to fellow printers at trade shows populated mostly by printers instead of also talking to end clients and prospective customers?"
It's Dick's question that has stuck with me since. And there's no way around the only response: "We can't." So, I'd like to share my own list of methods I use to communicate with clients and prospective customers. (Feel free to let me know options I've missed, okay?)
Because Dick's right. We can share knowledge with each other, and we should, but the real judges of our performance are our customers. They're the ones we have to ask about what we're doing and how well we do it.
And it never hurts to ask. In fact, it almost always helps.
Formal Options. The most organized methods of gaining information include focus groups, phone surveys and mailed questionnaires.
We held a focus group about Seattle Bindery back in October of 1997, and we learned a lot, including that if you put twelve printing customers into a room and ask for their complaints and success stories, you'll definitely get a response. That's human nature, which is what focus groups react to successfully.
The structure of discussion in a focus group is scripted but still allows participants to offer a depth of response not possible in quantitative research. Plus, the facilitator can pursue unanticipated remarks that come up in spontaneous discussion. It works. To this day, we still remind each other, "Remember what they said about (blank) in the focus group." And that affects what we do.
But focus groups aren't cheap, even if they are a relatively inexpensive way of gathering a mind-boggling array of information. So, phone surveys and mailed questionnaires are other possibilities. It's pretty obvious how either would work and both methods are successful.
But both also have drawbacks. Busy people don't always have the time or patience to talk through a set of questions or to fill out a page of questions in-depth. And unplanned discussions pop up less often. That's why the interactive nature of a focus group can be a boon.
Regardless, after any of these methods are used, results are evaluated and passed through the company. That's the important part. You now have a distinct set of responses to your questions and you know more fully how the job you do is perceived. And, quite often, assumptions prove wrong. You might find that your strengths, as identified in the marketplace, are not at all what you thought.
Wouldn't that be handy information to have as you plan?
More Personal Options. Another method of communication is my favorite. And that one is simply calling someone up and asking: "Hey, Joe. What did you think of the job we did?"
This method takes little time, is always appreciated and lets me know exactly what Joe thinks. Of course, this method doesn't work as well with prospects and I don't have a broad base of responses to compare and analyze. But I do know what Joe thinks. And, to Joe, that's what matters. It matters to me as well, if I value Joe's business.
Visits work well, too. We love to give tours at Seattle Bindery, happy to show customers' new employees what we do and how we do it. Part of the reason for that is that it's an excellent opportunity to talk. For that same reason, I stop by customers' offices whenever I get a chance.
It's not that I want to intrude-I know people are busy-but in a ten- to fifteen-minute conversation, I can learn more about what we're doing for that customer than I can from an hour of quizzing everyone here in the plant. It helps me identify opportunities, generate ideas and, most importantly, build relationships.
Communication Prompts. Still, even though I know the value of asking for feedback, I'm human and sometimes need reminders to get out there or pick up the phone or budget for a focus group.
That's why we've set up systems that keep us on track. We send out monthly mailings to customers and prospects, which are planned as monologues. But we often get responses. Even something as simple as a change of address notification will prompt us to make a phone call, and that's another opportunity.
We also receive notes and calls from customers, often thanking particular employees for exceptional performance, and that's certainly information we want. We love it! And our website garners comments as well.
So, we'll take feedback wherever we can find it. After all, it's the customer who can tell us what's working and it's the customer who can tell us what's not. We'd all be wise to ask, then listen.
Milt Vine is president of Seattle Bindery, a postpress house
specializing in custom tabs and presentation folders; folding and stitching; foil
stamping, embossing and diecutting; plastic spiral, Wire-Oš and perfect binding. You can
reach Milt at 206/682-2558. For more information about Seattle Bindery, check out their
web site at www.seattlebindery.com. ©1998, Seattle Bindery.