Business English

Crash Course in satisfying your customersYou suspect that your customers aren't as happy as they once were. First, existing customers seem to be 5 you for the competition almost as fast as you can get new ones. Second, your company has started to become the butt of bad jokes at conferences and in the press. So how do you set about measuring, and improving, your customers' satisfaction?

It's important to see things through their eyes. You can 6 your service for yourself, or watch your customers using it. A further option is to carry out some qualitative research with your customers. Whichever way you choose, the objective is to identify the 7 on which customers will form their judgement of your service, so you can frame your questions accordingly. It would be foolish to think you could know all of those questions, let alone their answers, at the 8.

But your reputation is at 9 if you fail to deliver. Don't embark on a customer-satisfaction exercise unless you are prepared to act on the results. If you ask people what they are unhappy about and then do nothing about it, you will leave them more disillusioned with you than ever. And remember that it's a 10 target: today's satisfied customer is tomorrow's bored one. A service level that 11 the button today may be considered downright sloppy in six months' time, such is the pace of change.

So keep saying to yourself, 'Let's find out where our performance falls below expectations, and then see what we can do about it.'