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Customer feedback can help you evaluate your business and eliminate recurring problems that limit your potential.

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Hearing from readers is always a positive experience, whether they’re calling to thank me for a story or to tell me about something they’re upset about. In journalism, it’s often said that any feedback is good feedback, regardless of the opinions shared, because you know the readership is engaged.

Sure, it’s more enjoyable to hear from a reader who says a story gave him a new perspective on his business, or that a story opened up a new line of thinking that hadn’t been considered before. That’s the best kind of feedback to hear, but it’s not always the most productive. We all want to think we’re doing a great job, and hearing it from someone else validates our efforts.

But often it’s the criticism that makes the biggest impact and provides the most useful assessment of our work. I got a call the other day from a contractor in New Hampshire who was upset because he felt we were focusing too much on certain services and were featuring too many of the same types of companies. His criticism was valid because that’s what he saw when he was reading the magazine. I could have argued or politely disagreed, but instead I listened and promised to take a good look at our coverage and make sure we were covering the things that are important to the whole industry. His criticism was helpful because it put a potential problem on my radar and allowed me to evaluate those concerns.

In your business, it can be much the same. Your technicians might spend 20 minutes unclogging a simple residential drain line, in the process becoming heroes to the elderly couple whose basement was backed up with sewage. Their thanks and appreciation make everyone feel good, and it’s good to know that you have happy customers.

Still, it’s those really difficult jobs, the ones where everyone might not be thrilled with every step in the process or with problems encountered along the way, that really teach you about yourself and your business. Hearing about the things that customers aren’t satisfied with can be the greatest feedback you’ll receive because it can allow you to identify a problem you may have been unaware of, be proactive about fixing it, and ensure that you never upset a customer in the same way again. That’s a good way to improve your business and help it grow.

Roto-Rooter of Ft. Worth, profiled in this issue of Cleaner, follows every service appointment with a phone call to make sure the customer is satisfied with the work. It’s an extra step to ensure customers are happy, in addition to demonstrating an extra level of care, and it helps build relationships. It also provides instant feedback and allows the company to address any issues — with the customer or internally — with immediacy.

It’s a policy that has served the company well, and it can serve yours well, too. Make sure your customers are happy, and when they aren’t, make sure you identify and solve the problem before it leads to more unhappy customers.

Enjoy this month’s issue.



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