EFFECTIVE HABITS -- Tell me what you really think

The best way to build a business that's geared to attract new customers is to find out exactly what current clients think about your services, writes Alex Whitlock.

Customer feedback is a key component of business planning for companies of all sizes these days, and with good reason.

Consumers are essentially a fickle bunch. With marketing messages and advertising stuffed down our throats everywhere, it is little wonder that we are quick to change our alliances if an existing product or service doesn't come up to scratch, and financial services are no different.

This premise represents both an opportunity and a threat to brokers. Build services around your customers and their needs and you're likely to prize more people away from service providers that do a poor job - be that the banks, non-banks or other brokers.

The flipside, however, is that if you're out of touch with your clients' needs you're likely to leak business as disgruntled customers wander off never to be seen again.

Understanding your customer is therefore critical if you're to succeed in creating a business that is closely aligned with their needs, but how should you go about doing it?

The easiest - and most effective - way to find out how you can appeal to prospective customers is to talk to your clients.

It doesn't matter whether your client base is under a hundred, or over ten thousand, customer surveys are easy and can be very cheap to conduct.

PLAN YOUR STRATEGY

Think carefully about what you want to find out and also how you can use that information effectively - this will help you to structure a customer survey.

Focus on finding out information such as:

Why existing clients chose your services in the first place

How happy they were in the loan selection, application and approval process

How you have performed post-settlement

What they think of your ongoing customer service

How you can improve

You should also find out how your clients prefer to be contacted in the future, if they would like to receive informative updates from you on a regular basis, and even if they would be receptive to hearing about new product and services should they become available in the future

It is also valuable to ask if they would or wouldn't recommend you to a friend and the reasons why.

REACH OUT TO THE MASSES

With a structure in place, you now need to think about the most effective way to conduct the survey.

The cheapest and easiest method is to conduct your survey online. There are a host of electronic survey providers that can be found online. All you need to do is put together your survey and email it out to your database.

One tip for maximising your results is to offer a reward to people who complete the survey. This could be a small donation to charity for every completed survey, or the chance to win a prize -such as a good bottle of plonk.

FOCUSED FEEDBACK

To give greater penetration into the customer psyche, its worthwhile organising a focus group with a number of customers.

This gives you the chance to hear firsthand what your customers think of your services, what might attract them elsewhere, what you do well, and what needs work.

Look at getting together between 5 and 15 clients, provide refreshments and even offer to reward them for their time with a presentation on the property market or any other aspect that's relevant to your business and your clients.

Be warned, you may well hear things about your services that may be uncomfortable, but you have a powerful opportunity to rectify any areas of weakness.

Mortgage broking is rapidly evolving. The industry is only going to become more competitive - and brokers that are out of touch with their customers will struggle to win new business. The clearer you are about new and prospective customers the better positioned you'll be to generate new revenue while holding on to existing customers.