Online Survey

Authentic Message Creation / Branding / Customer Research / Customer Service / Engaging customers / Market Research / Online Survey — No Comments
22
Aug 12

Being the Best You Can Be for the Customer that Matters

Being the best in your small business marketplace, requires engagement with the customers that matter most to you, and enabling the formation of a long term connection. It’s a way of doing business that aligns your services and products with your best customers wants and needs.  As a result, your “brand marketing” offer will be targeted and more successful gaining new customers over time.

This approach to marketing requires that you think deeply about your customers; understand their wants and needs; consider the scenarios in which they’re most likely to purchase your service or product; and how they interact with your informational messages and content.

You need to carefully research the customers that matter.  These customers today have taken control of social media and are placing greater demand on you to engage them in a one-on-one marketing conversation. To know these customers, research must enable you to measure your “best” in whatever you do, through your customers viewpoint.

Growth of social media means that businesses must understand and optimise every interaction, both off and online. Meaning interaction with customers in a way that establishes positive, emotional responses to form meaningful relationships with your brand and message. Over time, these customers will become your best marketing advocates and promoters.

What remains certain – a strong brand message and customer relationship will create business value; and these relationships are founded on consistent delivery of a relevant business offer and good customer service.

What is constantly changing – maintaining a position as the best and the challenge in meeting customer service expectations. You can have the greatest impact on improving your customer’s service experience by ensuring that you consistently deliver what is promised and expected. Consistent delivery in meet changing customer service expectations, requires research, data, good process and constant situational reviews to ensure you continue to meet those customer wants and needs.

Taking an authentic marketing approach, developing insights into your customer wants and needs, and understanding what motivates them requires effort and investment. Figuring out what you stand for and the core marketing message you present to your target customer market as a brand, is easier said than done, but is easier with the help of a skilled marketer.

I’d love to hear your thoughts? Please feel free to leave a comment or question below.

Marketing Offer: For a short time only, Zenworkz can provide a quick survey link on your social media wall; which asks your choice of 5 key questions, to gain insight about the customers that matter, your followers and fans. It can be delivered for an unlimited number of responses, with an emailed response report. Introductory pricing $180 +GST for a limited time *conditions apply.

About the author: Teresa Bassham is the principle of Zenworkz Authentic Marketing, and is passionate about educating small and medium business professionals to research their customer market; create their authentic marketing message; attract more ideal customers; and create a marketing plan to achieve success in 2012/2013.  She runs local workshops in Northern NSW and coaches customers online and by phone – if you would like to attend the next scheduled workshops or request distance coaching online –please contact me.

Visit my website and subscribe for monthly e-News updates on all topics related marketing.

For daily Authentic Marketing updates visit and “like” my facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/Zenworkz.Authentic.Marketing

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Authentic Marketing / Customer Research / Online Survey — No Comments
12
Dec 11

How to do your own customer or market research

With almost everyone now connected to the internet, it is possible for small and medium businesses to conduct their own preliminary desk market research.

Desk research is a term used by market researchers to mean literally, research conducted from your desk, using your computer and the internet; and is information that costs next to nothing except for time and perhaps square eyes.  Importantly it can easily be carried out by the do-it-yourself market researcher.

Gaining this valuable insight into your potential customers needs, and generally researching the marketplace in which your business operates ensures that your marketing goals; identifying ideal customer profiles and setting your price and product/service mix; through to deciding your promotional activities, will result in attracting the most customers possible.

To help you do your own online customer or market research, below are some tips for using Google advanced search techniques, to make your research more fruitful:

Use the exact word match

A strategy of searching with a relevant set of words would be the first step to locate the information that you seek.  When typing in the search word string, use double quotations to enclose the phrase so that for example, “wellness industry customer demographics” will only deliver references to those four words in that combination.  Without the quotation marks references, most search engines look for each of the four words separately and would deliver hundreds of thousands of irrelevant references to wellness, industry, customer, and to demographics.

Use wildcard* to control the proximity of results

You can use the wildcard (asterisk) to let Google replace it with any word that would normally fit in this phrase. For example: wellness industry customer demographics* returns results such as wellness industry trends; the future of health and wellness; and a health and wellness sample marketing plan.

Use synonym character ~ to broaden the search topic

If you are not sure exactly how broad you want to search for information, but say you think you need anything related to purchasing decisions for a target group of customers. In this case you will need to use ~ character to force Google to include more synonyms in the search results.  For example using (~wellness customer purchasing decisions) will return any related content, ranging from “influencing decisions” to “consumer buying journey”.

Filter out repetitious domains

Sometimes no matter what you search for within one topic or niche, you get results from the same domains (for example, the most popular e-news or blog sites). To filter out those domains and force Google to find more detailed and relevant sources, use ["wellness customer purchasing decisions" -site: smartcompany.com] for example.

Broaden your vocabulary

Researchers and report writers may use different words to describe useful customer research content. For example, the topic of customer purchasing decisions can be framed as: buyer decision process; consumer purchase decisions or customers buying process or buying behaviour, for example.

Of course, it is impossible to cover each and every possible choice of words that people may use to describe the information, but playing with various words and phrases will let you see a much broader picture.  To find more of these possible words to search on, all you need to do is to browse and notice all the different variations.

Other useful advanced search options:

Don’t forget the advanced search commands available in Google.  A lot of research or white papers are published as PDF’s;  but you can also search by type of file and find particular file types such as PowerPoint (.ppt), Word (.doc), Excel (.xls); PDF (.pdf) and more.  Look for file type drop box on the Google Advanced Search form.  For more detailed information – search Google Advanced Search Tips.  I would be very interested to know what tips you have learnt and what works best for you?

About: Zenworkz Authentic Marketing has provided these search tips to help you to conduct your own diy customer and market research. However, if you need assistance with any aspect of customer or market research, Zenworkz Online Research provides customised and standard surveys that can capture the data you need to inform decisions about your business. Using the internet and social media, Zenworkz Online Research is: cost and time effective, reduces expense (c.f. face to face and paper surveys).  You don’t even need to have your own website to conduct an online survey, making it very useful to those businesses who trade using social media alone.

If you would like to book a one hour free discussion about your customer or market research needs, please call The Author: Teresa Bassham, Zenworkz Authentic Marketing Coach on 02 6686 8413.

Check out our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Zenworkz.Authentic.Marketing and like for daily updates.

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Business Transformation / Marketing 101 / Online Survey — No Comments
17
Jun 10

Market Intelligence or Marketing Research or both….

Answering this question requires an understanding of the difference between Market Intelligence and Marketing Research; and breaking down the FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) about these subjects;  explaining why and when your business needs both.  What follows addresses those fears, uncertainties and doubts that sees some business owners unnecessarily shy away from the benefits that good intelligence and research could bring to their business.

Market Intelligence is an activity that all businesses, whatever their size, should engage in to answer the questions of  ”who”, “what”, “how much”, “where”, and “when” your customer buys your products and services.

At a fundamental level gathering Market Intelligence is as simple as talking to your customers and suppliers; storing and using that information, to identify trends, inform business development decisions and marketing campaigns; and prepare your business for whatever the future brings.

There are many customer relationship management (CRM) packages, the best ones linked to accounting software systems, that provide easy storage of customer and supplier information to answer the questions of who, what, how much, where and when your customer buys.

Market Intelligence is also the process of regularly gathering information about the status of market in which you trade, including competitors, regulatory issues, and economic conditions.  What market intelligence cannot tell you is what your customers are really thinking or “why” your customer buys from you.

This is where you need Marketing Research to answer specific questions, like:

  • Is there a market for my new product idea?
  • What will the market pay?
  • What is the scope of the demand and can I make a profit?
  • Identify specific market segments to target?
  • What did they think about my last promotion?
  • How satisfied are my customers?
  • How satisfied are my channel partners?
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of distribution, website, advertising etc?

Specifically, there are two myths that need to be debunked about Marketing Research:

  • It’s expensive and
  • It takes a long time.

Expense and time are often a reflection of the methodology and scope that’s employed to answer very specific marketing research questions.  The most costly and lengthy methods being face to face interviews; with many individuals collating and loading often hand written notes into a database.

Internet technology today has significantly reduced these costs and shortened timeframes by using online surveys. Survey respondents automatically load their answers, thereby reducing transcription time and human error.

Any business can use internet survey companies that will send your survey out for free (100 people).  A major criticism of internet surveys is that that they don’t represent an accurate sample of the population.
Meaning: who you ask your marketing research question to, is as important as what you ask.  This is where a skilled marketing research person really adds value that is worth paying for.

There are two tests for accuracy and soundness of the marketing research results:

  • Validity – did the research give you the answers to the questions that you needed to know?
  • Reliability – if you conducted the research again, would you get the same results?

Using online surveys certainly does keep the costs down; but a skilled marketing research person ensures “validity” and “reliability” by accurately defining the problem to be solved; the correct questions to ask; and whether there are other cost-effective ways to get the result.
Once information has been gather from the correct primary sample; a skilled marketing research person adds value by being able to spot differences, draw conclusions and make recommendations that you are able to implement.

Implementing strategies and processes based on skilled market research gives significant business value which lasts long after the survey cost is forgotten.

About the author: Teresa Bassham is a Director of Zenworkz and helps businesses effectively source the right information that improves their decision making and bottom line.

All or parts of this blog are able to be published with permission from the author – provided that the author is acknowledged and a link is given to the original source blog.

Zenworkz – informed business transformation and evaluation

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Developing Resourceful People / Leading Change & Transitions / Online Survey / Trust — No Comments
26
May 10

4 Essential Tips to Build Trust

Is trust essential in business? Many of us would quickly say that trust is critical to the survival of our personal relationships.  If you take the argument that survival in business is about the strength of relationships within a business and between customers and suppliers; then it follows that trust is and will be an important measure of business success.

Many businesses periodically use offsite team shared experiences to work on building and maintaining workplace trust.  Investment in building team cohesiveness and trust need to be carefully translated back into the workplace for lasting positive results.

Trust in business and life can be likened to growing a delicate flower – it can take time to blossom and can easily be crushed.

As consultants we often observe trust issues as the root cause of poor performance.  On a recent Zenworkz assignment, we witnessed the effects of a complete breakdown of trust between groups.

The introduction of new operating plant and technology combined with the flow-on requirements of new skills, changed work practices, work scheduling and new maintenance tasks, was being strongly resisted.

Each of the affected groups had become polarised, suspicious, critical and lacking in trust of efforts to resolve the introduction issues, and behaviour was escalating accordingly.  What should have been a smooth change transition, instead took over 12 months to implement with the loss of a senior executive.

As a result the business suffered losses financially, to their reputation as effective project managers, and in the previously built goodwill and cooperation between individuals and groups – demonstrating a delicate flower easily being crushed.

Our Concise Oxford Dictionary defines Trust as:

A firm belief in reliability, honesty, veracity, justice, strength etc of person or thing.

We believe that trust [in the forms of reliability, competency, integrity, values, respect] are the basic currency of business success.

Every day we rely or trust in others to deliver information, materials, products, and services which enable our business to work.   Within our business, we rely or trust in our people to perform work which our customers and stakeholders in turn, can be trust to deliver information, materials, products, and services to meet their needs.
Outside of our business, we rely or trust in our government agencies to keep our country, business environment, institutions and citizens secure, fair and democratic, to fulfil our individual and collective aspirations.

Trust is a complex and interrelated set of actions, experiences, and beliefs which we experience and influence each day.

In working to build resourceful and resilient people, we sometimes encounter degrees of mistrust or distrust between executives, managers, team leaders and workers.  We believe it is important to measure levels of trust as an essential part of improving business performance.

The degree of trust evident [or lack of trust] can impact business cost, innovation, information sharing, problem solving, service levels, and business reputation.  No part of a business will be untouched by poor trust practices.

From our experience the following 4 essential tips will assist in building a foundation for trust:

1. Clear and consistent communication within the business
Whenever there is a trust issue, we often observe, delivery, frequency, timing, content and tone of workplace communication may have caused the difficulty.
Communication which builds trust between groups needs to be regular, consistent, clear, and tailored to the audience needs.
Predictability of communication, respect for the audience, listening, fully answering concerns and acknowledging communication responses, serves to build trust.

2. Clarity of Expectations
Communication and understanding of the business’ shared purpose, values, required performance, acceptable behaviours, individual and group success measures, are essential to maintain clarity of expectations.
Clarity of expectations in a business guides action, aids conflict resolution, fosters cooperation and promotes trust both within, and external to the business.

3. Demonstrated values and respect
Showing respect, sharing and helping others, offering support, keeping commitments, being honest and reliable; builds competency, capacity, integrity; and helps manage business continuity risk and fosters trust.

4. Appropriate delegation and support
Appropriate delegation and support from managers and team leaders is an often over-looked tool in developing and maintaining trust.
Delegation and support of tasks [particularly involving new tasks or new technology] have an immediate impact on an individual in developing [or undoing] their competence, capacity and trust.
Appropriate delegation and support requires skilled assessment of an individual’s capacity to undertake a task, the performance and timeframes required, the inherent levels of risk and any support or resources required.

In this way a continuous loop is created: commencing with clear and constant communication; having clarity of expectations about task, behaviour and results; which in turn develops competence, capacity and trust.

Today, trust can be measured through customer and people engagement surveys which are very easy and cost effective to implement with online technology.  Zenworkz can measure levels of trust within and external to a business, as an essential part of improving performance.  If you would like an obligation free quote, contact Zenworkz.

Author: Brian Bassham, Principle Consultant, Zenworkz

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Leading Change & Transitions / Online Survey — No Comments
2
Apr 10

Change and Transitions – How to lead “Cave Men” and “Mussels”

Managers or leaders implementing large change and transitions know that their probability of success is built on successful planning, communication, execution, and trust.

Of these factors trust in the direction, trust in planned results and trust in individual benefit from the change, is a key component for realising success.

Zenworkz observes that Trust is a basic currency of business success.

Any business’ success is directly linked to the degree that executives, managers, and team leaders in the business are trusted, together with confidence in the business direction.  This is particularly true for medium to large businesses.

We have also observed that the building of trust can be easily eroded due to a variety of human factors.

A manager we know once described some of his people as Cave Men. When we enquired further he said that in their response to change they were best described as Citizens Against Virtually Everything, hence the description Cave Men!

While we appreciated both the wry humour and the difficulties this manager had in establishing trust, we noted that naming and shaming or creating a “them and us” mindset, is rarely effective for rebuilding trust or introducing change initiatives.

We should also be realistic and understand that some people [either deliberately or as an automatic response] exhibit what is known as the ‘mussel syndrome’ in their reaction to change and transitions.

In his book The Leadership Mystique (Prentice Hall, UK 2001); Manfred Kets De Vries, defined the Mussel Syndrome as:

“the mollusc has to make only one major existential decision in life, and that’s where it’s going to settle down.  After making that decision the mussel cements its head against a rock and stays there for life.  Many people are so resistant to change that they might as well be cemented in place.”

Business conditions, markets, technology and industries change with enormous speed.  This requires effective responses to stay competitive.  This in turn leads to changes and transitions which are built on trust and understanding.

We have observed that where leading change and transition is most effective; individuals and groups reach a stage where they can put aside their fears, discard old behaviours, realise changes, absorb new skills and approaches; and build new capabilities.  All are built on trust about the change, the impact of the transition, and those leading it.

How do you build trust in a business or organisation?

You need: clarity of purpose; clear expectations about behaviour and required results; expression of cultural values; making and keeping agreements; continual dialogue between groups; and the development of leaders who inspire trust and desire to be worthy of trust.

What is your trust rating?

Zenworkz Online Trust Rating Survey can establish your trust rating from surveying the difference between your perceptions and the perceptions of your people in the following categories:

  • Personal qualities
  • Keeping your word
  • Integrity

Zenworkz services delivers market, customer and human factors research that help you understand and improve your trust rating.  Please contact us if you would like more information.

Author: Brian Bassham, Principle Consultant, Zenworkz

Zenworkz – informed business transformation and evaluation

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