business people hand and empty comment box

January is when most companies evaluate business performances from the previous year - pro and con - and based on this, what new steps and strategies they should take to start the new year out fresh. However, according to Michael Wilson with AFFLINK, before making any changes, jan/san industry professionals should find out what their customers really think about them.
 
"This is called taking a customer pulse," he says. "Getting it from the 'horse's mouth,' so to speak, can be much more powerful than just evaluating the year's performance in-house."
 
To do this, Wilson suggests sending out an anonymous survey to all customers asking the following ten questions:
 
1.   Why do you do business with us?
2.   How are we different than our competitors?
3.   What's the one thing you really like about doing business with us?
4.   What's the one thing you never want us to stop doing?
5.   Where could we make improvements?
6.   What's one small change could we make right now that you would really appreciate?
7.   During the past year, where has our performance changed for the better?
8.   During the past year, where has our performance changed for the worse?
9.   Is there anything holding you back from recommending us to other businesses?
10.  What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about our company?
 
"The goal now is to look for trends," according to Wilson. "Jot down [the] key points on sticky notes, then group the notes with similar comments. Those notes hold your answers, giving you a reasonably accurate picture of what your clients think about your business."