Top Viral Marketing

Archive for June, 2011

To Improve Your Service Generate New Business… Monitor Client Satisfaction

lt;! page size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in P marginbottom: 0.08in gt;

Not withstanding the seriousness of the current economic crisis the situation does offer some unique opportunities to selfemployed people and owners of small businesses.

When business is booming many people say they are too busy to get involved in marketing activities such as research and planning.

Now that the economic downturn has slowed the overall pace of business activity owners have the opportunity to undertake some of these delayed marketing activities.

Satisfied Clients Help Businesses Grow

Although helpful at any point evaluating client satisfaction is timely market research that will yield many benefits…now and in the future.

Satisfied clients are the foundation of any successful business. Knowing how well you have satisfied your clients will help you build on this achievement in promoting your business and attracting new clients.

If however you have not succeeded in satisfying some clients you can take remedial action to minimize consequences for your business and prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

But the benefits are not just related to client service issues.

A client satisfaction survey allows you the opportunity to reconnect with clients and enhance your existing relationship with them.

And by enhancing your existing relationship you position yourself to generate more new business as a result of clients hiring you again and referring others to you.

This new business could arise now…or later after the economy improves. Provided you keep in touch with clients during the bad times you can rest assured that they will generate new business for you during the the good times.

Measuring Clients’ Satisfaction

The most effective way to measure client satisfaction is to survey your clients by means of a written questionnaire.

You can deliver the questionnaire in person by regular mail electronically or some combination of these formats. Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on you and your clients.

Regardless of how you deliver the questionnaire include an explanation of why you seek your clients’ opinions and instructions for completing and returning the completed questionnaire.

The questionnaire itself could include questions about…how the client learned about you…your responsiveness to their issues and concerns… overall level of satisfaction and so on.

Evaluating The Results

While it is reassuring to find out how well you have satisfied your clients the survey also points out how you can improve your services.

You might for example discover that individual clients are unhappy about one issue or another.

Take the time to understand your client’s concerns and resolve any issues as effectively as you can.
It’s also possible that several clients raise similar concerns. Obviously you will want to address these concerns before they jeopardize your business.

Ideally your survey will help you learn more about how you do or can serve your clients.

But even it if doesn’t you can take comfort in the fact that your clients are most likely satisfied with your service. If they were unhappy they would probably tell you…perhaps anonymously.

Regardless of whether or not your survey stimulates any improvements by reporting to your clients…and others..about the results you have another opportunity to connect and keep in touch with these people.

Remember that keeping in touch with clients and contacts enhances existing relationships….which in turn helps generate repeat and referral business.

Is that not a great valueadded benefit of monitoring client satisfaction?

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Larry Easto is a best selling business writer syndicated columnist and author of 4 ebooks about real estate marketing. Currently he is also publisher of http://www.realestatemarketinglink.info

For more information about monitoring client satisfaction see http://www.realestatemarketinglink.info/monitor_client_satisfaction.html

To Buy Or Not To Buy That Is The Question Marketers Want The Answer To

Marketers would love to be able to read the minds of consumers. They would love to know what precise combination of price features benefits wants and needs triggers the decision to buy a particular product. There are many ways to approach this mysterious subject. One that lends itself nicely to online surveys is what is often called a purchase intent survey. Heres how it works.

A survey might ask a question using a five point scale such as:
Which is most true about this product?
__ I definitely will buy this product
__ I probably will buy this product
__ I might buy this product
__ I probably will not buy this product
__ I definitely will not buy this product

You can use information form past surveys to determine just how these statements translate into actual purchases. For example you might learn form past consumer behavior that 80 of the people who say they will definitely buy a product actually do. Or you might find that 30 of the people who say they will probably NOT buy a product actually do. Yes its true that a significant number of people who say they will probably not buy something end up buying it anyway.

As part of your purchase intent survey you will ask a few questions that will help you build a profile of the respondents. For example you might ask which newspapers they read or which radio stations they listen to. Now it will be fairly easy for you to target your advertising to those people who definitely will buy your product. Since 80 of these people will actually become purchasers you will earn a fantastic return on your advertising dollars!

You will also gain more valuable data on the relationship between purchase intent and actual purchases. The more data you collect the more accurately you can predict the potential revenues that will be generated by your marketing campaign.

Predicting Impulse Purchases
Conducting surveys of purchase intent can yield some useful and profitable! information but not every purchase results from a deliberate decision. For example you go to the drug store to buy cold medicine but you see a candy bar next to the cash register that looks too delicious to pass up. Or you go shopping for a howto book online but you see an ad for a new mystery by one of your favorite writers and you decide you have to have it. You had no intention to buy the candy or the mystery but you did anyway.

Surveys can also be used to predict this sort of unpredictable behavior. You might ask people about the last time they bought something on impulse with no previous intent. You also could ask what they were planning to buy when they made their impulse purchase. You might find for example that a surprising number of people buy candy when they go shopping for cold medicine possibly as a way to cheer themselves up. This sort of information can help you make decisions about product placement whether you sell things in a store or online.

You will probably never be able to find the exact combination of factors that will determine purchase intent but welldesigned surveys can give you valuable insights into how customers make up their minds.

About the writer:  Jaime Brugueras Ph.D. is founder of Mineful.com a market research and analysis software that caters both the powerful and occasional user. Mineful’s webbased software tools cover a range of marketing applications from data collection to advanced market analysis including segmentation survey research and predictive analytics. Sign up for a FREE unlimited time trial at Mineful.com.

Tips For Discovering Hot Selling Internet Products

Maybe you are tired of sitting on the sidelines while so many other people are raking in the cash off of hot selling Internet products. If this is the case and you are ready to jump in and get your feet wet then there are a few things that you should come to terms with first.

Adequate Market Research

Moving too quickly without the benefit of adequate market research can be a big mistake. Perhaps you can remember the dot com crash of the mid eighties. Big Internet marketing outfits that were the first in line so to speak yet they failed in droves.

Look Before You Leap

They were well financed and faced minimal competition yet they fell one after the other like a house of cards. Now you on your own plan to succeed where teams of well financed professionals facing little competition failed?

You Can Learn From Their Mistakes

The fact is that you can do it and there are several reasons why. For one thing believe it or not you have all of their mistakes to learn from. The one big mistake that most failed Internet marketers make is not conducting adequate market research.

The Benefits and Challenges of Globalization

In todays new global market place it is more important then ever because while globalization brings so many new opportunities it also brings new competition and other challenges from across the globe.

Not a Mysterious Term Any More

The good news is that market research is not a mysterious term any more and it is now easier then ever to find people and sources on the Internet that can fill you in on it in all its complexities.

A Treasure Trove of Knowlege

Market research experts can clue you in on everything from the basics of scouting out hot selling Internet products to building and successfully promoting marketing websites. The also can show you where others have failed in the past which is so important to know.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Written by Donald Grenduer. If you’re curious about Hot Selling Internet Products then visit my site! You can even get more information regarding Market Research here too.