Several years ago I had a client that was a very successful dentist office and they wanted to grow and get better.  Not an uncommon thought with most business owners right?

The first thing we usually do is go after the “low hanging fruit”.  Find their most common customers and double down on trying to get more people like them into their business.  Simple right?

The problem was that they had no idea who their best customers were.

I asked “who are your best customers”?  After a team huddle they came back with “those that value their oral health”?  BARF!  Corporate mumbo jumbo that means nothing!

There is a better way.

In today’s edition of The Locals Only Newsletter I’m going to show you how we found his perfect customers and how you can use the same strategy to find yours too.

Unfortunately, most business owners are just like Mr. Dentist… They just sit around and wait for customers with no idea on how to gather data on who buys from them.

The other thing they all have in common is that they think their customers are “everyone” or “anyone that will buy my stuff”.  Well, duh!  But how do you find more of them?  That’s what I show you below.

Your Research Will Lead To More Customer Satisfaction

The struggle most owners have is lack of time.  There just never seems to be enough time to work on the business because they spend so much time working in the business.

Technology is another thing that holds business owners back.  What do I use?  How do I do it?

The other fear that comes out as we talk about running this type of research is the fear of disapproval.  Or, “what if people trash us”?

All valid but nothing is more valuable than just asking your customers what they want and what they don’t like so you can sell them more and find more people that want what you have too.

It doesn’t matter if you sell teeth cleaning, concrete patios, or build houses… you must have a blueprint for your marketing and that includes doing customer research.

Don’t worry, it’s simple and easy.  Two of my favorite things.

How To Run Simple Customer Research To Find Your Best Customers

This can all be done with free tools.  You need some type of “survey software”.  You can go to Google Forms, Survey Monkey, TypeForm, or use my Local Vibes software called Justine if you are one of our members.

This tactic is more important than you could ever imagine.  It seems simple and maybe even like it’s a waste of time because you think you already know who your perfect customers are.

Just do this like I show you and you will not only get clearer on who buys from you, you might also find some weaknesses in your business that you can clean up and fix before it becomes a bigger problem.  You’ll get research but you’ll also learn about your customer satisfaction.

First let’s talk about how I learned about this.  It comes from a book called ASK by Ryan Levesque.  The full title is “Ask:  The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy…Create a Mass of Raving Fans…and Take Any Business to the Next Level”.

That should have you sold right there!  What a title!

What this little survey will teach is what your real customers really want, what they really hate, and the big takeaway is “how they talk about it”.  We call this tribal speak.

The simplest way to do this is to create a form and ask the following questions.  Each question can be altered to fit your business.  Just edit them and make them fit.  Use all 5 or cut them down if you need to.

You can make them fill out their names and email addresses but you will get real info if it’s anonymous and not public.  Now you don’t have to worry about negative comments.

We start out by telling them why we are asking for them to fill out a survey.  We usually say something like:

“It’s our goal to be the best [YOUR THING] business that fits your needs…not just another company trying to sell you something you don’t need.

So help us out!

Answer these 5 questions so we can use your thoughts and ideas to improve.”

These here are the questions to ask:

1.  What is your #1 goal when it comes to [YOUR THING]?

This can be asked however you like but what you want them to answer is “what do you want?  What is your favorite thing about us?  They will tell you what they want but also what they don’t want.

2.  What is the #1 roadblock in the way of your goal?

Another way is why haven’t you bought from us yet?  Or , what do you not like about us?

3.  What’s the #1 thing you want to learn about our [YOUR THING]?

This will pull out more about what they are looking for.

4.  What’s your #1 fear when it comes to [YOUR THING]?

This one may not fit for you but what it is trying to get to are more objections to using your business.  What they worry about.  Find out and you can ease their fears by writing about it on your website, landing pages, and on social media.

5.  What are 3 additional things you’d like to learn about us?

This seems redundant, and sometimes people will make it redundant, but for some they will dig deeper and tell you more of what they want.

Understand that people won’t rush to fill this out.  After all, it’s a marketing survey.  Just put it out there and if you get a dozen or so you will start to see trends.  Never stop sending it.

We send this twice a year just to let us know how we are doing and if we are missing something.

It will uncover information that will help you.  It’s not just for your past customers, it’s for anyone that is interested in whatever it is that you do.

Take action!

Get it built, send it, and start to get information that you can use to dominate your industry!

Don’t be afraid.  Create it, send it to everyone you can.  Post it on your social media. Text them.  Email them.  You could even run it as an ad.

Take the answers and use it to get better.  Don’t get defensive.  Really listen to what your customers are saying.

You will have no choice but to grow your business!