I am curious as to how many small business owners use a business survey. In other words, sending out a quick rate my business with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. We all see this a lot with big national brands, especially online vendors. Everything from “how did we do?” To “how likely would you be to recommend us to a friend?” Feedback is a very important aspect to business. We die without it. Most of us, as small business owners, hear feedback firsthand. So should we do a business survey?

I heard a very interesting story this week about surveys. A friend of mine received a business survey back with a rating of “4” out of 10. Instead of sulking about it, he was curious as to what went wrong. My friend is a very clever business man and thinks outside the box. Instead of calling this client and stating what went wrong with this transaction, he reworded his conversation very clever.

My friend called this client and asked “I received your survey score of 4 yesterday and wondered why you rated us so high?” The client was immediately taken back. He said “I rated you a 4 and that’s not very high at all”. My friend came back with, “yeah but why didn’t you rate us a 1 or 2 or even 3?” “There must be a reason why you gave us a 4?” This shifted the client’s conversation into explaining everything that went wrong but also everything that went right. At the end of this conversation, the client apologized to my business owning friend for not expressing his frustrations and giving them a chance to correct his issues. Instead, he left mad, gave a bad business survey rating with the intent of not returning for future business. Now, the client was understanding and stated he would be back in the future.

If you use a business survey, how do you handle this information? Do you pat yourself on the back for your 8s, 9s and 10s? Do you throw away your opportunities with your survey answers below 5? My friend is a very successful business owner and you can now see why. Use feedback information wisely, it is the difference is thriving and surviving.

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better”.— Elon Musk

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, grandfather of 2, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, employee benefit specialist, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger, author and team leader with over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.