One of the services offered by my business is customer satisfaction surveys. I’ve worked with several clients to design, develop and implement surveys geared around questions that they are seeking the answer to in or in order to improve the business performance. I’ve designed surveys that are short and some that are very lengthy. No matter the length of the survey or the details of information gathered, there is one question that must be answered by the customer. All the information gathered is important and must be used to drive improvements. However, the most important question by far to ask your customer is “how likely are you to recommend (insert your company)”? The responses to this question should drive the initiatives of the company to improve upon the products and/or services being provided. When the responses to this question are anything other than highly likely, finding out “why not” is essential. The answers to why customers would not highly recommend your company provides an opportunity to improve upon the performance gap of the business. Acting upon and resolving the key issues identified by customers will drive the key initiatives to improve your business performance.