As an insurance agent how do you know if you are providing your existing and new inbound calling customers the best service you can? Simple, ask. How am I doing, is an easy question to ask, but not always an easy question to get answered. A way to solve this problem is through a survey.

Finding out how you and your agency are doing can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be. Agencyconsulting.com says, “the Customer Satisfaction Survey is a superb tool to create service excellence within your organization by reacting directly to customers’ needs and desire.” Knowing what your customers need and providing it for them could lead to an increase in business.

Now we know what we need to do to reach our customers, but how do you know what questions to ask? The “right questions” are going to be specific to your agency. What type of information do you want to know? Questions could be as basic as;

• What are our strengths and weaknesses?
• Do you feel your insurance needs are being met? If not, what can we do to meet them better?
• What would you like to see us do differently?
• What do they like that set’s you apart from other agencies?

Independentagent.com also recommends asking, why your customers choose you, what did you offer that was attractive to them, even ask what you could improve upon to help hone your customer image.

Remember the post I wrote regarding the use of technology to grow business? Using surveys falls into the technology category. With sites like Surveymonkey.com and Facebook for Business, sending surveys has become a fast and efficient way to gain the customer data you need.

In another post, why your agency should be sending newsletters, I mention to think of your newsletter as a magazine subscription and send it out on a consistent schedule so it becomes part of your customer’s routine. If you include a survey, say quarterly or even bi-annually your customers, who are already reading your newsletter, will be more likely to respond.  What will make customers even MORE apt to respond would be some sort of incentive. As we’ve discussed before, the incentive doesn’t have to be much, something as simple as a coffee card, company swag or even a handwritten thank you note will go a long way. Your customers are taking time out of their lives for you, it couldn’t hurt to give a little back.