I love living in America, but one of the colloquialisms I find somewhat obscure is the standard retort when we ask another how they are. “Good” is normally the response, and yet so often it sounds as if it’s been spoken with a lowercase first letter. It’s almost as if the responder is using the word “good” without really meaning it, for fear the asker doesn’t actually want to hear anything else.
There was a radio host who used to respond to the “How are you?” question with a sharp rebuke: “Do you really care?”
I’m the first person to criticize English culture, but one aspect I believe is remarkably honest across the pond is how most English people respond to that same question. Their standard responses often trot out a stream of double negatives, such as “Not bad,” “Mustn’t grumble,” or “Can’t complain.”
One of my personal favorites is “Bearing up under the strain,” as it evokes such vivid imagery of a person’s toil and trouble through this mortal coil.
This daily dialogue got me thinking about the uselessness of most customer surveys. It’s almost as if the questioner is asking, “How are you?” while genuinely not caring about the answer.
I experienced this recently with a local car dealership here in Awesometown. After a particularly disappointing and frustrating sojourn to the service center, I was asked a couple of days later to complete an online survey, which I did.
Based on what I’d laid down in my answers, I was expecting to get a call from the president of the company to apologize for such dreadful service. But nope — I received an automated response thanking me for completing the survey and affirming how pleased they were that I’d had a great experience.
I was left thinking, “What?”
I’d answered their “How are you?” question, and all they heard was “good” when, in fact, it was “bad.” I was “grumbling” and “complaining.” In fact, because of their dreadful service, I was “bearing up under the strain,” but I guess they didn’t want to hear that.
We’ve seen this play out with a couple of our clients over the last few years. They ask us to conduct an employee survey, but then do nothing with the responses. In effect, they’ve engaged us to ask the “How are you?” question of their staff, when all senior leadership really wants to hear is “good” — even when things are far from good.
As the owner of a training and leadership development company, and as a consumer of products and services just like you, I encourage survey-writers to consider these three practices to make the process much more meaningful:
- Keep it simple: Surveys can only be meaningful if they are statistically significant — meaning there’s a large enough response rate. In my observation, most surveys lack a sufficient voice because there are too many questions and the rating scale is overly complicated. My advice is three questions maximum, simply asking us about our satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. People understand that.
- Respond to their response: Once the deadline for submissions has passed, let respondents know you received their comments and scores. Provide clarity on what you will be doing with their input and by when.
- Take action: Ensure sufficient attention is given to the feedback and act upon the corrections that need to be made to the product or service, where practically possible. If appropriate, let the respondents who gave that input know what corrective action you’ve taken to address their concerns.
So, if all is “good,” let’s amplify that good — but with a capital first letter. If it’s not, let’s say so. To all the satisfaction surveyors out there: please keep your surveys simple, respond to us genuinely rather than through automated disingenuousness, and commit to taking action when we invest our time to talk to you about your products or services.
Either way, as the locals say, “It’s all good.”
Paul Butler is a Santa Clarita resident and a client partner with Newleaf Training and Development of Valencia (newleaftd.com). For questions or comments, email Butler at [email protected].
