Probably the most important component of listening to the voice of the customer is acting on what you hear. To do that, we must first optimize how we are listening. What do I mean?

When we ask customers for feedback, it’s imperative that we make the most of that conversation. I’m specifically referring to surveys, but I suppose this could apply to other listening posts as well. We must ask questions in a way that gets us the information we need in the clearest and most detailed way possible. We can’t improve the experience if we don’t know what's wrong. We can’t coach our employees if we don't know what to coach them on, nor can we praise and recognize them without knowing for what or why.

I recently attended a conference where attendees were asked to rate the speakers following the presentations. To do so, we were told to use marbles; as we left the room, we could pick a colored marble that matched how we felt about the session: green for spot on, yellow for OK but missed the mark, and red for not so much. After one particular session, I saw that the bowl contained quite a few more yellow marbles than green ones.

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