mirror mirror

for starters, have to give credit to eric "mr. licensing" ligman and sharon "my last name is peterson now" erdman (peterson), both of whom recommended our company participate in the customer satisfaction survey available as a free benefit to microsoft certified and gold certified partners.

at first i was pretty skeptical.

ok, I'll admit...i thought no way in h, e, double-hockey-stick are we ever gonna do that.

but that was then...this is now.

take it from your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy, the process couldn't be simpler.

all you need is a list of your clients in an excel spreadsheet with last name, first name, e-mail, company name, language code (1 = US English). upload it to the customer satisfaction portal site. done.

honestly, the only thing that takes any time at all is getting the ok from your customers to include them as participants.

like most things, we're using it as a "touch" opportunity.
usually...such "touches" reveal that our clients have a few little things to take care of now. and a couple of bigger things coming down the pike that we get started thinking about and planning now.

translation: more work.
which is always a good thing.

as far as the survey...we'll see how it goes.
we're obviously wondering:

• how many participants will actually complete the survey
• if it will be as simple for participants to complete as it seems
• how we will stack up against other partners, rank-wise

but most of all...

• what we will find out about ourselves

i have the distinct feeling we're gonna get a few surprises.

as in...areas where we think we're pretty solid, but that in actuality are seen as weak spots in the eyes of our clients.

that kind of info is worth its weight in gold...because it is nigh impossible to truly see yourself, or your business, the way others do.

but i don't think we can grow our business without first taking a cold, hard look at where we are today. and that kind of self-scrutiny takes a pure gut check moment.

speaking of gut checks...

amy...we're still in the hunt for gold, but i'm not obsessing about it anymore, honest.

and if we make it...i promise you'll be the first to get an e-mail.
and that's because you're the very first person i want to thank.