If you do not find the real feedback, opinion and reason, you will just spend a lot of money on the wrong promotion and ads. A lot of money! This is true and people do it in most cases. Sometimes business owners think they know it all. They might have an opinion like: "I do not need any survey or any...marketing crap! I know my business."
But in most cases they
spend the most of their money on advertising for the wrong ideas. That
is all. They have been convinced by some agency, designer, ads sales
person, etc...
So, let's say you are running a restaurant and you would like to know the real answers to questions above and even more.
How do you do it?
THE SURVEY PROCEDURE
1st: Ask a friend to do a survey for you. Maybe some students, etc. Someone who has different speaking accent, so people can immediately see the person is a foreigner. Even better: get a couple! Maybe a husband and a wife? It must be clear that the person/couple is not from that area.
If it is a couple, it looks even more real.
We will call that person/couple an interviewer.
2nd: Write down some simple questions for the
survey (1-3 max.) and show your interviewer how should it be done (let
them read this page).
The interviewer (the'foreigner'!) will go to some public places for business and will ask a simple non formal question, like:
"Excuse me, can you recommend a good restaurant in the neighborhood?"
The interviewer should NEVER say/ask:
"This is a survey. May I ask you a simple question?" ... or similar.
Never! Just a non-formal question to a random people or in places of business in a relaxed conversation. No paperclip, etc. The interviewer shall mark the answers later, secretly.
You can decide in how big 'radius' around your restaurant the survey
must be taken. The interviewer can ask this question also on the
street. To random people.
People are usually willing to help. They will see and hear that this person is not from here
(not a local), so they will (most probably) honestly suggest a
good/right place. The question can be put in a different way or the
interviewer can ask in some other way. After the first answer the
person can add and ask other non-formal questions, like:
"What are they known for?" or "Do you maybe know if they have...?" etc.
Be creative with questions. To have comparable data, always ask the same question the same way.
3rd:
After about 20 answers you can find out if your restaurant is known (and how known), what is it known for, etc:
- Do local people suggest it and why?
- Do they instead suggest some other restaurant (instead of yours)?
- What do they remember about your restaurant or your competitor's restaurant? Or what is their impression of it?
- Do they even mention yours at all? Which restaurant is the most recommended and why / for what / for whom...?
- Etc.
You can adjust the question(s) to get even more data.
The bigger number of answers, the more accurate results you get.
You can do this in one day (or max. two). One day is enough for a basic survey, I would say.
One thing you have to be careful about:
Do not set questions in such a way to suggest the answers that you would like to get.
Make them so that they sound very natural, simple etc.
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4th:
You might be surprised with the answers. Usually
restaurant owners have better opinion about their restaurant than
reality would suggest. But this indicator will tell you what you shall
should focus on in your promotion and in the ads, and maybe even what
you have to change in your business. Do it as soon as possible!
Maybe (actually, surely!) you are already wasting money on the wrong things.
Cruel truth: only 4 of 100 unhappy customers dare to say it wasn't OK.. People do not want to expose themself.
5th:
Give the results to your agency or your designer and let them to be creative based on these results too.
If you do not have a designer or want to try with me, I can surely help you.
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