My Third Favorite Question Ever

My two favorite questions of all time are "will you marry me?" and "do you want to start a family?". FYI, the answer was "yes" both times and happily I have no plans on ever asking either one again.

But my third favorite question of all time is one I get to ask over and over again of my clients and I encourage them to ask it of theirs as well. Here it is:

"If you could change just ONE thing about being my customer, what would it be?"

The question communicates several things including:

1. You are committed to creating great customer experiences
2. You trust your customer and consider them an equal in the relationship
3. And, you're committed to listening and doing something about their concerns

You've also set expectations that you're actually going to take some action. If you're not ready or willing to make that commitment before you hear the answer, don't ask the question.

Once you ask and demonstrate you listened to the response and took some action to resolve the concern, you get to ask it again and again and again.

The answers can help any organization eliminate or at least minimize those issues that are most vexing to customers and that lead to defections and lack of word-of-mouth recommendations.