Do you know what your customers really think of your products and services? A favorite strategy of big,

A favorite strategy of big, dumb corporations is to hire big, dumb and expensive agencies to find out for them.

For example, The Wall Street Journal asked us to fill out an 20-minute survey.

Were they kidding?

What do they think 20 minutes of our time is worth?

Rice University researchers have found these reasons customers don’t take surveys:

• They ask too many questions.

• They don’t ask the right questions.

• They survey too often.

• They offer you nothing.

The latter could be a product or service that your customers will appreciate and value.

In starting our company, we random-surveyed potential customers. We identified ourselves only that we worked for a company that planned to offer a new product.

We asked only 5 questions about our competitors. Their low opinion encouraged us.

We share such field-tested ideas in our “Million Dollar Strategies of Maverick Entrepreneurs.” For an autographed copy, email JerryBellune@yahoo.com.