Why on Earth would you want to run a customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey? If you are basing your client relationship on just “satisfactory” benchmarks from the past engagements, you’ve lost the game already. A “satisfied” customer is probably just waiting to jump the relationship when a new vendor comes along with a better pricing or delivery model.

To rise from the commodity of service non-differentiation, why not think up of Customer Risk Mitigation Surveys? If you can gain insight into your client’s initiatives for the coming quarters (this should be easy if you are brave enough to plan a CSAT in the first place), why not put together a risk model and mitigation plan on your own? This could be around project scopes, people requirements, timelines, budgets, ROI, …you get the picture.

What will this get you? Super Brownie points for intelligent proactive thinking. Reaffirm your client’s faith in your value for their business.

Oh yeah, in this survey, you could weave in your CSAT that will help you get a better handle on how the client perceives your performance.

Cheers
Karthik