How to Conduct Effective Employee Surveys That Will Improve Your Business
For B2B companies, team members are one of the main reasons clients turn into repeat buyers. Without great team members, client service and operational execution suffer, which means your business will also suffer. It’s as simple as that.
As competition increases in the B2B world and products and services become more commoditized, client service can often be the difference between retaining or losing business. A survey by Salesforce found that 80% of B2B buyers said the customer experience is just as important as the quality of a company’s products or services. The survey also determined that 57% of B2B purchasers switched suppliers because a competitor provided a better experience…
Article originally published in AllBusiness.
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Liliana Petrova, CCXP
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