Here are my responses to an on-line interview that I gave. Enjoy!

Q: What can small companies do to set up focus groups on their own to save money? 

CLG: Reach out to your existing customer base. They are a great source of valuable information as to whether or not a new product or service would be worthwhile. Also, you can query those who have rejected your product or service as they can provide valuable information as to the improvement of your products and services.

Q: How do you develop questions?

CLG: Here is a tip, take all of the complaints that you have received from your company from customers and turn them into questions. For example, you may have received a question, ‘Your customer service representative was not very friendly.” You can reformat that statement into the following questions, “How can we improve the friendliness of our customer service representatives?”

Q: How does one prepare and then make the most of the results?

CLG: You can make the most of the results by documenting each of the responses from your focus groups using type written responses, audio and video. For example Dominos Pizza has a currently running add campaign where they took unhappy customers, video tapped their complaints about their pizza, and then systematically worked to make those individuals happy. It is a very compelling add campaign and has helped increase the perceived quality of their pizza. Just as Dominos did, I would suggest you publicize the results!

Q: Is it even worth it, or is it best to hire a firm to help?

CLG: You can do either or both. I would suggest that you first try it on your own. It shows tremendous good faith and good will when a company directly contacts its customers and asks them for feedback.  They will appreciate it and you will be a better company for it.

Carl L Gould is the president and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC (www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world. Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training helps his clients achieve results worldwide.  His upcoming book, The 7 Stages of Small Business Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level.