Today, facilitated by theInternet, nearly every business asks for feedback, with onedramatic exception: the insurance agency.

Most of us don't ask how successful we've been at meeting theexpectations of current and potential clients, either because we'reafraid of what we might find out or because we're too busy. But acustomer-satisfaction survey actually has a double payoff: Itprovides a benchmark for how you are doing and also communicates tocustomers that you care about your performance. In other words,your customers will know you're interested.

A few things to keep in mind in preparing to use a survey:

• Keep it simple. Surveys that are too detailed or ask too manyquestions discourage people from responding—the opposite of whatyou are trying to achieve.
• Determine what subjects are most important to measure. Do youwant to find out how pleased (or displeased) your insureds are withyour claim service? Do you want to determine how effectiveadvertising has been? Are you interested in how yourcommunications—bills, renewal policies, audits—arereceived?
• Decide what medium you're going to use for reaching people,such as enclosing a response card with every policy, sending anemail or using an interactive website.
• Decide whether you will survey all clients or only certaincategories, such as personal accounts, commercial accounts or largeaccounts.

The mechanics also are important. You must emphasizeconfidentiality and responses should go directly to the agencyprincipal. This will reassure clients that their opinions will behighly regarded and any adverse comments won't be read directly bythe target of those comments.