You want to survey your customers but you don't know where to start.

There are may ways and places that you can post your survey. If you have a website you can post it on your index page, your main entry pages, another good place is on your thank you pages. If you have an email list you can simply email customers shortly after they have made a purchase and ask the how they liked your service. Surveying your customers should be a regular part of your follow up system.

If you market offline you can put surveys in you catalog, print ads and on your customer receipts. Send out post cards flyers. You can even call your customers and ask them a few short questions. Anyplace, anyway that you can think of to get your customers to tell you how your business stands up to the competition, do it. It's no time to be shy!

Need help? There are some great companies like surveymonkey.com that can get you going fast. Bravenet.com has a very easy survey form that you can quickly post on your website if you are comfortable with editing your HTML.

There is also software that you can purchase and use on your computer. Just type the word "survey" in your favorite search engine and you will find many options to choose from.

OK, you have posted your survey but you customer won't answer your questions. What do you do?

The phrase post it and they will come doesn't always apply when you are trying to get your customers to participate in your surveys. But why, you are only trying to find out what they want so you can serve them better right!

Well sometime it's not that easy. People are busy they don't always want to take the time to fill out a survey. People forget. They say I'll get back to it later and later never comes. We are only human and life moves at a rapid pace.

So what do you do? The big question. How do you get your customers to take a few minutes out of their busy day and fill out your survey? The answer to that question leads to another big question.

What's in it for me? It is the biggest question on your customers mind ninety percent of the time. So what do you do? The answer to that question is simple you bribe them!

Yep, a good old fashioned bribe works almost every time. Give them a reason to participate. Offer them something they want, a report, a coupon or discount, a free gift anything that you think will attract the attention of your customer.

In exchange for your little bribe your customer will provide you with a gold mine of valuable information that you can use to increase your sales, streamline your ordering process, improve your customer service or brain storm new ideas.

Surveying your customers is one of the best way to increase your profits so if you aren't surveying your customers you should be.