What good would it do if the answers were “rigged?” What if the outcomes were dictated to the people being surveyed?  Do you think a scandal like that would make headlines?  Would it make the program lose popular viewers?

I went shopping at Lowes home improvement store this morning. The nice cashier asked if I had trouble locating anything. “Yes, you seem to be out of stock on some light bulbs I was looking for. Are you getting more in this week?” My statement went ignored.

I paid for another item that I had found and as I received my receipt, the cashier pointed out a survey a paragraph at the bottom of my receipt (by using with a yellow highlight marker). She said I could win a $300 gift certificate by filling it out and that a customer won $150 this week at their store.  That was intriguing...

Then she ruined any hope of an honest response from me. “Be sure you give us a ‘7’ on every question and it will help the employees get a raise!” Then she insisted as I walked out the door, “Remember, ‘7’ on every question!” 

You’ve got to be kidding me! Lowe’s gives raises using a customer survey... that their own employees are rigging?  Even when the employees don’t respond to customer requests? Is Lowe’s management aware of this? 

I remembered what she said... long enough to put it in this article - NOT on the survey!  

What does that have to do with your business? 

Next time just say, “If you liked our service, please let my boss and HR manager know it. If you didn’t like it, shut up and go home!”

If you tell people what to answer, unless the service really was outstanding, they probably won’t even fill out the survey. Which skews the results in favor of the most positive responses, by default.

I’m not saying employees need to bow to my every whim, but to request EXCELLENT results on a customer service survey, even when the service was sub-par is unnerving.  And quite intimidating.

How do companies that abuse their customers, like auto dealerships, wireless phone companies, hotel chains, cable providers, heating and cooling companies and airlines that abuse their customers keep bragging that JD Power rated them high?  I’ll bet the surveys are rigged in the winner’s favor.

Here’s  a novel idea... train your employees in real world customer service. Not to give stock answers to questions (or ignore them completely). Stop bullying customers for top reviews on your own survey.