What if you could never fail?
What if everything you started, you could ensure it was a great venture?
There is an amazing little secret to determine whether or not a business you are about to start or an endeavor you are about to pursue is worth it. This secret has been passed down for generations and I would like to share it with you. Are you ready?
ASK.
Thats right. We often times spend more time researching, planning, and building things that in reality, no one asked for in the first place. If we would simply ask the audience we are trying to pursue the value of a thing before we start something, we would get better results and ensure better success. There are of course many other factors that go into determining the success of something. Yet often, the foundation of those things is knowing what your audience needs and meeting those needs. The more you know form your audience, the more likely you can develop your business or project to their needs. There are many ways to asking your audience and validating an idea. Over the next three posts, I will focus on three ways to do a proper ask. The first one is surveying.
Surveys for Entrepreneurship
Surveys are an amazing way to get instant feedback from your audience. With websites like Survey Monkey and Poll Daddy becoming more and more popular, you can easily create an online survey to get immediate responses about a particular idea. For my Dreamstart Conference last year, I used a survey in my planning process to determine what type of sessions and information would be relevant to my audience. To see a copy of it, you can click here.
I created an event for the survey on Facebook and invited all of of my friends who were relevant to my audience to take it. Through the responses I received, I was about to develop the framework for the conference and decide which sessions would be more relevant to those I was appealing to. This same method can be used for collecting responses about prices, locations, and a multitude of other things business.
Surveys for Personal Development
You can also use surveys as a way to help enhance yourself as a person. I recently read an amazing article about a young man who e-mailed a small survey to his closest friends. After a real encounter with himself and his own insecurities, he decided to be proactive in becoming a better person by asking them these questions:
What does it feel like to be around me when I’m at my best?
What does it feel like to be around me when I’m at my worst?
What do you admire about the way I live my life?
Are there any areas of my life that you find off-putting?
What are ways I could be a better friend?
Is there anything I could do to be a better communicator?
What do others think of me?
What’s the 10 percent you’re holding back?
The responses he received brought him into the reality of his own false perception of himself, and ultimately led him down a journey of growth, maturity and true authenticity. As a professional, gaining information from questions like these are key to ensuring you not only grow into a better person, but it also helps you become a better leader. The information obtained from a survey can help you start your next relationship or job on the right foot without bringing the baggage of past hurts into your new opportunities.
Simple Tips for Great Surveys
Ask your audience
I know this is self explanatory, but the responses you are looking for in your surveys should be from those you are either selling to or reaching out to personally to help you. If you are using surveys for personal development, select only your closest friends who really know you to provide authentic feedback. If you are using surveys as a way to decide whether you should begin something, ask those who are MOST likely to attend the event or buy the product.
Ask A Lot of People
The more responses you get, the better your results will be and the more likely you will know how to decide. Social media has completely made it limitless on the amount of people you can reach out to for a survey. Share it with friends on your social media outlets and ask them to share it with their friends. The more quality responses you get, the better.
Incentivize the Survey
People love free stuff and are more likely to participate if you offer it to them. Offer a free sample of a product you are developing or a discounted event ticket if you are surveying for business. For those who are doing it personally, offer to take your friends out to a free dinner or give them a free movie ticket for taking the time to help you. Most good friends may not ever require you do any of this, but the thought behind it serves as a great gesture for building a closer relationship.
Keep it Short
Ask only the questions you need. Keep them simple and to the point. You are only asking the crucial things to validate your idea or get legitimate feedback.
Let’s Start.
Now that you have gotten great tips on surveys, I would challenge you to start your first one today. Sign up for Survey Monkey or simply create one to send to your friends. Instead of worrying about whether you will fail at your next endeavor, really take a small step forward to start.
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