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In my last video, we talked about how to find out what your prospects and clients want to buy – and I got some great questions on in the comments asking how to SPECIFICALLY do that. So, in this video I share my tips and tricks for using surveys (including the exact questions to ask in your surveys) – and I talk about a big mistake I see people making with their surveys…

And since we're on the subject of asking your readers what they want to know… scroll down tell me what the #1 challenge in your business is? If you could sit down with me for coffee or a beer, what's your #1 most burning question you'd want to ask me? Leave me a comment below and I might shoot a video to answer your question…

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51 Replies to “Using Surveys To Read Your Clients Minds”

  1. Jeff,

    I just did this in the past month with my list. OMG, the data they gave to me was unbelievable.

    In the past few days I used this data to close nearly six figures in new ad deals wrapped inside fun games in my newsletter.

  2. I used to have a couple of personal blogs, but deleted them. I’m ready now to begin a new one. If you don’t have a list, would you consider putting a link to a survey in a blog post, or else on your sidebar for a certain length of time?

  3. Hi Jeff!

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge, I really enjoy your personable attitude and approach.
    I run a fitness studio and my market is moms/women. We offer varying class times as well as childcare and child friendly classes.

    My challenge is getting people to commit! Any thoughts? I am going to use what you talked about today to see if I can get right into the challenges of my clients and potential clients.

    Thanks again!

  4. Hey Jeff

    Great training video as always. My Starbucks question for you would be this. I’ve been following you for a long time and all this survey training is great, but over the years I’ve observed that you are incredibly good at actually knowing what people want before they even know they want it or need it. My question is “how do you it”? I know that you read a lot and that you’re always doing research, but what’s your secret? Is it kayaking trips through the canyon, snorkeling trips in the Caribbean?:) Albert Einstein once said, “I want to know how God thinks…all the rest are details”. I’m working on that too, but for now I want to know how Jeff thinks…all the rest are details.
    Thanks
    Joey

  5. Hi Jeff:
    Terrific video – surveys AND assessments are a great way to engage people and find out what they are thinking. The beauty of using Assessment Generator for your surveys, you don’t even have to create a new survey when you want to change the questions – you can just edit the question on line and it is dynamically updated. I love your idea about using the survey taker’s comments in your sales letter. Interesting place to do a video – in your dining room : – ).

  6. Hey, Jeff…

    My greatest challenge is…ME. Finding, scheduling and following through on my own marketing due dilligence. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming with all of life’s challenges and time demands.

    As always, thanks for great content delivered in your accessible, affable way.

    Cheers, Edward

  7. Thanks for the great tip on the redirect. (And all the other great tips… The email ps is a great idea, too, that I’ll use soon.) That makes so much sense… I’ve run into wanting to change the questions midway and the redirect idea solves that problem.

    What question would I like to ask you if I had a chance to sit down with you? Here’s one right at the top: One of my biggest blocks to success is getting too many ideas and trying to do too many things. What tips do you have about focusing and prioritizing projects? I’m not talking about eliminating distractions and completing what’s on today’s plate. I’m talking about bigger picture planning and prioritizing among various business ideas.

  8. Frank Stuart

    Reply

    Thank you Jeff. I was just getting ready to do my first survey when this video showed up… it was very helpful in focusing my design and questions.

    Frank

  9. Video was VERY helpful. In fact, I changed a newsletter I was just about to send out because of it.I’m confident those tweaks will help HUGE with my response rate and the value I can now give my customers.

    Thanks Jeff!

    Russ

  10. Well I have PLF 3 and continue to study it. I made the mistake of starting with a really high end product and decided to go back to basics and start with a $10 report and build from there. So I have not seen much as far as sequencing a launch for software I created called Great Decisions that is on the Apple App store. Im assuming they are the same. So any tips on any modifications I should make to the PLF sequence for software where the person must go to the App store to purchase? Thanks Jeff your wisdom and posting these videos helps “keep me in the game” when it has taken me so long on a shoe string budget to launch this new livelihood of internet marketing.

  11. Jeff, Thank you for all your training and for this helpful tip about surveys. I am new to this game, but I’ve been gathering training & information from you, Brendon B. and others. I’ve decided that my first step needs to be: create a product. So I am writing a book, with plans to self publish it, sell it online, as well as an ebook version and and audio book version (CD’s). That would give me a couple of products to start with, on a topic which I know something about and am passionate about. I’ve also been thinking of starting out doing webinars to start the ball rolling.
    My #1 question to you, at this point, is How do I get a list going and continue building it, if I’m starting at zero names? I’ve got a pretty good amount of friends on Facebook (approaching 3,000) But how do I start my email list?
    I know I need a website, at least a lead capture page, but do I place ads on Facebook or what? If you’ve already covered this in a past video, please send me there.
    Thank you so much!!

  12. Great video, with great content!
    As you present this survey method, it shows its powerful impact potential on the business, but, mostly important, it makes me want to try it, to work with such a tool.
    Win-win!
    Thank you!

  13. Good video Jeff. Hey, it looks like you are sitting in front of your kitchen. That’s my favorite room; I think I might just adopt it too.

    A question? Well, I am getting ready to launch a product (a membership site) for a group of business owners who rent physical space in a building to several (up to 100’s) of other, smaller, business owners. And these business owners also have responsibility for bringing customers into the building who want to buy things from the renters. I am speaking specifically of antique malls. So I’d be interested in hearing your take on marketing a service to antique mall owners that is designed to encourage THEIR customers to return more often and spend more money.

  14. Michael Mullen

    Reply

    Jeff, I ‘ve been following you now for about 6 months and have learned a great deal. I am a therapist and instructor. I have coached for a number of years as well and I am getting ready to move to on-line marketing and products. I am a newbie so I have no list, but my greatest challenge has been that over the years I have created a large amount of material, but I don’t know where to begin or which to start with. It sounds like doing the survey approach would work well in providing me with a solid direction. After that my next challenge will be building a list.

    Thanks for all the great stuff!

  15. Hi Jeff,

    I have done a few surveys, and have run into exactly the kind of situation you described. This redirect page tip is pure genius, so thank you so much for sharing that!!!

    Elizabeth

  16. Jeff,

    Regards from Israel. Thanks so much for this video. It was great! That actually WAS the answer to my most burning question. I’m very grateful.

  17. Great information. I’m totally new to all this, but really want to start getting feedback from the marketplace. However, I only have about 20 people on my list. One day I’ll look back and giggle, but for now…my goal is to sell my finished product as it is.

    The question(s) I would be asking is:

    What is your NUMBER ONE challenge with Getting to The Gym?
    What is your NUMBER ONE challenge for Sticking With Your Fitness Goals?

    Any other ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.

  18. Great video Jeff. My biggest challenge, just starting out, is this: I need to build a list while simultaneously selling a product which can bring in a relatively quick $2,000-$5,000, which I could then use for a decent video setup (it seems everyone uses video to sell anymore, and I have NO decent cam or mic, lighting etc), and some FB ads etc to continue to grow my list and expand. How would you approach this? I tried setting up a squeeze page and subsequent video pages, but with terrible audio and video, it was so bad I pulled them; there’s no way I can put that out for the world to see and give a bad first impression. Thanks and keep up the good work!

  19. Jeff, great video.
    In addition to the survey, we find that you have to “get out to find out” so we suggest getting permission via email to do a face to face or telephone survey. This gets super honest responses and you can see or hear their thinking. Just need to do about 15 to get superb data.
    Yes, it’s hard talking with strangers, means getting out of your comfort zone, but only for the first one or two calls. Then it’s fun.
    Also, friends and family don’t count. Sweet as they may be they don’t give you actionable intelligence. But you can practice on them.
    Warm regards,
    Jay

  20. Patricia Smith

    Reply

    Hi Jeff,
    Greetings from Jamaica!! Loved your video especially about the redirect. Will be using your ideas. Thanks.

  21. If I could sit down with you for coffee or a beer (first that would be a great pleasure), the #1 most burning question I’ll want to ask you is:

    – if you have to start a new online business right now, what would be your very first step?

  22. 51grazie jeff ! cheers from Rio de Janeiro Brazil ! I’m a story development consultant
    for fiction screenplaywriting preparing to launch a webinar series teaching script screenplay
    blended with movie marketing. I’ve done a pre-launch survey monkey from list gathered linkedin and realized from answers that I had a credibility problem plus a paradigm problem.
    the credibility took longer to figure out I was not playing my correct status
    as story script expert; the paradigm problem was harder: first thought it was a product misconception, than a copy problem, finally I got to blame society… than it become
    clear to me that instead of offering something somehow, my role was to evolve from
    a teacher, not to a coach, but to a full story producer/mentor !
    I might add that there is a change of behaviour:: my leads are prospecting ME
    and soon I’ll be launching… pitch video is in the final animation process.
    ?challenge: where do people gather to seek out for screenplay in brazilian portughese ?
    ?coffee+lunch: would you confirm that after the first wave of full work was done,
    do you really have more time with your family and hobby, are you still working for living ?
    there is the fear of loosing contact with relatives and friends to seek some elixir,
    and coming back late enough to watch all already dead…
    and secondly, would you help me to launch script screenplaywriting emotional techniques from italian-brazilian into english language ? again grazie, saluti, RomanBRuni.net

  23. thanks jeff. one statement you made that i will always remember is “sell them want they want but give them what they need”. well jeff, if you allow me to sit with you for coffee i will ask you this question; what advice would you give to someone who is not allowed to register for paypal because he is from a country that paypal had banned from registering acct. this is the one problem (and a huge one at that) am having with my online business now. thanks for your help.

  24. Jeff Great video on the power of surveys especially the redirect part because that is something I have not heard before. And giving the name of survey monkey i.e. a specific place to go to do surveys and two questions you can ask. Great content.

    Gregg on the off chance you read this check out Video Genesis for training on how to shoot good quality video’s or Frank Kern has a video program as well. I own VG and it rocks and no I don’t make any money for saying that. Jeff Walker and Andy Jenkins work together so I am not trolling. Just trying to help.

    My question would be how would you set up Facebook PPC surveys in order to build a list ? instead of using email is there any deference

  25. Beatrix Willius

    Reply

    Such a great video. Since my prospects are coming to my website I think I’ll ask the question via popup-survey.

    My number one challenge is to make people aware that they might get the problem that my software is solving.

  26. Hello Jeff, thanks a lot for your video always so generous and useful!
    i hope one day to sit with you for a cup of coffee..;-)).., then i would ask you the question
    about building ones list and traffic : what do you think about buying leads of good quality and responding to the niche we choosed. i am working by now with Laurent Chenot in France and he built all his system by buying leads and not having any blog….He has a very important list and do A huge CA by this way ( 6 figures )…..with small products. He uses also JV, display on Facebook, but the more important part is with buying leads on well know platforms.
    I do thank you and fell happy to follow your training!!!
    A question: i have not well understood how to use a redirection?

  27. Hi Jeff,

    Thanks again for the wonderful video. If I could sit down with you for a cup of coffee, my question to you would be – How do I test different price points for my product?
    Thanks so much for everything Jeff! All the best to you and to our community.

    Ariel

  28. Hi Jeff,
    great video…love it!

    my challenge is to create a quiz that can go viral, so people take it find out their money code and then want to share it. thanks so much for your input

  29. I’m always loving your info, Jeff…Thx for sharing!
    I’m not clear on the redirect strategy you mentioned…? Could you expand on that? It seems important….
    Love, Anca

  30. Dear Jeff,

    Thanks for your tips, which really helps a lot!
    My difficulties with surveys are the same of most people, the few responses! I know that most of people don’t like to bother to answer, but I’m still stucked with it!
    I’ll try your advises!

    Thanks.

  31. Hi Jeff. Thanks for the great video! You are RIGHT. Surveying my list like you teach in PLF told me the fears and dreams and challenges my avatar has. From there, I determined that having a higher level of core confidence (not just in the moment but always, no matter what the situation is) would solve all of the problems shared in the survey.

    Now, I plan to do another survey on confidence itself to find out where my avatar feels they need more. I know it’s an all around feeling of confidence but with this new survey, like you suggest, I can use their words in my program and launch vids. 🙂

  32. Thanks, Jeff! You gave me some great tips about surveys. I definitely need to survey my audience to decide what type of online product to create for them.

    If we could have lunch, I would ask you how I can connect with my audience better – like how to add value and create things that are helpful. Sometimes I feel stuck – like I’m not sure how to connect. (which is odd since I’m great at it in person)

    I probably wouldn’t waste a lunch visit for this, but I would like a step by step process for setting up my first “list” and creating the redirect page as you mentioned.

    Thank you again!

  33. Jeff,

    Great info on using surveys to find out what your audience wants. I’m also considering them to weed out prospects not suitable for my coaching programs and stating in the marketing that you have to qualify to get in.

    My #1 challenge is opening up a new niche market. I’ve developed a program to help people get through grief, based on my own experience and over 20 years as a life coach. There’s a huge need but few examples out there I can model.

    The program is a direct result of the questions I’ve asked others who are dealing with grief, plus the experiences of my partner with 15 years of facilitating bereavement groups, but I’m not sure how to market it and would be grateful for any advice you can give. Is this something that would fit a PLF-style seed launch?

  34. Thanks Jeff,
    I would really really like to ask about how to making internet marketing work for the long-term. What is going to set me up for a consistent ability to partner with the top experts in my niche?

  35. Hey Jeff,
    This is unrelated to this post but I had to get this to you. I remember in one of your lessons in PLF4 you talked about not being boring and how it just kills you when you fly because the flight attendant speech is sooooooo boring. Check this out. It definitely works because I now want to fly southwest just from watching this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07LFBydGjaM

  36. Number One Challenge: Finding my Core Team.

    People said my vision and project was too big. My focus is on families living in healthy communities that are separated by great geographical areas. It is modeled after my rural intergenerational family and addresses things that concerned us all…having a safe place to live and fresh food to eat so that we can live in harmony with dignity and stretch the money we bring in and remain connected all the ages and health status of those that live at a distance.

    We have always needed to stay healthy because we did not always have health insurance or the money for therapeutic services.

    After my grandmother and father passed away, I was gifted with enough money to purchase relatively low cost buildings that needed attention in a little town that has high speed internet. I started weaving and serving one homeless person at a time that wanted to help do gardening or other physical efforts to improve things as we got our exercise and Vitamin D naturally and raised fresh organic food.

    Finding my Core Team will be like finding the final gears to bring the machine to life. They will be able to engage the gears of diverse skills, talents and resources of all that want to play nice. A fine watch has seventeen jewels, quartz crystals that keep the gears from wearing out. They will free me up to do my “finest work”…play with people, continue to dream and stabilize and use places as event venues to serve those that serve with healthful fun opportunities.

    The “seventeen jewels” will be those that love to deal with business, databases, legal, communication and technology issues. They will be the key therapists, artists, and social justice workers that peacefully and creatively know how to engage people in healthy productive fun to bloom and reach their optimal operating zone of happiness and productivity.

    When all people feel valued and can be engaged in healing processes and have a safe place to use and develop their skills without making a huge commitment to train and stay in a job that does not value or suit them, then everyone will be happier and healthier and more creative. Employers can save a lot of money due to lost productivity, absenteeism, and turnovers by having empowered and engaged healthy happy workers.

    I just want to help families to stretch their money, make use of resources that they have already purchased and be able to get fun physical activity accomplished… while spending time with like-hearted family and friends in safe and nurturing environments.

    The system could then be scalable to any town to fully activate a new paradigm of communities that cooperate with the reciprocal Health Bucks system.

    That is the Local2Global Healthy Families Cooperative.

    If there are those that want to control all the natural resources and promote products that steal our health and environment, then we weave around them with other gifts from Mother Nature and our peaceful, loving intent to be good stewards of the Earth and each other. Like I have learned from mission trips to other countries, we really do not need to be burdened by so much stuff and so dependent “on the grid” to be happy.

    Like Robert Fulghum’s “All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”, if we base all the Community Service-Learning projects on following the principles of quality early childhood learning that teach good internal and external communication skills and problem-solving teamwork mixed in with the arts and sciences, good nutrition, fun play, and rest then we will have a great productive system.

    We can address people’s learning styles, let them select to try new skills for an hour, a day, or longer and we will have happier, healthier, people with better abilities to adapt…to be part of a team… and to earn Health Buck credits that allow them opportunities to spend them wisely on healthful products, services, and events.

    All the best for all.

  37. Great ideas which I am implementing immediately. The PS in the email has worked really well for me as I am getting to ready to launch my website and my first product.

    I am not a great techie and do not know how to do the “redirect”, could you or someone explain?
    Thanks!!!

  38. Brian Mertins

    Reply

    This was very helpful Jeff, especially your suggestions for what to do if you have a small list.

    I would like to build a bigger list but since my business is small, I don’t have a lot of advertising dollars. I’m trying to maximize opt-ins on my website from organic traffic, but it’s hard to diagnose conversion issues without huge amounts of traffic. What would you consider a good opt-in rate for a website and how would you go about fixing low opt-ins?

  39. Michael osodo

    Reply

    Jeff my number one question would be; Do you have programs for persons who want to get started with internet marketing business ?

  40. Hi Jeff

    Firstly I love the great content here, it’s applicable to so many areas.

    I’m curious if you feel you that its more important to get a product out as soon as possible or spend as much time as possible up front drilling down to individual feedback from people I “think” are in my target market.

    Regards

    Mark

  41. If I was having a beer or lunch with Jeff Walker what would my question be; who’s paying?, would be the first one. After a few laughs and asking what the shrimp tastes like, and can I have a taste, I would ask; what motivates a person to answer a survey, and how do I emotionally touch them in the copy to click onto to it?

  42. Daniel Eigenman

    Reply

    How do you setup a redirect?

    Hi Jeff,

    Survey video is pure gold.

    Thanks!

    I just have one question….

    How do you setup a redirect?

    Not sure what you mean by that.

  43. my number one challenge….seeing the big picture of my business strategy so I know where the small parts fit in. I need to know that the baby steps I’m taking fit into a bigger whole. Also, do I need an awesome blog to build authority before launching a product or do the two go hand in hand? I have super limited time so what’s first? The product to build the list, the publishing of content on a site for authority, both?
    Thanks!

  44. I was trying to come up with survey questions and thought “when in doubt ask an expert”. Entered jeffwalker.com and did a search for “creating surveys” and this great post popped up.

    I’m creating a survey to determine what type of seminars people in my community are interested in. Your video is spot on!

    Thanks!

  45. Alana Stanley

    Reply

    Thank you, Jeff, for your survey questions insight! My burning request to you is, do you have story examples of artists who have used your unique PLF launch to sell their pictures? When I read about displaying opportunities using traditional methods such as art galleries, art crawls and art festivals, information states these are NOT venues for people to purchase art. Also, the mind set with artists still appears to be the “starving artist” perspective, which I choose not to subscribe to and why I am so interested in PLF.
    OK then, where and how are people purchasing their art? *Perhaps a great survey question for my little tiny list of 60 people. To add to that, perhaps the traditional showing venues I mentioned could at least be a great way to build a list further.
    PS: Thank you for considering my question – it seems PLF seed launch is more based on coaching than a physical product like an upcylced framed photograph.
    Love, Alana Stanley.

    • @Alana: I don’t have any published Case Studies, but we’ve got many PLF Owners who are artists and have used it to sell their art – including paintings.

  46. Hello Jeff

    This was highly informative and validates what I have been thinking about for the past several months. In my case it has less to do with getting a new client so much as how to gather helpful and relevant data from existing clients. I am the Director of Client Services with an on demand online software company specializing in career management tools (resume and letter writing, online portfolios, skills assessments, interview prep, etc.). Our client base has primarily been college and university career centers, workforce boards and to a lesser extent associations, HR departments and libraries.
    Our biggest challenge is, as you might expect, retention; however, I believe that is tied to engagement or buy-in from the career services department personnel. The software is fantastic and highly flexible allowing for great levels of customization to reflect the needs of a population. We find that those with high levels of engagement from an Administrative perspective get a corresponding level of engagement from their student populations.
    I would like to use a survey as a pre-launch tool to gather data that will help us to address the engagement issue from the administrative personnel as I believe this will translate to end-user engagement. Any insight you might offer as to the best way you see to collect this information would be appreciated. My initial thoughts:
    1. What do you hope to achieve in serving your students/patrons?
    2. What is your biggest challenge in achieving this?
    3. What expectations do you have or what role do you see the software playing to that end?

    Is this enough? Would you tweak it?

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