Below are 15 words. Please list the top 3 that describe your business.

1._________                       Quality               Caring              Value         Speed

2._________                       Cheap               Fair                   Good          Fast

3._________                       Dependable     Expensive         Friendly     Loyal

                                               On-Time          Convenient        Honest

Okay, after you list your top three, get this out to your customers in the form of a survey.

But first, get this out to five or ten or twenty of your employees and don’t let them compare notes with each other. Make it as random a sample of your employees as you can. Don’t just limit it to management and supervisors. And, it won’t be accurate if you only distribute it to sales and customer service. Get this survey in the hands of some of your staff who don’t typically have front-line customer contact. These people are ultimately responsible for customer satisfaction, because they somehow help create the end-product or service for those customers.

Get the Brand Check-Up in the hands of the man that sweeps your floors and the woman that cleans your bathroom. If you outsource these functions it will be doubly important to put this tool in their hands. Give it to the person that handles the bookkeeping and manages the accounts. Put it in the hands of the person who locks up every night.

Gather five or ten or twenty of these completed surveys and then tally up your scores. There’s no right or wrong here; no hidden cheat sheet. Just see what your employees and maybe even some of your vendors think about your company.

Next, get this survey in front of twenty or thirty or forty of your customers. Try and get a random sampling, but the main thing is to just make sure you do it.

Then, compare notes. Where do the customers agree with each other? With your employees? Where do they disagree? Remember, this is only a start; a place you can build from. Like any good check-up, this will be part of an on-going process in keeping your company healthy.

Remember, that Brand Banner you want everybody to carry for you? This month’s exercise will provide a snapshot of what it looks like, right now.