Steven Covey tells a story in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” about somebody going to an optometrist with an eye problem.

The patient says, “The problem is that I can’t read.”

The optometrist answers, “That’s funny. I’ve got exactly the same problem. Here are my glasses.”

The patient then says, “It’s no good. I still can’t read.”

The optometrist replies, “Well, that’s strange. It works for me. I don’t understand why it shouldn’t work for you.”

The habit is “Seek first to understand then to be understood.”

The story highlights the fact that, if you want to communicate with someone effectively, you have to see the world “through their eyes”.

The secret of effective marketing is being able to see something from the perspective of your customer or prospect.

If you can do that, you will have a much greater chance of doing business with them.

One of the best ways of being able to see things from your customer’s perspective is to ask them their views in a short survey.

When people sign up for my ezine, I now invite them to answer a couple of questions about what they are looking for. Many take the time to answer (thank you!) and I find the feedback invaluable. The system I use runs on my own website so I can carry out as many surveys as I like for no monthly fee.

The guy who created the program that I use - Mark Hendricks - is currently offering a free audio presentation complete with 45 page transcript on “How to use Surveys to Build Your List and Your Profits.”

Mark says - “It’s amazing what people will buy from you if you simply ask them, listen to their answers and provide them what they want.”

If knowing more about what your customers think could help your business, I’m sure you’d find this presentation useful. And remember - it is free and there is no obligation.