To be sure, the key to a good survey is good questions, and they aren’t always easy to write. Similarly, once you get your answers the hard yards are in the analysis and designing a plan of action for what to do with them.

But if your customers are missing in action, perhaps use that acronym as a call to arms.

Think MIA; Measure, Identify then Act.

Measure what your customers require. This may be done through a survey or by mining data. Identify the salient points and build a plan of action. Then act. Once you have your analysis, make sure to arm your staff with the relevant data.

Oftentimes, the data is at a business’s disposal already but it hasn’t been mined.

Banks are prime examples. A bancassurance salesperson would be well served to know when bank customers have recently bought a new home (and may need a new property or fire insurance policy), or when they got married or had a baby (and may want to revisit life insurance). Still, often that data isn’t to hand.

Building a data base and an internal system for sharing that information would be useful. This could be put on a dashboard on a computer screen for the salesperson to see all he or she needs to know about a customer so the salesperson can more effectively target a pitch.

It isn’t rocket science but it requires an investment in time, manpower (and likely money to bring your backoffice system up to speed). These are investments that will likely pay dividends in better customer relations.

Alex Trott leads the distribution and marketing business for financial services at Accenture in Hong Kong