In customer satisfaction research, it is common to ask open-ended questions. Two common questions are:

• When you think about your experience with Company X, what comes to mind?
• What do you like most about Company X?

The usual reaction to reading the results of such a question is to look at any positive results and be pleased, and, in the case of the first question, to be displeased with any negative results.

The Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" calls to mind another way to view the results of such questions.

Inspector Gregory: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. From "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Arthur Conan Doyle

Often, what is most important is what is not said. Suppose, for example, that your company has had in place a strategic initiative to become the best in your industry at providing personal service. If the responses to either of the two questions mentioned at the beginning of this article do not include a large number of responses touting the level of personal service your company provides, you may have a problem on your hands. Your strategy may or may not be correct, but the execution of the strategy is flawed if customers do not view you as you want to be viewed.

In sum, the next time you are reviewing the results of open-ended questions, keep in mind "the dog that didn't bark."

"The Simpson incident had shown me that a dog was kept in the stables, and yet, though someone had been in and had fetched out a horse, he had not barked enough to arouse the two lads in the loft. Obviously the midnight visitor was someone whom the dog knew well." From "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Arthur Conan Doyle