Collaborating with the client, SPG will start by establishing a profile of the likely target audience for the product or service. Some of the more frequently used consumer panel segmentations include:
-geographic location, e.g. local, regional, national or international
-gender
-age group(s)
-income levels
-education attainment
-interest categories
-purchasing information

Once the profile is established, the next step is to send out an email invitation to the target audience based on the specific requirements that have been selected. Depending on the level of precision required, we typically survey from 100 to 400 respondents. A questionnaire based on client objectives and information requirements is designed by SPG with client input.

Once the questionnaire is designed, we are ready to launch the survey and research panelists meeting our criteria are invited to participate. One example of an online survey we completed will provide some insight into the process and outcomes. Since we usually sign confidentiality agreements with our clients we cannot divulge the specifics of the particular case. The client was seeking to gauge interest in a novel service that they were considering introducing in a large metropolitan area of Texas. They were interested in learning from females whether this new customized service would be of interest to them, and more importantly, the likelihood of purchase at specific price points. We targeted females, ages 25 to 54, with household incomes above $75,000 that had an interest in clothing fashion.

We received responses from 350 panelists meeting our selection criteria. Respondents completed the survey consisting of 24 questions of which a few were open-ended. Questions about buying habits, level of interest in the new service ranging from definitely would buy to definitely would not buy, and pricing considerations were an integral part of the survey. Open ended questions such as reasons that would prevent them from purchasing were also probed along with their suggestions on how the proposed service could be further improved.

After analyzing the data obtained from the online market survey, SPG prepared a report of key findings and recommended that the client move forward with the business venture. Using an online survey to assess the market feasibility of the proposed service permitted our client to make decisions based on hard data. Furthermore, making a small investment before committing several hundred thousand dollars gave the client the confidence they needed to move forward with the venture. With the information acquired from the market survey the client has successfully launched the business. Since opening, revenues have exceeded expectations.

Customer attrition surveys represent an in-depth review into the reasons for lost business and customer dissatisfaction. The surveys help the company identify a direct link between service and product related issues and lost revenues.

Customers who closed accounts or substantially reduced business are surveyed shortly after that decision in order to determine the reasons. Telephone surveys are the best way of surveying lost customers. Typically, the survey is more qualitative in nature since the primary purpose is to probe for the underlying reasons that the company no longer does business with you.

There are many reasons cited by prior customers for no longer using your company’s products or services and a professional interviewer will get at the underlying causes. Certainly, price can play an integral factor but that needs to be balanced as part of the price/value relationship. Was the value received commensurate with the fee charged? On-going service can play a huge role in assessing future business activity with a customer and all dimensions of service must be probed during the telephone interview.

Sometimes, as a result of the interview, a customer is willing to give the company another chance to make things right. When you factor in the cost of acquiring new customers; the time, money and effort used to retain customers can provide an optimal return on capital.

This book is a follow-up to the highly successful book, The Ultimate Question, published several years ago. In the first book Mr. Reichheld explains the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Over the years the NPS has been implemented by many companies. In the latest version the authors discuss a closed-loop system about improvement processes and building them into daily operations. Companies must systematically categorize promoters and detractors in a timely, transparent fashion.

NPS is a business philosophy, a system of operational practices, and a leadership commitment, not just another way to measure customer satisfaction. The book makes references to several companies that have built the NPS philosophy into their daily business and with great success. Like the first book, this second edition is highly recommended for those companies striving to improve their bottom line.

The methodology for conducting the surveys is primarily telephone surveys supplemented with some on-line and mail surveys. Feedback ranges from companies with as few as 50 customers to those with over 5,000 customers. A typical survey consists of approximately 25 questions using a scale of one to ten with one representing extremely dissatisfied and ten representing extremely satisfied. For more information about our proprietary database, please send e-mail to info@spg-consulting.com

Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI): SPG High 9.4; SPG Average 7.9; SPG Low 7.1

Sales Process: SPG High 9.3; SPG Average 8.1; SPG Low 7.6

Product / Service Quality: SPG High 9.2; SPG Average 7.8; SPG Low 7.0

Customer Service: SPG High 9.2; SPG Average 8.0; SPG Low 7.3

Administration: SPG High 9.3; SPG Average 8.2; SPG Low 7.5

The purpose of this book is to illustrate universal truths about brand management that covers the range of brand-building activities.

Creating brands requires intelligent, strategic and coordinated decisions in many areas of marketing. Packaging, promotion, advertising, positioning, distribution, and pricing are just some of the important functions that, when successfully managed, lead to profitable brands that matter to consumers.

The Truth about Creating Brands People Love is a complete toolbox of ideas, strategies, and techniques that can take a great product and transform it into a profitable brand people will love. Each concept has at its core a focus on how to connect with the consumer in a meaningful way. Be empowered, challenge conventional wisdom, think strategically and use this book as a guide to creating a bond between your customers and brand.

Define quality. This should be developed from your customer’s perspective. Quality to a customer often means that the product performs well, that it is priced competitively, and that is provided quickly. Customer value is an outcome of quality, price and speed.

Develop a customer orientation. Most company employees never see their customers. Typically, less than 20% of employees ever have contact with customers, making it difficult for many employees to develop a customer orientation. It becomes critical for employees who are in contact with customers to share customer expectations with non-customer contact personnel.

Focus on a company’s business processes. Each step in a business process must be contributing to increasing customer value. Break down every step in the process of providing the company’s products or service and look at ways to improve it, rather than focusing only on the finished product or service.

Take a preventive approach. Many organizations reward the “firefighters”, not the “fire preventers” and identify errors after the work is done. Management, instead, should be rewarded for being prevention oriented and seeking to eliminate non-value added work.

Quality, efficiency and responsiveness are not one-time programs of competitiveness. Companies quickly find that continually improving quality, efficiency, and responsiveness in their processes, products and services is not just good business; it is a necessity for long-term survival. Providing superior quality (and value) also pays off on the bottom line. Companies that move into superior quality positions with a market perceived ratio that is at least 24% better than their competitors earn a return on sales of more than 12%.

During the strategic planning process it is common for management to conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is an environmental scan of an organization’s Strengths and Weaknesses as well as external factors such as Opportunities and Threats.

An organization’s strengths can be leveraged for competitive advantage. Strengths can include brand image and awareness, cost advantages, proprietary processes, extensive distribution channels, etc. Inversely, examples of weaknesses include poor reputation, high cost structure, a high level of customer’s dissatisfaction, etc.

Externally, the environmental scan may identify opportunities for the organization to exploit. Examples include industry deregulation, the development of new technologies, etc. On the other hand, threats to the growth or profitability of the organization may include the introduction of substitute products, increased government regulations, etc.

Going through this analysis will help management stay focused on the environment in which they compete and how to best assess opportunities using their competitive strengths. A competitive advantage can come by identifying a fit between the company’s strengths and opportunities. In many competitor analyses, strategists can build detailed profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their relative competitive strengths and weaknesses.

As part of the competitive analysis, it is important to examine each competitor’s cost structure, sources of profits, resources and competencies, competitive positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments and other factors.

The authors show how to use marketing dashboards to view market dynamics from multiple perspectives, maximize accuracy, and “triangulate” to optimal solutions.

There are high-value metrics for virtually every facet of marketing: promotional strategy, advertising, and distribution; customer perceptions; market share; competitors’ power; margins and pricing; products and portfolios; customer profitability; sales forces and channels.

This second edition introduces essential new metrics ranging from Net Promoter to social media and brand equity measurement. It shows how to build comprehensive models to support planning–and optimize every marketing decision you make.

You’ll find practical, up-to-the-minute techniques for measuring everything from brand equity to social media, market share to web engagement. For every metric, the authors present real-world pros, cons, and tradeoffs–and help you understand what the numbers really mean.

Prior to the beginning of each calendar year it is not uncommon for individuals to make a list of goals, resolutions, etc. that they hope to accomplish during the New Year. Similarly, organizations go through a process of planning what they hope to accomplish in the forthcoming year. Over the past two decades SPG has formulated a list of the top actions that organizations can take to ensure success in the coming year. This list is an update to our prior checklists and is not meant to be all-inclusive but rather to serve as a catalyst for improvement.

1. Engage the entire organization in implementing the business plan. Have each department manager review the business plan and identify three to five department goals that support the overall goals of the company. This will ensure that department goals are aligned with company goals. Once identified, then meet on a monthly basis to review and monitor progress toward the completion of goals. The experiences of other organizations strongly indicate that implementation and monitoring of the business plan is the most critical part of the planning process. Be aware that planning is a continuous process, not an event.

2. Search out what your customers really think about your products and services. Spend some time with them, either by visiting them or having them tour your facility. If that is too time consuming or impractical because of logistical reasons, then consider conducting a survey to determine their level of satisfaction with your products or services. Include in your survey what your customers’ value most about your products or services. Focus improvements in those areas considered most valuable to your customers. Customer value management and customer loyalty cannot be separated.

3. Improve communications throughout the organization. In 9 out of 10 organizations, communications continue to receive the lowest marks during employee surveys. Communications can be improved drastically if each employee takes ownership in becoming more effective listeners and remembers that communications is a two-way street. Furthermore, some communications are more effective if the key elements are reduced to writing so that misunderstandings about what was said can be minimized and/or avoided.

4. Enhance quality and productivity in your organization by identifying processes that can be streamlined. Begin by identifying one system for review. Once identified, look at all the processes within that system and search out ways to improve the processes. At all times ask the question, “How does this process enhance the value to the customer?” If it doesn’t add value by reducing costs, shortening delivery times, etc., then take a serious look at eliminating the process. By eliminating “red tape” and creating a hassle free environment, both employees and customers will appreciate the results.

By following these suggestions your company can achieve greater success in 2011. The key is focus, i.e. everyone understanding what needs to be accomplished AND how they plan to accomplish it.

In a recent customer survey, the objective was to rate the product attributes in terms of value, and secondly, to assess how the company performed for each attribute. The higher the value assigned to a particular attribute the greater the focus should be on the performance. In some situations a significant gap can exist between what customers value most and how a business performs in that area. For example, not meeting customer expectations in something that is valued as a 10 (most important) indicates an opportunity/problem that must be immediately addressed.

In a recent customer value survey, customers rated product quality as the most important value (a score of 10), however, customers indicated that the company did not meet their expectations. Conversely, the company exceeded expectations for online ordering; however, customers placed less value on it (a score of 6).

Once the performance gaps are identified, action plans can be created that will close those gaps over time. Gaps that fail to be closed will eventually lead to customers taking their business away. Finding out what customers’ value most is an integral part of measuring performance gaps.

Businesses should never assume they know what customers value most; if they do, they may be spending their limited resources on things of minimal value to customers. We recall a situation where a company invested a significant amount of capital in order to streamline a process thought important to customers, not knowing that the customer cared little about the assumed benefits. Rather, the company would have been better off broadening the product selection which is what customers really wanted.

Performing a customer value survey provides a systematic and customer focused approach to allocating resources more effectively.