The Value-Measurement Study Process includes the following steps and types of studies:
Objectives
Study Focus
Methodology
Questionnaire
Sample
Information Collection
Analysis
Results
Customer/Client Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Internal Customer/Client Satisfaction
Market Analysis, Needs and Opportunities
Won/Lost Sales Analysis
Due Diligence
When you choose Specifics to get answers to your critical business questions, the measurement process begins with the assignment of a research team led by a Specifics Principal and a Project Manager who work with you to help identify and clarify your research objectives and concerns.
We help you figure out where the emphasis of your value-measurement study should be:
Customer/Client Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Internal Customer/Client Satisfaction
Market Analysis, Needs and Opportunities
Won/Lost Sales Analysis
Due Diligence
Once we know what your business questions are, we can recommend the best methodology for the study. At Specifics, the questions dictate the methodology — that is, how we get the information. Our expertise encompasses a wide variety of information collection methods, including: in-depth, conversational telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, Internet surveys, CTI (Computer Telephone Integration), mailed surveys, and focus groups.
Specifics will design and test the information gathering script or questionnaire, along with your input and ultimate approval.
The process continues as we work with you to design a respondent sample, ensuring that who we get the information from represents the target population at a confidence limit you need to make those critical business decisions.
As the information-collection process begins, whether through Web-based surveys, telephone interviews, focus groups, mail, or other methods, Specifics keeps you updated on project status and on any immediate threats or opportunities that we feel you would want to act upon sooner, rather than later.
Specifics analyzes the numbers and the words, which will help you get to the most reflective picture of your business questions. We will give you an electronic copy of all responses, while still protecting the confidentiality of the people who provided the information.
Based on the detailed analysis, Specifics prepares a comprehensive report of the results, or findings, of your study. The report includes a narrative description of what the study uncovered, with supporting graphs, tables, and charts.
Perhaps the most significant benefit of choosing Specifics to conduct your study is that the report also includes concrete, actionable recommendations, which will help you address the study results. Specifics creates a series of Value Models which give you a roadmap to follow as you implement the recommendations.
The kind of value-measurement study Specifics conducts for you depends upon the research objectives; that is, what are you trying to measure?
Customer/Client Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Internal Customer/Client Satisfaction
Market Analysis, Needs and Opportunities
Won/Lost Sales Analysis
Due Diligence
Do you know what your customers/clients think? The success of your business begins and ends with them. Without your customers’ willingness to pay for your products and services, or willingness to recommend you to others, you would not have a business at all.
Customer loyalty is earned through your ability to meet and exceed their expectations by delivering value to them. Specifics helps you identify what that value proposition is and what you have that your competition does not, and vice versa. In many instances, we can also give you industry benchmarks to help you redefine the value proposition in the customer relationship.
Where customer satisfaction is a strategic focus of management, Specifics can help you translate customer satisfaction results into compensation plans.
How do your employees feel about their work life? To keep good customers, you have to keep good employees, and Specifics can help you understand employee issues and build employee loyalty. Loyalty is defined as employees committed to their jobs by choice, not by market dynamics. The satisfaction of your employees is directly reflected in the satisfaction of your customers.
When employees feel that they are working for an organization that is well-managed and has a vision, and they feel they make a recognizable contribution to their company’s success, they become ambassadors of good will and attract others to the organization. In competitive labor markets, the perception that your company is one of the best places to work is a significant advantage.
Specifics’ employee satisfaction studies uncover how employee groups feel about key aspects of their relationship with your company. By reviewing employee perceptions and expectations, you can create a work environment that will improve productivity and loyalty. In many instances, Specifics can also give you industry benchmarks for comparison.
How is internal customer/client satisfaction affected by the actions of your work group? The assets of your company — employees — depend on the effectiveness of systematic support. Internal customers, employees who are supported through the efforts of your work group, are your company’s greatest assets.
When internal customers are satisfied, external customer satisfaction and loyalty improve, because your internal customers are responsible for delivering the products and services, and ultimate value, to your company’s external customers. The satisfaction internal customers have with your performance is also critical to maintaining a consistent flow of work throughout the organization.
More companies are realizing the connection between the ability to serve the needs of external customers and improving those internal processes that affect the people who are responsible for delivering value. Specifics can measure satisfaction with internal processes, like the help desk and recruiting, which can help you monitor these activities. We will help you uncover what expectations your internal customers have for your products and services so that you can better meet or exceed them.
Opportunity — it’s everywhere, yet few are positioned to seize it! How are you positioned in your market to sell your company’s products and services? What are the markets? What is the best price? What new products or services do your markets need from your company?
Specifics can help you understand the issues, get the answers to these questions, so that you can make informed decisions. By determining the direction of your markets and your position, you can better anticipate the needs of your customers and prospects.
Using conjoint methods and proprietary analysis tools, we help you package, position, and price your products and services to achieve your growth and profit goals.
Do you know why you were selected over your competitors? Do you know why your competitor was chosen instead? We can help you qualify and close more business opportunities and maximize your resources, so you can maximize the success of your business.
Resources are limited, so why not pursue the business you have the best chance of winning? It is possible that you have not targeted the right markets, or that existing customers are providing negative references, or that the perceptions of the competition are inaccurately portraying your company’s products and services in a less than favorable light.
Understanding your sales process, the customer decision-making process, and the influence they have on each other can help you change prospects into customers. Specifics can help you understand these processes, the foundation for setting customer expectations, and ensure your ability to maintain customer loyalty and a higher win-loss ratio.
One objective of business acquisitions is corporate growth, but what if the acquisition is not what it is portrayed to be on paper? What if the employee and/or customer base you are buying is unstable? Losing a solid employee/customer base would undermine the corporate growth objective.
Specifics conducts a due diligence for the buyer, couched as a satisfaction study for the company being acquired, and uncovers the major threats that are most likely not delineated in licenses or contracts.
© Specifics, Inc. 2008
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