marketing & sales: Listen and Learn

Has your organization ever implemented an improvement project that turned out to be ill-imagined, too costly or simply off the mark? Unfortunately, many companies have. As the economy becomes more uncertain, many organizations (including your competitors) will be looking for ways to shore up lost sales, market share and profits.

Do you want to stop wasting time and valuable resources, fixing the wrong business issues? Do you want to dedicate the bulk of your resources to areas for improvement that will drive increased sales and profitability while decreasing cost and saving time? Simply put, do you want to start fixing the right stuff?

Here, I have detailed a simple formula for market domination through a deeper understanding of your customers and marketplace. The formula begins with a basic survey that ultimately will supply you with the informed knowledge of what needs to be changed, adjusted, eliminated, built and challenged in your organization. In order to dominate your market in lean times and in good times alike, you'll need an extensive understanding of your customers' wants and needs. Let's get started.

1. Ask your people. Conduct an informal survey among your organization. If you are a small to mid-sized organization, this might be done in person or over the telephone. For a larger organization, an intranet e-mail or hard copy survey generally works best. First, ask your employees what they think customers like best about the organization, or ask them to list three things they believe customers would identify as your organization's strengths. Next, ask for three things your employees believe your customers dislike about your company or wish your organization would improve.

2. Build a formal survey. Based on the feedback you received from your staff and management, build a survey of approximately 15 questions that will cover the key items mentioned. Start your survey with two somewhat benign questions. This will allow respondents to have the necessary comfort zone as they begin. Sprinkle your most important questions throughout the survey and sandwich them between questions of less importance. The best way to organize your answer request is on a one to five scale, that allows respondents to agree or disagree with each statement—for example, "XYX Company delivers on time"—within an easy-to-use numeric range.

3. Survey your people. Have your organization complete the survey first. You will want their perception of what your customers have to say before they hear what the customers actually said.

4. Survey your customers. Use the same survey and the same method for grading, and this step will be golden. My recommendation for the most effective method of conducting this step is to hire an outside organization to make telephone calls for you. A phone call adds a personal touch, unlike electronic or snail mail surveys. A competent telephone researcher will be able to get your customers to relax when asking them questions on the survey. In turn, your customers will give their true beliefs and feelings, which is the information you need. If you enlist one of your staff persons to do this, the respondents may not open up as freely and your results may be flawed. For most small to mid-sized organizations, actual survey results from approximately 50 of your customers should be adequate; larger organizations will want a larger sampling.

5. Study your survey. The survey now becomes an important tool for helping your organization to improve its performance. The key here is to study the similarities and dissimilarities of responses. You will want to know where the people in your organization made correct judgments in regard to your customers' opinions of your organization. More importantly, you will see where your employees' beliefs were erroneous. You cannot fix what you do not know. Be open to learning here. Just because the survey may have had surprising results, do not fall into the trap of claiming the survey is wrong. The survey is not wrong, but rather your perception of reality.

6. Develop a priority list. Now that you have a more accurate idea of your customers' perception (good and bad) of your company, you can make informed decisions. No organization can effect large amounts of change in a short time. Encourage your executive team to have emotional ownership (which I believe is far better than buy-in) in developing the priority list for improvement and policy change. If they actively help with composing the list, they will move mountains to make a difference in this total effort toward improvement. As a result, your company will benefit.

7. Implement the changes. In order to dominate your market, you must own the hearts and minds of that market. Position your organization as being THE supplier of choice, regardless of your location in your industry's supply chain. As the people in your organization move from complacency toward excellence, the perception of your excellence in the marketplace will grow. Implement your changes and improvements in a manner that allows for small successes. These early small-scale successes will provide the stepping stones—and later, the foundation—for your movement toward excellence and market domination. Simply put, fix the right stuff before it's too late and you'll have your customers' loyalty.

As you decide on using the above formula to assist your organization in moving toward market domination, there are variations that can be employed. The above method is structured to help you develop a market domination strategic plan for your organization based on knowledge rather than disinformation.

Variations of the above survey methodology include comparing the knowledge of customer perception among the several silos within your organization, for better interdepartmental cooperation. Additionally, market perception variations can be explored based on geography, customer size, customer buying capability (percentage you get of their procurement dollars), and potential customers or prospects.

From the above survey, the most obvious purposes might be for sales increases and improved customer service; however, you also might consider using the survey to determine new products or services for development, possible strategic alliances to form and organizational productivity.

Copyright © 2010, Ed Rigsbee

By Ed Rigsbee, CSP

Ed Rigsbee, CSP, is the president of Rigsbee Research Consulting Group, a corporation that assists organizations in growth and market dominance through knowledge and the collaborative process. Rigsbee, a certified speaking professional, is located in Southern California and is a regular keynoter for corporate and association meetings, held both in the U.S. and internationally. You may access a number of helpful resources at www.rigsbee.com/downloadaccess.htm. If you would like assistance in implementing the above activities, feel free to call Rigsbee direct at (805) 498-5720 or e-mail him at [email protected].