Recognizing that the target audience is customers, not just a market, is essential. Evaluating the efficiency of your sales team or product can be supported by understanding the concept of “market share.” This measure compares your achievements to competitors within a particular range of products or services available in that specific marketplace. Market share indicates previous performance and can serve as a reference point for future achievements. However, it should not be solely depended on for forecasting future requirements or trends.
While the “market” is often talked about, it should be emphasized that the market itself does not directly make payments. It is essential to comprehend that a “market” consists of customers with similar occupations and a shared need for a specific product or service that assists them in their work. Although you cannot evaluate your market position against the entire market, you can gauge your position by contacting individual companies within the market.
Quantitative market assessment involves measuring individual responses and statistically analyzing them to create a mathematical distribution that represents the market’s perception of you. For instance, X percent of respondents expressed one viewpoint while Y percent had a different perspective. This evaluation is valuable for large markets and can aid in identifying target areas by considering averages and variations, particularly for products classified as “commodities.” On average, the market desires…
What does this scenario suggest about the future desires and purchases of your individual prospects and customers? In smaller markets, what do the few leading prospects and key customers want to see from you? Where do you currently stand in the minds of the users? The importance of this information, distinct from data, is even greater if you are selling or planning to sell a non-commodity product or service, possibly even a customized or semi-tailored product. Analyzing trends in your customers’ industry and, if applicable, in their customers’ business can provide valuable insights. This analysis can help prevent unexpected setbacks that could have been anticipated. However, conducting a “micro analysis” ensures that your business remains relevant and helps you understand how to position yourself in the minds of your customers. While macro assessments can and should stem from micro-analyses, it is ultimately the customers who define the market they are in and determine what they will purchase from you, on a customer-by-customer basis.
Finding the right balance between macro and micro evaluation is challenging. It is crucial to concentrate on prospects or customers as they have a significant impact on your company’s expansion. Whether you prioritize customer development or solution development, both can contribute to genuine growth. Though selling existing products may provide immediate financial advantages, it does not guarantee future success.
Assessing customer satisfaction measurements can determine the validity and credibility of your current product or service. By evaluating quality, post-sales service, responsiveness, communication, ease of doing business, and comparing them with competitors, you can quantify and qualify how well you meet customers’ needs. Conducting satisfaction surveys helps gather feedback on performance and identify areas for improvement or confirmation of progress.
To determine if you will be part of your customers’ future, it is crucial to recognize that your future signifies a destination you have not yet reached and could entail novel experiences and opportunities. Your current market position, along with the required positioning efforts, forms the basis for your future endeavors unless you plan on making significant changes. The significance of past experiences in reaching your present position may differ in terms of their relevance to achieving future objectives, depending on the specific destination you are targeting.
Unless you are embarking on a radically different path, your successful journey to “tomorrow” depends on the current position you occupy in your customers’ mind. Not only does your reputation precede you, it also determines the ease or difficulty of your future success. Of course, if your strategy is simply “do more of the same to the same,” instead of reaching out to pull yourself ahead to the future you’ll simply be waiting for it to arrive . . . and you’ll have to settle for whatever arrives with it. Market Position and Customer Satisfaction
While a customer satisfaction survey should evaluate customers’ overall attitudes towards your company, its primary emphasis should be on the product/service currently offered. On the other hand, a “Market Position Survey” predicts how well your current position and presence will align with future periods. In a specific survey, it was discovered that despite a competitor having a superior product, this customer had reservations regarding their business practices, lacked trust in them, and had no intention of doing business with them in the future.
This text illustrates a failure in positioning. A “Market Position” survey gathers input from a group of customers on how they view a company within the broader market. The survey does not encompass a statistically reliable sample of the entire potential market, which could extend globally, nor does it necessarily reflect an accurate mathematical model of the existing customer base. Instead, the emphasis lies on obtaining a quality-based representation of the familiar realm by engaging with a chosen number of individuals who possess the most knowledge about the company, with each customer providing qualitative feedback. Understanding your “What’s” is crucial.
In a commercial relationship, there are three levels of consideration. What #1 refers to the description of the products/services being sold, including their attributes and what is not included. What #2 refers to what the customers are actually buying and the perceived value they associate with it. Understanding this is important for determining pricing, promotional activities, sales strategy, branding, and positioning in relation to competitors.
The ultimate goal of customer relations is to determine what
your customers are buying from you that they cannot get elsewhere. This is referred to as their perception of your unique value proposition – the reason they choose your offering over a competitive solution, even if it is priced lower or offers different features and benefits. Market Position surveys mainly focus on what your customers perceive as important factors #2 and #3. Occasionally, while seeking feedback on their perception of your offerings, we also discover more about their preferences and characteristics.
Who they are as the foundation for What they want from you. The survey will ask a lot of “whats,” and the surveyor must listen, and then ask a few well-placed “whys,” as in for example, “What do you think (ABC Company) needs to do in order to garner a larger portion of your business in the next two-to-five years? ” then, “Why? ” This provides an indication of current position, demand shift, and direction and rate of change. These individual responses are then put together in a manner that provides a real world indication of where you had better be going with your What.
Market Position surveys do not provide statistical analyses or crunched numbers. Instead, they offer evaluations of customer feedback that goes beyond the traditional supplier/vendor relationship. These evaluations are conducted by marketing and management experts, rather than statisticians using conventional algorithms. The accompanying recommendations are focused on gathering the necessary information to maintain or improve a vendor’s current market position in customers’ perceptions.
