kisquared

• Solidify your customer base. Retain more of your current customers and win back those you have lost.
• Increase profits by increasing customer satisfaction. Attracting a new customer costs you five times more than serving an existing one.
• Increase sales per customer and enlarge your cross-selling potential. Satisfied customers return to you, and are more likely to try other products and services.
• Attract new business with referrals from satisfied customers. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of marketing you can use.
• Increase market share year after year. You may even (depending on the industry) charge more than your competitors and still maintain customer loyalty.
• Gain market resilience. Loyal customers give you more time to respond to market changes, and more cooperation if your service delivery develops temporary problems.

• Identify customer segments, expectations and priorities. Understanding your customers' needs and motivations is key to exceeding their expectations.
• Detect trends. Discover new product and service opportunities and get the edge on competitors who aren't researching the market.
• Benchmark current performance. You will want to know where you started from so you can track your progress.
• Define performance standards. Find out what service levels your customers accept, expect and desire.
• Measurement and analysis. These tools reveal your greatest strengths, boost marketing messages and help you avoid inadvertently "fixing" a good thing.
• Recommend improvements. We pinpoint areas that have greatest impact on overall satisfaction.
• Monitor ongoing progress. Improve continuously by prioritizing elements that affect customer satisfaction most.

• Start with your customer, not your company. Companies often assume they know exactly what their customers need, want and expect, without having asked them.
• Do market research. Even great ideas don't always have a market.
• Find your competitive advantages. Position your product with attractive features your competitors will find difficult to duplicate.
• Listen to your research. If research shows a product is a winner, back it confidently. If it tells you a product is doomed, cut your losses.
• Move quickly – and do it right the first time. If your time to market is short, you may have only one opportunity to launch your product effectively.

We can help you launch a product that flies, using:

• Customer segmentation research. Your customers are not all the same. Who are they? Where are they? And what makes them tick?
• Competitive intelligence studies. Powerful techniques help you forecast what's coming your way. Can you afford not to know what your competitors are up to?
• Idea-generation research. Most successful companies find a wealth of bright ideas and solutions right at home. What processes do you have for doing the same?
• Problem-detection studies. Asking customers what's wrong with a current product can turn the next one into a winner.
• Conjoint analysis. Identify what attributes customers will find irresistible, and feature them in your product.
• Concept testing. Simulate the buying experience as closely as possible. Will people buy it? For how much?

By identifying and correcting staff concerns, your organization can:

• Increase employee satisfaction and loyalty.
• Reduce defections from your corporate talent pool.
• Raise productivity.
• Minimize absenteeism.
• Improve communication at all levels.
• Withstand market or industry troughs.
• Save time and money.
• Encourage employees to share good ideas.

Targeting specific levels of the organization, or assuming management does not have problems, can produce unsound results. Instead we:

• Explore employee problems company-wide. Having no preconceptions, we can look objectively within all levels of your organization.
• Listen to your employees. We can identify the problems that are most important to employees and have the greatest influence on their performance.
• Determine the frequency of important problems. It's crucial to find out whether a problem is a one-time experience or a chronic malaise.
• Identify barriers to communication. There may be systemic barriers preventing your people from expressing their ideas and concerns.
• Recommend solutions. Simply blaming employees for insubordination, disloyalty, laziness or lack of accountability will not produce harmony.

A company that undertakes market share analysis and forecasting will be in a better position to:

• Understand the competitive environment, including competitors' future intentions.
• Identify markets and market segments precisely.
• Quantify the size and revenue potential of present and future markets.
• Predict market change.
• Identify factors that influence buying decisions, and how prevalent they are likely to be in the future.
• Assess the performance of its own products versus competitors' products.
• Survive and flourish.

We prefer proven, statistically valid methods to a crystal ball. These methods include:

• Market share measurement. We can quantify the proportion of potential buyers you actually sell to, and how you fare against leading competitors.
• Market forecasting. Knowing who is going to buy from you, and how much, will help define everything from product design to production to after-sales support.
• Market share tracking. By measuring market share over time, we can identify the effects of seasonal variances and numerous supply-and-demand factors.
• Customer segmentation research. Your customers are not all the same. Who are they? Where are they? What makes them tick?
• Competitive intelligence studies. Powerful techniques help you forecast what's coming your way. Can you afford not to know what your competitors are up to?

A properly designed advertising testing project can be used to:

• Quantify the number of impressions your ads generate.
• Identify the level of retention your ads produce.
• Determine if your ads are reaching the desired audience.
• Evaluate the graphical and textual effectiveness of your ads.
• Determine if your audience is getting the right message.
• Define the influence your ads have in buying decisions.
• Identify seasonal differences.

Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we:

• Interact with customers in your target markets.
• Determine the impressions and retention rates your ads generate.
• Quantify the degree to which your ads influence buying decisions.
• Identify the best vehicles for your advertising.
• Assess the overall effectiveness of your advertising.
• Recomme prove your advertising return on investment.

Brand equity measurement and development will benefit any organization that wants to:

• Define its product or corporate image.
• Build brand loyalty.
• Position its products or services in the marketplace.
• Assess brand-related marketing strategies.
• Overcome emotional consumer attachments to competing products.
• Augment intuition with facts.
• Exploit its strengths and the weaknesses of its competitors.

Some of the methods we employ include:

• Brand equity association modeling. We diagram client, competitor and industry brand associations, and how they compare.
• Brand equity causal linkage modeling. We develop branding strategies by mapping consumer "end states" associated with product attributes.
• Equity valuation modeling. We determine how important product attributes are to consumers, and how well you and the competition are delivering on those attributes.
• Brand equity indexing. We calculate brand awareness, brand associations and brand behaviour for you and your competitors.

An objective program evaluation will help you to:

• Determine how internal and external factors have changed.
• Quantify and classify the changes.
• Assess how changes have affected your programs.
• Adapt to change in an informed way.
• Serve program users in a more effective manner.

Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we will:

• Gather data on initial and ongoing program operation.
• Solicit opinion from program users as to its currency and usefulness.
• Analyze the data in relevant and revealing contexts.
• Recommend revisions or alternate strategies that will improve your programs.

• Measurement and analysis. Communicate with customers to identify areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
• Product tailoring. To maximize your product's potential, customers' needs and expectations should be converted to specific product requirements.
• Management support. Management must seriously consider customer feedback in its deliberations, convey its importance to the entire organization, and use it to drive continuous improvement.

Using proven methods, we:

• Perform comprehensive measurement and analysis. Beginning with a benchmark of current performance enables you to track your progress.
• Identify customer segments, expectations and priorities. Knowing your customers' needs and motivations will help you better target your products.
• Define performance standards. Regular measurement helps you adjust service programs and give priority to choices that affect customer satisfaction most.
• Conduct problem-detection studies. Deal with existing complaints while you tap into a terrific source of new product ideas.
• Recommend improvements. We can help integrate customers into your processes and improve areas that have the greatest impact on their overall satisfaction.

A Training Gaps Analysis will help you to:

• Measure training needs for the core competencies required by your profession.
• Locate current training opportunities.
• Determine barriers to providing training.
• Identify training gaps.
• Develop recommendations on how best to close those gaps.
• Combine the perspectives of employers, employees, and training institutions.

• Conduct executive interviews with key stakeholders.
• Identify a sample base of potential survey respondents.
• Design and manage surveys with employees and employers to diagnose current and future training needs.
• Comprehensively review current training offerings.
• Interview training program directors to confirm available training, examine barriers to providing training and gather solutions to ensure the educational experience imparts the necessary job skills for a particular profession.
• Analyze all data to identify significant training gaps and variations across jurisdictions and industry sub-groups.
• Provide realistic, appropriate recommendations to close training gaps within foreseeable timeframes.