Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the Market-driven Assessment Model?
It is an intelligent web application that assesses the 4C key strategic market performance areas of your firm’s or business unit’s customer focus, company focus, competition focus, and corporate strategy focus.
What is meant by customer focus, company focus, competition focus, and core strategy focus?
The mentioned four focus areas are critical elements of a firm’s key market performance areas to ensure a superior market focus.
Customer focus: Gives the firm an indication of its current state of affairs regarding its customer relations and customer orientation. The assumption is based on the premise that with happy and satisfied customers come (brand) loyalty, repeat purchase (goodwill), and positive word-of-mouth (referrals);
Company focus: Is seen as the foundation upon which a successful customer, competition, and corporate strategy are built. Without a good company focus, the successful planning and implementation of activities, as well as the effective control of activities will not be possible;
Competition focus: Gives the firm an objective view of its general competitiveness and advises various competitive strategies it can implement to improve or enhance the sustainability of its competitive advantage; and
Corporate strategy focus: Determines whether the firm is successfully formulating and implementing a corporate strategic plan to achieve its primary and long-term objectives in a dynamic business environment.
How can the model help me to improve my firm’s or business unit’s market focus?
The Market-driven Assessment Model generates a 24 page (.pdf) value-adding personalized and customized report (.pdf) containing unique strategic insights on how you can improve your firm’s Market-driveness and market-focus!
The report consists of six chapters. The first chapter explains the report and the firm’s score interpretation. Then there follows four chapters, one for each of the 4 key market performance areas. Each of these chapters contains:
- An introduction to put each performance area into perspective;
- An analysis with regard to a focus area’s score; and
- Various proposals and strategic insights on how the firm can improve the specific focus area, taking into account its current score.
The final chapter gives a summary based on a firm’s average score and it concludes with an interesting perspective on growth.
All you have to do is to rate your firm’s or business unit’s performance on a scale of 1 to 7 for a total of 21 key statements.
Example Question/statement
| Company XYZ has the ability and aptitude to: | |
 Do market sensing (market research, market analysis, response measuring) and customer linking to bring offering in line with customer preferences on a continuous basis  |
You just click on for a pop-up subfield to see a broader description of a specific statement.
Example of subfield description
| Do market sensing (market research, market analyses, measuring response) and customer linking (bring offering in line with customer preferences) on a continuous basis |
| The firm has done market research (in-house or formally outsourced) in the past 12 months and implemented a program (or already had one) that can measure response, build a relevant data base, and measure preferences to such an extent that it enables the firm to tailor its marketing activities to its customers’ needs, wants, and desires. |
Can I get an idea how the report will look like?
Excerpt from a sample report:
2.1 Customer Focus
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Not at all |
Weak |
Below Average |
Average |
Above Average |
Good |
Excellent |
2.1.1 Honored Guest
The purpose of a successful customer focus is to create superior customer value. This leads to better customer retention and improved sales growth.
A firm’s customer focus must live up to the Japanese word for customer, namely “honored guest”. This attitude must be embedded in the culture of a firm and must pervade all dealings with customers. In his book, Marketing Management, Philip Kotler quotes LL Bean’s attitude towards their customers to exemplify this “honoured guest” approach:
- A customer is not dependent on us, we depend on him.
- A customer is not an interruption of our work, he is the purpose of it.
- We are not doing a customer a favor by serving him, he is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so, etc, etc...
2.1.2 Analysis
Company XYZ must look at its complete business ethos, the soul purpose of its existence! The low score typically indicates a senior management team with a (too) strong focus on production and/or financial matters. By this we mean a too strong focus on the firm’s processes, and none (or too little) on customer issues. If the business is profitable with such a poor Customer Focus evaluation, it usually means one of four things, i.e.:
- Company XYZ has a monopolistic advantage and it is the sole supplier in its market of a specific (and much needed) product;
- The market is ill informed regarding alternatives and choices, thus it does not demand (or are aware of) better service than that of Company XYZ;
- There’s a huge/big demand for the product, with a relatively low (or controlled) supply of the product; etc, etc...
2.1.3 Proposal
Company XYZ should urgently develop a program, with the assistance of an accredited marketing specialist to develop its customer focus. This is a top-down process and management can’t expect from subordinates to take the initiative. Preferably, identify an employee (from with-in the firm) with a strong marketing background to coordinate and manage the process. If no such person exists, appoint someone (contractual or permanent) with the necessary (strategic) marketing credentials. This person must have sufficient delegating powers and operate with the complete support and blessing of the CEO and management team.
A good starting point will be the building of a customer database, consisting of past, present and prospective clients. Ideally, contact should be made on a personalised level with the customer, i.e. via telephone, e-mail, direct meetings, or direct mail marketing. The purpose of this contact will be to:
- Create goodwill;
- Communicate Company XYZ’s appreciation of its client;
- Encourage client to make contact with the firm on a regular basis, thus helping Company XYZ to provide a value adding and need satisfying product and service; etc, etc...
How does the Market-driven Assessment Model work?
How does the scoring system work?
The average score for each focus strategy is used to determine which score bracket the firm falls in. Score brackets are 1 to 2, 3 to 4, 5 to 6 and 7. Please note that the averages are rounded down to the lowest integer except if the number to the right of the decimal point is greater than .75 in which case it will be rounded up to the nearest integer (e.g. 4.4 to 4; 4.6 to 4; 4.8 to 5). The rationale is to rather follow a conservative approach when analysing a firm’s strengths to avoid a false sense of security.
By using a 7 point scale continuum, the respondent gets a better chance to select the best alternative, thereby minimising the chances of a skewed score outcome.
What is meant by personalized and customized?
The report uses the information from the registration field to personalize the report (respondent’s name, surname, job title, and firm’s name) and the email response. The report is customized, meaning that it generates a report tailored specifically for your unique score combination.
How and when will I receive the report?
You receive the report in .pdf format. To open the document you need to download the free Acrobat Reader. PDF is very stable and the best way to transmit documents and reports over the Internet. It is safe and virus free.
After purchasing the Market-driven Assessment Report you must complete the questionnaire. After proof-of-payment is received, you can complete the questionnaire. After submitting the questionnaire, the personalized and customized report will be sent to your registered email address.
How do I pay for the report?
Paying is very easy and is done online through Setcom, our online e-commerce provider's secured website. You complete the required information for registration and submit your payment. We accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express and also payment in US Dollar, Euro, British Pound & South African Rand.
Will my privacy be protected?
Yes, we only use the information from the registration field to personalise and customize the report and the confirmation email, and to keep our customer database up to date. We keep all our customers’ personal information confidential and will not disclose any of it to a third party.
Any more questions?
If you have more questions that are not answered here or on our website, please contact us, we will be glad to assist you.
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