3.1 Buying Criteria and the Customer Survey Score

The customer survey starts by evaluating each product against the buying criteria. Next, these assessments are weighted by the criteria’s level of importance. For example, some segments assign a higher importance to positioning than others. A well-positioned product in a segment where positioning is important will have a greater overall impact on its survey score than a well-positioned product in a segment where positioning is not important.

The Industry Conditions Report and the Courier’s Market Segment Analysis pages break down each segment’s criteria in order of importance.

A perfect customer survey score of 100 requires that the product: Be at the ideal position (the segment drifts each month, so this can occur only one month per year); be priced at the bottom of the expected range; have the ideal age for that segment (unless they are revised, products grow older each month, so this can occur only one month per year); and have an MTBF specification at the top of the expected range.

Your customers want perfection, but it is impractical to have “perfect” products. In many cases you will have to settle for “great” products, but the better the products, the higher the costs. Your task is to give customers great products while still making a profit. Your competitors face the same dilemma.