SCIP Atlanta Chapter Meeting: Understanding Your Competition Through the Eyes of Your Customers

November 17, 2009

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Atlanta Chapter Meeting

Understanding Your Competition
Through the Eyes of Your Customers
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 – 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
The Ashford Club, Atlanta, GA

Program Description
In this tough selling environment, it is imperative to understand your competition. Many businesses don’t systematically track their competition – what they know is gleaned from press releases and newspaper articles.  But this approach will leave you vulnerable.  Frank Sanders, president and CEO of CSM Research Inc., is an Atlanta-based expert in market research who will lead a discussion about understanding your competition through the eyes of your customers.  He will discuss the importance of creating an ongoing dialog with existing customers and will explain the strategic value of such activity. Customers must be a part of a competitive intelligence plan because they:

Know the products and services that have worked for them, and those that have not
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors
Understand the value drivers that influence switching, satisfaction and retention

Attendees will also learn about ways to use information gathered from customers to create a focused competitive response.

About the Speaker
Frank Sanders
President and CEO, CSM Research, Inc.
After nine years evaluating business plans and building sales pipelines for the investment banking and securities industry, Frank Sanders recognized a significant void in the market place for customer-focused market research as a basis for making significant business decisions and for competitive differentiation.  Frank founded Customer Service Marketing, Inc. (CSM) in 1991 and has served many clients such as ACS, The Association for Corporate Growth, Coca-Cola, Disney and Gulf South Medical Supply.  CSM’s work was instrumental in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel chain receiving its first Malcolm Baldridge Award for customer satisfaction. Since its inception, CSM has conducted over 1 million customer interviews, which provides context and benchmarking for current customers.

Frank’s business philosophy is one of first listening to clients’ information needs, then developing a straightforward process-oriented approach to uncovering the valuable intelligence they require to grow their business.  CSM is now a global research firm providing high quality customer and market research services within a wide variety of industries.  CSM’s multilingual, custom research services and proprietary industry reports provide a diversified group of growth-oriented companies worldwide the most comprehensive, creative, and actionable information available. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, his career began in 1974 by serving over five years as an officer with the United States Navy SEAL Team.  

Location
The Ashford Club, 5565 Glenridge Connector, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA

Directions
Please Email – info@AshfordClub.com

Registration Fees
SCIP Member - $35.00
Non-Member -  $45.00

Agenda
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM    Registration & Networking
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM    Food & Beverage
12:30 PM – 1:15  PM     Presentation
1:15 PM –   1:30 PM     Q & A / Networking

Contact
Larry Fauconnet, Atlanta Chapter Chair, laurance.fauconnet@us.army.mil, 678.406.2487
Dede Fauconnet, Atlanta Chapter Co-Chair, dede2@earthlink.net, 770.483.1574
SCIP Education Manager, Robyn Reals, rreals@scip.org, 703.739.0696 ext.107

Cancellation Policy
Cancellations not received in writing by Tuesday, November 10, 2009 will not be refunded. 

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