Of Bouquets And Brickbats

Commissioning a survey that gathers data across 898 respondents from 19
cities is a huge task. Conducting it in just a month's time and then analyzing
it is even more so.

Planning and publishing such a survey loads one with a lot of responsibility.
On one hand, you have to be absolutely sure that the data that is coming through
reflects the market realities and leaves no room for doubt. Because when the
results are out, you will have to stand by it. On the other hand, you have to be
prepared to have the entire process and results dissected and questioned
mercilessly.

Despite this, DQ Channels has been conducting the Channel Satisfaction Survey
for several years now. While partners read the results to see if their
experiences can be compared to the benchmarks thrown up by the survey, vendors
want to know who won in which category and feel either proud, dejected or
motivated.

Of course, there will be those muckety-mucks who will try to find loopholes
and thereby defend why their company did not bag any awards. And that is where
one's conviction in the survey comes in.

vinita bhatia

Having said that, the Channel Satisfaction Survey is perhaps the only one of
its kind, which gauges the partner perspective on the attributes that matter
most to them. It is not based on the number of products a vendor sells or how
big the company is or how robust its standing in the stock market. Instead, it
taps channel opinion on the company's product quality, brand image, marketing
and online support offered, after-sales support, commercial terms and
relationship management. It reads the pulse of the channel in a very scientific
fashion. For example, how else would it be obvious that while the channel gives
thumbs up for the quality of product shipped by the top vendors, it is not as
happy with the vendor's relationship management strategies? Or that while most
vendors have been working hard to improve their after-sales support, partners
lay more onus on the brand image of that company instead?

In fact as after-sales support becomes a 'must be', brand image turns out
to be a major differentiator, after product quality. Something to ponder over,
right?

There are some other interesting highlights that the survey has thrown up.
But I will not reveal them all here. Flip through it yourself and you might find
something, which might strike a chord.

vinita bhatia

vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in