LTL Study 3rd Edition

2007

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MASTIO published its 3^rd Edition LTL Customer Value & Loyalty Study in September 2007. The 2^nd Edition was published in 2006 while the 1^st Edition was published in July of 2005.

This study identifies and quantifies the perceptions and needs of LTL customers. The 2007 study findings are based on interviews with 2,485 customers providing over 9,700 total observations. There were 263 carriers rated of which 40 had a sufficient number of ratings to be included in this 2007 report. The electronic edition allows the inclusion of all rated companies for additional analysis.

The 2007 study also includes approximately 13,400 qualitative responses to four (4) open-ended questions about individual carriers. The data was collected by telephone interviews with key decision makers during the months of June, July, and August of 2007.

In brief, we conduct telephone interviews with LTL customers and spoke with the individual who makes the decision on which LTL carrier(s) to use. These decision makers then rate their carrier(s) on approximately 23 attributes important to customer satisfaction, loyalty and the value they perceive their LTL carriers provide. Also, we would ask several open-end questions.

The main benefit of an industry-wide approach is the benchmarks will be current and you will know if your performance is better, average or worse than any other LTL carrier whether they have subscribed or not.

Subscribers to MASTIO’s LTL Customer Value & Loyalty Benchmarking Study will learn:

1. Customer perceptions of Carrier Performance, Value, Loyalty and more specifically
   
   
   1. How do customers’ make their purchase decisions? What factors are the most important drivers of customers’ perceptions of overall value and loyalty? What product and service attributes do the respondents consider to be the most important both from a stated and derived basis? And, ultimately, Mastio will provide a grouping of each product and service attribute into (1) Baseline Requirements, (2) Conscious Differentiators, (3) Latent Differentiators and (4) Low Impact Factors.
      
      
   2. How do customers perceive your overall value and loyalty relative to key competitors? How competitive is your position in the marketplace? Where do you and your competitors fall on a value map - inferior, economy, superior, or premium position? Who should be loosing or gaining market share? What are the biggest drivers of you and your competitors’ position? What is required to change your position?
      
      
   3. How do customers perceive your performance on the key buying factors? What do customers perceive as strengths and weaknesses relative to key competitors? Which factors should you target for improvement? Which factors will have the greatest impact on your ability to win and retain more business – good profits? What factors should be emphasized in marketing communications that will resonate with customers?
      
      
   4. How large a role does price play in the purchasing decision? What performance factors will allow a premium?
      
      
   5. Which competitors are the most vulnerable and which are strongest in their ability to gain and retain customers? How do customers perceive the performance of major competitors on the key buying factors? How do you use this knowledge to have a direct impact on your growth and profits?
      
      
2. The study will identify those improvements and marketing actions that will make customers choose the subscriber more than its competitors.
   

Methodology: We utilize two key methodologies. The Customer Value methodology is based on the work of Ray Kordupleski and Dr. Bradley Gale. We also employ the Net Promoter concepts of Dr. Fred Reichheld, the father of Customer Loyalty. Both methodologies are backed up with significant empirical evidence showing that on average there is a strong correlation between a companies performance i.e. growth rate, market share and profitability and their respective CVA or Net Promoter Score.

Executive Summary: The example includes the Executive Summary from the new 2007 U.S. Edition. The provided example has been sanitized by "blacking", "whiting", or "XXX" out information that MASTIO believes is confidential. The purpose of the example is to give you a sense of the layout, detail, and depth of the report.

Sample Questionnaire: The questionnaire utilized to collect the data was a mixture of demographic questions, opened-ended questions and 23 attribute questions which measured performance in 4 categories - company image, service, customer service and pricing. The following is a list of performance questions asked of each respondent. Each respondent is asked to rate the performance of the carriers they utilize on the following attributes:

We also asked four (5) Open-Ended questions of each respondent. The questions asked were:

1. Besides price, what is the most important factor that you use to select one LTL carrier over another? Who is the best and why and who is the worst and why?
2. You gave a low rating for your carrier(s) on "likelihood to recommend", what must they do in order to improve and that would ultimately allow you to give them a higher rating in the future?
3. Besides price, describe the biggest disappointment you’ve experienced with (insert carrier) in the last 12 months?
4. What technology solutions should your LTL carrier(s) provide to make your life easier?
5. Is it important that your LTL Carrier(s) offer international shipment? (i.e. shipments from destinations outside the USA) If yes, why is it important?

Professional Fee (Purchase Options)

1. Full Version - (please contact us at 816-364-6200 for a prospectus or for more information.)
   
   U.S. Edition - $53,950 – 2,485 interviews
   
   This option provides the subscriber with all of the information from the study. As a subscriber, you receive a printed book, MASTIO’s proprietary toolset software and all of the raw data in Excel spreadsheet format.
   
   
2. Regional Version
   
   U.S. Edition - $16,950 (the 10 state option) or $31,950 (the 20 state option)
   
   Subscribers to the regional version receive a modified version to the complete study as described above and in the prospectus. The difference between the two versions is that the Regional Version includes:
   
   (1) Only a segment of the data by state up to a maximum of 20 states vs. the full data set containing information from 48 states. There are two options to choose - 10 states and 20 states. With either option, you as a subscriber decide which states to include.
   
   (2) The proprietary software (toolset) will be modified to include only the data in the selected states.
   
   (3) The printed book will be also modified and will not include the utilization or open-end responses chapters. The open-end responses will only be provided in electronic form of the selected data.
   
   (4) The raw data in Excel spreadsheet format will be modified as well to include only the data in the selected states.
   
   
3. Targeted Version - (please contact us at 816-364-6200 for a prospectus or for more information.)
   
   U.S. Edition - $10,950 (the 8 state option) or $15,950 (the 16 state option)
   
   As a subscriber you will receive:
   
   (1) Only the interviews (performance data) that rated your company along with any other carriers rated in those particular interviews.
   
   (2) Plus the performance data on four (4) other carriers in a selected geographical area of your choosing (maximum of 16 states for the U.S. Edition and all the Provinces in the Canadian Edition).

Ultimately, MASTIO would like to set up a web conference or schedule a meeting face-to-face to show you the deliverables from this report. Please contact us at 816-364-6200 to schedule a meeting.


Background

Mastio & Company is a research-consulting firm (Profile) that helps its clients maximize business performance by conducting studies that address three critical aspects of managing every business, which are to understand your customer, your competition, and your organization.

Mastio & Company conducts numerous proprietary single-client and multi-client studies on a yearly basis. The majority of our engagements ultimately deal with organizational alignment. This concept uses metrics to design an organization that is better aligned with its target customers than the competition to win more business and increase profits. We also help clients bridge the gaps between analysis, interpretation, actions and successful deployment of a value based strategy.