[0] Townsend Launches New Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction Benchmarking Program for PVC Producers.

Business Editors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2000

Phillip Townsend Associates announces the launch of a new benchmarking program for PVC producers utilizing Townsend's Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction Survey (CLASS) and the Competitive Strength Inventory (CSI).

"This study will enable participating PVC producers to benchmark their performance on attributes that define competitiveness and customer satisfaction," explains Michael Branham, Townsend's Director of Survey Research.

The CLASS component utilizes a Customer Loyalty Gap methodology to define precise causes of customer disloyalty. By quantifying the levels of both importance and satisfaction that customers assign to each attribute, Townsend

calculates a series of scores that show managers exactly how to allocate resources in order to maximize customer retention. The program also includes several index scores that will quantify each producer's propensity to keep, lose, and acquire customers.

The CSI component will define the competitive position of each producer serving the target market by measuring the performance through the Competitive Strength Index(TM), the Business Retention Index (BRI) and the Account Development Index(TM). The three indices will quantify each producer's competitiveness, entrenchment with the target market, and marketing effectiveness.

Each participating company will receive a client report, an onsite presentation, and a follow-up consultation. "We designed the deliverables to enable our clients to develop business strategies that increase competitiveness, market share, and profitability," says Shari Gangestad, Townsend's Director of Global Marketing & Sales.

Phillip Townsend Associates is the largest global provider of market and business intelligence to the plastics industry. Broad expertise and extensive plastics databases place Townsend in a unique position to provide the industry's most comprehensive analysis of the PVC markets as well as the forces driving competitiveness, customer loyalty, and satisfaction.