Custom Research

BenchMark Consulting International has developed extensive research capabilities around areas essential to the success of all businesses: markets, customers, products and employees. Research capabilities in each of these areas can help a company take the guesswork out of critical decisions.

Capabilities include survey design, administration, analysis, and reporting. Surveys can be broad-based or targeted; paper or electronic; web-based or via telephone; i.e., dependant upon client needs and circumstances. BenchMark can perform syndicated as well as client-customized, proprietary studies.

BenchMark is uniquely positioned to service clients in this capacity due to our depth of knowledge and experience in financial consulting and to our association with the Consumer Bankers Association, Risk Management Association and other financial industry trade associations.

BenchMark Research can benefit an organization:

  • By revealing and/or substantiating information that will enable a company to make more-informed critical decisions
  • By offering strategies based on the research results
Why?
Wants and Needs
Eliminate risk
Get critical information
Metrics
What?
Design
Reporting
Analysis
Administration
How?
Paper
Telephone Interviews
Web
Electronic

 

 

 

Research is typically conducted in one of the following areas:

  • Customer Satisfaction Surveys - Internal and/or External
  • Market Perception
  • Employee Satisfaction Surveys
  • Business Line Attributes and Perfomance Measures

Customer Satisfaction Surveys - Internal and External

More time and money is required to acquire new customers than to retain existing customers. Measuring customer satisfaction provides valuable insight on customer perceptions and attitudes, including:

  • Emerging customer needs.
  • Attributes of products and services with the greatest impact on customer satisfaction.
  • Which customers would engage or buy from an organization again?
  • Which customers would recommend an organization's products and services to others?

Market Perception

Understanding markets, specific customer wants and needs, and the drivers of customer purchase decisions will enable a company to better target resources to meet growth objectives. BenchMark can help to identify market preferences, including:

  • What is the profile of the target customer (demographic and other data)?
  • How do the target segments view an organization and its product today?
  • What other factors might affect market desirability?
  • Which markets have the highest concentration or the fastest growing segments of target customers?

Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Customer perceptions about a company, its products and services are impacted by employee attitudes and behaviors. The best products can be ineffective if service delivery is unsatisfactory. Measuring employee satisfaction may reveal areas of weak performance in key impact areas, which might translate into:

  • Poor perception of the company
  • Customer runoff and revenue loss
  • Market share erosion and reduced profitability
  • Competitor advantage

Partnerships

BenchMark conducts research on behalf of several industry trade groups including the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), the Risk Management Association (RMA) and the National Automotive Finance Association (NAF). BenchMark's most recent studies include:

The Consumer Bankers Association

CBA Consumer Credit Collections

The Consumer Credit Collections Study is an annual study that measures organizational and productivity characteristics of bank collection and recovery departments. Findings are analyzed on a multi-year basis to discern trends and are broken out by portfolio size.

CBA Auto Finance

The CBA Automobile Finance Study is the most comprehensive reference source available for industry statistics on indirect auto lending, leasing and floorplan finance. Findings are analyzed on a multi-year basis to discern trends and are broken out by portfolio size, new and used vehicles, and bank vs. captive finance company comparisons.

Home Equity Lending

The CBA Home Equity Study documents the growth, changing characteristics, and use of home equity open-end lines (revolving credit) and home equity closed-end loans. The study includes multi-year trending statistics, as well as an additional analysis of the top performance in several categories in addition to industry averages.

The Risk Management Association

RMA Small Business Banking

The Small Business Risk Management Study is an annual study which provides detailed analysis of activities and trends in small business lending throughout the financial services industry, including market demographics, acquisition tactics, underwriting methodologies and portfolio statistics. Additionally, an interim study spanning the same topics, but on a smaller scale, allows participants to remain current on the continuously changing trends within the market.

The National Automotive Finance Association

NAF Non-Prime Automotive Financing

The NAF Non-Prime Automotive Study is an annual study that analyzes year-end data and provides information on industry trends and shifts in the non-prime automotive industry. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of non-prime automotive financing from origination to remarketing.