NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY
The US headquarters office of a national trade association wanted to gather feedback from the Directors and Chairpersons of 50 state chapters on the types of support and services the chapters wanted and needed from the national association. To gather the information that was required, the organization knew some kind of survey would be required. They saw two primary conditions as being vitally important to conducting such a survey.

First, they needed a high response rate so the results would be representative of national sentiment. With only 100 participants, a 20-30% response rate would leave huge portions of the country out of the opinion mix.

Second, they needed a vehicle that would produce candid responses. The purpose of the survey was to gather honest opinions, and they knew the respondents needed a mechanism that would allow them to say what they really thought without fear of consequences or ramifications.

100 InfoQuest surveys were prepared which contained custom designed statements, that were answerable on a five-point scale ranging from Fully Agree to Fully Disagree. Touching all areas of the association's activities, 84% of all surveys sent out were completed and returned, producing a national profile of chapter needs that was used as a policy-setting directive for years to come.

SALES PERCEPTION SURVEY
A metals sales and distribution company had conducted multiple customer satisfaction surveys which revealed that the performance of the company's sales reps was a vital element of the business's future growth and success. While that finding alone was of critical strategic importance to the company, they wanted to know more. InfoQuest was commissioned to conduct a survey aimed at determining what customers felt were the most important attributes of a successful sales rep.

Using a series of custom designed statements, various sales performance attributes and behaviors - each presented as "It is important to me that……" - were responded to by way of a five point scale ranging from Fully Agree to Fully Disagree. Key customer accounts were targeted for participation in the survey, 85% of which responded. The result was a detailed report that established a clear prototype of what customers saw as a productive and successful sales rep.

READER PROFILE SURVEY
A technology based magazine publisher of several publications, each with over 75,000 readers, wanted to gain profile information on their subscriber's reading habits, their businesses and the influence of advertising on their decision making processes with respect to technology purchases. Because the information to be gathered would be used to help establish advertising rates and expanded circulation figures, a large number of respondents were required to establish statistical validity. There was, however, no particular need to stratify the readership. Who participated was not all that important, as long as enough readers responded.

An internet based survey was designed and, using the company's own resources to send out thousands of electronic survey invitations, InfoQuest collected and reported back the information the company needed for each of the company's publications.

SPECIAL EVENTS SURVEY
A company that produces and hosts special outdoor corporate events (company picnics, for example), wanted to gather feedback from their corporate clients. However, because a limited number of events were held each week - usually 3-4 - spread across a season that ran from spring through late autumn, to survey all customers at once meant that some would not receive a survey until as much as six months after their event. The company wanted to gather feedback while the event was still as fresh as possible in their client's minds.

Working jointly with the company, we were able to set up a system whereby after each week's events, customer contact names were emailed to InfoQuest and surveys were promptly sent out the next day. This continued each week for six months. During the season, a "hotline" mechanism was employed to bring notable findings to the company's attention in a timely manner. After the season closed, the data was tallied and reports prepared. The final response rate? 87%.