Customer Targeted Marketing

Customer targeted marketing requires that the company refocus itself so that the customer becomes the center of the company's activities rather than the product. Inherent in this approach is a commitment to quality and a commitment to listening to the customer to determine what the market needs are and how the company can meet those needs.

According to the transcendent approach, quality can be associated with innate excellence. It is both absolute and universally recognizable, a mark of uncompromising standards and high achievement. Under the transcendent view, there is an enduring and timeless aspect to quality, an essence that rises above changes in taste or style. The transcendent approach can lead adherents to reject mass production in favor of fine craftsmanship, but more often, those who follow this definition of quality find it to be simple and something that cannot be precisely defined (Garvin, 1998, p. 41).

Product-based quality is precise and measurable, and often found in traditional marketing organizations. Differences in quality therefore reflect differences in the quantity of some ingredient or attribute. Goods can be ranked according to the amount of the desired attribute they possess. Product-based definitions of quality sometimes lead to the implication that durability can be equated with qual

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used when determining customer satisfaction in a traditional organization, but increasingly large numbers of companies are recognizing that it is not enough merely to satisfy customer needs. Instead, companies must anticipate and exceed customer needs in areas that are important to customers. This is why companies look to transform themselves from traditional marketing organizations to customer targeted organizations. Such a change requires a thorough understanding of the market and perhaps even understanding the customers' needs better than they understand those needs themselves. The problem that every company faces when trying to determine customer satisfaction and customer needs is learning how to listen to the customer. Some companies have formed focus groups, which bring together customers for the express purpose of discussing the company's products and directions. In these focus groups, customers are able to express their current level of satisfaction with the company's products, and make suggestions about ways in which the company could improve their product offerings. These focus groups also give customers the opportunity to express what their future needs are likely to entail, with the result that the company can
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Approximate Word count = 1250
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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