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Strategex, Inc.

Our Guidance. Your Growth.

  • 80/20
    • Process
    • Meet The Experts
    • 80/20 Vision
    • 80/20 in the Media
  • Voice of the Customer
    • Capabilities
    • Experience
    • Experts
    • Process
    • Expert Insights
  • Customer Diligence
    • Capabilities
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Using Customer Insights to Accelerate and Sustain Growth

We conduct in-depth customer interviews with our proprietary Voice of the Customer (VOC) process to help design, execute, and activate fully custom research-based consulting engagements. But we’re much more than just another market research company; we’re trusted growth advisors who know how to transform customer feedback into pragmatic strategic recommendations.

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Our Global Capabilities

Benchmarking Customer Loyalty

Using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Value Driver Assessments, we will uncover what makes your customers loyal and then measure your company's performance along those parameters.  We will probe to identify what issues are most important to address from the customer's perspective, and we will seek to clarify their expectations.

Competitor Intelligence

Want to know how you stack up against your competitors? We will first seek to understand the key factors that impact your customers' buying decisions.  Then, we'll grade you against the competition along those factors to benchmark your performance.

Talent Assessment

Talent is directly linked to customer satisfaction and loyalty.  The stronger your team is in the field, the more likely you are to have strong customer relations.  Through VOC, we will gather customer feedback on your teams effectiveness.

Win-Loss Analysis

Winning new business is everything.  But, if you're a business that often goes after new opportunities and you don't understand why you're not winning more business, you're not likely to improve in the future.  A successful Win-Loss Analysis will measurably improve your close rate and increase your share in the market.  But, if you don't ask...

New Products & Services

Does the market value your ideas for new products? Strategex interviews prospective customers to gauge their reaction to your ideas.  Not only will we confirm the market's interest, but we are often able to estimate the size of your market.  We can even probe on pricing to understand what customers are willing to pay for the idea under consideration.

Brand Perception & Awareness

Oftentimes, Strategex will conduct branding studies at the start of a marketing initiative to benchmark how well you're known and what you're known for.  Our research typically details the areas that need immediate attention to strengthen your brands perception.

Deep Experience & Broad Perspective

Exclusively dedicated to B2B clients, we have been providing research-based consulting services since 1993. Since then, we have conducted 600+ projects across 50+ industries.

Experience In The Following Industries

Automotive / Transportation

Building Materials

Chemical

Food Service

Marketing / Advertising

Material Handling

Mining / Metals / Construction Equipment

Office Furniture

Packaging / Packaging Machinery

Paper

Plastics

Technology

Professional / Services Firms

Practicing What We Preach

Our world-class Net Promoter score of
+
is the reason that over 75% of our revenue
comes from repeat clients

See What Our Clients Have To Say

“They were very professional. They did a good job providing guidance upfront. They were able to get our customers to talk on the phone for over an hour, which was pretty impressive.”

— Senior Engineer, $5 Billion Electrical Equipment Company

“They are completely open to customizing the study and making my agenda available. Strategex is willing to go after what we want as opposed to saying, ‘This is the way you do it.’ I need a customized approach to this whole thing, and they are willing to do that.”

— Vice President of Sales, $2 Billion Plastics Company

“Strategex is much more tailored. We have used McKinsey and other large companies, and you get what they’ve got. Strategex is much more for the specific task which is more appropriate and tailored to our needs.”

— Vice President of Marketing, National Healthcare Association

“The thing Strategex has, as compared to the competition, is that they don’t just dust off their hands and walk away saying, ‘It was a great engagement; see you guys in a couple of years.’ I sense from Strategex their commitment to make our business better. It is a true engagement.”

— Director of Marketing, Mechanical Maintenance Solutions Company

“They are experts in the field. They are a strong organization, with an effective team, and they deliver quality products. They were very accommodating in terms of the process, speed and depth of analysis.”

— Director, Research and Development Company

“I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of context their interviewers had about our business, and that made all the difference to me. There was good clarification in the responses and dialogue.”

— President, Financial Services Company

Meet The Experts

All of our engagement managers have 15+ years of research and consulting experience, and they will be actively involved with your project from start to finish.

Tom+Taber

Tom
Taber

Managing Director

ttaber@strategex.com

Tom Taber is Managing Director and VOC Practice Leader at Strategex, Inc., a global market research consulting firm specializing in B2B customer loyalty studies and M&A customer due diligence.

During his 15 years with Strategex, Tom has consulted with more than 200 mid-tier to Fortune 500 corporations across four continents. He focuses on developing growth strategies to improve customer relationships, uncovering opportunities for new product and service innovations, and leading M&A customer due diligence efforts.

Prior to joining Strategex in 2004, Tom held senior roles at Pactiv Corporation and Sears Roebuck. He began his career as a strategy consultant at Bain and Company.

Tom received a BA in economics from Tufts University and holds an MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Business.

Tom Taber

Managing Director

Kay+Cruse

Kay
Cruse

Vice President

kcruse@strategex.com

With nearly 25 years of client engagement and strategic experience, Kay serves as Vice President in the VOC Strategic Practice. She provides leadership to the practice with a background in customer research, strategic planning and brand development.

At Strategex Kay leads VOC engagements with an emphasis on business strategies and implementation.  She assists our clients in understanding and documenting Customer Experience insights, prioritizing strategic opportunities and tactical implementation for maximum ROI.

Before joining Strategex, Kay established The Prescient Group, a B2B and B2C strategic marketing research firm.  She is a frequent facilitator and presenter at various marketing and operational events and board meetings. Kay has developed and facilitated more than 700+ focus groups, roundtable and panel discussions, as well as customer advisory counsels and press events.

Kay Cruse

Vice President

Anthony+Bahr

Anthony
Bahr

Vice President

abahr@strategex.com

Anthony is a Vice President in Strategex’s VOC Strategic Practice where he leads research-based consulting engagements.

Anthony devotes much of his time to expanding the firm’s Quality of Customers® (QofC®) offering – a proprietary process that incorporates voice of the customer research into customer due diligence pre- or post-close on behalf of private equity and strategic acquirer clients.

He works in partnership with clients to design and implement research initiatives to address common questions that arise during the due diligence process (the stability of key accounts, the target company’s ability to service key accounts, confidence in senior management, etc.).

Through the QofC® process, he then provides deep insights into a customer’s level of satisfaction and loyalty as well as competitive positioning, innovation pathways, pricing optimization, etc. Ultimately, this work enables Strategex to transform research findings into actionable growth strategies.

Before joining Strategex, Anthony held senior-level positions at two leading market research firms where he specialized in insight, strategy, and innovation projects for global financial services, consumer packaged goods, and pharmaceutical clients. He is well versed in multiple methodologies including brand positioning, segmentation, advertising effectiveness, and pricing optimization.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, Anthony holds a B.B.A. in economics and international business from Loyola University Chicago as well as a M.S. in public policy from the University of Oklahoma.

Anthony Bahr

Vice President

John Murray Bio Photo

John
Murray

Vice President

jmurray@strategex.com

John Murray serves as a Vice President within Strategex’s VOC Strategic Practice, where he leads project engagements and client development activities.

John has significant experience directing project teams and conducting primary and secondary research for complex B2B and consumer engagements and has personally conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews.

In addition to customer loyalty and M&A customer due diligence studies, his expertise includes market sizing and opportunity assessment, channel analysis, market segmentation, competitive intelligence, concept tests and new product evaluations.

Prior to joining Strategex, John served as a senior manager with two international market research and consulting firms where he devised and executed custom research solutions for leading multinational companies.

John received his MBA from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and a BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

John Murray

Vice President

Sharon+Kottke

Sharon
Kottke

VP Operations

skottke@strategex.com

Sharon is VOC Project Director and manages client activity at Strategex. She has more than 15 years of project management experience and has been involved in numerous VOC studies—both domestic and international.

Since joining the Strategex team, Sharon has interacted with client teams to ensure project goals are achieved. She is responsible for coordinating day-to-day activities for VOC projects and overseeing projects to completion. Throughout the project cycle, Sharon assists in the planning phase, provides weekly status updates, oversees deliverables, and fulfills timelines. She is also responsible for project staffing and supervises the VOC research team, which spans more than a dozen team members in addition to 13 foreign languages. Sharon has facilitated client activity for more than 125 VOC studies internationally, across several industries.

Sharon Kottke

VP Operations

Jessica+Sahyouni

Jessica
Sahyouni

Senior Project Manager

jsahyouni@strategex.com

Jessica is a Project Manager and manages client activity at Strategex. She has been involved in numerous VOC studies— both domestic and international.

Jessica joined Strategex in 2013.  Since joining the Strategex team, Jessica has worked closely with client teams to ensure project goals are achieved. She is responsible for coordinating day-to-day activities for VOC projects and overseeing projects to completion. Throughout the project cycle, Jessica assists in the planning phase, provides weekly status updates, oversees deliverables, and ensures adherence to project timelines. Jessica has facilitated client engagements for more than 60 VOC studies internationally, across several industries.

Before joining the Strategex team, Jessica graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rollins College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and presented her undergraduate research at the Southeastern Psychological Association Annual Conference. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and running.

Jessica Sahyouni

Senior Project Manager

Strategex+Research+Team

Executive Interviewers, Not Telemarketers.

On average, our researchers have 10 years of B2B interviewing experience. All have undergraduate degrees (and most have advanced degrees) – but the real test is passing our three-month executive interviewing training course.

Our Process: Continuous Improvement Fueled by Customer Insights.

We use a three-step process for placing customer feedback at the center of your strategic planning process

Step One: Design

We start with an in-person kick off meeting with you and your team where we define objectives, develop a questionnaire, and determine which customers to interview.

Step Two: Execute

Our researchers conduct in-depth telephone interviews with your customers, prospects, lost accounts, employees, suppliers, or any other stakeholder who can provide insights to address your objectives. We provide weekly updates, including detailed transcripts of the conversations.

Step Three: Actionable Follow Up

We transform research findings into a set of prioritized, actionable recommendations. A comprehensive management report is provided, which includes a road-map for actions that convert to results. We then present the findings on-site and facilitate implementation workshops.

Monitor Progress & Re-Evaluate

We’ll check in regularly to assist in the implementation of the recommendations. When the time is right, we’ll restart the process and develop the next iteration of customer improvement recommendations.

Ready To Unleash The Power Of Customer Insights?

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Contact Us

20 South Clark Street
Suite 2400
Chicago, IL 60603
E-Mail or Call

About Us

Strategex, Inc. is a research and consulting firm based in Chicago, dedicated to providing direction and support for sustainable, profitable, and aggressive growth.

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