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2011 STEP Membership Survey Results

The 2011 STEP Membership Survey was conducted as part of STEP’s ongoing commitment to constantly monitor the quality and demand of products and services offered to members. The survey is aimed to seek out member satisfaction and reaction to service levels within the organization. As in past years, this survey and the results received are integral to developing products and service levels that meet members’ needs in the most efficient and effective manner.

Distributed electronically to all STEP Regular Members in February 2011, the current Membership Survey was delivered in an electronic format and included a request from the STEP Board Chair for member response. An initial request, as well as two follow-up reminders, were sent to encourage member response and resulted in a positive response rate.

Executive Summary

As of March 1, 2011 a total of 98 surveys were received accounting for a 32% response rate and resulting in a 1% response increase from the previous year. Survey results contained in this report indicate that STEP’s direction and services continue to be a strong fit to the unique needs of exporters in the province. The focus of this survey was to gain member response in a variety of areas while asking members to qualify and rate their membership experience as well as their working relationships with the organization.

Trends throughout the survey indicate organizational growth, both service delivery and program uptake with respondents continuing to express value in their membership. Core service delivery remains consistent with previous surveys and a strong response to new program delivery was noted with 47% of total respondents noting that they had utilized the Market Access Program (MAP) over the past year with close to 98% of those rating their experience with the program as highly satisfied/satisfied.

Following is a sampling of key results that arose from the survey results:

99% of respondents indicated a willingness to recommend a STEP membership to other exporters.
88% of respondents indicated that they strongly agree/somewhat agree that STEP has worked effectively with their company to expand their export market initiatives.
85% of respondents indicated that they strongly agree/somewhat agree that they receive value for their membership investment.
76% of respondents indicated that they strongly agree/somewhat agree that STEP has a solid understanding of their industry.
74% of repondendents indicated that they strongly agree/somewhat agree that the organization and the staff who serve the membership have a solid understanding of their company’s export requirements.
81% of respondents expect their overall business sales to increase in the upcoming year.
71% of respondents expect their export activities to increase in the upcoming year.
61% of respondents expect their staffing levels to increase in the upcoming year.

Beyond a request to gauge the need for new services, STEP members were also asked to indicate which STEP services they had utilized over the past year and to rate their satisfaction level with each service received. Customized market intelligence and research reports have consistently been reported in past surveys as the top service utilized by STEP members.

While rating highly again, this year, the Market Access Program (MAP) surpassed the market intelligence service uptake with 47% of the survey respondents indicating they have utilized the program. Those responding noted a 97.9% highly satisfied/satisfied rate.

Each year, respondents are asked to identify their top markets in order of importance to their enterprise. The United States remains as the leading target market for Saskatchewan exporters as it has in the past several years. In 2011, the United States received 23% of the responses with Canada receiving 19% of the responses. This year, Europe received 17% of the responses with a strong emphasis on countries located in Eastern Europe. China followed in 2011 with 11% and India appears in the results for the first time receiving 8% of the responses.

Another key measurement sought by STEP was export volume with 71% of the respondents noting an increase in their export volume for the upcoming year. In response to a request to identify the top two issues facing their company, respondents noted that labour supply/human resource issues, marketing, maintaining and expanding sales, and financial constraints are the top business issues that they faced in 2010.

2011 STEP Membership Survey Results (pdf)