Commercial Services Client Needs Segmentation Focus Groups

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0690-0030)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Commercial Services Program Client Needs Segmentation Focus Groups

PURPOSE:

The U.S. Commercial Service (CS) provides customized business solutions for promoting the export of goods and services from small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses in the global marketplace. The goal of the CS is to deliver a consistent, coordinated, and positive customer experience resulting in 100% customer satisfaction. The CS created the Process Improvement Team to achieve this goal and to ensure that the organization’s products and services are customer-driven. The primary mechanism used by the CS to gather client feedback on CS services is a comment card (approved as part of this information collection) sent via e-mail link to all clients upon the completion of a fee-based service. To supplement this quantitative data, the CS will conduct focus groups and would like to revise this collection to include interviews which will provide qualitative research on the following topics:

• Client Needs Segmentation: Obtain an in-depth understanding of the exporting needs and challenges of various client segments, such as firms that are new-to-export and SMEs to help determine whether we need to adjust or improve the services that we offer. The primary CS performance metric is to provide export assistance to SME and new-to-export clients and the CS will need a better understanding of exporting needs, problems and barriers to improve the effectiveness of the service it provides to these key client segments.

The number of focus groups has not been determined but will be conducted on an ad hoc basis

(7 to 10 individuals per group).

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Respondents are current or potential clients or any who’ve received an email from the Trade Specialist.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Comment card

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[X ] Focus Group [ ] Other:

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name:_____Debra Delay___________________________________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Client Needs Segmentation	100	90 minutes	150
Totals	100		150

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $7,500.

If you are conducting a focus group, comment card, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Any organization or individual who has participated in a service or event will receive a transactional comment card. After completed comment card is received, CS will solicit feedback on client exporting needs and challenges.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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