Stop Guessing: Let Your Customers Shape Your Next Big Move

 In today’s hyper-competitive landscape, product decisions can’t be left to guesswork. Yet too many companies still roll out features, offerings, or even full product lines based on assumptions rather than customer validation. The result? Wasted resources, missed opportunities, and sometimes, painful missteps that could have been avoided.

At MAT Services, we believe the most powerful compass for your business isn’t gut instinct, it’s your customer. And the fastest way to align your direction with their needs is through custom, targeted surveys designed to reveal exactly what drives their behavior, their choices, and their loyalty.

Why Surveys Matter More Than Ever

The voice of the customer isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s the lifeblood of strategic decision-making. CEOs and founders we speak with often share the same pain points:

• Product teams building in the dark. Development cycles based on assumptions instead of validated needs.
• Missed market signals. Competitors moving faster because they’ve tapped into emerging trends first.
• Customer churn. Teams struggling to understand why customers leave, when the answers are right there, if only someone asked the right questions.

A well-crafted survey flips the script. It gives leaders real-time insight into what their market values, what frustrates their customers, and what will make them stay.

The MAT Services Difference

We don’t believe in cookie-cutter surveys. Our team works with you to design instruments that surface the 3–5 actionable insights you can take straight into boardroom discussions and product roadmaps.

Whether it’s:

• Validating your next product concept
• Understanding why adoption rates lag
• Gauging how market trends will impact your strategy

…our surveys deliver clarity where there was once uncertainty.

And because we’ve seen too many businesses waste money on surveys that don’t deliver, we back our work with a simple promise:

If you don’t walk away with actionable insights, you don’t pay.

De-Risk Your Next Decision

Before you commit budget, headcount, or reputation to your next big move, ask yourself: Do I really know what my customers want?

If the answer isn’t a confident “yes,” then the smartest investment you can make is to find out—before the market tells you the hard way.

At MAT Services, we help CEOs and founders turn the voice of the customer into a competitive advantage. Ready to see how a single survey can change your next decision?

👉 Contact us today to get started.

Why Voice of Customer (VoC) Surveys Are Your Secret Competitive Advantage

 

In today’s fast-moving markets, listening to your customers isn’t optional, it’s essential. A strong Voice of Customer (VoC) program not only improves relationships but also drives growth, differentiation, and long-term success.

Drawing on insights from CustomerGauge’s article on Voice of Customer benefits, here’s how VoC + trend surveys can give your organization the edge, and how MAT Services can help you execute them with excellence.

The Power of Knowing What Customers Really Want

CustomerGauge highlights several crucial benefits of a VoC program:

• Deeper Relationships and Retention
  Closing the loop on customer feedback strengthens trust, loyalty, and referrals.
• Growth & Revenue Opportunities
  VoC surfaces unmet needs, opening upsell, cross-sell, and product innovation pathways.
• Sharper Products & Processes
  Feedback reveals friction points you didn’t see, letting you refine features and streamline operations.
• Clarity Across the Organization
  Customer data highlights where service excels and where improvements are most urgent.
• Efficiency Gains
  Over time, VoC lowers acquisition costs, reduces churn, and improves margins.

 

How Trend Surveys Amplify VoC as a Competitive Advantage

Trend surveys are a specific form of VoC effort focused on broader shifts in the marketplace. They don’t just measure today’s sentiment, they uncover what’s coming tomorrow.

With a trend survey, you can:

• Identify emerging demands before competitors.
• Tailor your roadmap and messaging to what customers will need next.
• Differentiate your brand as a thought leader.
• Use outputs as content and lead-generation tools.

What to look for in a Partner

You don’t just want a dataset; you want a partner that can turn the survey insights into business outcomes.

• 🎯 Tailored Design: Questions crafted around your strategy and personas.
• 📊 Actionable Insights: Clear recommendations, not raw numbers.
• 🖋 Thought Leadership Packaging: Whitepapers, reports, and content that position you at the forefront.
• 💰 Lead Generation Built-In: Surveys that double as pipeline drivers.
• 🤝 Trusted Partnership: Long-term, transparent collaboration focused on your success.

Real-World Impact

A Marketing Director from a large public safety organization shared:

“We partnered with MAT Services to identify trends around AI in our primary customer market. We leveraged the data to help drive our product decisions, in multiple thought leadership presentations, in our Investor newsletter, and as a lead generation tool. In the 6 months since we published the report as a lead generation asset, the report has influenced $70 million in pipeline and $9 million in closed bookings.”

Ready to Leverage Your Customers’ Voice?

Voice of Customer and trend surveys aren’t just tools, they are competitive weapons. They help you:

• Innovate faster by spotting emerging needs.
• Win more share by aligning with customer priorities.
• Elevate your brand with thought leadership.
• Empower your leadership with metrics investors and executives value.

At MAT Services, we’ll help you design, run, and leverage surveys that turn customer feedback into a strategic advantage.

📩 Contact MAT Services today to unlock the insights your organization needs to lead your market.

Why Your Customers Need to be Heard – a Cracker Barrel miss?

 

Cracker Barrel’s recent rebranding and store modernization storyline reads like a cautionary tale in corporate strategy and a missed opportunity before the-fact validation.

A Costly Modernization Reversal

In 2024, Cracker Barrel embarked on a $700 million modernization initiative designed to refresh its image and attract younger diners. The makeover included brighter interiors with cleaner décor, updated menus, new conveniences like curbside pickup, and a minimalist redesign of their iconic logo replacing “Uncle Herschel” with a wordmark-centric look.

But for a brand built on nostalgia, these changes hit a nerve. Loyal customers saw the updates as dismissive of the brand’s heritage and charm. The company’s stock dropped 7–11%, equivalent to a market value loss of $94–$143 million in a matter of days. Fueled by a cultural backlash that escalated into a political flashpoint Cracker Barrel quickly reversed course, reinstating the original logo and promising to retain beloved elements like rocking chairs and peg games.

Could a Professional Survey Service Have Prevented This?

Absolutely. A proactive, professionally executed survey or research program focused on core brand elements could have tipped off leadership to customer sentiment before investing such a large sum. A strong survey approach might have included:

• Segmentation Analysis: Differentiating customer attitudes by demographic, geography, and frequency of visits.
• Emotional Attachment Assessments: Measuring the emotional and cultural significance of key brand symbols.
• Message Testing of Concepts: Evaluating reaction to modernized interiors and logo design via focus groups or quant surveys.

The Price of Neglecting the Voice of the Customer

Cracker Barrel executives later acknowledged a failure in communication and planning, stating they “could have done a better job” sharing who they are and what they’ll always be. The swift reversal, while necessary, does not erase the market value lost or the brand trust shaken.

Had a professional survey service been engaged early, Cracker Barrel could have co-created modernization paths with its most loyal customers. Not only might this have saved hundreds of millions, but it could have strengthened product-market fit and avoided a cultural PR crisis.

The heart of this episode is not about resisting change, it’s about listening first. A disciplined, customer-informed approach could have allowed Cracker Barrel to update its look while preserving the soul of the brand that customers love.

Don’t want to fall victim to your market, reach out to Marketing Awareness Technology (https://matsvcs.com/) to see how we can help your organization gain new valuable insights.

The Strategic Value of Trend Surveys - Why MAT Services Does Them Differently

                   

In an increasingly competitive business landscape, the companies that rise to the top are the ones that anticipate change, adapt quickly, and act with confidence. One of the most powerful ways to achieve that is through strategic trend surveys, and at Market Awareness Technologies(MAT) Services, we’ve built a unique approach that turns survey data into measurable business outcomes.

Trend surveys are more than a research exercise; they’re a growth engine. When done right, they generate qualified leads, shape your product roadmap, and provide C-level leadership with investor-ready metrics that strengthen your market position. Here’s how MAT Services delivers value where others can’t.

 

1. Lead Generation Through Thought Leadership

When you publish authoritative research on your industry, you’re not just sharing data, you’re positioning your company as the go-to source for insights. MAT Services takes your survey findings and transforms them into a high-value thought leadership asset, from whitepapers to keynote presentations, that your audience will reference, share, and act on.

The result? A content-driven lead generation engine that opens doors with new prospects and re-engages existing accounts. In fact, one Marketing Director from a large public safety organization shared:

“We partnered with MAT Services to identify trends around AI in our primary customer market. We leveraged the data to help drive our product decisions, in multiple thought leadership presentations, in our Investor newsletter, and as a lead generation tool. In the 6 months since we published the report as a lead generation asset, the report has influenced $70 million in pipeline and $9 million in closed bookings.”

 

2. Market Intelligence That Expands Wallet Share

A MAT Services survey isn’t just about what your market thinks today, it’s about discovering what it will need tomorrow. By reaching your key personas with targeted questions, we uncover emerging demands, hidden pain points, and untapped segments.

This intelligence directly informs your product roadmap and customer engagement strategy, helping you expand your share of existing accounts and break into new ones. The ability to act on validated customer priorities before competitors can is how our clients consistently gain an advantage over their competitors.

 

3. Executive-Ready Metrics for Leadership & Investors

Trend surveys deliver more than marketing content, they produce boardroom-ready metrics that C-level leaders can use in corporate presentations, investor relations, and strategic planning.

Our reports don’t just display numbers; they highlight the business implications, revenue potential, and operational opportunities your leadership team needs to make confident, high-impact decisions.

 

What Makes MAT Services Different?

While many firms will run a survey and hand over a spreadsheet, MAT Services delivers end-to-end value:

• Tailored design that aligns with your strategic goals.
• Direct feedback from your target personas, ensuring results that matter.
• Actionable insights, not just raw data, for immediate business impact.
• Thought leadership packaging that elevates your brand in the marketplace.
• Lead generation integration, connecting insights directly to pipeline growth.

We’re not just researchers. We’re your strategic partner in turning market intelligence into revenue, influence, and competitive advantage.

 

Ready to Lead Your Market?

The best time to understand your industry’s next move is before it happens. With MAT Services’ proven approach to trend surveys, you’ll not only stay ahead of the curve, you’ll define it.

Contact MAT Services today to discuss how we can help you create a trend survey that drives leads, informs strategy, and equips your leadership with investor-ready insights.

Apple's Biggest Hack Ever

Over 225,000 valid Apple accounts and thousands of certificates, private keys, and purchasing receipts were stolen from jailbroken iOS devices. The malware, KeyRaider, was distributed through third-party Cydia repositories in China and appears to have impacted users from 18 countries including China, France, Russia, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, Israel, Italy, Spain, Singapore, and South Korea.

The malware steals Apple account usernames, passwords and device GUID by intercepting iTunes traffic on the device and disables local and remote unlocking functionalities on iPhones and iPads. The malware then uploads the stolen data to its command and control (C2) server, which has been found to contain vulnerabilities that expose the stolen user information to other hackers.

According to Paloalto Networks the purpose of the attack was to make it possible for users of two iOS jailbreak tweaks to download applications from the official App Store and make in-app purchases without actually paying. Jailbreaking is the process of removing hardware restrictions on iOS, Apple's operating system, on devices running it through the use of software exploits; such devices include the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and second-generation Apple TV. Jailbreaking permits root access to the iOS file system and manager, allowing the download of additional applications, extensions, and themes that are unavailable through the official Apple App Store. (Wikipedia)

Are Employees Putting Organizations at Risk?

According to a recent report released by Forrester Research, the global public cloud market is expected to hit $191 billion by 2020, based on Forrester's last forecast (published in 2011), this represents a 20% increase over the same time period. It also represents a significant increase from where the market is currently, Forrester estimates that the market was public cloud market was $58 billion at the end of 2013.

However, the challenge facing enterprises with cloud adoption is quite concerning. According a recent article published by Computerworld, "There's a tug-of-war tension in the enterprise right now," said Gartner analyst Lydia Leong. "IT administrators very rarely voluntarily want to go with the public cloud. I call this the 'turkeys don't vote for thanksgiving' theory. The people who are pushing for these services are not IT operations people but business people."

There is no doubt that the business owner is making this selection to drive their business and sees little to no risk with their decision. However, IT security and the lack of oversight, digital loss prevention techniques and audit requirements can leave a company in precarious situation.

The question is, how does IT and the business user coexist as a partners and not as roadblocks to business growth? The key is a common product and sales technique. Understanding the business requirements is critical to forming the right partnership. IT needs to focus on delivering products that help the business become more efficient and meet their needs to facilitate business. The business needs to be the buyer, but IT needs to be there to make sure the corporation remains well protected.

One of the very real risks that corporations are facing today is cloud based file sharing, the reality is that these applications can be acquired very easily by the business, unfortunately, there is no way to control what is actually being store outside the firewall or if the service provider even meets corporate standards. Many companies have blocked the most popular URLs to prevent internal use, but Gartner lists over 100+ competitors, many approaching file sharing from a different industry focus, so it is unrealistic to expect an IT department to be able to prevent all files sharing solutions.

This is just one example of the risk that the business faces when they acquire technology without going through the correct process. But IT must also understand, they are not the business, nor must they decided what is best for the business, rather they must learn to deliver the business requirements, while ensuring that the product or service meets with the Corporate Security Standards. Only then wll the risk of Rouge IT applications subside!

Why International Organizations don’t want to do business with US Cloud providers

While you would need to have been vacationing in the Rockies for the last year or so to have missed the stories outlining the US Government’s legal right to obtain data, most people have just come to accept that we have no choice in the matter. Court papers released on Monday show that Microsoft is fighting a US warrant for customer data stored overseas.

The US is pursuing criminal matters against an individual and has requested emails stored in Dublin Ireland. Microsoft’s theme for their objection to the US warrant is that allowing the obtuse nature of the warrant would "violate international laws and treaties, and reduce the privacy protection of everyone on the planet," as well as "have a significant negative impact on Microsoft's business, and the competitiveness of US cloud providers in general".

In support of this, both Apple and Cisco have filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing Microsoft's position, this is in addition to ones submitted earlier in the week by Verizon and AT&T. Many international organizations recognize the fact that the US government has the right to ask and obtain data from a US company or subsidiary customer data no matter where it resides in the world. The problem is that many International companies feel this is a serious risk to doing business with US companies, I guess only in America do we teach of a global economy. Yes it is true that the law exists, and it is true that companies may not do business with a US company because of it, however, if you build a product that they want, they will use it.

Let’s face facts, data in the cloud is subject to risk (so by the way is data behind the firewall, just ask Target), if it were not, you would see considerably more data stored in the cloud. Having worked both cloud solutions and enterprise software, it is very easy to see the distinction; however it is far more complex when trying to run a business.

We often talk about Salesforce.com (SFDC), as being a major cloud platform that companies heavily rely on. I mean after all, if your entire customer database is on SFDC, you would really need to trust the cloud, right? Well truth be told, the average sales person will probably do more damage leaving an organization with his contact list than losing data from the use of SFDC.

As companies consume homogenized data, it becomes a commodity; you purchase the integration value, not the protection of the data. Don’t misunderstand, the data must be protected, however, no one believes that a cloud provider could deliver better protection than keeping the data encrypted behind their own firewall. Organizations traditionally move data that would not jeopardize the organization to the cloud. This may also include data that extends beyond the firewall.

The debate will rage on for several more years, our society is very fickle, when bad things happen, we want the government to do their job, when things are okay, we want the government to stay away. But how do you balance this? At some level we must realize that the ability to communicate across thousands of miles in milliseconds puts us all at risk, where do we draw the line? I am not advocating government censorship and I am a firm believer that power corrupts, but is profiling patterns, which is typically what happens with most of our data, the worse thing to give up for our protection?

Do we really believe that the US government is doing anything more than other governments, just because their Snowden hasn't gone public? I remember as a child my father saying to me after I got caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing, “The difference between you and me, is that I did not get caught”, I was about to challenge him on that statement, but having thought about this for a brief second, I realized, to defend myself, would mean I would have to tell him about the other 100 times I got away with it. Do we really believe that spying is a US government anomaly?