Ames, Iowa - The following area students have achieved academic ranking in the top 2 percent of students in the College of Engineering at Iowa State University:

Kimberly Booe, Bettendorf; Matthew Burmeister, Brett Ebert, Austin Laugen, and Kurt Lundeen all of Davenport.

The following area students have achieved academic ranking in the top 2 percent of students in the College of Design at Iowa State University:

Heather Bennett of Davenport.

The following area students have achieved academic ranking in the top 2 percent of students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University:

Kelly Hering, Bettendorf and Heather Bennett of Davenport.

The following area students have achieved academic ranking in the top 2 percent of students in the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University:

Stephanie Blaser, Kaitlin Bohn, Abigail Kline, and Kelly Wagner of Bettendorf; Vanessa McNeal and Sally Stringham of Davenport.

What customers value most changes constantly, and the pace of change has increased exponentially with the economic recession, says marketing/management expert and best-selling author Jaynie L. Smith.

"The businesses who become relevant by addressing what customers really value at any given time will be the first ones out of the recession," says Smith, whose newest book, Relevant Selling (www.smartadvantage.com), is now available.

"One year ago, people were looking for financial stability in companies they were purchasing from because of all of the business closings," she says, citing surveys conducted by her company, Smart Advantage, Inc. "Now, on-time delivery outranks that because so many businesses cut back their inventory during the worst of the recession. With demand increasing, customers have more difficulty getting what they want on time."

Smith's company analyzed more than 150 customer surveys to learn why customers buy particular products or services from particular companies. It's an essential practice for any business owner during any economic cycle, Smith says, but most don't do it. Her analysis of 10 years of double-blind customer market research for more than 100 businesses revealed that, 90 percent of the time, most businesses do not know their customers' top values. They are often shocked to learn what is at the top of the customers' value list.

Smith offers these tips for getting to know your customers - and potential customers - so you can deliver what they want and adjust your sales and marketing message to become more relevant.

• Customers are usually looking for "how" things are sold, not "what." For most products, there are any number of suppliers. If someone wants to buy a camera, a doorknob, a car, they can drive to the nearest store or order from the first company that pops up on Google. But they don't. Why? Because there's something else they value more than the product itself. It may be product durability, the company's reputation for customer service, or safety features. "If you don't value what you bring to the customer, they won't value it either," is Smith's mantra.  Very few companies know how to effectively articulate what differentiates them, so price often becomes the tiebreaker.

• Understand that existing customers and prospects usually have different values. Smith's company research analysis shows that 70 percent of the time, customers and prospective customers differ in what they most value. When that happens, your message to customers should be different than your message to prospects.  Very few companies make this distinction in sales and marketing messaging. Existing customers may have come to depend on your top-notch help desk. It's what they've grown to value most about your company. Prospective customers haven't yet used your help desk so they don't know how essential this benefit is yet.

• Use what you learn. If you find customers most value speedy responses when they have a problem, and your customer service department is slow, then fix customer service. Make sure to tell the customer service employees that customers have rated fast response time as their top priority. When you've got stats you can brag about - brag away: "98 percent of customer calls are returned within 30 minutes; 2 percent within 1 hour." Now you've used that information in two valuable ways: to make your company more relevant to customers, and to let customers know you've got what they want.

• Invest in disciplined customer research. Research data collection costs have gone down 30 to 35 percent in the past few years and can now be affordable to smaller companies.  Double-blind customer market research is the gold standard and well worth the expense, but it's not feasible for all companies. However, even a small investment in research can reap huge returns. Some less expensive and free alternatives to find out what your customers want include sharing the expense with an industry association; partnering with an organization that needs the same information or a peer that doesn't compete with you; hiring a college intern; or creating an online survey using a free basic service, such as Survey Monkey.

About Jaynie L. Smith

Jaynie L. Smith is CEO of Smart Advantage, Inc., a marketing/management consultancy whose clients range from mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies. She consults nationally and internationally with CEOs and executives to help them define their companies' competitive advantages.  Her first book, "Creating Competitive Advantage" (Doubleday Currency; 2006), is in its 11th printing and is consistently ranked in the top 1-2 percent on Amazon.com for marketing and management books. She holds undergraduate and master's degrees from the New York Institute of Technology.

with U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley

Q:        What needs to be done to improve the oversight of medical device safety?

A:        Post-market surveillance of medical devices should be as effective as possible in order to preserve the fast-track approval process that gets new and innovative medical products on the market for consumers.  There's an opportunity this year to pass legislation to strengthen the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to run a robust post-market surveillance operation and to act quickly when a medical device safety problem is discovered.  By September 30, Congress must renew a program that collects fees from the medical device industry to help pay for safety reviews by the Food and Drug Administration.  Along with Senators Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, I introduced a bipartisan bill (S.1995) late last year that would let the Food and Drug Administration require post-market clinical studies for medical devices that pose potential safety risks if those devices were first approved through a fast-track process that's allowed for moderate risk devices.  These changes should be passed along with renewal of the medical device user fee program.  Our bill also would allow the Food and Drug Administration to implement a routine assessment of device recalls, develop enhanced procedures and criteria for assessing the effectiveness of recalls, and document the agency's basis for terminating individual recalls.  These changes were recommended in a 2011 report of the Government Accountability Office.  The report showed that such gaps in the system today limit the ability of manufacturers and the Food and Drug Administration to make sure recalls are implemented in a timely and effective manner.  In addition to requesting the report and seeking legislative reform, Senator Kohl, Senator Blumenthal and I also have asked five companies that have recalled faulty medical devices for detailed information about how they conduct post-market surveillance and how the companies have managed recalls of hip implants, surgical mesh, heart defibrillators, knee replacements, and spinal fusion products.

Q:        What about other efforts to track defective medical devices?

A:        As part of a law enacted in 2007, a tracking system for medical devices was created to enhance post-market surveillance of medical devices, improve data collection on medical devices, and allow companies and the FDA to track faulty devices when problems occur.  This Unique Device Identifier (UDI) system would require implantable devices to carry a unique numerical identifier so products can be tracked through the distribution chain and after they've been used with patients.  Even so, the UDI system has yet to be implemented.  At this point, the plan is stuck at the Office of Management and Budget, which must approve what the Food and Drug Administration submitted last summer.  The sooner this system is in place, the better for patients who have received medical devices.  Senator Kohl, Senator Blumenthal and I have urged the Office of Management and Budget to act and, this month, I joined Senator Jeff Merkley in introducing a bill (S.2193) that would require a final UDI rule by the end of 2012.  The legislation also would add medical devices to a post-market surveillance initiative launched in 2008.  This Sentinel system is an integrated electronic system that tracks prescription drug safety nationwide.  The post-market surveillance work of the Food and Drug Administration must be empowered to use the valuable information about drugs and devices available when millions of people start using products, compared to what can be known before a drug or device goes on the market.

March 19, 2012

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2012 - Tomorrow, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will host a media conference call on the 2^nd anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.  He will be joined by Carolyn Sheridan, a rural health care provider from Spencer, Iowa. Sheridan also serves as the Clinical Director of AgriSafe, a non-profit organization representing health professionals who provide health care services to farm families.

The President's health law gives hard working, middle-class families the security they deserve.  The Affordable Care Act forces insurance companies to play by the rules, prohibiting them from dropping your coverage if you get sick, billing you into bankruptcy through annual or lifetime limits, and, soon, discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition.

As chair of the White House Rural Council, Secretary Vilsack is working to ensure that rural Americans are aware of the many ways the Affordable Care Act impacts them.  Specifically, rural families will see improved access to care, new options for those with pre-existing conditions, coverage for young adults so they can remain locally and contribute to their rural economies, and reduced insurance barriers to emergency services.