The research4 blog

This is research4

 

Welcome to the research4 blog. Well it's 2010 and we have finally got round to doing what we should have done three years ago. This blog is designed to give you some insights into our inner thoughts on the world of market research. We hope you enjoy....

Telemarketing - is it just me or does it feel wrong!

I'm having a bad day.

I set out at the start of the day to do sales calls, but there is a battle going on in my head between Sales John and Marketing John and they have reached stalemate. You see it's like this: I struggle with the value of B2B cold calls. I don't have a problem with doing it, I'm just not sure its the best use of my very limited time, when I could be positioning myself in front of many more people through emarketing, my blog, Twitter, etc.

  And anyway hasn't this sweaty-palmed, Rottweiler gatekeeper avoiding, voicemail message leaving approach to marketing ( because don't forget sales is just part of your marketing mix) something that was left behind in the 80s and 90s when we didn't have the wonderful world of social media and the ability to engage with our audience and communicate with them one to one.

I think that part of the problem is that I used to sit on the client side and had to deal with being bombarded with these types of sales call, and quite frankly they were a pain in the arse. Every now and then I would be seduced by a particular approach and concede to a credentials pitch. This was very rare.

I've also never been this accountable to the sales performance of the business - my business , until now and there is also no one challenging my sales pipeline on a daily basis, a sort of virtual sales director asking me on the progress of each lead I have.

Perhaps there is something about the tangible nature of this sales approach that makes you feel good. It also makes those awkward "so what did you do today dear" conversations much easier to have." I spoke to 6 people about our services, caught up with some old contacts, had some positive feedback, left 12 voice mail messages, scheduled 4 meetings etc etc " This sounds much more butch, and go-getting than " I wrote a blog post - Ah-hem - , designed an email template, posted some witty remarks on Twitter, Followed several key people etc etc " you get the picture. However, when quantifying the value of each approach it might be that they are both as important in ultimately getting the sale. 

The whole "build it and they will come" approach to B2B marketing where you just put ourself out there and hope that the people with budgets and a need see you and get in touch is all well and good  , but you are relinquishing control of your sales and marketing process. The "traditional" sales call however, just seems outdated and irrelevant.

I need to sit down and revise my marketing strategy , but for now I will continue to test and re-test approaches to market, oh and write a few more blog posts along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best practice in communicating market research

I've taken it upon myself recently to complain about the market research industry's collective inability to communicate research results. I'm really keen to do something about this as it is an area that we can really add some credibility to our industry, so I have pulled together a best practice guide in conjunction with Trevor Wilkinson at Purple market research ( www.purplemr.co.uk  ) .

The guide was originally put together following a workshop we both conducted for higher education market researchers, but the general guidelines and principles apply across all sectors.

Here is the link to the guide.

Best Practice for communicating market research October 2010

 A lot of our ideas when you read them seem like common sense. In a perfect world without internal politics, overbearing stakeholders with personal agendas, bosses with targets to meet, or researchers with very little time then that may be the case.

The communication of the research results should be at the forefront of the researchers mind all the way through the project, not just at the end when the project debrief is two days away and the presentation hasn't been started yet.

 

 

Why are market researchers so !xx?!ing bad at communicating market research findings?

This was my title for a submission paper for the New MR virtual festival http://newmr.org/ being held in December. 

Now I am sure not all market researchers are bad communicators, but I think it is often difficult to communicate market research for a number of reasons including the constraints and expectations placed on the researcher by their company and their client. However, some of the blame must sit with the researchers themselves and their lack of creativity and general desire to remain un-noticed.

I am not a communications expert, far from it.  I have had to deliver a lot of presentations and I have sat through a lot of bad ones, including bearing witness first hand to some shockers delivered by me! 

I want to try and open up the debate to see if we as an industry can stop lurking in those dark recesses of the business world occupied by the IT geeks, the bean counters and the apologetic researchers.

 Anyway here is my submission. It will appear on the Newmr website soon so if you want to hear me opine about this fascinating subject then make sure you vote for me.

My Paper Synopsis

This presentation will argue that market researchers are not particularly good at communicating market research findings, be it in a report, presentation or other method. Market research as a discipline has yet to truly adopt available technology and new thinking in information delivery and lags way behind other more “creative” marketing disciplines.

The presentation will provide evidence for this contention by covering two areas:

1: Current practices for the delivery of market research results looking at the extent to which market research has (or indeed hasn't) embraced new technologies and styles of delivery to meet client and stakeholder requirements for insight.

2: Ideas for a new dawn in creativity in the delivery of market research results - The focus will be to help the researchers of tomorrow step away from presentation mediocrity using visual and creative thinking to connect with and enlighten their audiences. New styles of presenting, technology and resources to aid the researcher will be covered outlining new and innovative styles of information delivery.

 

 

Riding Elephants in Northern France

This post gushes uncontrollably over Switch: How to change things when change is hard. The latest offering from Chip and Dan Heath which has had a big impact on my understanding of how we change behaviour.

 

The brothers Heath have the ability to get straight to the point with their books then spend the rest of their time explaining the concept in greater detail.

This book follows on from their very engaging Made to Stick, When some ideas survive and other die about delivering more effective communications.

The Switch Principle by Chip and Dan Heath

Introduction

The principle is based on the analogy of the rider and the elephant ( borrowed from Haidt ) . Our emotional side is the elephant and the rational side is its rider. Sat on the elephant the rational rider has the reigns and seems to be in control, but the rider is small in relation to the elephant. In an instant the emotional elephant could take control and go where ever it wants.

In a nutshell then there are three important elements than need to be considered to change behaviour:

1: Influence the rider: What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity - provide crystal clear direction.

2: Motivate the elephant: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. The rider can't get his way by force for very long. So it is critical than you engage a persons emotional side - get their elephants on the right path and make them cooperative.

3: Shape the Path - What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. ( they call the situation the path) . When you shape the path you make change more likely.

So that's it - simple. And I suggest you go out and buy the book. 

I had first hand experience of this recently while on holiday driving through northern France. After programming our destination (the french market town of Verdun) into the trusted SatNAV we set off along the toll roads. About an hour from our destination my other half (and co-pilot) was studying a good old fashioned map and came to the conclusion that we should in fact ignore the satnav and head across country  Now bearing in mind we had already been travelling for 5 hours I wasn't particularly excited about this suggestion as it would add another 30 minutes to our driving time.

As we continued to plough on along the toll road, now in silence as my rebuttal of said suggestion hadn't gone down too well, I started to analyse the situation using the Switch principles. I concluded that all my co-pilot had done was appeal to my rational side : " lets go along the minor roads and try to save money by not paying the toll charge"

If she had combined that with "... oh and perhaps we might get to see some more of the lovely French countryside and it will make the journey a little more interesting.". - this would have appealed more to the tired and irritable elephant behind the wheel.

 

 

What is it about Seth Godin?

What is it about Seth Godin that makes me want to listen to what he has to say?

Having thought for a while I think I have come up with the answer and it boils down to two things. 1: He is succinct and 2: He tells a good story. 

1: Succinct: The brevity of his messages that are fired out on a regular basis to those of us that want to listen are such that when I see he has put a new post on his blog I can view it straight away. I know it will only take me a couple of minutes to read, digest and carry on with my day. His latest blog post is only 160 words long. It took me less than a minute to read.Have a look and see what I mean.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/07/the-art-of-seduction.html

2: Stories: He can capture your attention with a good story. I watched his TED talk on tribes that we lead. He spoke for 20 minutes and he told a story. In the age of information overload we forget how important it is to connect with humanity and tell story. He articulates his points with real people. This is so important.

One other thing he did which I thought was great was that he brought reality to the room ( See Chip and Dan Heaths Book Made to Stick for hints on presenting - this is one of their ideas) Get to 3.44 on the video and see what he does. This is subtle yet so effective. Watch and see what I mean.

Communicating Market Research Results

Communicating market research findings is a subject I'm very interested in, and it is this area I believe is the main way that market researchers need to improve if we are going to add real business value. In a paper I pulled together a couple of years ago on customer satisfaction research the key findings on how to make the research successful ( definition of success: research is used and things change) were related to the communication of the research findings, and the tactics employed to maximise their impact within the company. My research detail diamond ( not a very catch name but does what it says on the tin) was the way I tried to get across the need for varying levels of detail in the research communications depending on two factors 1: The level of seniority of the audience, 2: Their proximity to the customer relationship. The theory is that for operational staff on the front line the findings need to be kept simple and easy to understand and this is the same for senior execs. Having looked at this concept again a couple of years since I put it together it is still relevant, and can be applied in general terms to all market research results. The proximity to the customer is perhaps not so relevant as c-sat is measuring transactional effectiveness, but seniority of the audience is. 

I was prompted to post specifically on this detail diamond concept by a tweet to me from Jeff Henning of Vovici ( check out his blog here  http://blog.vovici.com/ ) I guess the concept of feedback management is at the heart of what jeff is doing and my idea possibly struck a chord with him. 

Anyway here is the Diamond brought up to date for 2010. You could argue that it is making a very straight-forward concept quite complex, but I think that as researchers the more we can understand our audience and how they consume research findings the better we will become at adding really value to the business process. 

 

The Role of Market Research in B2B Lead Generation

Market research is the first step in the lead generation process

 To maximise your sales and marketing ROI you need to be targeting the right prospects with the right messages at the right time. Market research is the logical first step in this process and it need not be expensive. Carrying out a thorough market research exercise will help you understand your market opportunity, focussing your efforts on the decision makers you should be talking to. And with B2B data decaying at a rate of up to 40% a year it is vital to uncover targeted and accurate data sources from which to build and maintain your marketing database.

 Why carry out expensive primary market research when the information might already be available in the public domain? Desk research carried out by someone who knows where to look for the information will very quickly give you a picture of your market in terms of its structure, competition, market drivers and key players. If it is a niche market with limited available information then the desk research could be enhanced with interviews of industry experts or gurus.

Conducting Customer Satisfaction Research

Here is an overview of a paper I put together a couple of years ago on customer satisfaction research. The points I make are still very relevant today so I thought I would share them with you. Click the link at the bottom for a more in-depth guide.

To implement a successful customer satisfaction project it is worth considering the following 12 points which cover all stages of the customer satisfaction research process.

1.  Get a senior management project sponsor who will champion change as a result of the  research findings.

2. During project set up make sure that representatives from customer facing departments are all involved. Get their buy in early on.   

3. Use a research partner to add credibility to the process so the results are seen as a true reflection of how the customer perceives the company.

4. This research partner should also be experienced in managing the communication and dissemination of the research findings.

5. Keep the questionnaire simple by focussing on the issues that matter the most to the customer. 

6. Test the Net Promoter concept to see if it correlates with business performance in your particular sector.

7. Use the technology available for fieldwork and analysis. For example, where possible use the web as a mechanism for collecting customer feedback.

8. When communicating the research results make sure that the right information is delivered to the right people and in the right context. For example high level strategic information for senior management and high level operational information for customer facing staff.  

9. Have clear action plans that are focussed on making improvements in the areas that are more likely to influence customer satisfaction.

10. Identify likely internal barriers to effective communication and define a communications plan to overcome those barriers.

11. The communications plan should tell both customers and staff of the research findings and the action plans put in place to address the issues raised.

12. Where possible incorporate customer satisfaction measures into bonuses and remuneration packages.

  For further information click to download the full 4 page guide to running customer satisfaction research projects. Download Customer Satisfaction Success research4 - July 2010

Rory Sutherland - Sweating the small stuff and the need for a Chief Detail Officer in every company.

Watched this last night and I think this talk captures what TED is all about.

I am guilty of being conditioned this way. I would often use the excuse of not having a budget to not do stuff, or what might actually be worse, having a budget and feeling I need to spend every penny on doing something big and important, and eye catching.Now I don't have any money so I have to look at problems a little differently.

Rory's point about the need for senior execs to justifiy their inflated position and salary by doing big things - by making their mark - is very true.

This is where market research comes in. By understanding the small details and subteties that make the customer experience what it is. These small points are often missed by the senior managers who are a long way from the "transaction" with the customer.

Take some time to watch him speak then watch his other TED talks, very enjoyable.

Prezi.com

I have recently become obsessed finding new ways to present market research findings. I have always felt that Powerpoint has been consistently abused and mis-used for years and the world needed a better, more intuitive and creative way of delivering information to an audience. Well I think that solution might have arrived in the form of Prezi.com.

I am still getting to grips with its interface and I have yet to use it in anger, but the early signs are promising. 

Research4 Prezi on Prezi

This is a Prezi that I created for our stand at the Insight show. It is a pretty basic example given what can be achieved but despite that I think it is still visually very effective. 

The problem with Powerpoint has always been the constraints of the linear slide sequence and the constant desire for people to add text to bullet points. This had led to some shocking presentations ( of which I am sure I am guilty of one or two in the past which still make me cringe when I think of them) . 

So we might at last be moving into a new world that is no longer reliant on the dreaded Powerpoint slide show.