The Year of the Customer - Five Key Items

It’s that time of year again…the crisp fall air is setting in and soon Mother Nature will put on her fall wardrobe. What a fitting time to send your company back-to-school in style – with world-class research conducted by Business Development Directives. The key to effective research rests with three simple questions: What do you want to know? Who do you want to know it from? What is the best medium to collect that information? The following suggestions provide you several mediums to consider.

1. Don’t Re-invent the wheel. Secondary Research provides an ongoing systematic review of industry literature, databases and periodicals. It can help position an organization as experts in almost any of their customers’ many industries. Some aspects of almost all research are secondary in nature. This type of research can be used for positioning statements, public relations, in-person sales presentations, a company’s direct mail campaigns to segmented markets and to develop special reports. Additionally secondary research can be used for competitive analysis.
2. Using Market Intelligence to Market Intelligently. With an extensive background in competitive intelligence data gathering and analysis, Business Directives can help management develop a Competitive Intelligence Strategy, identifying 1. what competitive information is valuable to top-line decision making, 2. what sources will provide that information and 3. what resources will be employed to gather and disseminate the information.
3. Become the Expert in your Field. The value of industry research can be measured on several levels. At the core, the timely and strategic use of industry research can help position an organization as an industry expert. Built on this are the added benefits of: keeping in tune with your customer base through a better understanding of their needs, an ability to be proactive in challenging times and an opportunity to seek out new market niches across multiple industries.
4. “Focus” your Efforts. A focus group is little more than a gathering of a cross section of individuals from a particular market, who are brought together to “focus” on one topic. Focus groups are very popular for three reasons: They are relatively inexpensive to arrange, they provide a “snapshot” of the larger target market and they yield a wealth of qualitative information. And through the magic of modern on-line technology, focus groups have become even more effective, with the simple click of a mouse! You can have participants from all over the world without travel costs!
5. Mapping out your Success. Benchmarking research is an excellent way to identify a product or service’s standing within the marketplace as a whole, as well as where the competition stands. Through a formal 7-step approach or an abbreviated 3-step process, benchmarking is an effective way for world-class companies to learn from other organizations (both their successes and failures), while allowing them to “think outside the box,” and explore a more effective way of doing business. Benchmarking is ideal when organizations have questions and want only companies with “Best Practices” to assist them.