What Should Be on Your Organization's End-of-Year Market Research
and Consulting Shopping List?
The end of each year is typically the time when an organization either runs out of budget for market
research and consulting projects, or it still has some budget left to fund small programs, or get some
larger programs kicked off. Either way - November and December are generally the "use it, or lose it"
months, budget-wise! While we do not ever advocate spending your budget dollars on frivolous consulting
projects, there may very well be some targeted, focused, and highly effective market research and
consulting programs that can enable your organization to get off to a much quicker - and more effective start immediately after the beginning of the year. Did I hear someone say, "2004"? Well, it's just around
the corner, and now may be the last best time you have to benefit from some actionable market
information that will allow you to kick off 2004 with a much more orchestrated and coordinated approach.
Read on to see what should possibly be added to your end-of-year market research and consulting
shopping list!
At this point in the year, businesses can typically be divided into two main categories: (1) those that already
have a plan in place to start off 2004 with their feet running at 120 miles per hour - all in the right direction;
and (2) those that may not yet have either a plan - or a clue - as to what their first actions should be going into
the new year. Many in the former category may now find themselves looking for additional market, customer,
or competitive information to provide a last-minute "sanity check", or to expand their knowledge base to
include as much tactical information as possible to ensure that they will be making all the right moves, at the
right times, in all the right markets as the new year begins.
However, those in the latter category may, instead, find themselves highly concerned that they will enter the
new year with little focus, little direction, and no plan for keeping pace with their customers' demands - or their
competitors' actions. In either case, more data, information, and knowledge is needed - and there is certainly
enough time between now and the end of the year to design, compile, analyze, and use it to kick off the new
year with as much "ammunition in your belt" to improve your chances for success.
While some market research and consulting efforts may take a great deal of time and resources to design
and conduct, others may be conducted quickly, easily - and effectively - yielding much of the last-minute
information and support you will require to get things off the ground in 2004. Here are some possible ways to
maximize the impact of year-end market research and consulting under a number of alternative business
scenarios:
1. If your organization has recently launched (or plans to launch) new products, services, or
support offerings, the present timeframe is perfect for “testing” the market for these new offerings,
including the ability to:
- Conduct a new product/service feasibility study among existing and/or prospective customers to
identify and quantify the specific “matches” between the new offerings’ attributes, and prospective
customers’ expectations, needs, demands, and preferences. After Thanksgiving - with the
exception of the week between Christmas and New Years Day - a limited scope, highly targeted
prospective customer survey can easily be conducted to identify the key attributes that customers
want from the new products and services; the “matches” (and gaps) between their wants and your
product/service offerings; and the best ways in which to communicate the principal “matches” to
them (i.e., getting the right word out, to the right segments, through the most effective marketing
and promotional media, etc.).
- Prepare an internal/external services “spec sheet” to inform and educate both your internal
employees (i.e., sales, marketing, services, product managers, etc.) and your external market base
(i.e., existing customers, new prospects, industry analysts, media groups, etc.) as to what
specifically your new offerings are (and are not); what their principal attributes, value, and benefits
are; and why they will need to purchase/acquire them as soon as possible. Your internal sales force
cannot sell your new products and services unless they know what they are, who to sell them to,
and what to include among their principal selling points.
- Prepare a targeted marketing and promotional campaign to ensure that the proper “message” is
articulated and communicated to the targeted market base. Most organizations already have their
own internal or outsourced marketing and PR resources; however, these resources are typically
only good at writing and disseminating “news” about corporate earnings, promotions, acquisitions,
new facilities, and other “ribbon-cutting” events. Where they are often deficient is in articulating the
true essence of your new product offerings beyond merely the new features, brand names, and
model numbers. The “real” market for these new services will be those organizations (and
individuals) who will need to see (i.e., read and view) a more detailed, focused, and meaningful
description of what you have to offer (generally in terms that are well beyond what your internal or
outsourced PR resources can create). Now is the time to get your “messages” articulated, so that
once your new products and services are ready to “hit the street”, your “message” has already
reached your market targets.
- Conduct an internal operations assessment for delivering the new product/service offerings to
identify whether your existing service operations need to be merely “tweaked”, or totally
reengineered in order to meet the demands of a changing services delivery model. If you’re
planning to change your product and services portfolio, you will most certainly also need to change
your service delivery model.
2. If your organization has experienced (or anticipates experiencing) declines in sales, revenues, or
market share, now is a critical time to gain a better understanding of the underlying reasons for these
declines, attainable through the ability to:
- Conduct a limited-scope, focused customer needs and requirements assessment/customer
satisfaction survey designed to identify the specific reasons for why customers “buy” - and don’t
“buy” - the company’s products and services; what their plans are for acquiring/purchasing the
company’s products and services in the future; what their prospective price points will be; and other
key decision-making and influencing factors. While larger studies of larger customer bases take
longer to complete, there may still be some designated customer/market segments where a more
focused study can be conducted relatively quickly.
- Conduct a market awareness, image, and reputation study among a targeted market universe base
in order to see where there may be any major “disconnects”, or “kick-out” factors that prevent your
market targets from becoming customers. The general “rule of thumb” is that if your sales,
revenues, or market share are declining among your existing customer base, and the market as-awhole already knows who you are, what you do, and what you offer - then, you may be
experiencing the beginning of a long (or, rather, quick), hard decline. However, if the marketplace
does not know who you are, what you do, and what you offer - then, you may actually be in a
situation where all you really need to do is to better understand the segments where the market
isn’t already aware of your capabilities, offerings, image, and reputation - and direct your marketing
and promotional “messages” directly to those segments (i.e., an entirely more positive scenario).
One would think that now would be the most opportune time to be able to distinguish between
these two diverse (i.e., one negative, and one positive) scenarios before attempting to rectify the
situation.
3. If your organization has recently acquired, or merged with, another services organization (or
plans to do so in the coming year), now may be the time to:
- Conduct a limited-scope, highly-focused survey of customers of the company to be acquired, as
part of a due diligence program. The results of such a survey would provide the acquiring
organization with current, executive-level findings that would answer most of the outstanding
questions relating to areas such as “Are our two organizations really a good match?”; “Is the
integration of the new customer base into our historical customer base more likely to strengthen or
diminish our existing levels of customer satisfaction?”; and “What is the true ‘goodwill’ (i.e., value) of
the customer base we will be acquiring?” Surveys of this nature may include a little as 25
customers, and may easily be conducted before the end of the year.
- Conduct an internal operations assessment of one or both companies to identify how well - or not
well - the impending post-merger integration is likely to go. More extensive assessments will
ultimately be required as the merger grows nearer; however, now is a good time to conduct a premerger/acquisition Business Scan© that will provide you with as much preliminary insight and
knowledge as possible before entering into the final stages of the deal. Once the deal is completed,
there will be no need to start at square one - that will have already been done!
- Conduct a prospective user/market overview and assessment of the relevant environment in which
the newly merged company will be competing for business. You may or may not already fully
understand the market in which your organization presently serves; however, you will almost
certainly be well behind in your understanding of what the new (i.e., merged) market will look like and demand - unless you look specifically at each of the primary components of the new
marketplace (i.e., vertical segments such as financial, medical, manufacturing, communications,
etc.; horizontal segments such as technology, applications, and uses, etc.; or “niche” markets, etc.).
Knowing your new markets before attempting to sell them your “old” products and services will be well - critical!
- Conduct a competitive intelligence overview and assessment of who your new competitors will be;
how your old competitors are likely to act or react; and how your own organization will need to
change to prepare itself for an entirely new set of competitors. Competitive services vendor
intelligence and profiling can easily be performed at this time, or any time, of the year - and can be
effectively used to launch the newly merged company in the new year without any delay.
4. If your organization is like any other services organization, there are still some market research and
consulting tools you can utilize before the end of the year, including:
- Conduct a limited-scope, highly-focused Customer Needs & Requirements Assessment to identify
the specific areas where you will need to focus next year in terms of improving service delivery
performance, as well as corresponding levels of customer satisfaction and retention.
- Conduct an Operations Assessment and Business Process Evaluation/Reengineering program
(such as SFGSM’s Business Scan©) to identify where your current operations may reflect
inefficiencies or redundancies, and where you will need to focus next year on making specific,
prioritized operational improvements. Following the completion of the initial Business Scan©, the
organization will be in a much better position to plan on what specific areas will require more
intense evaluation, and how to best implement the changes that will be required to result in both
immediate, and longer-term, process improvement.
- Conduct a Market Awareness, Perception and Vendor Consideration Survey as a companion piece
to a Customer Needs & Requirements/Customer Satisfaction Survey, to establish corresponding
baseline measures among the organization's non-customer target markets, thereby allowing you to
identify the specific factors that drive the general market’s decision-making processes with respect
to the procurement and utilization of your company's products, solutions, and support services
- Conduct a Vertical Market Segment/Competitive Vendor Analysis and Profiling Study to identify,
analyze, and prioritize the most attractive vertical market segments/sub-segments for future
business development, and profile the most relevant vendors that you will be competing with in your
"new" market space.
- Conduct a Channel Partner Needs & Requirements/Satisfaction Survey in your principal channels
(e.g., dealers, distributors, resellers, VARs, etc.) to determine their respective sales, marketing, and
technical support needs & requirements from your organization, as well as to identify what more they
may require in the future to assist in their ability to sell your company’s products, services and
solutions.
- Conduct specifically-focused market research studies in areas such as exploratory market analyses
of individual vertical market segments to determine and prioritize their general attractiveness, and
business development potential, etc.; or other types of market and/or survey research that would
result in the company’s increased ability to identify, understand, assess, and prioritize its most
attractive market targets/prospects, and “arm” its salespeople with as much “pre-qualified” market
information as possible, before they make their 2004 sales calls.
- Have a White Paper or Published Article “ghostwritten” in your behalf to get your “message” out to
your targeted markets, as focused as possible, and as soon as possible.
Granted, some of these market research and consulting programs may take longer than just a month or
two to design, execute, and complete. However, nearly all can be effectively kicked-off in a relatively short
period of time - and many can be completed, with a final report on your desk before New Years Eve! That
is, if you start quickly!
Every business manager would conceivably benefit from having a “fruit salad” of “low hanging fruit”
cultivated before the end of the year. In order to accomplish this, however, some choices will have to be
made quickly. If your organization still has some budget dollars left for the current year, perhaps there
have been some ideas contained in this newsletter that you may wish to pursue further. But, even if there
are no dollars left for this year, now is also the best time to get your plans - and resources - firmed up for
an immediate jump start right after January 1st.
Until next time, keep your customers satisfied!
Bill
William K. Pollock
President
Strategies For GrowthSM
P.O. Box 1024
Westtown, PA 19395
USA
Tel: (610) 399-9717
Fax: (610) 399-9718
E-Mail: wkp@s4growth.com
Website: www.s4growth.com