How market research clients can help their partners "come to the table"

This is the one of an occasional series of posts that focuses on strategic marketing.  Market researchers who are valued partners "at the table" are increasingly turning to their marketer skill set. 


I recently attended the AMA 2011 Research & Strategy Summit, and was reflecting on lessons learned from one year ago. One of my highlights was a breakout session entitled "How to Be A Bold Researcher", by Gayle Lloyd of Batesville Caskets.  This was wonderfully excerpted by @lennyism at GreenBook (http://www.greenbookblog.org/2010/09/28/a-few-quick-notes-on-the-ama-mrc/).

"Researchers of the future will need to be savvy business people first and researchers second.  The mantra “think like a business person act like a purveyor of information” will be the key to getting a seat at the table and keeping that seat. The skills to be a good researcher go way beyond data analysis. The researcher of the future will need to be a strategic and creative thinker, knowledge management guru, confident and most of all fearless and willing to go where no researcher has gone before and that’s just for starters."

One of the ways that Gayle integrates the research conducted at Batesville is through a twice-annual research summary. This step, built into the planning cycle, ensures that common threads and themes emerging across the research team are uncovered and synthesized. Importantly, these summaries are also shared with trusted research vendor partners.    More organizations should consider bringing their research partners into the planning, review and synthesis cycles.  Often researchers are selected for their niche expertise (whether this be expertise in certain types of research, geographic coverage, or other purpose), but may be one of several researchers actively working with a client organization. By ensuring that your researchers have "the big picture" you can also ensure that your researchers provide the strongest, most strategic insights possible.

The Strategic Marketer - Know your customer

This is the first of an occasional series of posts that focuses on strategic marketing.  Market researchers who are valued partners "at the table" are increasingly turning to their marketer skill set. 

My alma mater, Wilfrid Laurier University, is currently celebrating its centennial anniversary. As part of these celebrations, the university recently named 100 Alumni of Achievement. Cam Heaps, of Steam Whistle Brewery, represents my class, and I wanted to share a simple, but important lesson, courtesy of a speech given at the 2010 Market Research Industry Association Conference.

Greg Taylor, Cam's co-founder, first introduced the brewery, and its vision. A key to this vision is the employees of Steam Whistle, the "Good Beer Team". Greg told us that the employees of  Steam Whistle must know all aspects of the brewery, and must understand it's vision.

When asked by an audience member what advice he had for market researchers, he surprised us with his answer - the number of potential market research partners who came on a a sales visit, but failed the very first question they were asked - "Have you ever visited the brewery?".

In answering this question, Greg reminded us to practice what we preach  - if we are in the business of knowing consumers, we also need to know and understand our clients. This is the first, but most important step in being a strategic marketer.