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Market Researcher
Briefing a marketing researcher – Do’s and Don’ts
What must a marketer do to ensure that market
research he/she commissions
will produce useful results? In answer to this question, the following list
of some do’s and don’ts was compiled. It assumes that the survey is to be
carried out by a Marketing Research company, although most of the comments
are true for whoever carries out a survey:
- Give a written brief – don’t give an off-the-cuff presentation of the problems
and the objectives to be met by the market research.
- State whether the market research is needed to solve a particular problem
or is it needed to only monitor company performance.
- Provide full information on what is required and why the information
is required. Don’t hold back information because you feel you are paying
the researcher and it’s his job to find out.
Information to be provided to the researcher should be:
- background history of the company
- description of the type of business it is
- technical details of the product and service –brochures will sometimes
provide these.
- name the competitors as well as their strengths and weaknesses
- mention your own company’s strengths and weaknesses
- explain the type of sales force and distribution channels you are using
- spell out your decision objectives
- describe, in as much detail as possible, the problems you are experiencing
- point out any pitfalls that the researcher may run into that could affect
his accuracy
When a researcher works for you, he becomes a member of your team and you
must trust him and assist where possible.
Don’t try and get as much money’s worth as possible by loading the survey
with objectives because it’s going to cost you anyway.
Obtain a written proposal from the market research company. If you wish –
go out and get more quotes but remember a market research house will be more
loyal to you if you deal with it for all your market research requirements.
It will spend more time with you and go out of its way if it feels part of
your team
You can only compare quotes if you have given the same brief to each market
research company and if they are quoting on the same method of sampling, sample
size, method of analysis, etc. Different sampling methods, size and analysis
can produce widely differing quotes.
Discuss your decision objectives with the researcher so that he can convert
these into his research objectives.
Ensure that what the market research will provide the type of information
you need, i.e. don’t measure your advertising awareness when,
in fact, you want to measure whether advertising is affecting sales.
Ask who will be in hands-on-control of the market research project. Hold
periodic meetings with the market researcher and insist on contract reports.
If the market researcher needs more time, give it to him. You can never ensure
quality if you insist on deadlines.
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