Building your Company’s Customer Insights Department How to become a key resource for your company’s decisions about … Increasing sales Raising prices Beating the competition Version 1B 8/4/17

Be a resource for reliable information from many sources Strategy 1: Be a resource for reliable information from many sources

Meet With Each of the Product Managers Ask each product manager for a 30-minute meeting Come in with a list of questions, to find our their problems. Which products are doing well? Which are not doing so well? Why? Are your pricing levels good enough? Is a competitive problem worrying you? What’s in your pipeline? Are you confident that it will be a success? What do you wish you knew about customers’ attitudes? Which salespeople are providing you with customer insights? How good is that information? Tell them you can focus on a few major issues, and deliver information to help them make decisions, reduce risk, and stand out. Don’t tell them you can “do market research”. (Not interesting.)

Work With Any Existing Interest in Market Research Learn what their attitude toward market information is. Have they seen a focus group or listened to an interview? Web surveys: any experience with that? What went well? What did not? If there is any opportunity for a market information initiative, take it off their hands. Offer to do the whole project. Stay closely in touch so you have a valuable deliverable. Stay open to using their favorite method. Agree to reach out to their most important customer. Learn how they like to receive results.

Stay up to Date with Published Industry Information Use the web to be the “nerve center” of information. Monitor news on every competitor Monitor news on relevant technologies Know the latest about big customers and customer groups Stay up to date on regulatory changes Find off-the-shelf reports about your industry Write a little summary every month or every quarter. Hand it out to marketing and product development people Watch for their reaction; see who values this information Try to get time at a marketing management meeting to present what you know. Don’t be fooled by the people who say “we already knew all of that”. They didn’t.

Go to Sales Meetings and Listen for Challenges Listen to management presentations. What are their goals? What is holding them up? What do they need to know? Talk individually with some salespeople. What are they trying to do? What problems do they have with the products or product line? Why did they lose an order? Find someone who just joined your company from a competitor How did the competitor succeed? What were their weaknesses? Is the competitor worried that your company will do something? What is it? Write a summary and hand it out. Summarize what you heard at the sales meeting Offer some solutions that involve research, surveys, interviews, groups, etc.

Go to Major Conventions and Learn Everything Make an agenda for yourself before each major trade show. List companies who are exhibitors Locate them on a map of the convention center Decide on your priorities: big companies, small innovators, etc. Walk around the convention and take notes. Look at their displays Watch any public presentations What are they emphasizing? Are they listing their key customers? Do not break the convention rules or invade their space! Attend sales meetings, information updates, etc. to see what your own people are saying. Write a summary about each company you have studied. Hand it out back at the office.

Pro-actively find your best opportunities, and offer results. Strategy 2: Pro-actively find your best opportunities, and offer results.

Initiate Market Info Projects – Don’t Wait for Them Focus on a problem that is important to your product managers, VPs, or product development people. Suggest a method for solving the problem by providing information. Explain how you can deliver information that will help them make a decision. But: Make sure you are delivering value, not just spending money. Stay away from projects that are done only to “prove a point” or “support a conclusion”.

Know Your Own Competition Here are management’s alternative sources of information: They can guess or use intuition, because they are experts They can ask a few salespeople for their answer They can visit a few customers and ask them Be ready to explain why an organized market information study is better than these alternatives. A bigger sample of answers has less chance of being wrong Your internal customer will be able to tell his or her boss that they studied the market very carefully. A well-designed study will give information from many types of customers, who use various methods for choosing a vendor. Don’t miss out on key customer groups! There are probably examples of outspoken salespersons who did not really provide the best answer.

Communicate and Sell your Services Internally, in Language They Understand Don’t tell them you can “do a survey”. Instead, tell them you can… Find out what customers want and need Determine the best price for higher revenue Learn how to make the sales job easier Decide on the best design, from the users’ perspective Wording your solutions in terms that matter for marketers, salespeople, and engineers will win. Remember that they are not interested in spending money on surveys, focus groups, etc. They just want to do better at their jobs. You are the person who knows which “tools” and “methodologies” to use. Your internal customers don’t really care; they care about useful results that will help them with their goals. Start small. A little project with good results is better than none. Just do 3 interviews. Just do a survey with n=25. Do the fieldwork yourself if necessary to prove your point.

Make your market research projects fun and valuable Strategy 3: Make your market research projects fun and valuable

Get Your Internal Team Involved in Gathering Market Information Ask marketing people if they want to draft the questionnaire or discussion guide. (This might be an enjoyable exercise for them!) Let them make suggestions about methods, locations, sampling, etc. Even if they are not experts at this, they may have good ideas. Remember that getting everyone involved and committed is more important that sticking with rules and standards. Phone interviews? Allow everyone to listen in – or distribute the audio recordings promptly. In-person groups or interviews? Invite everyone and encourage them to watch and provide feedback to you. Web survey? Distribute partial results as they come in. Ask for comments and critique when you have some answers. Writing a summary report? Share drafts with key internal clients and ask for comments.

Select Outside Vendors Who Really Help You With Your Goals Vendors who listen to your needs, and make suggestions based on their experience will make your project a success. Avoid vendors who only want to follow directions without thinking. Choose a vendor who can communicate well with your internal clients. You don’t have to be the only conduit for information flow. The project may need to be “sold internally”; this is not a small challenge. Hand off some of this responsibility to the vendor; easier for you! Be sure they can make an effective report and presentation, that works for your internal group. Remember that the biggest impact on your company comes from delivering reliable information, in a way that facilitates better sales, marketing, and product development. Getting a low price for a project does not always provide a large benefit to the company.

InforMedix - 2018 Version 1B 8/4/17

InforMedix Marketing Research, Inc. InforMedix Marketing Research provides customized market research to manufacturers of medical products, healthcare service providers, and professional associations. Studying new and complex medical products and services has been a key focus of InforMedix since its inception. InforMedix works to provide quality market information that can be quickly and directly incorporated into product development, marketing and sales plans. 125 Faiefield Way, Suite 104 Bloomingdale, IL 60108 Phone: 847-764-8901 Skype: informedix.office Email: Info@InforMedixMR.com Website: www.InforMedixMR.com