In today’s fast-paced business environment, executives in leadership and marketing are often responsible for the task of driving innovation and influencing positive change within their organization. Inevitably, those looking to shake up the status quo will be met with opposition and concerns from stakeholders impacted by change. Leaders of change know the future is uncertain and that they are walking into new territory which brings along inherent risk. Therefore, they must invoke confidence in others through their character and come prepared to articulate why their strategy will be successful using objective truths about their industry.
Market research is the ideal tool for leaders hoping to achieve these goals because insights from customers and industry experts are persuasive and provide the foundation needed to convince others that proposed outcomes will be accomplished. Here are a few ways we have seen company personnel successfully leverage market research to support their appeal for refining, optimizing, and even implementing new operations.
- Customer insights: We consistently promote the business philosophy championed by industry leaders like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tricia Griffith (Progressive), and Lynsi Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) of putting customer needs as the central focal point of attention. Through research programs like Client Satisfaction, Win/Loss, and Voice of the Customer, your team is provided verbatim quotes that support your objectives coming straight from those who matter most to your company’s success – your customers.
- Competitive intelligence: Knowledge is power and competitive insights help position your ideas among market strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; and help you outmaneuver potential opposition from competitors.
- Risk mitigation: Market research provides foresight into the effects of change. Partnering with qualified research experts to interview the right audience and ask direct questions in an unbiased tone helps solicit the information companies are troubled to ask for on their own. For example, asking customers how they would respond if Company X increased prices by 10% while increasing value by 150% is a job best left to an unbiased interviewer and should not come directly from a company rep who will inevitably try to sell their idea instead of listening to interviewees’ answers.
- Product development: Product teams are as hungry as ever to know what customers and prospects want and expect from them. Winning developers’ support with ideas and new challenges to overcome can propel change within a business faster than most other factors.
- Maximized ROI: Every dollar matters when running a business, and market research ensures its optimal allocation. By identifying high-yield market segments, aligning strategy with customer needs, and understanding how value is defined, pioneers of change can pull focus from cost and redirect it to seeing the upside of investing in Product or Service X.
The more informative your message, the more persuasive it will be. Market research is the answer to becoming an expert in the subject of your pursuit, understanding your audience, and effectively prioritizing resources to deliver the highest quality to customers. If there is a chance that Ideba can help you achieve these or other objectives, please contact us via our website or leave a message on LinkedIn.
Lee Sumner – Research Director
