In This Issue
Going to LIMRA’s Marketing Conference in Nashville on May 31 to June 1? We will co-present, with our client Unum, “Are You (Customer) Experienced? An Experience-Based Approach to Gathering New Insights.” The session will take place at 9:30 AM on Thursday, June 1st.
Join us for this presentation! Or email us at csrinfo@csr-bos.com to get together during the event.
“Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people.”
— Steve Jobs
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- Vol 12 Issue 4, April 2017
Hello!
Why did the golfer bring a spare shirt? In case he got a hole in one!Please don’t let that groan deter you from enjoying this month’s issue of CSR’s newsletter, Research With a Twist, titled, “Caddy Shack”.
— Julie
Caddy Shack
I don’t usually watch golf on TV. I also don’t watch grass grow, or paint dry. I’m funny that way. (I share Robin Williams’ hilarious “take” on the frustrations of golf).
Recently, though, I was visiting my uncle- he’s 91 and thinks grass grows waaaaay too fast — who can recite every known statistic about every golfer who has played the Masters (and many who have not). While watching this year’s tournament with him, I was especially struck by the amity between the two leaders, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia.
On the last day of a close-fought, premier tournament, Rose and Garcia actually rode in a golf cart together, chatting blithely while in transit to the next hole, each perfectly happy to be sitting side-by-side with his competitor. I tried to imagine Tom Brady not glaring murderously at anyone from the other team in the heat of the battle. It would never happen.
While it is true that Rose and Garcia are known to be good friends, I was still impressed with this golf-ish display of collaboration. In general, golf is known for its civility: partially because these athletes interact differently than do key players in basically every other professional sport. The punching, tackling and slamming that are cheered at other competitions are generally disdained on the back nine.
While for my sporting entertainment I tend to appreciate the combat and aggression embodied by, for example, the greatest quarterback of all time, when it comes to my “day job”, I prefer a Rose/Garcia approach. Inspired by this simpatico relationship between two top golfers, I’d like to share the following thoughts with you on the centrality of collaboration in the field of market research (let’s hear those polite, subdued golf claps!):
- Since no one person, or company, can do everything…
Of course, CSR would like to be the sole vendor to all of our clients. However, we know that this is unrealistic. While we expertly execute in all areas of market research, there are certain areas in which we bring our highest value. For example, we distinguish ourselves in qualitative research, any research among “high value audiences,” and research conducted in the financial services industry.
Because other research companies have different value propositions, the research world has enough room for all (well, most) of us. At industry events, for example, we spend a lot of time building relationships with competitors; we can all learn from each other. In fact, over the years, we’ve traded referrals and suggested certain competitors to clients when we weren’t the right fit for certain opportunities — drawing from the “shacks” of all those other knowledgeable caddies out there. Justin and Sergio would be proud! (More subdued golf claps…)
- …Everyone can use a “bench” of great players
Just like professional golfers dwell in the spotlight while their caddies quietly transport the clubs, we are happy to do the “heavy lifting” in the spirit of collaboration. Need a study designed, but don’t have time to write the specs? Done. Have time to talk by phone for 45 minutes, but don’t have time to write, program, and test a survey? Done. Need a survey fielded, but don’t have anyone to check and clean the data upon completion? Done. Need to conduct multiple in-depth interviews, but only have time to schedule and complete a handful yourself? Hold my beer.
Most importantly, conducting and analyzing multiple qualitative interviews is the kind of heavy lifting we excel at. Many of our best client relationships, in fact, began because it can be very time-consuming, frustrating and resource-heavy to properly analyze qualitative input, e.g., from IDIs, focus groups, open-ends in online surveys, or social media. Clients often start working with us to make that process easier and better. Like all good caddies, we assist with the win in any way we can!
- It’s not just about the golf!
Golf isn’t all about the game itself: It’s also about spending time with friends, colleagues and business associates at the 19th hole.
The same way golfers become dependent on a caddy for insightful advice and moral support, both on and off the green, we value the time we spend “off the green” with our clients as much as, or more than, the time on it. If you know us, you know how much we enjoy meeting clients in fun settings: at terrific restaurants, in lines at Universal Studios, at regional food and drink festivals, at Hamilton: An American Musical. For us, the basis of the relationship is work-related, but we wholeheartedly believe that to truly collaborate, it’s important to have fun together, too. The work will be more pleasant, but also, with familiarity comes better results — the better we know our clients and their businesses, the more effectively we can design studies and create reports.
Here’s the Twist: Many sports are aggressive and violent. That’s why we like them. However, the cooperative spirit of golf, and the reliance pro golfers have on their caddies, may be better analogies for how we work with research colleagues. Collaborating with other research providers, doing the low-profile work that makes our clients look good, and enjoying the company of our work partners, make us more like golfers and their caddies than quarterbacks and receivers. To those of us who appreciate support over swagger, we caddy-gorically say, “Let the golf carts, I mean, the good times, roll!”
— Julie
Mixology (Putting Research into Practice)
Collaboration is central to CSR’s research process. Here are three ways that we work with clients to ensure a high level of communication and cooperation:
- Use an in-depth startup meeting to explore ways to leverage each other’s strengths. Usually, our clients are more than capable of performing any and all tasks associated with a research initiative themselves. The issue is one of focus. For example, one of our clients did not have the resources to hold anywhere close to the number of interviews it needed to inform a high-level strategic study. During the startup meeting, the teams identified this as a major bottleneck, and we agreed that CSR would conduct interviews after the client completed a pilot phase and a handful of sensitive member discussions. We conducted, transcribed, and reported on the total base, over 90 hours of in-depth, executive-level feedback, so our client would have the time to stay more involved with all the other elements of the strategic planning effort.
- Creating rough drafts of deliverables to keep the process moving: Our clients are at times too busy to de-brief us on exactly what they need, or, are unfamiliar themselves with what new team members or management might be looking for. Given our research and industry experience, we will often create a rough draft of surveys or reports in order to provide a starting point for a discussion with our clients about what they need and prefer, in terms of content, emphasis, format, and approach.
- Build time into reporting for research team feedback: Rather than finish each research study and send a report, we incorporate at least one round of client feedback into our deliverables, often two. For example, the research team at one of our clients has been providing a round of feedback before end-users see the final deliverable. We have also provided the hands-on stakeholders an opportunity to share their input so that we can make a second round of changes before the business unit executives see the results.
Going to LIMRA’s Marketing Conference in Nashville on May 31 to June 1? We will co-present, with our client Unum, “Are You (Customer) Experienced? An Experience-Based Approach to Gathering New Insights.” The session will take place at 9:30 AM on Thursday, June 1st.
Join us for this presentation! Or email us at csrinfo@csr-bos.com to get together during the event.
“Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people.”
— Steve Jobs
About Us
The Center for Strategy Research, Inc. (CSR) is a research firm. The “Twist” to what we offer is this: We combine open-ended questioning with our proprietary technology to create quantifiable data. As a result our clients gain more actionable and valuable insights from their research efforts.
