According to the report by Facebook 2020, nearly one-third (31 percent) of small businesses in the U.S. are currently not operational. The last two years of uncertainty due to the pandemic is the one to blame. But few could have been saved. Though it is easy said than done, MR can step in here and try to be part of this support initiative:

1. Spare some of your resources to focus on the small businesses only. A team of few employees will be sufficient, but they must possess certain attributes to handle the market research needs of the SMBs:
   
   a. The team must be able to identify the viability of the business idea for the client and must put forward an honest opinion on whether the client should pursue the business idea. 
   b.Small businesses always have limited amounts for investment. The team must compile the business report which shows the further plan of action, at the minimal cost possible. 
   c. The team presents the small business owner with the feasibility plan, business plan and business coaching; any missing link here may result in losing the client. 

2. Provide enough arguments for letting small businesses know why they need an MR partner. Take on social media to get engaged, invite small businesses for basic hours of free business consultation, present real-time scenarios for more relatable conversations. 

3. Provide solutions at a reasonable cost. This may not be feasible in the beginning, but the growth of an MR is proportional to the growth of its client. Hence, there will be plenty of opportunities in future to go beyond your profit margins. 

We can’t stress more. Prepare a growth plan for each small business, so that when they grow, you grow. 

Being a business development outsource company, Research Lead, Inc is undertaking tasks like these and more, and act as a bridge between MR firms and SMBs. 

The company is led by an experienced professional, Syed Asif Hussain, who has invested his 30 years of marketing experience in building this company, to provide unmatched vendor-partner experience to the clients in the Market Research domain. We are an alternative option for lead generation; a one-stop business for acquiring and managing the clients for a Market Research company. Having said that, here is how we can offer a 360o business outsourcing to MR companies:

• Opportunity Identification
• Customized Business Development
• Key Account Management 
• Demand Generation
• Appointment Setting
• Industry / Company Research
• Lead Generation & Pipeline Tracking
• List Building
• Data Verification
• In-house Data Enhancement
• Tele-verification
• Strategy Consulting

Connect with us via DM, Email, phone or just leave your connection information in the comments below.

The post Approaching Small Businesses for a Market Research Service – Tap Into The Untapped appeared first on Research Leads.

The figures give a clear understanding of how impactful the insights and analytics industry of the US is.

 That’s a pretty picture. Now, imagine the ill effects of the Covid-19 level pandemic over this prosperous industry. 

With nationwide lockdown, businesses getting shut, people forced to land with online analysis only, the research industry has suffered a significant backdrop. 

There was one avenue that did keep the MR industry hopeful – the health and pharmaceutical industry. Research firms collaborated with the health departments to understand the trends and fears of this unknown intruder. 

By 2021, things have started approaching normalcy, but not before significant damage. Now, the Market Research establishments have more onus than before – they need to help their consumers to revive back, as well as themselves to get an understanding of what needs to be done, to put away the post-pandemic blues. 

The Post-Pandemic Blues

“Help yourself, to help others”.

It is simple yet powerful, especially in the present context. 

Before helping other businesses in getting back to their feet, the Market Research industry must delve into the changing trends. Start with answering the following questions:

• Check on your employees if they are sufficiently empowered. 
• Do your customers have the best way to reach you for solutions?
• Have you figured out the right KPIs that could measure current and future success?
• Do you feel the need to change the vision of your brand, based on the present situation?
• Is it more feasible to group together with a business consulting firm, to get new minds onboard for winning strategies?

These are some things we need to consider, not just to gain the revenue but for the best CX, non-hasty consumer insights or ill-advised decisions.

You can take a pause here and work on finding the answers to the above-mentioned questions. 

And if you have decided to read further on, then let’s continue to enlighten you. (We are in no mood to overwhelm you though.)

Halted Growth of Revenue

This is no secret.

The unblocking of blocked revenue streams is always on the top of your mind. Being a research company or a business consulting firm, you must have analyzed all possible reasons for the same; some are evident, while others are obscure. Our input is, read through the other points below, then revisit this topic. You may get a better understanding. 

Change in Buyers Purchase Behaviour

The past 2 years have been times for contagion, self-isolation, and economic uncertainty, for everyone. This made buyers cut back, trade down and put off their purchases. There is a huge change in different aspects of consumer behaviour – the way they spend their life at home, taking up their learning, communicating, entertaining themselves, travelling and maintaining their wellbeing. 

Pre-pandemic times, they were used to doing things in a certain manner. Visiting different stores to look for the perfect color, hopping bars, attending unlimited seminars, raising awareness for even the tiniest cause. 

Will they go back to the same lifestyle, once normalcy returns? Hmmm…

Affected Mode of MR buyers’ Businesses

Can you think of a business that can’t be taken online? Hard! Isn’t it?  Almost every business has moved over the cloud, internet, and social media. 

The better question to ask here is, “Could they compete, with the available resources and their will to hustle?” 

Businesses who have said “No”, are the ones feeling post-pandemic blues the most. In such a scenario, their next stop is a digital marketing company and the thought of approaching a research and insight company takes a backseat.

The better question to ask here is, “Could they compete, with the available resources and their will to hustle?” 

Use of Technology and Tools

The year 2020 has seen the “decade in days” in terms of the adoption of digital. Disney plus has seen an upsurge in just 5 months, which took Netflix to reach in 7 years (source: Report by McKinsey). 

Businesses, who used to rely on Market Research firms and business consulting services to understand the market behaviour and test the water before diving, chose digital learning and consumer insight tools. Technology-enabled online mediums grabbed their attention as they could deliver faster feedback than before. 

This mode is still on until the consumers will find more relevant offerings, with safety assurance. 

Our discussion doesn’t end here; we gave you problems, we are bound to give you solutions too. 

Stay connected with us.

The post The Post-Pandemic World & Its Impact on The Research Industry appeared first on Research Leads.

1. Your lead generation efforts are paying off well but you rarely have verified meetings with the prospects.
2. You invest a great deal of time to talk, one-to-one connect and then get a meeting with the lead. 
3. You are fairly new in the market research sector and wish to take a share out of this $47.14 billion industry.
4. You have established yourself well in some of the client markets, but are struggling to get into few others.
5. Your attention is focused on your core client functions and hence you lack supervision over client acquisition functions and sales lead pipeline. 

If you have nodded your head in “yes” for even one of these points, you must introduce yourself to alternative services here- the Business Development Outsourcing by Research Leads Inc. (RLI). 

Let’s get introduced

RLI is not a third-wheel between MR companies and their clients, rather a relevant bridge between them. Here is why we want to stand between you and your market research clients:

• We explore the clients for you, understand their requirements and pitch just-right services from your Market Research solutions. This is how we become a matchmaker, bringing together the right seeker and the provider.

•  The idea is to take your experience as a traditional market researcher, with a modern action plan and convince clients to invest in your market research services. 

•  Our business development services are exclusive to Market Research companies. This makes us. This has resulted in an accumulation of intense knowledge and effective solutions. 
• Our management team has a deep understanding of the Market Research Industry ecosystem. How? 25 years of marketing consultation experience and working with Fortune 1000, globally.

• SMBs and Mid-sized Market Research firms are the major focal points and we have the relevant skills to represent you in the market.

• We can help you reduce your marketing cost by 50% and on top of that, we are ready to start working on your client’s acquisition strategy from Day 1. No training is required.  

• B2B or B2C – you say it, we sway it.

• And the best of all, you own every project, as we seamlessly work with your researchers and marketing teams and are open to all the feedback.

Not Bragging, Just Some Facts

RLI believes in the concept of Microproductivity. 

Don’t think it is a word? Well! ignore the grammar and just appreciate the sentiments behind the concept. 

 The idea is to encourage our clients in the Market Research domain to break down their business functions into manageable subsets; we take care of the opportunity identification and building the right party connections, while they can focus on their core research business functions. 

Since our inception in the year 2016, we have come a long way in terms of clients, connections, knowledge and delivering successful strategic lead generation. The challenging year 2020 has added more to our experience database, where we formulated new ways of keeping our client’s lead pipeline active and growing. 

Post-covid, we became “Trusted Marketer for Market Researchers” where we helped an MR firm having three decades of Market experience, with rebuilding their depleting list of active leads. 

You will be glad that we met

You have read a lot till now. Let us summarise what we can do for your Market Research Business. In other words, here is a list of our managed services:

• Opportunity Identification & Strategy Consulting
• Lead Generation & Appointment Setting
• Customized Business Development
• Customized List Building & Tele-verification
•  In-house Data Verification & Enhancement
• Industry/Company Research & Key Account Management

We will be happy to extend our consultation services and understand your lead generation requirements for the year Q4 of 2021.

The post Research Leads Inc. – A Business Development Solution for Market Research Businesses appeared first on Research Leads.

According to the report by Facebook 2020, nearly one-third (31 percent) of small businesses in the U.S. are currently not operational. The last two years of uncertainty due to the pandemic is the one to blame. But few could have been saved. Though it is easy said than done, MR can step in here and try to be part of this support initiative:

1. Spare some of your resources to focus on the small businesses only. A team of few employees will be sufficient, but they must possess certain attributes to handle the market research needs of the SMBs:
   1.  The team must be able to identify the viability of the business idea for the client and must put forward an honest opinion on whether the client should pursue the business idea. 
   2. Small businesses always have limited amounts for investment. The team must compile the business report which shows the further plan of action, at the minimal cost possible. 
   3. The team presents the small business owner with the feasibility plan, business plan and business coaching; any missing link here may result in losing the client. 

2. Provide enough arguments for letting small businesses know why they need an MR partner. Take on social media to get engaged, invite small businesses for basic hours of free business consultation, present real-time scenarios for more relatable conversations. 

3. Provide solutions at a reasonable cost. This may not be feasible in the beginning, but the growth of an MR is proportional to the growth of its client. Hence, there will be plenty of opportunities in future to go beyond your profit margins. 

We can’t stress more. Prepare a growth plan for each small business, so that when they grow, you grow. 

Being a business development outsource company, Research Lead, Inc is undertaking tasks like these and more, and act as a bridge between MR firms and SMBs. 

The company is led by an experienced professional, Syed Asif Hussain, who has invested his 30 years of marketing experience in building this company, to provide unmatched vendor-partner experience to the clients in the Market Research domain. We are an alternative option for lead generation; a one-stop business for acquiring and managing the clients for a Market Research company. Having said that, here is how we can offer a 360o business outsourcing to MR companies:

• Opportunity Identification
• Customized Business Development
• Key Account Management 
• Demand Generation
• Appointment Setting
• Industry / Company Research
• Lead Generation & Pipeline Tracking
• List Building
• Data Verification
• In-house Data Enhancement
• Tele-verification
• Strategy Consulting

Connect with us via DM, Email or phone or just leave your connection information in the comments below.

The post Approaching Small Businesses for a Market Research Service – Tap into the untapped appeared first on Research Leads.

Being new in the Market Research domain, it is suggested to target the clients from a particular industry or the inter-related ones. For instance, pick the education industry and cover all its verticals such as small academic centers, community colleges, universities, etc. 

 Why? Because

• This will help in building up a greater market research experience, that too in a lesser time. This, in turn, establishes credibility within the business community.
• Working on a niche business makes your market research company an expert in that domain and when you shout out to enter a newer domain, you won’t have to prove your professional skills again. 

2. The idea of growth hacking

Consider making space for a growth hacker, in your organizational chart. This will be a go-to person for all your growth-related concerns; one of the crucial points for the startups. These professionals are hired for exhibiting growth hacking functions.

Growth hacking is a mindset and a new approach, in the rapidly growing start-up world. 

Coined by Sean Ellis in 2010, growth hacking is a combination of marketing, product management analytics and coding. Here, growth hackers will think of growth tactics to segment the user journey according to the stages they lie at, viz-a-viz acquisition, activation, retention, referral and revenue. And then figure out how to nudge them to move into the next stage, the ultimate stage being the revenue.

For instance, you can see a growth hacker in action when he/she is concentrating on the analytics that provides insight on the number of emails that should go out to each user and the best time to send emails to each user. He can also work on understanding crucial aspects like landing page optimization, copywriting, analytics, behavioural pattern analysis, and more.

3. The balanced business development team

Every business relies on external support systems, either on a small or a large scale. Big brands like Amazon, also have small partner solutions where they have an outsourced team to do some significant jobs for them. 

Why do they do that? Can’t they do everything in-house? They can. But they still reach out for outsourcing to maintain the equilibrium of delegation of work and to explore the expertise of other business domains. 

Businesses must differentiate between core value functions that they want to work through directly and the secondary functions which can be outsourced to other firms or individuals. For the market research business, the core function is to provide quality analytics to their clients. Hence, the core task is to build and manage the team of experts, researchers, subject scholars, methodologists, and others. And secondary functions like digital marketing, training on the tools, lead generation via business development outsourcing, security checks, etc. can be done with an external association. 

4. Focus on personalized solutions

Do you remember the success of the “Share A Coke” campaign, where Coca-cola printed the coke bottles with some common English names and asked people to share a picture on social media with the bottle? 

Did you see where we are going with this?

Personalization is always appreciated. It is a way of making people feel more connected and when it is about a customised business solution, there is nothing like it. 

Give out personalized analytical solutions to your clients which can cover the pain points of the customer’s business. 

5. On-board an influencer  

Influencer marketing is the fastest growing online method for customer acquisition. You must be knowing this as a market researcher. But somehow, we forget to implement it for our own market research business.

Marketers are spending $25,000-$50,000 on Influencer Marketing campaigns. It has been found that influencers have increased the purchasing intent by 5.2x on Twitter. This is a significant number. So, think of onboarding an influencer to promote how market research can leverage the success of all other businesses. 

Pro tip:

 Consider the following while choosing an influencer for your business

• Brand fit
• Type of audience
• Reach
• Influence
• Content and 
• Exclusivity

Try one or all, and see if it makes a difference. 

The post Our Top 5 Tips for a Market Research Company for better market penetration appeared first on Research Leads.

The initial struggles of a small business are diverse. This also involves the self-understanding of the business market before dipping the toes in the water, to save up on the cost of a market researcher. And approaching a Market Research firm during this take-off is the least common thought.

There are two implications here:

1. A small business couldn’t understand how the spend on a Market Research partner is not an invalid cost but a life-long investment. 
2. The other side of the story says, Market Research companies fail to approach the small businesses with relevant growth plans and justifying the cost of investment.

At Research Leads, Inc. (RLI), we have identified a few more reasons for this gap between the MR and Small Businesses.

For the first part of the topic, let us discuss the perspective of a small business owner, in this respect.

•  “Marketing Research won’t be hard, as my business is just budding”

“We are just starting, how hard would it be to sense the market and our competition?”

This is a common thinking bubble of most small businesses. Plus, the availability of huge amounts of information on the Internet has certainly helped in verifying this thought.

• “I can’t afford big MR firms and also, not sure if small or medium-sized firms can help in the growth of my business”

For 30.7 Million small businesses in the USA, we have only a few names of the MR firms which are tagged to serve the small businesses and startups. Competition-wise, there is a huge scope for the companies, but from an SMB’s perspective this may be the reason to get skeptical; they are a little hesitant to approach the larger MR firms and also, they are not sure if these few options can provide them with enough research matter. 

These are two valid concerns for the small businesses, whose focal point lies in gaining more, with investing less. 

As an MR firm, you can focus your resources on eradicating these inhibitions of SMBs. At RLI, we understand these challenges and have designed a personalized consultation service specific to small businesses.

The post Why are SMBs reluctant to approach Marketing Research Companies? appeared first on Research Leads.

Market research is a base function of every business that exists. Market Research companies provide something that every other business needs – data collection and analysis, to determine the viability of a new product or service.  

Approximately, there are 5,400 establishments in the United States that offer market research services in single as well as multiple locations in the country. The number dictates the level of competition in the industry and a need to have a successful customer acquisition strategy. 

This digital and social media age has made it easier for businesses to find their potential customers. Market researchers are no exception to this trend. Other than this, the B2B industry can acquire new customers using existing contacts, networking, and new prospecting. 

Before MR firms can research for their clients & client’s potential customers, they need to run through the research process for themselves too, for making new business connections. One of the ways that these firms adopt is the Customer Referral Program.

Customer Referral Program is an incentive-based version of Word-of-Mouth marketing, where you encourage your existing customers to refer your services to their friends & acquaintances, in return for compensation or other benefits. The company can run a public referral program by listing it on their website & promoting it through social media or can keep it more personal for sharing it with its customers only.

Challenges of a Customer Referral Program in the Market Research Industry.

A successful global average referral rate is about 2.3%. Although the exact number varies among various industries, it revolves around the same figure. 

Look at it from a different angle; around 20-50% of purchase decisions are a result of WOM. This gets your referrers, a.k.a your brand’s advocates under the spotlight. 

Is that it? Do you just need loyal referrers to promote your Market Research services? Maybe not.

• It will not be easy for your MR customer to guess if other businesses need the service of a market researcher. Consequently, it will take a lot of convincing skills to articulate how a particular market research company can help others in getting desired results.
• The existing customers may have results specific to their business, which may or may not agree with others.
• If your MR firm is niche-focused, your existing customers may not refer other businesses from their domain, out of sheer competition.
•  The referral program sometimes fails to get quality leads. An easy incentive policy may be the culprit here. The customer gets more focused on quantity rather than quality.
• On the other hand, a complex incentive policy might scare away the referrer and lead him to get disengaged with the whole referral program.
• Even if there exists an optimum referral policy, people refrain from referring, to avoid being a middleman, especially in case of a poor association of referred customer and the MR firm. 
• Last, but not least, is the referral program generating profit, or is the acquisition cost soaring up?

So, shall we look for other avenues too? 

Alternative to Referral Program for customer leads

The ulterior motive of a market research firm is, of course, new business connections.

When MR companies look for an external source for generating leads, the major focus should lie on the people or businesses that understand this industry well enough to promote it to the right set of audiences.

The right business development outsourcing company can be a great alternative to your customer referral program. This business domain is usually led by market research experts, who know the industry to its precision.

These businesses have greater market penetration & build high-level customer relationships. Hence, they can act as an extension to your Market Research marketing team. Their services range from basic lead generation to customized business development strategies.

An outsourcing company that focuses majorly on the market research industry, is the most preferable choice, especially for the start-up MR firms.

Conclusion

Networking is the key here. The larger the network, the greater is the guarantee of better market penetration. Harness the power of professional networking sites like LinkedIn, Meetup, Opportunity, etc. Get external companies on board to help you in your quest for value-adding customers. Dive in the ocean of opportunities and make a recognizable brand.

The post Wondering Why Your Market Research Business is Not Getting Leads via Referral Programs? Read On appeared first on Research Leads.