Getting What We Deserve

"I am extremely disappointed with the caliber of researchers in the industry today.  Where are all the good guys gone?" commented the client the other day.  This is a client who habitually demands meetings at extremely short notice - and then makes the agency team wait in the reception for hours.  This is a client who does not return phone calls even from senior members in the agency, and who treats the views of the best guys from the agency with a "I know better" hauteur.

A few years ago when I was working on the "other" (client) side, I quickly realized that my Market Research budgets are limited, and not comparable to the MR budgets that other larger client organisations had.  In the beginning, I could not get the best guys from the agencies to service me.  If I make some threatening noise to the agency head, for a brief while I will have some of their best guys coming in for a couple of meetings, but then not turning up subsequently.

For me therefore to ensure that I get the best possible servicing on a regular basis I had to completely change my approach.  I realized that the only approach was to use "soft" power.  I prepared a list of the individuals on the agency side that I thought were best in the industry and then literally wooed them. Some of these individuals were industry dons when I was a mere baby.  It did not take much really to woo them - just treating them like a friend, calling them over for lunch or dinner, not making them wait in the reception, giving them the right respect in front of their junior colleagues .....  Very soon I was punching much above my weight - and had the best of the talent involved even in routine matters as they felt valued and respected.

Fortunately or unfortunately the MR industry has reached a situation where there is a massive scarcity of the really good research talent on the agency side. I will be surprised if such expert talent is more than 5% in any agency. These rare talents have their own egos, their own desire for being valued, and a need to prioritize their time both for their own and agency's maximum benefit - which need not always be revenue. Increasingly those rare talented individuals can pick and choose who they service, and what level of servicing that they will provide.  A large client can throw his weight around and bully an agency into getting a particular talented individual to being involved in a project - but such attempts will be very short-term - the talented person will always find ways of reducing his involvement if his heart is not simply with the client.

The only way some of these complaining clients can get what they think they deserve is by ensuring that they start acting as magnets - a magnet that the best people from the agency side will love - and will do anything - to service. And the funny thing is that it is not difficult being a magnet - and fortunately a few clients have cracked this little secret. 

Precision

There is something formidable about precision.  We all love Swiss watches, and we all love precision in our Market Research data.

I was visiting Muscat and was having dinner with a client, and another person called CS whose agency conducted the fieldwork for us in Oman.

During the course of the dinner, the client - who had a reputation for being a stickler for accuracy - said:

John (the client) : "it is unfortunate that none of you Market research agencies seem to be able to give me precise market shares of the leading lube brands ...."

I : "Yes, it is difficult to assess that unless we carry out a large quantitative study"

CS (field supplier): "Your market share is 93.56%"

Stunned silence at the table.  The client's mouth was agape.

The client : "From where did you get this figure, CS?".

CS : "I know that for a fact".

I : "John, there is some soup on your collar".

The change of topic helped.  But the client was silent for the rest of the dinner, raising his head from the plate only to dart quick suspicious glances at CS.

After the dinner I took CS aside.

I : "Where did you get that number from?"

CS : "The client's brand is everywhere - it is obviously the leader"

I : "Yes, we all know it is the leader, but where did you get that number of 93.56% from?"

CS : "What is the problem? That is just a number to indicate that the client brand is the market leader.  I have seen lots of you researchers presenting such kind of numbers to clients in their presentations, and clients don't question those numbers"

I : "You cannot make up a random number like that.  We researchers present such kind of numbers only after we carry out fieldwork".

CS  : "Yes, and it is I who carries out all your fieldwork".

The conversation was getting into dangerous territory, and I thought it is better to beat a hasty retreat than probe into the implications of that statement.

There was one client though who seemed to have forever lost his taste for precision.