Most successful firms do annual planning for the entire company, most successful firms do marketing planning or research and development fiscal planning for new products…but few companies actually complete market research planning other than to have a lump of money that will be used for the annual customer satisfaction study (if one is done) or any other needs, put into a line item in the budget.

Also, in times like this, the market research budget is often one of the first to be cut. New products are invented and introduced with little more than an inner-office belly-button gazing approval session. “If the president likes it…it will sell.”

It just boggles my mind how some door, window and their component firms will spend $30,000 to $7,000,000 or more on dyes, drawings, changes to production facilities, advertising, e-promotions and more without first testing the waters on new or reinvigorated mature products or a repositioning of the brand or company.

This is true of small, medium and large companies alike. The fact companies don’t specifically plan for market research activities often results in a waste of precious funds and last minute “hurry and rush” projects falling short of fruitful delivery for their intended use.

One more notable item is market research planning can not be conducted in a vacuum. Whoever is in charge of that part of the budget better know what R & D, Advertising, Corporate Public Relations and Communications as well as Human Resources and Training plan to do in the next fiscal year.

Here are a few suggestions to help in your annual market research planning:

Suggestion 1 – Make market research a separate line item from the marketing budget.

Suggestion 2 – Meet with department heads of those you serve in a marketing research role to determine their proposed activities for the coming year and beyond if possible. Ask them to assist you in determining their needs and share your thoughts in how to go about getting deliverables to satisfy those needs. This is also a good time to see when their needs will occur so you plan your approved budget cash flow.

Suggestion 3 – Don’t just allocate a bunch or set percentage of money for the market research activities.
NOTE: Market research only use is to drive sales, if the budget is cut, it is as good as cutting sales and marketing people. Cut those and the same percentage of plan continues in a downward spiral guaranteed to enable company defeat.

Suggestion 4 – Look for opportunities to combine market research needs with the same audience for different business divisions, only using the same quantitative or qualitative exercise and split the costs between divisions.

Suggestion 5 – Seek out omnibus studies already conducted yearly within your industry and see if the authors are open to adding a few of your questions for a much lower fee than doing a custom research project yourself.

Suggestion 6 – If you work with outside market research vendors, have conversations with them after your internal conversations to help nail down the ranges of costs and types of studies most appropriate for the tasks which you propose to undertake. Maybe you think focus groups, but Individual Interviews might get you there faster and cheaper.

Suggestion 7 – Go to industry trade shows and seek out non-competitive market researchers from other firms with whom you can exchange ideas.

Suggestion 8 – Go to market research industry events and learn about new techniques to make your deliverables to your in-company clients more meaningful, and in many cases less expensive. And don’t assume on-line is the least expensive, best method.

Suggestion 9 – Run your market research budget / plan like a business. As your deliverables become more embraced by key management, future positive budgets will be easier to obtain. Show your stripes. No company fires their best sales driver.

Market Research is a sales driver. Plan accordingly and your company’s sales success will follow.

On the plane on my way home I thought of Life’s a Poodle and other major influencers on both my life and the thirst to understand how to tame conflict points (problems) for products and services through the use of sensible market research consisting of market immersion.

In 1950, Wilson Greatbatch graduated from Cornell University with a B.E.E. or Bachelors of Electrical Engineering. He went on to live in a small community outside Buffalo, NY by the name of Clarence, NY where I spent most of my childhood. In order to augment his family’s living expenses, his children sold eggs door-to-door in the local community gathered daily from hens in their backyard. I had the privilege of attending Clarence High School with his daughter so the story following plays a significant role in my market research thought process.

According to his biographical website …”One afternoon in the late 1950s, he was inspired by a mistake to invent one of the most significant medical devices of all time: the implantable cardiac pacemaker.

Greatbatch was building an oscillator to record heart sounds. When he accidentally installed a resistor with the wrong resistance into the unit, it began to give off a steady electrical pulse. Greatbatch realized that the small device could be used to regulate the human heart. After two years of refinements, he had hand-crafted the world’s first successful implantable pacemaker (patent #3,057,356). Until that time, the apparatus used to regulate heartbeat was the size of a television set, and painful to use. “

How was this life saving discovery made again…by making a mistake, maybe by learning differently, but for sure by understanding a conflict (problem) in medicine through his being in the market, and capitalizing for the better good for all mankind through his mistake.

My next inspiration came from a doctor from Minneapolis (later Western NY) by the name of Robert Guthrie. Actually, I worked with Dr. Guthrie’s son at a day camp for “retarded children” in Clarence when I was 14 or 15 years of age. His son was born with a problem known now as PKU or phenylketon-uria which is a disease which in a simple form causes ingested proteins to create poison like fluids in a baby sometimes resulting in “mental retardation.” Standard formula or milk products poison the baby’s system. Discovered as a problem in the early 1930s, the only way to control the problem was through diet.

Dr, Guthrie was immersed in his son’s problems, but did not stop there. He noted the conflict (problem) and developed the Guthrie Test for early detection of PKU prior to the first feeding in 1958, which became a standard blood test in all United States hospitals in 1966. With early detection from a small drop of blood, Dr. Guthrie’s work has prevented hundreds of thousands of small lives being challenged.

Dr, Guthrie would probably not have developed the test had it not been for his dealing with his own family’s challenges. He was immersed.

Back to Life’s a Poodle. The two week old company was developed by two moms of children who learn differently. They understand the heartbreak for the families as well as the child navigating the public school systems in a race to maximize children’s sense of security, well-being and contribution to society. They were immersed in their family’s own needs, but stepped out to assist other families with children “who learn differently,” by raising awareness of the issue. At the same time they want all to have fun by raising this awareness as is indicated by “laughing out loud” through “The Poodle Dance” and the “Poodletini,” as illustrated on their website, www.lifesapoodle.com.

While the reader may come from many businesses and industries, (my background is building materials not medical or educational) the same needs apply to any new product or service development task. It has to come from immersion in the market, (one has to thoroughly understand and identify the conflict) not development in a factory or think-tank going forward. Solving the known conflict (problem), maybe through making mistakes or via “learning a different way” is the best way to new product or service development.

Market back NOT factory / think-tank forward. This is how the truly successful developments are created.

Put simply, builders are looking to manufacturers of their “Green” as well as other products for the information they need to reach and educate their customers. They have all but given up on dealers and distributors to be knowledgeable about what they are selling, and with more and more cut-backs at all levels because of the times, the task is even more cumbersome for them.

Dealers are perceived as order takers only, and price has taken a larger role in the decision process, since that one item is how builders view one dealer compared to another. They don’t look to them for product knowledge and satisfaction, and frankly many dealers are willingly shedding this responsibility.

This really ups the ante for manufacturers to be sure their end users are happy with their products and services. One can’t tell anymore by looking at their sales sheets by regions as to a products or manufacturer’s sales team or reps success if the customers in a particular area are unhappy with the information and services from the local dealers. Manufacturers often forget the local dealer is an extension of their sales and delivery system.

So who should the report card be testing – yes the local dealer and or distributor, but now more importantly the builder, remodeling contractor, and ultimate consumer.

We forget we are in a “sell through” environment rather than a “sell-to” one. So this means our new product development and customer satisfaction “Report Card” must come from those folks who install and use the product. More importantly, a manufacturer may be smart to view their local dealer / distributor as the order in-take and delivery service only with the current mood of builders, remodelers and consumers.

Many manufacturers have discovered ways to by-pass the locals except for these services with great success. In fact, one builder in the group stated…”I wish I could go directly to the manufacturers I like, because my local dealers know less and less about the products they are selling.”

It is powerful knowledge for the manufacturer to understand who the strongest dealers and distributors are in any one given area, since each manufacturer can only afford to have so many of their own folks in a market.

Sooooo. It’s quite simple conduct your market research with the entire distribution chain, doing more than just asking your best customers “How are we doing?” This way you will be able to know the satisfaction from your back door to the consumer, unfiltered.

Now that you have the “Report Card” discussed in the last column, read it and implement where necessary to grow not only your business but your market reputation. Don’t depend on others to do it for you unless, you know they are the best, most knowledgeable, most favored in the market.

You can only find this out through consistent, well organized, timely market research that you actually pay attention to.