Articles
ACR TODAY: When to call in the Experts
- In the previous article in this series we discussed the D.I.Y approach to industrial market research, however, there are many situations in which it is advisable and indeed cost effective to employ a specialised external supplier. The reasons for this are many but include the following;
The need to obtain objective information without preconceived ideas that may exist within a company. - The knowledge and expertise to identify the best method for obtaining the research information required.
- The ability to interpret the findings in a balanced manner.
- The time and, therefore, cost element involved in using internal staff who are less experienced in research methods.
On the negative side there are clearly costs involved in employing an external agency, so it is important to understand the types of project to which an external agency should be used. The principal work "for an expert" would be in interviewing customers or potential customers as to their opinions, attitudes and buying behaviour. It is often very important that the research be conducted anonymously, ie. the customer does not know on whose behalf the interview is being conducted so that objective information is then obtained.
In general terms most forms of qualitative research that involve structured interviews should be conducted externally because this brings into the situation the knowledge required for questionnaire design and identifying the preferred methodology for conducting research. An example of this might be a customer perception survey. As the client you would need to understand what questions you want answered about your customers and their opinions of yourself and your principal competitors. This is, however, a long way from preparing a questionnaire which addresses these issues and the need to ensure that it works when used on your customers. Examples of poor questionnaires with leading questions are numerous, when clients have decided to do it themselves
. As a result of this information provided can be highly suspect.
In addition to the matter of questionnaire design a professional research agency can identify the better methods for interviewing the customer, ie. should it be by post, telephone, face to face or even via Email. Without going into the costs and benefits of each methodology, it should be recognised by a company that an external supplier will have the benefit of much experience in understanding which method will produce the most reliable yet cost effective findings.
If only a few industrial customers are to be interviewed, say less than 10, then face to face interviews are unbeatable, but costs rise dramatically when this method is used for larger numbers of interviews, and any data that is to be quantifiable will normally need many more than 10 interviews.
To summarise the matter of when to call in the experts, the key question is "how reliable will be the data if I try to do it myself, bearing in mind the issues of objectivity, reliability and often anonymity of the information required, (on this last point what would you say if you were the customer being asked by a supplier who you regularly worked with?)
Of course costs matter, but bear in mind the costs of employing an expert, they may often be outweighed by the costs of employing internal staff to do the work, a point frequently forgotten.
Decision Checklist
| Task | D.I.Y | Experts |
| Desk Research |  |
 |
| Customer Research | |
|
| Questionnaire Design | |
|
| Correct Methodology | |
|
| Anonymity | |
|
