When it comes to market research, there is no shortage of information that would be helpful for your architecture, engineering or construction firm. Let’s face it…there is ALWAYS another competitor popping up, plenty more clients to chase, elusive funding streams, etc.
Who has time for all of that? Even with a dedicated marketing team in-house, there are deadlines to meet and proposals to submit.
I had a discussion with a colleague this week about just when to stop. How do you know when you have dug deep enough? If market research efforts can be contained and defined, they can be a lot easier to tackle quickly. Here are a few pointers that help me know when to say when.
1. Set time limits – Research is often about past performance. Digging back farther than two to three years for most things is a waste of time. Some government contracting info might be worth a deeper dig, if you’re looking at 5 year IDIQ’s for example.
2. Constantly ask yourself what question you are answering – It is easy to get mired down in everything that is out there. If all you set out to do was review info on your top five competitors, don’t get roped into looking up the top ten.
3. Think lowest common denominator – Only record info that you will be able to capture about all of your research subjects (whether they be competitors or potential clients). Research is most useful when you can compare it to other subjects. Set out to find the same ten pieces of info about all of your subjects, instead of just blindly recording everything you uncover.
4. Use other resources – If you are a busy principal, Marketing Director or Business Developer, you likely have a long list of questions you wished you knew the answer to…but just don’t have the time to find out. Hiring a third party to do market research makes a lot of sense – they have the procedures in place and often have paid-for-services that grant them access to information faster and easier. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
The point of market research is to enhance your business’ decision making. It’s important to know when you have enough info to make an informed decision so that you can make it quickly and move on to the next task at hand.