Earlier this year we published The Q Report, an independent study written for and developed with the help of client-side marketing research and insights professionals. As in years past, one of the topics that brought out the most passionate responses to questions in Quirk’s corporate researcher survey was the vendor/client relationship.
While client-siders noted the difficulties of budget constraints, as well as the challenges brought by internal vetting, they also shared the problems they have experienced when managing the vendor/client relationship. With statements ranging from researchers questioning sales tactics to the overall desire for more actionable insights, some clear guidelines emerged for vendors looking to secure new business and/or improve client relationships.
Based on survey findings, here are some dos and don’ts for vendors, as expressed by these edited verbatims:
Don’t skimp on data quality
“We question all vendors on their security and quality measures. We've stopped using sample vendors because of the poor quality of responses we receive.”
“Because poor quality reflects negatively on everybody, an outcome of disappointing quality possibly affects my company's interest in doing any future project with a particular vendor or agency.”
“If [there is] a surprise in the data I want the vendor to warn me ahead of time so I can prepare my team for an outcome they may not be expecting, which might require a discussion session and subsequent Q&A meetings.”
“Not enough research-based decision-making after all these years. Vendors scrambling to stay in business and make money – business development taking precedence over client relationships and quality research.”
Do focus on relationships, not sales goals
“Vendors are focused on selling and not on building a relationship. A sales goal is a short-term view. A relationship is a long-term view and more profitable.”
“A lot of vendors become too salesy and do not really understand the business implications of their clients. Also, the repackaging of older methodologies into their ‘proprietary’ ones when they are actually just a hybrid of methodologies or just another name for an older research methodology.”
“Cookie-cutter approaches. Vendors who try to shoehorn my issue into their proprietary tool.”
“Vendors constantly cold calling all over the company.”
“I've been researching new vendors and they do too many sales tactics. Too much talk on an average product or service.”
“Vendors refusing to grow with us – in terms of capabilities and reports. Doing what worked five years ago is not what is needed today. Agility and change are key.”
Don’t pitch the A-Team and pass the project to lower-level staff
“Vendors with project directors with only a little experience. Each time I contract a study, I find that I am fixing everything. I review the survey program more than they do. I find the problems and I have to point out the problems to get fixed. Seems like they are always trying to pull a fast one on clients. Sorry, but I worked [as a] vendor for years and that would never have happened.”
“Suppliers pitching with their A-Team and best-in-class offerings or deliverables but then end up with a b- or c-team assigned to our project or hidden costs in order to get the pitch offerings/deliverables that were discussed up front.”
Do connect the dots
“Ability of suppliers to provide usable insights when writing a report.”
“Very rarely does a research company actually connect the dots. I had a vendor last year that created a 100+ slide deck of data charts. But I had to keep asking them to put it all together – what does it say about this segment of customers buying via product X via channel Y? Nobody looks at that analysis unless I specifically ask, yet everybody claims to be selling insight and not data.”
“We are pretty frustrated with research vendors nowadays. It seems like most struggle with the basics, which forces us to spend time fulfilling their role (checking data, reworking presentations, etc.). In turn it makes it difficult for us to see the forest when we're dealing with the trees all the time.”
“The need to get better report writers and data analysis from our vendors. I spend more time re-writing reports.”
“Long reports. I don't understand how research vendors can still get by with graph after graph after graph with no real insights. You need to understand the main purpose of my research and data that is most impactful to our decisions. That information needs to be prioritized and delivered in a way that my leadership can review and get the main takeaway in about 60 seconds. I still do way too much reformatting of slides and data to deliver what's truly valuable to my internal stakeholders because my suppliers fall short.”
“Market research suppliers are doing assembly-line work. Most reports come with no insight to the organizations they are doing the research for.”
“Tired of technology platforms where all the work is pushed to the researcher. I'm paying suppliers for full-service, not just a platform that I have to invest all my time to manage.”
Influence of suppliers
While it’s clear that client-siders have their share of complaints when it comes to MR vendors, when asked, “How do you choose which new methodologies to pilot or try?” in the 2017 corporate researcher survey, respondents pointed to their vendor partners as a key resource:
“By talking to new suppliers offering new techniques and other researchers.”
“I follow my gut. We have a lot of vendors come in to sell their wares. We have healthy skepticism going in but it's also largely needs-driven. If a new tool meets a very specific need that we are getting asked to deliver on, we will give it a try.”
“Talk to peers and suppliers.”
“I tend to use the proven methodologies with proven vendors and only experiment if a pilot is offered or I have a project with low visibility.”
“Suppliers bring us new techniques.”
“We wait for vendors to bring new ideas to us.”
By turning to vendors in this way researchers seem to be indicating that despite struggles like those mentioned above, there are many solid, trusting work relationships between clients and suppliers. As with any similar type of endeavor, good communication, shared goals and a passion for quality will keep both sides on track to find and deliver insights that drive organizational decision-making.
If you’re interested in reading more about the broader themes of the report, check out Quirk’s Editor Joseph Rydholm’s article, “Researchers holding steady while adapting to change.”