Editor's note: Lisa Force is president of Market Force Associates, a marketing research firm based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
It happens time and time again. Marketing research departments - in all kinds of industries - send a request for proposal (RFP) to a number of market research firms asking for bids on a research project. When the bids come in, three exceed the budget and the fourth cannot meet your time frame requirement. You call the research firms and they do their very best to accommodate your internal constraints. But even when the firms have given you their best prices and pledged their quickest turnaround, the internal goals still cannot be met.
This is not an unusual scenario, particularly in these times of downsizing, cost-cutting and budget-capping. Yet this is also the age of the customer and businesses recognize they must be customer-driven to succeed. So how do you balance your ever-growing customer research with ever-shrinking marketing budgets?
It can be done with a little creative thinking and a "sideways outsourcing" system.
Drop the project paradigm
The first step is to break out of the "project paradigm," which goes something like this: "Research is done on a project-by-project basis, by one firm from beginning to end, although different firms may be used for different projects. You may choose to do some portions internally, especially questionnaire development, and analysis and presentation, to save money and retain control."
Unfortunately, this line of thinking requires us to stick with one firm all the way through a project, regardless of the firm's strong and weak points.
But suppose we turn the research process "sideways," and think of it in terms of the components that typically go into each project: issue development, tool design, data collection, data processing, and analysis and presentation. This allows you to consider outsourcing your research across projects, by component - data collection on projects one and two to Firm A and data processing on projects two and three to Firm B, for example.
Typically, full-service research firms specialize in one or two of the research steps, whether or not they realize it. Many companies that began as phone rooms, for example, excel at the data collection stage while those with access to the most current hardware and software may handle data processing particularly well.
Additionally, there are a number of firms who only perform one or two components of the process. Because their employees and equipment are specialized, they usually can provide the highest quality services - and at a lower price, since their resources are spread over fewer concerns.
Adopt a detailed RFP
But, you might say, it's impossible to use a firm only for those steps at which it excels and for which it offers the lowest price - these are "full-service" research firms and only provide their services as a package.
Are you sure?
A good way to find out is through your next step: Send out a detailed RFP. In it, break down at least the major components: issue development; questionnaire/tool design; data collection (closed ends and open ends); data processing (data entry if applicable, open-end coding, computer processing); analysis/ presentation (executive summary, detailed analysis); other (explain); profit margin; and the total.
The firms to which you send this RFP may call with a number of questions and concerns. But once they understand these are your requirements for doing business, they will happily comply. (In fact, many of them go through this process anyway, to develop their bids.) So asking them to share the details with you does not necessarily create a great deal of additional work for them. Even if you use a single firm for all the steps, you should ask the research firm to provide bids and billing in this format so you know exactly what you are paying for.
When you compare bids prepared in this format, you may find that the totals are very similar, but the prices of the components vary widely from firm to firm. It is not unusual to see a firm charging half or even a quarter of the high bidder's price on a particular component. Again, because many of them specialize, they can offer one component at a higher quality and a better price.
Research your research firms
The third step in outsourcing across components is to research each of the firms from which you have a reasonable bid and choose the one best suited to each component of your project.
Chances are you knew a great deal about the firm before you ever sent them an RFP. And if you have worked with them before, you probably already know the areas of the research process at which they excel and areas with slow turnaround or less than top quality.
If you do need more information, though, questions about the firm's pricing structure, which flow naturally from the detailed RFP, will help you determine a great deal about the strengths and weaknesses of each service they offer. Also a tour of their facility - phone room, coding area, data processing equipment - can be invaluable in learning about the operation.
Once you have chosen the firms that will supply the various components of your projects, you need to ensure consistency. Whoever does the issue development, for example, should also be involved in the tool design and probably the analysis so the project's original purpose doesn't get lost.
Fortunately these three steps are the least expensive portions of the research process, so it is possible to have more than one firm involved. If you want to use one firm for data collection and another for analysis, for example, both can typically be included in issue development discussion, for a very nominal charge, if any, by either firm.
These are also the steps most readily accomplished internally, particularly the analysis. The best-quality analyses, however, are often produced by the brokerage firm or a firm specializing in analysis. Without the equipment worries of a data processing firm, the ever-present staffing issues of a data collection firm or the shoot-the-messenger concerns of an in-house department, an independent firm can often provide the most honest and insightful evaluation of data.
Brokers save you time and headaches
The last and perhaps most important step of outsourcing by component is coordination. The firms you have working on one project must have compatible equipment, especially if separate firms are handling data collection and data processing. They must understand and agree on the time frame and coordinate on myriad other details.
In companies that have sizable internal research departments, usually one employee is dedicated to handling the coordination of a component-outsourcing system. Once the system is in place, and the contracted firms develop methods for working together, the coordination becomes much less time-consuming.
Smaller firms, or those which may be doing only one research project at a time, can still take advantage of the outsourcing concept by using a research broker or a full-service firm that does brokerage. The brokerage firm will be involved with the research project from start to finish, typically doing the issue development, tool design and analysis in-house.
It is then their responsibility to contract with the data processing firm and data collection firms. In fact, having the broker contract for the data collection and processing is one of the primary advantages. The broker's expertise lies in knowing a great deal about various research firms - their specialties, strengths and weaknesses - and in keeping abreast of changes in the firms that may affect pricing and quality. In addition, the broker can achieve economies of scale by bidding more than one project to a firm at once, thus obtaining a lower price for each individual client or project.
Outsourcing by component - across projects rather than on a project-by-project basis - can seem complex as you begin to delve into the details. It will require four steps: oust the "project paradigm"; standardize RFPs in a detailed format; understand the strengths and weaknesses of your suppliers; and create a system and atmosphere in which your suppliers can work well together. When any deeply rooted system is changed or replaced, it can be time-consuming, and putting a sideways outsourcing system in place is no different. But the payoff, in improved quality and significant dollar savings, can be tremendous.