Research
Research
So much effort is put into research. Some, well thought out, and some, very superficial.
Research covers so much - from market acceptance to competition strategy. Research is done when purchasing another company and/or putting a person in front of a TV camera for the first time.
Of course, hiring a good researcher (or firm) is one of the first priorities.
But, I don't want to discuss the dynamics of research here - I want to discuss something else.
And that is research done by you - the person requesting the research.
DO SOME!!!
So many times I have seen researchers present their "findings" and completely miss what is so well known on/in the market. For example, I was at a research meeting the other month and a firm came in and presented its findings. After the 30 minute presentation, there was not one mention about the primary competition. When asked why nothing was presented on the competition, there was some hemming and hawing (I wonder if those are real words?) by the presenters, and then their leader stated "We did not think that these guys were of such importance for you going to market with your new product."
What? How can the main competition not impact the launch of a competitive product.
Why was this done? How did they miss this competition - you could tell that this company did not come up on their radar screen.
For one reason, the primary company did not "help" the researchers with their knowledge - they didn't share with them who they thought were major competitors. Yes, it was an error on the research company to not interview the primary, but, you cannot ever assume that a researcher has the same knowledge that you have.
By the way, the research company provided alot of insight into the market, but, they missed a major influencing factor by not looking (or knowing about) the primary competition.
If you are any good at marekting, you read. You read books, magazines, the web. You understand your business better then ANY OTHER person outside of your company (of course, except the competition).
Help a research firm know what you are thinking. Share your knowledge. So many managers don't want to give up their "knowledge", because they have been taught that "knowledge is power".
Remember, you work for a company that is paying your salary - by not sharing information, you can hurt the success of your company. (See my blog entry on "Hiring and Team Building" for further discussion of this.)
Research is a necessity - many of us don't have the budget to hire outside firms, so we must do on our own. But, not sharing the knowledge (research) because we perceive that we are more "powerful" in having that information, can come back and bite us in the butt - because we don't share the information, our company can lose market leadership, or the success of a product, or whatever.
Think about it.