How Market Intelligent is Your Company according to John Morawski?

How market intelligent is your company?

Expert John Morawski talks about his experience and best practices in the field as market intelligence auditor.

What are the most important challenges on the Market Intelligence front in your view?

Very many market intelligence departments are faced with budget restrictions. In addition to the usual reasons of general cost savings, this is also a consequence of underestimating the added value of market intelligence.

The latter aspect constitutes the second challenge. But, in my view, the number one challenge is finding the right people. Because even with a big budget, the outcome is not bound to be good if you do not have the right people in-house.

Competent people should moreover be capable of setting the right priorities and doing something optimally accordingly even with lower budgets.

And they are moreover capable of increasing the added value and the credibility of market intelligence.

What could you advise so as to gain such credibility? Certainly with top management?

Involve your stakeholders (client, CEO,…) in every critical phase of the process and in important decisions. Then everyone has a stake in the process and the chance that someone will not be satisfied is far lower.

A good MI Manager does proceed on the principle of “your wish is our command”. He looks at the tasks critically, and looks spontaneously for important information, then scrutinises closely the proposals and work provided by outside sources.

Another key to success is the fact that a Market Intelligence manager knows that an assignment does not come to an end when the results are delivered.

And MI manager must also see to the follow-up. What happens with the results, how are they used and are they interpreted correctly?

Often, gaining credibility is also a matter of luck. For there are people who do not believe in it and are completely not open for it.

I have met quite a number of CEOs in my career. A great deal of persuasiveness and very thoroughly underpinned arguments are the key. In this way, you come across as very professional.

But a danger also lurks in the job of MI expert. You get to exert great informal influence on the rest of the people. People start turning to you for all sorts of information. Knowledge is power, actually. And top managers can see that.

Do people do enough with the results obtained from market research? Or are they filed away too often, in your view?

A good process for a market research project and strict adherence to that project lie at the foundation of the correct and full use of the research result.

The phases in this process are planned in advance and there are templates available for certain phases. Two important templates at the start of a market research project are the “Request for Market Research” and the “Request for Market Research Proposal”.

The requestor is asked to fill in the “Request for Market Research” template properly while answering questions on e.g. background, the problem, the research objectives (target group(s), specific questions to be answered, which decisions/actions to be made based on the research results), budget provided (if it is their budget responsibility), timeframes …

In this way, the requestor is stimulated to structure his/her thinking first before asking. The “Request for Market Research” is discussed with the market researcher and optimised/modified/accepted/rejected.

So in the first stage of the process an agreement is reached on the action standards and use of the research outcome.

When the “Request for Market Research” is optimised and accepted (with formal signatures) both by the requestor and the researcher, the next important template is the “Request for Market Research Proposal”, a document needed for briefing market research agencies.

The “Request for Market Research Proposal” covers and elaborates all the topics of the “Request for Market Research” completed with e.g. expected sample specifications, checklist/questionnaire items and length, deliverables, budget template, experience, references, invoicing terms, confidentiality and quality demands, agency selection criteria, contact details, …

Also this document has to be discussed with the requestor, optimised and accepted (again by signatures).

In your experience, are sufficient tools used in Market Intelligence? What are good tools, in your view?

Ah, this is a pet subject of mine. My motto has for years been: “It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail” (“The psychology of science: a reconnaissance.”, Abraham Maslow, 1966).

A professional must therefore have thorough insight in all the available research methods and techniques, first and foremost.

What are the advantages and disadvantages thereof? What can and what can’t they do? And then, the right research methods and techniques have to be chosen.

When time is short and the budget is limited, in some cases one can do only one quick research, but without being (too) dirty.

It’s always better to do some research instead of making decisions only based on your gut feeling e.g. a disaster check: short interviews with 10-20 consumers/customers will give you more helpful insights than staying at your office and thinking you know what consumers think.

But always consider the limits for decision making (not quantitative, not representative).

As to your second question “what are good tools?,” in my view there are no really bad tools. But people can use the wrong tools or use the right tools wrongly.

Should Market Intelligence people have training or a background in marketing, in your view?

Such background is essential, in my view. Market Intelligence professionals must have sufficient market knowledge (and sometimes even experience) in order to be able to work optimally with marketers, who are often the most important internal stakeholders.

What is your assessment in general, or what are your experiences with the place that MI departments are given in organisations?

In my view, the specific place in the organisational chart is less relevant than the autonomy and responsibility that MI is given within the organisation.

Whether people report directly to the CEO or to a Marketing Manager, MI may or may not be required or encouraged in both cases to adapt to the CEO’s or the Marketing Manager’s agenda.

My experience has shown that MI must not wait to get autonomy and responsibility, but must earn them through professionalism.

What are the trends in MI, in your view?

A trend that has been long coming is low cost research. Online research (thanks to the emergence of the Internet) is very often used as a solution.

Co-creation is also an important trend. This too can be a solution so that costs do not get out of hand. Furthermore, it is a fast and comprehensible way to get information.

I must nonetheless warn about following trends blindly. Apart from considering the many advantages, I recommend examining the disadvantages of those methods as well, before making a choice.

Co-creation, for instance, is often applied by early adopters and/or real fans of the brand. Ask yourself whether these people are sufficiently representative of the ultimate target group.

Won’t an additional quantitative validating research among a representative sample be needed afterwards?

Or take the case of on-line focus groups. It is fast, cheap and customers need not move about, because everything can be followed from a laptop.

On the other hand, you can miss out on a lot of information. Because a very large part of communication ultimately consists of non-verbal communication. A moderator/organiser must be able to capture this information too.

Trends are fine, but should be approached with caution. Everything begins with your objectives. Remain critical, challenge the market research forms to indicate the disadvantages of their proposed methods and techniques also alongside the advantages, and provide alternatives as well.

And never forget the basics of market research, because they do not change, in spite of the trends.

What do you think about working together with external firms for market intelligence assignments?

I am for it. An MI manager must concentrate first and foremost on managing all projects properly: setting objectives, drawing a distinction between need to know from nice to know, stimulate optimal use, communicate, etc.

Furthermore, a company does not usually have the necessary means and resources in-house to conduct research (interviewers, moderators for focus groups, specific research programmes, etc.).

Many market research groups also have their own area of specialisation. It is practically impossible to have all such areas of specialisation in-house. So devote sufficient time to choosing a good firm and on cultivating a professional relationship.

Can you measure the Return on Investment of Market Intelligence? If so, how?

What do you get when you invest in monitoring market shares, brand recognition, brand image, Net Promoter Score, … etc.?

What do you get when you invest in market research for market segmentation, position, brand development, communication, etc.?

In my view, the ROI of Market Intelligence cannot be measured quantitatively. Market intelligence is part of a business/marketing planning and implementation process, where Market Intelligence can have an input on several occasions.

It is impossible to isolate the specific contribution (and cost) of Market Intelligence from all the other elements/contributions in the process.

Even if you could manage to do so, it is still impossible to relate the specific cost for Market Intelligence to the ultimate benefits or proceeds for the company. Because the benefits are the result of several variables, where the Market Intelligence variable cannot be isolated.

In certain situations, an attempt can be made to approach the ROI of Market Intelligence in a qualitative manner. One can then decide by providing a qualitative answer to these questions (on a 5-point scale for instance) first.

• What is the size of the investment budget for which Market Intelligence must play a key role in the decision?
• What is the risk of a wrong decision (loss) because Market Intelligence was not used? (e.g. GO/NO GO for launching a new product: You have developed two products but you can only bring 1 on the market. Which of the two will it be??
• What is the risk if you carry out no research??
• What will this cost (insofar as it can be measured; damage to reputation, for instance, is difficult to measure) if you bring the wrong product on the market?
• What is the chance for extra profit when using Market Intelligence?

Well, which advertising man was it who once said: said that: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

As regards Market Intelligence, I would say “Of every euro spent on Market Intelligence, I will make sure that it will contribute optimally to achieving the goals of my clients/stakeholders.”