Friday, June 3, 2016
3:30 - 3:50 PM
Ted Talks - Duluth/MacKenzie

Stop the Research Rip Off!

I’m SO tired of seeing huge consulting budgets getting spent with “other consultants” when market researchers could meet the needs of the project challenges at least as well, if not better!
Our services and skills can solve so many issues, because we can naturally:

• engage clients and stakeholders in the process of problem definition
• put users and customers at the centre of the solution
• allow stakeholders to experience data, stories and voices
• provide a concrete and accurate path forward

So, while I’m probably not telling you something you don’t know, a lot of prospective clients don’t understand the bigger picture of our work, and consultants from other industries are:

• taking our methods, often in name only, without our quality controls
• using resonant buzzwords that we miss
• re-educating a new generation of businesses in ways that isolate us

The solution is to not only to directly challenge this “rip-off” with prospective clients, but to look at our industry from the outside, and challenge ourselves to own our skills, and take “THEIR” methods and terminology.

Come and learn about what the landscape looks in terms of our “stolen” methods, and some concrete techniques that we can use to challenge, and beat the misconceptions about our skills and services.

Interest Statement:
There are a least three million-dollar projects on-going in Canada that were a perfect fit for research services and skills but, they never even came near a research organization. It’s not that a research company lost the bid, it’s that we never even got the chance to bid. We are getting ripped off! And it’s not just these big projects; I worry about a general re-education of the marketplace that really hurts us in the long term!
I believe this is because “other consultants” and their organizations are doing a better job of using terms that resonate with prospective clients, while at the same time pulling from our industry and offering focus groups that aren’t really focus groups, running surveys with no quality controls and re-educating the client base to our detriment.
I hope to see you at this session to talk about:

• The language “other consultants” are using to beat us at our game
• The specific terminology and twists on our services that can put us back in the running
• Specific techniques to use at all phases of a research project that have worked to:
• Give clients the feeling of immersion that “other consultants” give them

Re-convert and re-educate on the breadth and benefits of hiring a research consultant to help solve big challenges and enlighten the path forward

Learning Outcomes:
As a result of the session, you’ll come away with:

• An understanding of the types of clients and projects that aren’t coming to our industry and why
• A list of the terms and types of solutions “other consultants” are using that capture clients imagination and attention
• The research methodologies that are being skewed and re-framed in ways that hurt us

The specific techniques that you can use at every stage of a project, from proposal to report, that illustrate our relevancy and ability to solve issues innovatively

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Caroline Wilson Principal Consultant, Vireo Research Caroline Wilson has over 12 years experience in marketing, research, and strategic consulting. She worked in research and strategy for a boutique research agency, Corbin Partners and the youth marketing agency, Youthography, before becoming an independent research consultant at Vireo Research in 2009. Research projects that make her and her clients happy are community based, immersive and innovative. Recent clients include McDonald’s Canada, Plan Canada’s Because I Am a Girl, The County of Simcoe and EF Educational Tours.