Companies who do not closely monitoring competitive threats are likely to spend little (or nothing at all) on Market Research. There is a real danger in this. How do you know how you are doing if you don’t ask?
From an early age in life, most, if not all of us will reflect on how we are doing, how we are developing, how we are adapting to the increasing burden of life.
It’s no different in business. However, your competitors’’ development is likely to have a negative impact on your own. So why not keep abreast of what’s going on?
I often liken this to driving a car without a map or SatNav system. Would you ever get in a car and drive off without an idea of where your start point is, where you want to get to and how you will know if things are on track….or not?
Research for me is the same. What is our market share today, what is our targeted market share at year-end, and how well are we tracking?
Research doesn’t have to be an expensive “cost”. Find out how you are doing by using tracking measures that are more than internal measures such as own sales volume or revenue. These internal measures have a place of course but they are only a part of the picture and should never be allowed to become the ONLY measures.
Distribution coverage is an area that perfectly highlights the point. If a distributor visits and sells to 400 customers per week on a route that contains 500 known customers, most of us would be reasonably comfortable if not ecstatic. But if an external Research agency highlighted that there were another 1000 potential customers that your distributor doesn’t engage with, then the perspective is massively different.
Knowing and believing in your ability is great, but failing to track the market, the gaps and your performance is a dangerous game.
Kevin Bertie – Director