Powerfeedback by Scott

We (Powerfeedback) have done a considerable amount of presentations to new potential clients in the last 10 days. One common thread that continues to pop up and amaze me is how clients view market research.

Instead of looking at business intelligence as well as market and consumer research as a profit center, firms seem to be viewing this as a cost center.

I don’t get it! In every project that we do, we always look at how the results of our work will help companies improve their bottom-line and profitability.

Why is this so foreign to our competitors? Why do some many clients only look at research findings as data?

I would genuinely appreciate hearing your thoughts. Please email me.

With more families dining out less, staying home more often and taking “staycations”, we are wondering if the current economic tsunami has brought you and your family closer together.

Please take a second (literally!) to vote in our 1 question poll.

Results will be released next week.

Thanks!

Along with 19 other CEO’s, I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in a special roundtable event at the NYSE Euronext in New York sponsored by Chief Executive Magazine.

We discussed opportunities in adversity and what it will take for businesses to survive and thrive in the years to come.

It was an honor to represent Powerfeedback and Confidential Counselor at this event!

I encourage you to check out this recap from the brainstorming session.

Though we should do this every day, today is a special day to take a moment to remember and to thank those brave military personnel who defend our liberty, both home and abroad.

If you happen to have the honor of encountering an active member or a veteran of the military today, please take a moment to shake their hand and to thank them for their service and sacrifice for our country.

On behalf of everyone at Powerfeedback, may God Bless all members of our military on this Veterans Day.

With less than 60 days left in 2009, our attention is much more focused on 2010. What lies ahead for 2010, and what will be the mantra?

I am now convinced, more than ever, that 2010 will be the year of “trust.” Though trust has a broad meaning for many people, in business, it will come down to with whom do you trust to do business.

Why is this?

In 2009, could we trust the banks, Wall Street, politicians, Detroit? Not hardly!

Even if the economy starts to, or actually does recover in 2010, I do not think that things will ever be the same, again, or, at least, not for a very long time! There is great distrust in America, today, and in many cases, rightfully so. Business, especially big business, axed the jobs and careers of hard working friends, family, and neighbors. Vendors consistently failed the customer by over-promising, under-delivering, or not communicating.

I am proud to say that in every post client project survey that Powerfeedback conducted, the two factors that made the client select us was service and trust. So 2010 should be a great year for us!

I would really like to hear your thoughts about trust, please email me.

We just completed a significant research project for a client. A key question for the participants was; “do you consider yourself a good person?”

There was no further explanation with this question, nor was there any preceding questions that would give the respondent more background information to answer this question. The client had a clear and definite goal with the path that this query would follow.

Out of 7,407 responses, 62% of those answering this question voted that they were NOT a “good person.”

What does that say about us as a people? While clergymen, scholars, and sociologists would offer their own perspective, as a market research firm, we have to look at this response from an informational, psychological, emotional, and an intellectual perspective.

Humility aside for a moment, that is the job of a great market research firm like Powerfeedback. Collecting data is easy. Making it work for you, and allowing that intelligence to help improve bottom-line performance for your company.

For more information on how to make market research do more than just answer questions, please email me.

Would you walk around blindfolded in Central Park at 2am? If you answered “no”, then why would you possibly launch a new product, marketing campaign, service, or a new anything without conducting market research first?

Earlier this week we had a pitch meeting with a prospective client. Included in the session was the CFO. It was obvious from the start that he was against spending a dime on market research. Though he acknowledged my justification for this expense, it was obvious to me that he did not agree with me.

I then asked him a simple (at least I thought so) question. “If you were having pain somewhere between your abdomen and chest, would you ask a general surgeon to open you up and conduct exploratory surgery, or, would you have diagnostic tests done to determine if the cause of your issue was your heart, kidneys, intestines, etc.?”

“Of course Scott, I would have the appropriate tests done before I had ANY surgery!” My reply was simple; “so you are willing to conduct the correct and necessary diagnostic procedures on your body but not on your business?”

He was not happy with me, especially when I added that today, especially today, businesses cannot afford to risk large sums of capital on intuition alone and that they need solid business intelligence and market research to maximize the potential opportunity and minimize missteps.

If you are unwilling to walk around Central Park in the middle of the night blindfolded, then your ought not be willing to take a blind shot at a new or revised offering without flushing it out completely first.

Will we, or any other MR firm get the business? I suspect not. That said, I have no regrets. Saying and doing the right thing is always the right thing, even if it precludes you from generating an invoice for a client project.

In meeting some new people at an event this week they inquired as to what exactly Powerfeedback is.

As I described our company, services and history, the first comment I heard was; “so, you are a boutique market research firm.”

When I first heard this, I have to admit, I was a bit taken aback as we compete with the “big boys” in the market research field every day. More times than not by the way, we win the business!

What I came to realize is what our clients have known all along. Being a boutique firm gives us a distinct advantages over our competitors.

• We can turn on a dime and we are not tied down by corporate bureaucracy or endless manuals.
• Our people can be creative and free-thinking without worry about corporate political consequences. In other words, our only concern is helping the client meet their objectives.
• We can provide the same services as the big boys, but for dramatically less cost to the client.

This is only a partial list of advantages that a boutique market research firm like Powerfeedback can offer.

So now when people refer to us a boutique company, I will take this as meant; a compliment and an opportunity that others envy!

“The Sunshine Act, which was introduced into Congress at the beginning of the year, If implemented, would require drug and device manufacturers with annual revenues over $100m to disclose to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), anything of value given to physicians, such as payments, gifts, honoraria or travel.”

This is related to possible passage of a rule that doctors who participate in market research, and are compensated for it, will have this information disclosed.

Please understand this important nugget. We are not talking about doctors who endorse medications, taking pharmaceutical supplied junkets, or who are paid to speak on behalf of a medication. This is about physicians who offer feedback regarding products or devices that may be developed, or, existing medications or devices that are currently in the market and the manufacturers who want input.

This is another example of how the Feds do dumb things. In this case, it is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Perhaps Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ought worry about more important things like championing interstate insurance competition, finding ways to make medications more affordable to the growing jobless and homeless population in the USA, or launching a bold initiative for small businesses to become vendors for her 80,000 employee department, instead of the huge mega corporations who garner most HHS contracts.

I found this article in Forbes.com interesting, and wanted to share it with you, as well as offer my reaction.

While I agree with many of the points raised in the piece, I believe that Sandeep Dadlani is off target when suggesting that tracking trends may be as, or more important than market research. This is like saying that motor oil is more important to your car than gasoline!

For all of these reasons and more, this is why when we developed a system called the “Powerfeedback 50.”

The Powerfeedback 50 asks fifty probing questions specifically designed to help us learn about your business and the circumstances that have led you to seek outside assistance for your business. The seeds of change for any business are rooted in discovering what has caused the problems, what needs to be addressed, and what business strategy to apply to resolve or reverse the current business situation. Powerfeedback functions as a change agent. We define service by delivering business intelligence, business strategies and business results.

After our investigation is completed we then recommend a strategy that will best meet your needs, whether this means trend tracking, market research, or in-depth business intelligence studies. In other words, what’s best for you, the client!

As you discuss your needs with any firm, please take note if they are pushing any one methodology without first learning of your current situation and your goals. This is indeed a definite trouble sign.

Then again, why would you talk to any firm other than Powerfeedback :-)

I recently wrote a post (“Increase Physician Income”) that drew many inquiries to me as well as very favorable reactions.

Based on this, I encourage you to read this article.

One thing you immediately zero in on is this quote-

Practice administrators interviewed for this story say BlueCross’ latest reimbursement rates are just the beginning of annual cuts that could last several years and drop to Medicare levels. Further cuts could put many private practices out of business, administrators said. “At that point there would be no way to sustain a private practice, at least in the way people are used to,” one administrator said.

This gives further credence as to the programs that Powerfeedback is offering to hospital owned physician groups as well as larger privately owned doctor owned practices.

For the public who doesn’t think that doctors should earn more money, ask yourself this question. Would you really invest 7-10 years of education and incur numerous debt only to have your earnings capped?

Quick tip ladies and gentlemen.

If you are going to conduct a short, close-end survey, please, make sure that you provide a mobile friendly version for your participants.

More and more people like myself are not taking a laptop on day-trips as we rely heavily on our Blackberry’s, iPhone’s and other similar devices. As a result, when we see your survey, if we can’t complete it on this device, the odds of us doing it online later are less that 9.4% according to our research.

More and more of my colleagues are doing such surveys yet don’t offer the mobile option. Why not? It really is no big deal to do.

Please contact us for specific help and any questions that you may have.