Insights Industry News

December 13, 2017

Yes: Corporate Researchers Will Speak

Don’t miss out! There’s still time to join the “Corporate Researchers Speak: How to Engage & Sell Us” Collaborata study.

Yes: Corporate Researchers Will Speak
Peter Zollo

by Peter Zollo

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We actually did it. With the support of 10 forward-thinking research providers, we’ve successfully funded “Corporate Researchers Speak: How to Engage & Sell Us.”

It wasn’t easy. Which is a bit ironic.

A funny thing happened on the way to achieving our funding goal. We learned who really believes in research. And, were we surprised.

Think about it. We’ve been asking research suppliers to actually buy research themselves: a qualitative study that will be the first to reveal how corporate clients want to be sold to by insights providers.

Of course, we all have clients who need to be clearly convinced that any research they invest in is linked to a ROI. Well, this study checks that box. It’s about how to grow revenue in today’s changing research-buying environment. It’s about hearing directly from clients. And, the “buy-in” price is low — far lower than I’d imagine almost any research project you’d sell a client (thanks to Collaborata’s co-funding model). Plus GreenBook is including some really nice perks, as they’d love to see this study funded and this learning uncovered.

So, over the course of the last several weeks, we’ve had lots of conversations with research firms of different sizes and areas of expertise. And, during this process, we heard very different things.

First, those firms with declining revenues were far less interested in hearing directly from clients than those whose business is growing.

And, second…

CEOs, far more than those who lead business development, want to hear research buyers’ perspectives. Imagine that.

The good news…

In the end, we achieved our funding goal, though it went down to the wire. To date, a total of 10 research suppliers have signed on as sponsors. These 10, interestingly enough, are mostly mid-size firms. None of the global giants, though they all expressed interest, have yet signed up. A few of them told me that they already get these insights from their salespeople.

How comfortable would that make you? Wouldn’t you rather hear from clients without the filter of those in business development? Wouldn’t you appreciate clients’ perspectives on questions seldom asked but are so fundamental to the health of your business?

More so, this study incorporates a number of projective exercises, in addition to direct questioning, to uncover a uniquely deep level of understanding the experience of buying research. And, the research is being conducted by a team of experts. (Click here for all the details.)

The better news…

I’m happy to let you know that there’s still an opportunity to join the study and gain a new empathetic understanding of how today’s generation of clients want you to engage them, sell them, and develop trusted partner relationships. Do you know the emotional triggers that lead to buying decisions? Neither do we, though we have our hypotheses, which will be fully explored in this research.

Of course, only the paying sponsors (i.e., your competitors) will receive the research, complete with a presentation.

And, thanks to GreenBook, the three sponsors will receive two tickets to IIeX North America in June and $3,000 in sponsored posts or banner ads on the new GreenBook blog.

Thank you, and happy collaborating.

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clientscollaboratacrowdfunding

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The views, opinions, data, and methodologies expressed above are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official policies, positions, or beliefs of Greenbook.

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