What to ask for when you ask for market research

Right, so I didn’t read the leave calendar properly and have had to take a load of leave time for the end of the year, rather than lose it. My fault. Or “my bad” as the kids probably don’t say anymore. I had something prepared, but it’ll have to wait until next time. Here’s a filler; a rather rushed but hopefully useful guide to what’s useful for me when you ask for market research from MARC.

Precise needs – Aims and objectives. Right? Stuff we teach on a huge proportion of our courses, but which curiously goes AWOL when initiatives are half baked then chucked around with a clear need for action, but a panicky feeling of not really knowing what the action should be. Crystallising precise needs can be useful to you as well as to me. Many requests I have are pleasingly specific to which I respond, usually with a stunningly presented answer.  Here are some clues about what makes a nice, specific request.

If you don’t know what you’re after, say so. GO ON; SAY IT. “I’m not sure what I’m after”. As long as you’re not expecting the moon on a stick, or a silver bullet, we can work round this. It might be time to ask for a meeting……

A meeting – yes, I can be “meeting resistant”. Many sensible, sane people are. Meetings can, after all, be talking shops better covered by an email. If you have a very specific course title you want to test, or need recruitment details from competitors, again, with a set list of courses, let’s not meet. If there’s any room for misinterpretation, however, then let’s meet. Or call me. I’m on x 3379. I don’t mind woolly requests. Really. The work can often be more interesting than number crunching cohorts. 

Me and fashion parted in the mid 1970s

Background – always helpful. Often covered in meetings, though not always at other times.

Remember, I’m a man with limitations. I know nothing about Fashion, Criminology, Computing, HRM, Forensics, Sport Therapy, Civil Engineering or Marketing. You know far more about your subject area than me. You may have come from a different institution which may do things better or differently to us. The latter far more likely than the former, obviously. Sharing background is, however, a two way street. Look at all this stuff on the intranet, for example……

A deadline. I have other work. I do not sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for stuff to come in.  I do not have a team; I have spreadsheets.

When giving a deadline, try and think of a date. You know; DD/MM/YYYY. That kind of thing. It might be fun and edgy to say it, but “as soon as possible” is not a deadline. “As soon as possible” =

• “put my request at the top of your list;
• I don’t want to hear/care what else you’re working on;
• my work is more important than anything else you’re doing right now;
• I am more important than the rest of those people you’re working with”.

Right, ok. I know “as soon as possible” isn’t this really, and that it's more ‘light touch’ bribery. I’m only human and, therefore susceptible to bribes and other forms of flattery and bullying. But please, tell me when you need your work done. If it’s for a meeting, let me know it’s for a meeting and let me know how long you’d like to digest whatever I can produce before this meeting.

Put a crap deadline into the system; expect crap back

And again, “yesterday” is not a deadline. “Yesterday” is an admission of failure, on your part. “Yesterday” means the boat has sailed and you’ve been caught out. It may not be your fault, but I cannot meet a deadline that’s in the past. Please recalculate and bear in mind exactly what I’ve said about “as soon as possible”.

So that’s what would be nice to have when you ask for market research. I accept and will work to lesser briefs. I often do. Here’s The Beach Boys to wrap things up. Let’s try and forget they might be Republicans.