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Case study: Operational Improvement in a Market Research Boutique Firm

This case study examines how a small market research firm addressed the trade-off between growing customization demands and maintaining efficient syndication processes. Through collaboration with the consultant, the firm identified key pain points, implemented solutions, and transformed its approach to client requests and data management.

The Request

During the initial introductory meeting, the client highlighted their challenge with the widely encountered trade-off between product customization and syndication. While every customer inevitably requests some level of data personalization, the client's immediate concern is not simply whether to approve or deny these requests. Instead, their focus is on effectively capturing and tracking such requests to make more informed decisions about which to accept as exceptions, which to develop into syndicated product features, and which to decline.

Together, the client and the consultant identified a set of opportunities, both those currently underutilized and those that could be leveraged through desired changes.

This is happening now:

  • Capture requests poorly, leading to lost insights or overlooked needs.
  • Allocate development resources to low-return features while neglecting VIP client requests that could yield higher profits and strengthen relationships with tier-1 clients.

Missing the opportunity for:

  • Personalize/target advertising messages to align more closely with customer needs.
  • Prioritize feature development for highly requested changes or VIP client requests.
  • Improve knowledge management to support employees handling customer interactions more.

The Collaboration Agreement

As part of the broader operational improvement initiative undertaken jointly by the client and the consultant, the consultant proposed a plan to address the following needs:

  • Eliminate data fragmentation across scattered sources such as post-its, email inboxes, and similar tools.
  • Provide a comprehensive view encompassing all clients, requests, dates, statuses, meeting outcomes related to the topic, and team members' opinions.

Initial Assessment

Given the small size of the firm, the consultant and the client agreed to forego a broad survey and instead conduct an initial assessment through an email questionnaire, followed by a 60-minute interview with the person responsible for product development. The consultant prepared a set of standard questions covering marketing, product development, and client interactions, ensuring the format allowed for flexible and open-ended responses.

Extract from the survey

  • Marketing

    • Target Audience:

      • Who are your primary target customers?
      • What is your unique value proposition compared to competitors?

    • Marketing Channels

      • Which marketing channels (e.g., digital, traditional) do you currently use?
      • How do you measure the effectiveness of each channel?

    • Content and Messaging

      • What types of content do you produce (e.g., blogs, videos, ads)?
      • How do you manage and maintain brand consistency?

    • Metrics and Analytics

      • What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you track for marketing success?
      • How frequently do you analyze marketing performance?
      • How do you use data to refine your marketing strategies?

  • Product Development

    • Product Roadmap

      • How do you define and prioritize product features or improvements?
      • What processes are in place for collecting and integrating customer feedback into development?
      • How often is your product roadmap updated?

    • Innovation and Testing

      • How do you identify opportunities for innovation in your product offerings?
      • What methods do you use for prototyping and testing new ideas?
      • How do you ensure quality control during product development?

    • Collaboration and Resources

      • How do marketing, sales, and R&D collaborate during product development?
      • Are the resources allocated to product development sufficient for your goals?

    • Time-to-Market

      • How do you manage your product lifecycle to balance speed and quality?
      • What challenges do you face in bringing products to market quickly?

  • Client Service/Discovery/Development

    • Customer Onboarding

      • What is your process for onboarding new clients?
      • How do you set expectations and communicate deliverables to clients?

    • Customer Support

      • What systems are in place to handle customer inquiries and issues?
      • How do you measure and track customer satisfaction?

    • Client Insights

      • How do you gather and analyze client feedback to inform decisions?
      • What methods do you use to identify emerging customer needs?

    • Retention and Development

      • What strategies do you use to retain existing clients?
      • How do you identify and pursue opportunities for upselling or cross-selling?
      • How do you measure the lifetime value of your clients?

    • Client Relationship Management (CRM)

      • What tools or systems do you use for managing client data and interactions?
      • How do you ensure that all client-related data is accurate and up-to-date?

Consolidating the responses from the questionnaire and the follow-up interview, the key findings relevant to the case study are summarized as follows:

  • Structured Marketing Plan: The firm runs regular advertising campaigns, maintains consistent social media engagement, and distributes newsletters. Analytics are performed through traffic monitoring and conversion tracking tools.
  • Product Management: A simple yet organized product pipeline and lifecycle management system is in place.
  • CRM Usage: The company subscribes to a SaaS ERP/CRM, which is utilized for tracking client contracts and deliveries.
  • Client Interaction Logging: A shared spreadsheet is used to log all client interactions. Team members add entries in real-time, and given the relatively low volume, versioning conflicts have not been an issue.
  • Customer Requests: Requests are received through various channels, including email, chat, and phone, at any time of day. These are logged either directly into the spreadsheet, or noted on paper if team members are away from their workstations.

Solution Design

The consultant reviewed the collected materials from a new perspective, reshaping them to outline a path toward addressing the identified needs. A list of proposed improvements was presented for discussion with the client:

  • Integrate the Product Management Workflow into the ERP/CRM:

    • Enable visibility into each client’s subscriptions and the status of any product development they are subscribed to or interested in.
    • Reduce overall data fragmentation by consolidating information.

  • Integrate the Marketing Plan into the ERP/CRM:

    • Incorporate the lifecycle of client relationships, including contracts and marketing activities, to inform future marketing campaigns.
    • Eliminate data silos by consolidating all marketing data within the ERP/CRM.

  • Integrate the Client Interaction Capture Mechanism into the ERP/CRM:

    • Implement a system to record client interactions directly in the ERP/CRM, allowing for seamless mapping of captured information to existing ERP/CRM data.
    • Further reduce data fragmentation and improve accessibility.

  • Provide Employees with a Structured Script for Product Modifications:

    • Equip employees with a predefined script for calls regarding product changes to capture critical details, such as:

      • Expected outcome/benefit, and why cannot be done with the existing;
      • Proposed change that would (allegedly) return the expected outcome;
      • Urgency/desired timeline;
      • How often will be used and by whom;
      • Impact of not-doing it.

    • Ensure questions are addressed during the initial interaction when clients are more willing to engage, rather than relying on follow-ups where client responsiveness may diminish.

  • Ensure the ERP/CRM Supports the Following Features:

    • Customized Reporting: Facilitate detailed analysis of enhancements, client interactions, and development progress.
    • Mobile Accessibility: Enable employees to log interactions in real-time, even when they are away from their laptops.

  • Create Dedicated Reporting Mechanisms:

    Develop reports tailored to track and analyze client lifecycle data, marketing effectiveness, and product development status.

Solution discussion

The consultant designed a questionnaire to distribute among the company's employees to gather their feedback, recognizing the importance of their input as the end users of the proposed solutions. The questionnaire outlined the costs and benefits associated with each proposal and included the following questions:

  • What do you see as the strengths of this proposal?
  • What are your concerns or objections? What potential issues do you foresee?
  • Is there anything related to this proposal that you would like to suggest?

Additionally, the questionnaire provided a link to an anonymous feedback form to encourage candid responses and foster discussions about potentially sensitive topics.

The responses were gathered, compiled into a report, and presented to management, who decided to proceed with all the proposed suggestions.

Execution

  • The consultant was granted access to the ERP/CRM and internal documents, including logs tracking marketing efforts and product development activities. This provided a comprehensive understanding of the current data structure to plan the migration.

  • Collaborating with the team, the consultant finalized a detailed list of relevant metrics to track for each customization request, such as urgency, potential impact, resource requirements, and alignment with strategic goals.

  • The consultant merged the product development data into the ERP/CRM, incorporating custom dimensions to monitor and manage customization requests, ensuring all information was centralized and easily accessible.

  • Utilizing the ERP/CRM's customization features, the consultant created tailored forms and workflows to capture client interaction data. These forms were integrated directly with the ERP/CRM and product management tools to streamline operations and maintain consistency.

  • To illustrate the value of the integrated data, the consultant developed a set of initial reports. These allowed the team to cross-analyze the newly tracked customization dimensions and gain actionable insights into client needs and operational processes.

  • The consultant collaborated with the ERP/CRM provider to design a custom training program for the firm, focusing on creating and managing custom reports, empowering the team to maximize the ERP/CRM's potential.

  • A simple cheatsheet outlining a script for handling customization requests was created. Printed copies were distributed to employees, who were encouraged to keep them accessible at their desks for immediate reference.

Conclusion

This structured approach enabled the firm to enhance its customization request processes and strengthen its overall operational efficiency.