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Business and Professional Research

Business services is increasingly one of the larger users of business to business market research. Business services is also one of the largest and most diverse sectors we work in. From Accountants, Marketing consultancies, PR agencies, Business consultancies Outsourcing Consultants, Executive development gurus and even Storage and retrieval specialists - the range is astonishing. Yet they have one thing in common, from multi nationals down to one man bands, the only thing that they really have to sell is themselves and their expertise. Given this common theme you might expect that there would be pattern to the research we undertake but, their isn't and the range of studies we undertake for clients in this sector is probably more diverse than any other.

Moreover, we don't just work for clients directly but quite often work with the clients of our clients! Marketing service groups, advertising agencies and PR consultancies don't always have sufficient internal expertise to fulfil their client's needs and we frequently help by supplying technical knowledge or additional resource such as telephone interviewing. We work well in partnership with all of our clients and they trust us to work with their clients as well which is very gratifying.

Benchmark Research has undertaken a wide variety of business to business market research studies, as reflected in the following examples.

Customer satisfaction and retention

Customer satisfaction is absolutely critical for service based industries. There's no product for customers to be dependent on and while consultancies are invariably close to their clients thy don't always understand how important specific performance criteria are or how well they are delivering against these. Over the years we have worked extensively in this area and have developed an approach that shows business service clients in clear, simple terms exactly how well they are delivering the value that customers need, the areas they need to improve and the loyalty levels they enjoy from their customers. These are normally benchmarked against similar companies to provide reference points and add perspective.

Brand Evaluation

The image and value of the brand is critical in consumer markets but in business to business markets it is frequently under valued and misunderstood. It isn't just about the colour of the logo, the type face used or even the images used. Evaluating the brand, is however, all about understanding the elements that give the brand its strength and position in the market: awareness levels spontaneous and prompted), brand associations and values (reliable, leading edge, customer centric, market share, competitors profiles etc. all contribute to the brand's strength and a detailed understanding of the attributes helps to improve the effectiveness and focus of marketing.

New Product or Service Introduction

Too few companies test the market for new ideas and the developments being considered. Good research can reduce development costs, minimise launch budgets, identify markets that hold the greatest potential and develop an understanding of optimal pricing points. It can also stop companies wasting a lot of time, effort and money in developing services for which there is no real market. This does happen!

PR Research

You'd be amazed how much coverage market research can secure in the media. When you haven't got news of your own or are looking for a way to boost a client's profile a PR orientated study can help to keep your name in the public domain.

Merger and Acquisition and Commercial Due Diligence Research

The M&A market is very important for business service clients and we have worked with several companies as part of the due diligence process and we're much cheaper than lawyers! Research can add a depth of understanding: the real size of the client base, the loyalty of existing clients, the issues that need to be addressed that financial statistics can't give on their own. Research can help convince banks, reassure shareholders and boards of directors and provide a route map for activity post acquisition.