No matter how well a company thinks it knows its target audience, there’s always additional market intelligence that can dramatically impact business growth, especially in the complex world of B2B sales.
Utilizing B2B market research to gather information about the needs, motivations, and preferences of potential buyers can make a huge difference in whether a company ultimately succeeds. Here are just a few of the ways companies can parlay market intelligence into a winning business strategy:
- Understanding the ideal B2B buyer persona
- Learning the most common customer pain points
- Evaluating the competition
- Knowing what’s trending in the industry
- Assessing the demand for a particular product or service
- Monitoring performance based on customer expectations
- Refining offerings to best meet the target audience’s needs
There are multiple ways to obtain such vital market intelligence, generally falling under two umbrellas: Primary research, which involves engaging with your target audience directly, and secondary research, which involves accessing publicly available third-party data. Either can be beneficial, but both require a significant commitment to be truly effective.
The most direct method of primary research is one-on-one telephone conversations; after all, you can learn a lot about your market simply by asking the right questions to the right people. Unfortunately, most smaller businesses don’t have the time or resources to just start calling and surveying potential customers, and they almost certainly don’t have the bandwidth to reach enough prospects by phone to obtain conclusive data.
But what if they had a highly qualified partner to make those calls for them?
Outsourcing your market research efforts to an experienced call center partner can go a long way toward helping you gain the intelligence you need to effectively grow your business. VSA Prospecting has been making these types of calls for clients across multiple verticals for more than two decades, and we’ve seen firsthand the benefits of this type of calling program.
VSA’s has a wide range of experience with telephone-based market research, including prospecting surveys, information-gathering programs, campaigns to access industry trends, and “secret shopper” campaigns to gain specific insights into competitors’ offerings. Our Business Development Representatives are adept at holding casual yet professional conversations, without sounding scripted or robotic (even when they’re reading from a script).
Here are some brief examples, listed by vertical, of the types of market research we’ve conducted on behalf of our clients:
Technology: A global cybersecurity firm hired us to reach out to middle-market companies to access their needs for virus and data security protection. We obtained information about the decision-making process at these companies, as well as their time frames to purchase.
Healthcare: VSA conducted a lengthy telephone survey for a Fortune 500 firm, designed to identify the size and functionality of facilities’ X-ray equipment, while also learning when the next capital investment would be made and who the decision-makers were.
On another campaign, we conducted a national survey of hospitals to identify trends in the healthcare field, with the data published in an industry journal.
Retail: We helped a distributor of children’s toys evaluate sales channels, via a telephone survey comparing convenience stores and greeting card shops.
Finance: VSA administered a phone survey for a consortium of financial institutions to learn the preferred banks among middle-market firms, as well as their reasons for choosing those banks.
On a separate campaign, we conducted a brief survey to determine if credit unions had the budget and need for a new CRM system.
Municipal: VSA has engaged in an ongoing, multi-year partnership with a global leader in municipal software to help them identify local governments’ needs for new financial software. We’ve acquired valuable market insights along the way, including prospects’ likes and dislikes about competitors’ products.
We also helped an international conglomerate assess customer satisfaction with software from an acquisition target, to help them determine the viability of proceeding with the acquisition.
Manufacturing: A survey for a major logistics firm helped identify the equipment needs of large warehouses across the country.
A separate survey for a leading liquid gas company helped assess the viability of penetrating a new geographic market, with questions about the use of liquid gas cannisters, sizes, and order timeframes.
In each of these cases—and many others—the VSA team collaborated closely with our clients before (and during) the calling campaign to learn as much about their industry as possible, allowing us to have thoughtful, intelligent conversations with customers, potential customers, or anyone else whose insights could add value. This detailed preparation ensures our BDRs are equipped to do more than just read a list of questions during telephone surveys; they can engage, react, and sometimes even obtain information beyond what our client requested.
As with VSA’s lead generation and appointment-setting campaigns, everything about our market research programs is highly customizable. (For example, some clients prefer to remain anonymous when we’re gathering intelligence on their behalf.) Regardless of the particulars, our market research campaigns provide valuable insights and data to your sales teams.
If you’re looking to acquire market intelligence without burdening your internal team, consider giving us a call. We’re always excited to learn new ways to help you fill your pipeline with new business and achieve your market growth goals.