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O P I N I O N
Building skills and confidence in doer-sellers is one way Jen Newman (center) and Zweig Group are Elevating the Industry.
Outsourcing market research
There are plenty of tell-tale signs your AEC firm needs a set of third-party experts to help you achieve your goals.
M arket research is the systematic action of gathering and interpreting information – using statistical and analytical methods and techniques – to gain insights into client wants, needs, and preferences. Market research is critical to maintain a competitive advantage and allows firms to gain invaluable information about economic shifts, current and changing market trends, areas for expansion, demographics, client preferences, and more, that all impact decision making and, ultimately, the bottom line.
Jen Newman
Savvy AEC firms rely on market research to provide fact-based data to proactively identify prospective clients, projects, services, and markets. Data gathered from research drives a lot of action items including the development of strategic plans, marketing campaigns, business development efforts, operational decisions, etc. Firms that forego market research and blindly pursue initiatives with no regard to market data run the risk of misdirected efforts, wasted time and lost revenue. If you want to keep a competitive advantage, market research must be conducted on a continual basis. There are two main types of research – primary and secondary. Primary research collects original data directly from the source – usually clients and prospective clients in a target market. Examples of primary research are interviews (telephone or
face-to-face), surveys, questionnaires (online or mail), and focus groups. Secondary research consists of collecting already-published data and includes reports and studies by industry experts, like Zweig Group’s library of surveys including the 2019 Financial Performance Survey of AEC Firms , government agencies, and professional organizations. This type of research can also be gained by reading articles in magazines, trade journals, and industry publications. Determining whether to use in-house staff or outsource your market research comes down to a cost/benefit analysis. Does the impact of obtaining relevant, vital information needed to allow your business to grow with your existing staff
Doug Parker
See JEN NEWMAN & DOUG PARKER, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER May 13, 2019, ISSUE 1296
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