Maximizing Vendor Client Relationships

1. 4/16-4/17 How to Develop, Execute and Analyze Surveys
and Questionnaires
Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center
Chicago, IL; Radisson Hotel
Also: 4/19-4/20: Denver, CO; Embassy Suites Denver Tech Center
Contact: (800) 258-7246, www.nationalseminarstraining.com
4/16-4/18 Re:THINK: 53rd Annual ARF Convention
Advertising Research Foundation
New York, NY; Marriott Marquis Times Square
Contact: (212) 751-5656, www.thearf.org
4/18-4/19 2007 Senior Marketing Executive Roundtables:
Increasing Marketing Effectiveness
The Conference Board; New York, NY; Millennium UN Plaza
Contact: (212) 339-0345, www.conference-board.org/srmkg.htm
4/19-4/20 Questionnaire Design and Use Workshop
Anderson, Niebuhr & Associates
Minneapolis, MN; Mall of America
Contact: (800) 678-5577, www.ana-inc.com
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R E S E A R C H C O N F E R E N C E R E P O R T
6
R E S E A R C H C O N F E R E N C E R E P O R T
4/25-4/26 CASRO International Research Conference:
Asia Pacific
CASRO; San Francisco, CA; The Fairmont Hotel
Contact: (631) 928-6954, www.casro.org
4/30-5/2 AMA 2007 Strategic Marketing Conference:
Innovation-Balancing Theory & Reality
AMA; San Francisco, CA; Fairmont Hotel
Contact: (800) AMA-1150, www.marketingpower.com
____________________________________________________
Courses offered by The Burke Institute:
4/17-4/20 Focus Group Moderator Training
Cincinnati, OH; Embassy Suites RiverCenter-Covington, KY
4/24-4/27 Practical Multivariate Analysis
Los Angeles, CA; Marriott Manhattan Beach
4/30-5/2 Practical Marketing Research
Chicago, IL; Courtyard Marriott Downtown
Contact: Jim Berling, (800) 543-8635, info@BurkeInstitute.com
RCR welcomes information about your upcoming association, private
and corporate MR conferences, seminars and workshops. We
need it two months in advance. See page 8 for contact options.
insight–which is the real issue for all MRDs.”
Elaborating, Polenchar shared MREB’s definition of
insight: “The identification of some relationship or meaning,
within diverse data sets, that promises significant business
impact.” Polenchar said, “With insight capabilities scarce
and stretched in the client world, where do we turn?
MREB suggests research’s best opportunity to boost
insight differentiation is through information differentia-
tion, that is, the ability to offer clients data acquisition
(leading to unique insights) that wouldn’t be easily repli-
cated by other firms for their competitors.”
Polenchar exhorted clients to self assess: “How different
is the information we are collecting from what we col-
lected last year? How different is our information from
what our competitors collect? Aren’t we more likely to
get differentiated insights from Providers if we provide
differentiated information as fodder for synthesis?”
MREB members showed great interest in this concept,
Polenchar recounted, but they were unclear on how to get
such information from their vendors. “In effect, this raises
the bar for Providers,” he affirmed. “Not only will vendors
be called on to provide quality insights and synthesis of
information, but as a preferred supplier they will need to
provide differentiated information through methodological
innovation that provides substantial competitive advantage.”
Accordingly, the next generation of Preferred Partner,
according to Polenchar, will entail several roles, including:
• Productivity Resource (helping clients develop staff
through continuous and quality contact)
• Line Partner (acting as an extension of the client’s staff)
• Insight Generator and Consultative Partner (shoring
up departmental talent deficiencies and/or bandwidth).
“We’re talking about synthesis of information, not just Insight
from the current project, which is a critical failure of MRDs,”
he emphasized. “Lastly, Providers will be called on to provide
differentiating information–something different from what MR
managers have been telling their internal clients year after
year, and competitively advantaging.” Achieving this last goal
requires ongoing methodological innovation. “Providers must
reach farther, deeper into creative technologies to provide
unique data,” Polenchar advised. He also presented MREB
evaluation criteria to help determine a new technology’s
potential to generate differentiating information.
“One last side of this equation will be difficult for the
clients,” he commented. “What is the mutual benefit to both
sides in this new world of information delivery? The old
notion of Preferred Partnership needs to be replaced by a
client effort to become the Customer of Choice,” he insisted.
“Clients must replace the key selection criteria of cost with
an objective evaluation of a Provider’s ability to contribute to
the strategic agenda. Providers must be seen as solution
providers, not project managers. Clients must work togeth-
er with them to enhance their capabilities. They have to sup-
port the value proposition,” he concluded.
Brett Polenchar, Director-Insights & Planning for
Ross Products Division of Abbott (Columbus, OH),
explained he is a member of the Market Research
Executive Board (MREB), an organization of senior-level,
client-side MR execs. To make his case,
Polenchar drew upon proprietary find-
ings from MREB member research, plus
an informal survey of his client-side peers.
The typical MREB member organization
averages 20 vendors, “a number that has
been declining for the last four years and
that MREB members expect to further
reduce in 2007,” he reported. “MR
departments have been building relation-
ships with a small number of vendors
who can service the majority of their
needs.” Each provider is trying to figure out how to dif-
ferentiate and customize its business information in a way
that strengthens its value proposition, while still meeting
certain demands of the corporate procurement process.
Polenchar referenced a presentation from earlier in the
CASRO session, outlining Microsoft’s decision to “unbun-
dle” its research process, with different Providers handling
design, execution and analysis. “Microsoft cut its Providers
from 19 to 6, and subsequently reduced tracking research
cost by over 22%,” he shared. “This Microsoft example is
about procurement, synthesis of information and the
added value of a select few Providers,” he stressed.
Corporate mandates to involve Purchasing departments in
supplier selection have put MRDs in the “uncomfortable”
position of supporting a formal procurement process and
being “a good corporate citizen,” Polenchar explained. “Face
it, the homework done by Purchasing departments can bring
shame to MRD purchasing behavior,” and he cited real-world
examples, including inconsistent field facility charges. “There’s
no doubt our Purchasing group has fixed a few things for MR:
inconsistent pricing, leveraging scale and good contracting
process forcing us to look more critically at providers. More
often than not, MR managers choose a supplier without
regard to price, but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that pre-
ferred vendor contracts (with rebates and fixed margins) may
have already caused financial stress for Providers.”
Polenchar deconstructed the vendor qualification process
into three sequential tiers: 1) Cost-of-Entry (project manage-
ment/analytical proficiency), 2) Niche Expertise (tracking
studies, better panels, etc.) and 3) Preferred Partners (estab-
lished relationships, “knows my business,” etc.). In the MREB
study, less than 20% of Providers that do business with a
given client typically achieve “Preferred” status (about two to
three per client), he related, but they command some 52% of
MREB members’ MR budgets. (Polenchar suggested this
spending figure is underestimated.) Shockingly, the study also
found 73% of clients who have Preferred Providers are not
sure what benefit they get for that designation.
He argued clients “mistakenly think a procurement process
will extract higher quality Provider insights because they are
now Preferred Partners…[when in fact] there is significant
dissatisfaction with these relationships.” Preferred Providers
may be more responsive, but many MRDs still recognize a
gap in their ability to provide valuable strategic input. Both
parties are to blame for the disconnect, Polenchar asserted.
“Providers need to be sensitized to the tremendous
pressure MR is under to provide their organization with
information that significantly impacts growth,” he contin-
ued. A Marketing Leadership Council study showed over
half of marketing function leaders are dissatisfied with
MR’s performance as an “insight generator” and “identifier
of business opportunities”–arguably the highest value roles
MR could play. Additionally, the MREB study found MRDs
rate themselves low in effectiveness in delivering these
attributes, primarily because they don’t have the time.
Returning to his earlier Microsoft example, Polenchar said
research’s “unbundling” into separate design, execution and
analysis providers “created a deeper understanding of cate-
gories and consumers,” allowing Microsoft’s MR team to
“provide an integrated, synthesized view of their world,
which yields insight that is competitively advantaged…It was-
n’t the procurement process that yielded these benefits,” he
argued, “but finding the right combination of providers with
the right skills, and the right process for yielding synthesized
Brett Polenchar
May 2007 RCR Calendar (Continued from page 1)
CASRO 31st Annual Conference: Client-Driven Change Marina de Rey, CA October 18-20, 2006
Being “Customer of Choice” Bests “Preferred Provider” Focus
Main Point: MRD notions of “Preferred Partnerships”
need to be replaced by serious efforts by each depart-
ment to become their providers’ Customer of Choice.
Achieving this goal has enormous two-way benefits:
the client contributes strategically to its supplier’s busi-
ness and is viewed by that supplier as a strategic partner;
in turn, the Customer of Choice consistently receives
competitive preference with scarce resources.
RCR impressions of content: Freshness: A+
Relevance: A
Practicality: A+
For more information, contact: bpolenchar@earthlink.net
Over half of marketing leaders are dissatisfied with MR as an “insight generator and identifier of business opportunities”