In this Market Research Society (MRS) webinar, Andrew Dalglish from specialist B2B market research company Circle Research, provides an introduction to B2B market research. It covers the key principles of B2B market research, how to design a B2B market research project and how to knowledgeably commission a B2B market research project.

1. Introduction to B2B market research
An MRS webinar
17th June 2015

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I’m a B2B geek

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By the end of this webinar you will:
• Know the key principles of B2B research
• Be able to design a B2B project
• More knowledgably commission a B2B project

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Agenda
1. The hidden world of B2B
2. The role of research in B2B
3. Designing a B2B research project
4. Q & A

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Agenda
1. The hidden world of B2B
2. The role of research in B2B
3. Designing a B2B research project
4. Q & A

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B2B is the purchase of goods
and services by one business
from another business
Sourcing materials for the production process
Using services of another business for operational reasons
Re-selling goods and services of another business

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B2B is bigger than you think
Machinery
Energy
Ingredients
Packaging
Logistics
Financial services
Marketing
Legal services
And many more…
…Is enabled by dozens of B2B salesOne B2C sale…
Read the full blog post here:
http://www.research-live.com/blogs/why-is-b2b-research-the-poor-cousin?/4013170.article

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Two fifths of the FTSE100 are pure B2B companies
B2B
B2C
Mixed
Amongst top 30 companies in FTSE100…

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Online B2B marketplace Alibaba is worth 3x eBay
Market cap = $222 bn
Market cap = $73 bn
Source: Google Finance Data, 11th June 2015

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B2B isn’t the poor cousin
It’s a powerhouse

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The unique features of B2B environments

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And it’s better seen as a spectrum, not dichotomy

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Never forget – B2B is still about people
Compass don’t buy
KPMG’s services

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Agenda
1. The hidden world of B2B
2. The role of research in B2B
3. Designing a B2B research project
4. Q & A

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Only 6% of global research spend is B2B
Source: ESOMAR, Global Market Research Report 2014

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B2B companies are often sales and ‘engineering’ led
B2B purchases are seen as ‘rational’
“I know my customer”
Customer numbers are limited and relationships close
“I’ll ask them next time we speak”
“What we do is too complex – ‘outsiders’ don’t get it”
“It’s obvious what they want”
“We built the product together”
Customer choice is more limited
“That’s my customer”
“They’re not going anywhere”
Why isn’t research as popular in B2B?

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But research is used
Business goal Research focus
Trend analysis and thought leadership
Product and proposition development
Needs, wants and market segmentation
Price modelling
Decision making journeys
Marcomms development and testing
Brand development and testing
Wins and losses reviews
Customer satisfaction
Employee satisfaction
Monitor trends and develop a point-of-view
A proposition which appeals
Optimal pricing strategy
Engage the right people
Use the right messages and channels
Correctly position the brand
Win the business
Optimise customer loyalty and share-of-wallet
Optimise the employee experience

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Agenda
1. The hidden world of B2B
2. The role of research in B2B
3. Designing a B2B research project
4. Q & A

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Unique features of B2B research
Analysis
Methodology
• Often mixed methodology
• More likely to use:
• Desk research and expert interviews
• Tele-depths and CATI
• Less likely to use focus groups and online panels
Sampling
• Smaller sample sizes:
• 30 – 50 per cell in quant
• 8 – 10 per cell in qual
• Aligned to firmographics
• Decision Making Unit (DMU) represented
Fieldwork
• International scope common
• Hard-to-reach: relationships used & heavy incentivisation
• Questioning more ‘functional’ & interviewer subject expert
• Anonymity often waived
• Revenue weighting
• Key Accounts may be viewed in isolation
Projectmanagement
Internalstakeholdermanagementcritical
Industryandsubjectmatterexpertisecritical
Projecttimelinestendtobelonger

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Think about who you should be surveying
Board of
Directors
CIO
IT Director
IT Manager
IT team
3rd party
consultants
End users
Over-rule or amendSponsor, approve and fund
Input, inform and vet
Lead decision
Gather information and inform
Advise and influence
Lobby

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Think about how you incentivise them
£ • Personal incentive most effective (direct or prize draw)
• Charity donations less effective but do help
• Beware of bribery laws
i • Learning about ‘inside track’ often more persuasive than £
• Exclusive summary report of findings also effective
• Leveraging relationship works best of all

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Be comfortable deviating from the normal ‘rules’
• Imagine all UK citizens are in target market
• 64.1 million potential consumers in the UK
• Interview 0.003% of them (2,000)
• Margin of error = 2.19%
• Imagine targeting just FTSE 100 CFOs
• 100 potential customers in the UK
• Interview 65% of them (65)
• Margin of error = 7.23%
In B2B, small target markets and practical constraints mean that you sometimes
need to accept small sample sizes and deviate from normal statistical rules

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Get their explicit permission to waive anonymity
• Waiving anonymity allows positive action to be taken
• Can also be essential to understanding research findings in small markets
• Respondents usually see benefit and happy to do so
• Remember, this is still not a permission to sell
“Members must ensure that the anonymity of participants is
preserved unless participants have given their informed consent
for their details to be revealed or for attributable comments to be
passed on”
If permission denied, then be careful not to inadvertently breach
anonymity as sample sizes can be small

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End-to-end design: ask yourself four key questions
1. What’s my business driver and what do I need to find out?
2. Where are, or who has, the answers?
3. How am I going to extract the information?
4. How am I going to persuade them to support me?

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What’s my business driver and what do I need to find out?
Question Answer Tips
What business decisions are
we informing?
B2B audiences are often time poor so
research questioning needs to be
focussed. If you won’t use the
information, don’t ask the question.
What specific information is
needed?
What outcome will each piece
of information inform?

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Where are, or who has, the answers?
Question Answer Tips
What types of companies are we
interested in?
Think about different country markets,
industry sectors, company sizes and an
organisation’s relationship with you
(customer/lapsed/prospect, contribution to
revenue, strategic importance)
What does the Decision Making
Unit (DMU) and user base look
like?
Think about who leads, influences and
authorises decisions as well as who else is
touched by your product/service
Are there any hidden influencers
or people we touch?
Third parties (e.g. consultants, specifiers)
may well influence decisions and your
product/service may touch non-core users
whose opinion is important (e.g. those using
the output of the product user creates)
Of all these individuals, whose
opinion or behaviour do we need
to understand?
The most senior person is not always the
most influential. Think about who really
calls the shots
Are any of these individuals more
important than others?
Overall, how many companies
and people do we estimate are in
the target audience?
ONS and EUROSTAT data provides
detailed breakdowns of economic structures
and sources such as marketingfile.com can
give counts of people meeting your
audience definition

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How am I going to extract the information?
Question Answer Tips
Would any secondary information
or internal analyses support our
understanding?
With the primary research, do we
need a rich understanding or hard
numbers?
If qualitative, are there any
constraints on our approach?
The two main qualitative methodologies are
focus groups and in-depth interviews. To
choose, think about whether respondents
are especially time poor or geographically
dispersed, and whether the topic is
commercially sensitive.
If quantitative, how will we access
them?
An online survey is the cheapest option and
offers more flexibility in survey design.
Consider whether each of the four main
online access routes would work – email via
your database, via partners (trade
media/bodies), social media (e.g. LinkedIn
groups) or via specialist panels. If not, then
a telephone approach will be necessary
How many respondents can
practically be recruited and will
this allow analysis by important
sub-groups?
Aim for a low margin of error where possible
but recognise that this isn’t always possible
in B2B research. As a rule of thumb, 30 –
50 quant interviews or 8 – 10 qual interviews
are needed for indicative sub-group analysis
If quantitative, how are we going
to make the sample
representative of our market or
our customer base?
Your internal sales data, ONS and
EUROSTAT can be used to determine the
customer base/market structure and
determine quotas/weighting
How are we going to probe
beyond over-rationalised,
‘functional’ answers?
To bypass the ‘rational’ mind consider using
statistical techniques (e.g. regression) and
creative qualitative exercises (e.g. brand
planets)

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How am I going to persuade them to support me?
Question Answer Tips
Who holds the relationship
with these people?
Involve those holding customer
relationships early as they can act as
blockers
If relevant, how are we going
to get past gate-keepers?
How are we going to persuade
people to support us?
The main incentives in B2B are an
interesting topic, a personal
relationship, access to exclusive
information based on the survey,
personal financial reward, charity
donations and prize draws.
Relationships, information and personal
financial reward tend to be most
effective
Do any incentives comply with
corporate and legal
guidelines?
In B2B bribery laws can sometimes
prevent the use of certain incentives. If
you’re in the middle of a bid process
with a client/prospect, incentives may
also be inappropriate.
What time frame is realistic? Remember that B2B respondents are
hard to access and time poor so
extended fieldwork periods are needed.
As a rule of thumb allow 2 – 3 weeks
fieldwork for quant studies and 3 – 4
weeks fieldwork for qual studies

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Agenda
1. The hidden world of B2B
2. The role of research in B2B
3. Designing a B2B research project
4. Q & A

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@circle_research
www.circle-research.com

31. Cert. 0504
For details please contact:
Andrew.dalglish@circle-research.com
+44 (0) 20 7960 3802