How We Work
The following is a brief overview of what it is like to work with Essential Resources on a project.
Client relationships typically begin with a simple, introductory conversation. At this stage, the potential client might not have a specific need for our services but is interested in learning more about how marketing research can help them address marketing and business challenges in general. The introductory conversation provides an understanding of the specific types of challenges Essential Resources helps clients address and the methods we use. The objective of the introductory conversation is to make someone comfortable enough with Essential Resources to give us a call if a need arises in the future. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you and your team—please contact us today to see how we go about answering questions and solving problems.
When a possible need for marketing research comes up, we discuss the potential client’s objectives and informational needs to evaluate which marketing research method is the best viable option. Once we have settled on an option which we both feel can address the potential client’s informational needs, we begin thinking about how we would approach the project. This process typically involves a conversation with a potential client, and often results in an email from Essential Resources summarizing our understanding of the project objectives and some of our thinking on the proper approach. If the potential client is seriously interested in pursuing it further, we then move to the proposal development stage.
Once we understand the informational needs, as well as budget and time constraints, we will develop a marketing research methodology and scope that best meets our potential client’s needs while fitting into whatever constraints exist. We see this activity as part of relationship building and do not charge proposal writing fees.
Once awarded, projects begin with a series of in-depth discussions to define the client’s needs more thoroughly. After we establish a solid understanding of the client’s needs and how the results are going to be used, we move to the next step—materials creation. We create initial drafts of the marketing research materials. Depending on the marketing research methodology being applied, materials include surveys, discussion guides, companies/contacts to include etc. The draft materials are then sent to the client for review and feedback. An iterative process is used until the client approves the final version of the materials that will be used in the data collection phase of the project.
After finalizing the materials, we move to the data collection phase. The activities in this phase vary by the methodology being used, e.g. surveys, in-depth interviews, focus group etc. Data collection typically takes about 2-3 weeks depending on the size of the project.
Once the data collection is completed, we conduct a thorough analysis of the results and create a report, which is the primary deliverable for a project. Analysis and reporting typically takes about a week to complete. Essential Resources reports contain a summary of the findings as well as detailed analysis.
