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Research: The Key to Customer Focus

The key to customer focus is understanding, predicting and influencing the customer's perspective. Without the information necessary to accomplish these primary goals, you will always be limited in your ability to market effectively to your customers.

Customer and market research unlock the customer's perspective. Truly customer-focused companies continuously generate usable information about their current and prospective customers' existing and future needs. If you define sustainable competitive advantage as the provision of a superior solution to the customer's problem, then research on your competitors' capabilities and strategies is also required.

Too many companies, however, put off customer and market research as long as possible, seeing it as a cost rather than as an investment. And it is true that customer research and information can be expensive. For those companies and individuals committed to sharpening their customer focus, however, low-cost alternatives do exist. A number of business schools around the world actively seek out customer and market research projects - in addition to other business consulting work - from companies and entrepreneurs.

In my own classes, for example, students conduct full-scale marketing research and strategy projects for real-world clients. I have facilitated such projects in courses taught in the Americas, Scandinavia, Europe and Asia. In the majority of cases, the students have gained a valuable learning experience by applying what they have learned to the benefit of clients who received low-cost customized research.

The University of Dallas Graduate School of Management (GSM) - my home university - offers business consulting services conducted by MBA students. These student consulting teams have completed hundreds of projects for more than 600 clients over the past 20 years. The clients range from small "mom-and-pops" to very large multinational corporations and non-profit organizations.

Projects are typically research or strategic in nature. Every term projects are conducted in most of the following areas:

At GSM such projects are undertaken by graduate management students from a variety of disciplines. Student consulting teams are facilitated by faculty with real-world experience and subject-matter expertise.

GSM accepts project applications from interested businesses from around the world on an ongoing basis. If the application is accepted, the project is scheduled for an upcoming term. Once the term begins, students contact the client for a preliminary conference on the nature and scope of the project. Many projects are "virtual," in that students and clients never meet in person; rather, communications are conducted via the Internet, by telephone or fax. After the preliminary conference with the client and any initial background research, the student team prepares a project proposal complete with objectives, proposed deliverables, work plan and an itemized budget. There is no charge for professional services, but a small administration fee and cost-recovery is charged. Recent projects have ranged from between $2,500 and $8,000 +. The client approves the proposal and budget before any work actually takes place. (For complete details about GSM student consulting teams and to request an application form, contact Lori Peterson (972) 721- 5235.)

A question that I am frequently asked about student research and strategy projects is how they compare with similar services provided by commercial suppliers. As an independent consultant who both provides and purchases significant amounts of commercial marketing research and strategy services, my opinion is that student consulting teams can be an excellent low-cost alternative. They are particularly well-suited to those clients with limited financial resources, flexible time-frames and the willingness to invest significant amounts of "sweat-equity" to ensure the success of the project. In my experience, the key to a successful student research project is efficient and effective communication between the client and the student team. Students are typically on a very tight time schedule (at GSM, for example, students are expected to complete their projects within 13 weeks) and even small delays in receiving feedback from a client can be catastrophic.

Customer and market research is an investment in developing a customer focus. Using student research teams is an investment with both high risks and high rewards. Student research projects warrant higher levels of monitoring than may be necessary with commercial suppliers, and academic schedules may not jive with real-time deadlines. When all the elements are in place, however, student consulting teams can produce high quality information at prices significantly lower than available from commercial sources.