Lead User Research for Breakthrough Innovation

Market research is a vital process in starting up a business or organizations. The key word in that phrase is “Research”. Gathering information, analyzing each information, adjusting to negative feedback and implementing everything that was gathered will lead companies in to a positive path of success. Investopdia has defined Market Research as “The process of assessing the viability of a new product or service through techniques such as surveys, product testing and focus groups”. Introducing focus groups and product testing to the up and coming product can provide a real time person interaction with their personal feelings about the product. Investopedia also explains that “Market research allows a company to discover who their target market

Researchers and practitioners in various career fields use QR to answer both simple and complex questions. There are many methods that can be used, but the most common methods for QR are focus groups, individual interviewers, observation, and action research. I have followed a few companies over the years with great research practices. Nike is a company that has done a great job for decades. Nike is the number one producer of athletic footwear in the world. They go above and beyond what is needed to ensure they are producing goods that consumers actually want and need. Their research is done to ensure they are selling a quality product that represents the company and sport in which they are selling their products for.

This web assignment will review two research firms and the type of tools they use in their firms as well as determining if those tools are effective as well as does the firm provide a valuable service to its customers. The two firms being reviewed include The NPD Group and Kantar TNS Global, each company was ranked in the top ten market research companies in the AMA Gold Report for 2016 as noted by Bowers & Brereton (2016). These two research firms are globally accomplished, have collectively helped thousands of clients succeed using their innovative techniques in a tailored program for each company they serve as well as being able to evolve in an ever changing research environment.

Make a customer analysis and segment the market. What impact does your analysis have on the current business model of the company?

understanding if a certain segment of the market will truly appreciate a product or service to be

Chip Reeves, Director of marketing and sales addresses this issue by making systems easier to maneuver. Many companies and CIO's are struggling to determine exactly how to best mobilize critical applications that can bring measurable payback to the company but also limit the disruption to and administrative headaches in their user's lives. (O'brien, Marakas, 2011). Reeve's took into account, the customer's needs and the salespeople as well. Reeves was very focused on the CRM, or Customer Relationship management into account when suggesting products to streamline information for salespeople. Customer Relationship management involves four specific relationships which include: sales, service, quality, and support. Reeve's input a system that downsized the screens on the Blackberry applications to one page, which in turn led to more leads, an increase of about 50% and generated leads faster for salespeople.

Identifying needs must be conducted in a standard procedure. The customer relations manager must create surveys/questionnaires etc. for customers to answer. These will be handed over to employees who work directly with customers, and gather as much information as they can. These will be answered by not on the external customers, but the internal customers also (employees and suppliers). A step-by-step procedure for Innovative Widgets includes:

Analyze the collected data from the CRM software when developing new widgets for deployment to better suit the needs of our customers, while researching better manufacturing methods to decrease cost. To ensure that The Best Widget Incorporated remains successful we need to ensure that they widgets that we offer are current and are being developed in the most profitable manner. This can be achieved by adding to our existing line of widgets or by modify the existing one we offer. The CRM solution we have in place will provide us with the necessary information to project the buying trends of our customers. This information can be used to help develop new widgets with a better chance that they will be a successful ("Using Market Research, " 2015).

Most of the businessmen consider market research the key to a successful business empire. It is quite essential to conduct a thorough research to analyze the prospects of an existing or new product. A well-conducted research proves fruitful in evaluating the business situations, the potential sales of a product, prospective customers and so forth.

MarketSoft founded by Greg Erman, in 1999 had designed an innovative software product that addressed the problem of managing sales leads across the “extended enterprise”. The product eLeads was strategically developed upon extensive research to address three critical areas many of the fortune 1000 companies in the modern times are facing: 1.Leads get lost 2. No qualifying systems for the leads exist and 3.The leads are never tracked.

Technology, customers tastes and preferences play a vital role in today’s generation. Research Methodology is a set of various methods to be followed to find out various information regarding market strata of different products. Research Methodology is required in every industry for acquiring knowledge of their products.

For the engaged leader, this means that he is always striving to improve not only others around him, but to improve himself as well.

Our target market is a vast one that ranges from individuals who have minimum requirements to other large companies with more expensive and solid orders. To achieve this we intend to look at our

Before any direct action was taken, a large amount of research had to be done in order to learn about the nature of their consumers, and how they respond to one another and the company. They focused on the Internet, the top trend, and discovered a collection of factors (Brown. 2010):

There is an age old saying “If you build it, they will come… But that couldn’t be further from the truth! It should be renamed, “If you build what they want, they will come. You can find out exactly what the customer wants using Customer Discovery. Customer Discovery is the act of presenting your potential customers with the product or idea before the final product/service is completed while spending the least amount of money possible. Take a look at these 7 tips to building a customer discovery campaign that can save your business time, energy and $1000s in startup costs below.