| For more information about some
of the things we do at Technalysis, click on any of the links below.
Customer Satisfaction/Loyalty Research Marketing Effectiveness Studies Communications Studies Consulting Services |
Technalysis Inc. is a marketing and research consultancy that has specialized
in the business-to-business, industrial and technological sectors since 1982.
We rarely research consumer products, and even then only among the members
of the distribution chain. Unlike some large, consumer-oriented research
companies, we don't shuffle your B2B project off to the juniors. Why
not? Simple - we only do B2B work and we have no juniors.
We zero in on your information needs, whether for one company or an industry study for all members of an association. We've done both. We're a small firm that's worked since 1982 for big, blue-chip companies, associations and public sector organizations, and also for companies as small as our own. No matter how big or small our clients, we think our size gives us a competitive advantage. We are quick and flexible. Working with you, we custom-design your project and oversee all aspects of it, from drawing a representative sample to designing a questionnaire that gets exactly the information you need, to presenting our final report. We subcontract such things as focus group facilities and large scale phone interviewing. This means we have lower overheads and staffing costs, and we pass those savings on to you. We work with specialized resources that we know we—and you—can trust. And we always look for the most cost-effective way of getting the information you need. |
What We Do
You can make money by knowing how well or poorly your customers and prospects rate your products and your service quality compared to your competitors'. Our Competitive Performance Audits get you hard data that help you build on your strengths, fix your own flaws and exploit your competitors' weaknesses. For more about how the Competitive Performance Audit works, click here.
Customer Satisfaction/Loyalty Research
Quality assurance and customer satisfaction/loyalty programs are not just buzz-words. But the job has to be done right the first time. For some do's and don'ts, click here. We have helped major companies design their quality assurance and customer satisfaction/loyalty programs using employee studies, Competitive Performance Audits as benchmarks, and brief "pulse-check" follow-up studies to gauge how well or poorly the programs are hitting their targets (if you can't measure it, you can't manage it). We have more than 20 years experience in business-to-business customer satisfaction—both programs and measurement. Customer service is almost always one of the keys. For a brief article on customer service, click here.
Qualitative Research
Focus groups are a powerful technique for researching business buyers. But marketers need to know about the differences between business-to-business and consumer-oriented focus groups. For more on this topic, click here. Our President, Bob Inglis, has moderated focus group discussions on topics ranging from chemicals and construction products to environmental issues and energy conservation, with legal, accounting and insurance services in between. He is considered one of the leading North American experts on business-to-business focus groups. In-depth interview projects have covered distributors and brokers of everything from food products to electronics components, engineers, architects, pipeline operators and many more.
New Product Potential Studies
Got an idea for a new product, but don't know what the demand might be? We can get you facts to guide you on the go/no-go decision, to set pricing for maximum profit, and to choose which features to keep, which to develop and which to drop. We look for needs not met by available products, define what customers see as adding value, and check out the strengths and weaknesses of any existing competitors. Seven out of every ten new products fail, most often because somebody has skimped on research. For more information on new product development, click here.
New Market Potential Studies
Moving into a new region is much like launching a new product. Figuring out market size is just the beginning, and people who stop there are courting trouble. We also look at growth trends, the competitors, and our client's ability to compete. Of course, each of those can be a whole bundle of issues. For more on how building the right information inventory can help gauge market potential, click here.
Secondary Research
We've searched trade journals, syndicated studies, electronic data bases, government statistics (published or unpublished), reports and regulations to get low-cost existing information for our clients, and to design custom research to fill in the gaps. Secondary research can be a good fit with your information needs, or it can just give you fits. For more on how and when to use secondary research, click here.
Marketing Effectiveness Studies
There are many factors in the marketing mix: direct selling, distribution, promotions, trade shows, communications, product range and features, service systems. Which mix is best for you? Could a different approach work better? We can help you test your way to good decisions.
Communications Studies
How effective is your marketing communications program? Are you getting the most from your copy, media placement and timing? We can help you find out. Need to decide what benefits to stress? Advertising development work usually pays for itself by making your marketing communications work harder—and smarter.
Consulting Services
With over 30 years of marketing experience at your service, we can help you develop effective marketing and communications plans, write policy or training manuals, produce newsletters and press releases, conduct seminars on marketing for your staff, dealers or key customers, and design employee training programs in the area of customer satisfaction.
A Few Examples
Focus groups among people who borrow at least $10 million at a time - Not your average retail bank customers, but did their needs surprise our client?
Quantitative research among pipeline operators - This was done for a manufacturer of "intelligent pigs" - machines that check pipelines for cracks or flaws, from the inside. Findings had to be weighted by the mileage of each respondent's pipeline, to make sure they reflected the real world.
New product potential study among buyers and users of business reply card paper stock - This tested two new products vs the industry standard at different price levels, and generated demand curves for our client. We recruited potential respondents by phone, delivered product samples to them by courier, then called them back to get product ratings and volume estimates.
Industrial electrical panel product design critique among electricians - We got one "CDP" panel from each major manufacturer into the same room and had electricians take them apart to show us design features that caused problems in installation or maintenance. Our client was mortified to note that it took three different kinds of screwdrivers to get the cover off their product (they shouldn't have needed marketing research to tell them this was a bad idea, but sometimes it isn't obvious until you actually see the end-user at work). But theirs was not the only product with flaws. They got some valuable input about their competitors' weaknesses - information that it is nearly impossible to get for yourself, even from good customers (why would they hand you that bargaining lever?).
Mixed focus groups among architects, engineers and contractors - We have conducted these for manufacturers of industrial-commercial-institutional roofing products (insulation, membranes etc), manufacturers of HVAC equipment, electrical and natural gas utilities and many others, sometimes throwing a few building owners and property managers. Amazingly, these members of the design and construction community almost never sit down together to discuss issues of common concern. The people who take part in the groups often get as much out of them as our clients, and the clients can choose to be identified to the respondents just to collect the goodwill.
"Merger Concerns" analysis - Quantitative research among customers of small mechanical design-build contracting firm about to be "integrated" with larger multinational (merger not announced). Discovered concerns that would have cost the acquiring firm about 15% of the smaller firm's customer base. Buyer able to address these concerns when informing customers of the take-over, customer losses minimal.
Other product/service categories - Technalysis has conducted qualitative and/or quantitative research on a wide range of product and service categories, including lift trucks, specialized software for accountants and architects, electrical motor repair shops, natural gas storage and transportation services, industrial adhesives, surfactants, electronic test and measurement instruments, maintenance plans for mini-computers, solvents, polyethylene resins, industrial gases, sealants, business forms, powdered metal for use in making auto parts, pulp mill chemicals, packaging products and many others.
Special Strengths
Questionnaire Design for Technical Topics
During the past 20 years or so, we have become skilled at designing structured questionnaires on a wide variety of technical subjects, for use by normal marketing research interviewers. While these are trained professionals, nobody can be an expert on wall construction for commercial buildings one day, surfactants or solvents the next day, and paper stock or transportation safety the day after that. The questionnaire must be set up for administration by interviewers who have usually had no more than a one or two hour briefing. For this reason, the expertise in the subject being researched must reside in the questionnaire, rather than the interviewer. Technalysis specializes in this skill.
Sampling In Small Research Populations
One of the big differences between business-to-business and consumer markets is that, in the business-to-business field, the number of people that you could interview, even if you interviewed ALL of them, may be quite small, especially in sectors where 20% of the customers account for 80% of the volume. Interviewing almost enough people for representative findings is like buying an airline ticket that dumps you off the plane almost all the way to England. Technalysis spent a long time tracking down the formula to calculate how many people you MUST interview, based on how many you COULD interview (ie, the whole research population), to end up with representative data. For more on this topic, click here.
What We Don't Do
Unlike some other suppliers that claim to do business-to-business research, we do not spend 90% of our time researching beer commercials or laundry detergent package designs. All too often, somebody bringing a business research project to a big consumer research consultancy is like bringing a business advertising account to a big packaged-goods ad agency - it isn't glamorous, nobody wants to work on it, and it gets shuffled off to the juniors. If you want research among consumers, there are plenty of companies to do it for you. But there are big differences between consumer research and business-to-business research (for more information on the differences, click here). If you need research on products sold to other businesses, or public sector organizations, or even to consumers via contractors, agents, brokers or distributors, talk to the experts. We have been honing our skills at B2B research for more than 20 years. It's all we do, all day, every day. And we don't have any juniors at Technalysis.
Technalysis is a member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, and subscribes to its Charter of Respondent Rights. To read this Charter, click here.
Made-to-measure always fits better than off-the-rack. Everything we can show you over the Internet is off-the-rack. But every research project we do is custom-tailored to our clients' needs. If you would like to discuss your information needs, drop us a line, give us a call, or e-mail us at:
5 Marowyne Drive
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2J 2A2
Tel: (416) 493-1223
Fax: (416) 493-1226
E-mail:
bobinglis@technalysis.on.ca
or
lizinglis@technalysis.on.ca