Editor’s note: Kristen Santos is manager, market planning and analysis, Daimler Trucks North America, Fort Mill, S.C.
I’m 31 years old. I quickly climbed the corporate ladder to manage customer insights at Daimler Trucks North America. I’m responsible for buying research services for the market leader in heavy-duty trucks in North America.
I have to say it: I am not satisfied with my experience in purchasing research services.
It seems strange, but market research companies are completely out of touch with me as a customer. And I am the customer of the future. I don’t wear suits. Online market research has always existed. I am not looking for suppliers to give me quick answers; I am looking for partners who will work with me on complex strategic issues. I do not, and will not, play golf.
This past year I have been in the market for some new research services as we have expanded the responsibilities of my department. I have attended popular conferences, sat through capabilities presentations, researched via the Web and even did one of those free events where they schedule supplier “meetings” – or, from my perspective, provide supplier speed-dating.
After my year of researching researchers, there are 10 dos and don’ts for market research providers who want to work with me:
1. Don’t name-drop. I appreciate knowing an agency’s experience with my company and the strategic projects they have supported. I do not appreciate frequent references to the Tahoe trip recently taken with a senior V.P. I believe in a meritocracy and the best ideas presented to me will win.
2. Respect your junior analysts. I recently attended a marketing event that had a trade show for market research companies. While perusing the free stuff, I had a great conversation with a new hire for a research company, who happened to be manning the booth while her boss was at lunch. She was knowledgeable about her company’s offering, we had common ground in education and in general she was a likeable human being. I gave her my card and her boss caught up with me later in the event. During the course of the conversation, he referred to her as the “new girl, who is pretty bright, but was raised on a farm.” I am not that far removed from my junior researcher days and I cannot work with a firm that undervalues new analysts’ contribution to my deliverables.
3. Understand my problems. The most impressive capabilities conversation I had during the course of my year was not a PowerPoint presentation. The supplier I was meeting with took the brief description I had given him on the phone of my project and sketched out his understanding of my project on a giant piece of paper. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t professional, but it was so unique and so perfectly captured what I was trying to accomplish that I mentally vowed to find a project for him to work on for me. I want a supplier who is not going to give me a canned speech to win my business but rather talk through whether a relationship is going to make sense.
4. Don’t patronize me. I have been shocked at the number of potential suppliers, who may have a few years on me and definitely more years of experience, who have been condescending to the point of rudeness. I respect the experience they bring to the table but have no desire to be called “honey” or “sweetheart.” Similarly, I expect for them to appreciate the fact that my company hired me for a reason, not just to fulfill a diversity requirement, so questions/statements like “Have you ever heard of conjoint analysis?” or “Let me tell you a little bit about brand strategy” are unwelcome. I understand that I don’t look like you or talk like you but we both have a passion for market research.
5. Cut the technical jargon. I believe that there are those who think that because of my age, I might be an easy kill for heaping on the technical jargon and confusing me to the point where I say to myself, “Well, I don’t understand it, so these people must be smart.” I have sat through so many presentations rife with industry buzzwords like “leverage” and “multi-source synthesis.” Let’s face it: It is my expectation that my suppliers will use all of the data sources that we have available and combine them in a way that makes sense. Overcomplicating the message does not win any kudos from me.
6. Play nice. When I first started in my current role, one of our advertising agencies resented the fact that I would have anyone other than them do any market research – to the point of trying to sabotage my projects and my new suppliers’ projects. Because market research has grown to cover so many different areas of expertise, I believe it is difficult for a firm today to truly call themselves full-service. Which means that we need to use multiple agencies. Which means that we need them to work together. I’m sorry to say that agencies that can’t collaborate will quickly lose my business.
7. Work with me. I have no expectation that you are going to get my research project recommendations “right” the first time. I want to get the data and then talk through with my suppliers what it means, what we can do with it and what next steps will be. They are experts in the research; I am an expert in my company and industry. Together, what we create can be great.
8. Don’t stalk me. I received a cold call from a supplier, who I suspect may have outsourced its cold-calling/prospecting overseas. I answered the phone, had a hard time understanding what he was saying but agreed to give my e-mail address so that he could send more information. And then he called and e-mailed every day at least once a day for about three months. I didn’t lead him on – after reviewing the materials I told him I wasn’t interested. He became increasingly rude, insisting I just didn’t understand his product. He called to the point that I had our security team block his number. I would like to say this is an isolated event but I have had two other suppliers who managed to find out my boss’s information to try to circumvent my decision. It isn’t just about getting the business; we have to work together once the contract is signed.
9. Be trustworthy. People change jobs. It’s one of the realities of our world. Recently a supplier I worked with changed companies and within a week was calling repeatedly trying to steal our business from his former company. I don’t know what non-competes they had in place but to me, it just felt shady. Similarly, I don’t like the feeling that he could be running to my competitors selling the research solutions we had developed together. It left a bad taste in my mouth and in spite of the fact that he had previously done good work for us, my trust in him was violated.
10. Earn my loyalty. After a year of courting and being courted by potential suppliers, which has felt a little bit like being forced to go on a date once a week for a month to find someone to marry, I want to make a commitment. I want to find suppliers to support my research needs that I can work with and grow with and stay loyal to. There are so many great agencies out there and so many brilliant thinkers, I’m ready to get to work and shape my brands and change my industry.
Ups and downs
This has been quite a journey with some ups and downs that were entirely unexpected. I have learned some things about myself and I have learned a few things about the industry I work in. If I were to switch and go back to a research agency and start trying to sell my services, I have learned a few things that I think would give me a head start.
First, I know that corporate researchers need their suppliers. We don’t have the internal support to do all the things we need to get done. This is a mutually beneficial relationship.
Second, I know that that corporate researchers don’t just need a data dump, we need strategic insights. My company is drowning in insights; we need help tying it all together.
Finally, I know that corporate researchers are looking for suppliers to join their teams and not just the research team. My department is fully integrated into engineering, marketing, finance and operations. We need suppliers that are willing and able to do the same.
Overall, I think the industry and the way services are procured is changing and to be successful suppliers have to be able to respond, not just to the changing research environment, but to their changing clientele. Our company places more emphasis on teamwork and collaboration than ever before. I expect for my agencies to join my team and work with me as equals to create mind-blowing insights.