Last week, we received a newsletter from our friend Jay Zaltzman, at Bureau West. He was writing about Social Media, but it was this small item at the end of the message that caught our attention: “We conduct in-person focus groups, as well as online discussion board groups, video focus groups, one-on-one interviews, online and offline surveys, and website usability and effectiveness testing.  We encourage our clients to call us early when they’re considering research, so we can provide advice on the most appropriate research method or combination of methods.” (We know Jay because we’re all involved with the Qualitative Research Consultants’ Association, and so our companies have some similar offerings and a lot of common interests).

Why did Jay’s message stand out for us? It’s obvious, really. It was simple, yet incredibly effective. It brought home something that we, and our clients, often forget. Just because you’ve been doing business with someone all along, or just because they know you well enough to subscribe to your newsletter, or read your blog, or they regularly do business with you, doesn’t mean that they remember everything you’re capable of doing. Moreover, they may pass along information to others about the one service or product you provide to them, without any suggestions about the other fine things you have to offer. So, in a nutshell, our advice is to always remember to remind your clients, even the ones where you’re firmly entrenched, what it is that you do.

Simply yours,

Megann & Steve

Oh, and by the way: At Panoptika, we conduct in-person and online focus groups, in-depth interviews, and we facilitate Innovation Games®, creativity sessions, and strategy meetings.  We also help with research road-mapping©, market research audits, and custom marketing research training sessions for your in-house research team.