netrashetty
Netra Shetty
The Danaher Corporation NYSE: DHR, is a large global company headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. Its products are concentrated in the fields of design, manufacture, and marketing of industrial and consumer products.
It operates in four segments: Professional Instrumentation, Medical Technologies, Industrial Technologies, and Tools & Components
a design for obtaining the information. Of course many marketers do not produce a formal design plan when conducting research. For example, a small retailer who asks a returning customer how she liked the product she purchased the previous week is engaged in research and doing so without the need to produce a formal plan. But for marketers looking to undertake formal research, a written research design plan is important.
The first part of the research design is to decide on the type of research that will work best for the purpose (i.e., explain, predict, monitor, discover, hypothesis test) and information that is sought. Research method choices can be broadly categorized as:
Descriptive Market Research
Exploratory Market Research
Causal Market Research
As we will see, these methods differ in terms what each hopes to learn and how information is acquired.
description for something that is occurring. For example, what age group is buying a particular brand, a product’s market share within a certain industry, how many competitors a company faces, etc. This type of research is by far the most popular form of market research. It is used extensively when the research purpose is to explain, monitor and test hypotheses, and can also be used to a lesser extent to help make predictions and for discovery.
Marketers routinely conduct basic descriptive research using informal means. For instance, the head of marketing for a clothing company may email a retailer to see how the products are selling. But informal descriptive research, while widely undertaken, often fails to meet the tests of research validity and reliability and, consequently, the information should not be used as an important component in marketing decisions. Rather, to be useful, descriptive research must be conducted in a way that adheres to a strict set of research requirements to capture relevant results. This often means that care must be taken to develop a structured research plan. Under most circumstances this requires researchers have a good grasp of research methods including knowledge of data analysis.
sales force.
"Salespeople talk to customers everyday," says McClymonds. "They hear things and they feed it back. Companies can synthesize that data and get a sense of what's going on. But you have to be careful, because there are laws that limit what kind of contacts you can have with customers and what type of information you can get from them."
One client takes its competitive information gathering very seriously, keeping extensive files on its major rivals, McClymonds says. Each of those files is assigned to an account manager, who becomes the in-house specialist on that particular carrier.
"Everyone gathers information and forwards it to the appropriate specialist," says McClymonds. "The file is updated every six months. Those files are condensed into competitor fact sheets, which are put into a three-ring binder and made available to anyone in the marketing or sales departments."
At some companies, market researchers are free to examine the wealth of operational data kept in internal databases. "This data can help a company identify its major customers or major shipping lanes. Through computer overlay programs, they are able to access shipment activity and spot trends that are very telling."
New markets
Transportation firms also use their databases to help identify new markets. By tapping external and internal databases, they can look at the demographics and business activity of territories they're not serving and make an accurate determination of whether it makes sense to open a terminal in that locale. "When a company is considering a new territory, it should look at trends in population, retail sales, and number of businesses over a six-, nine-, and twelve-month period."
One major transportation firm uses its own "interline activity reports" to gauge whether new markets should be entered. "When a transportation firm handles a shipment and the final destination is outside its own service area, it will hand the shipment off to another carrier. If you track this activity closely and see that you're turning a lot of business over to another carrier in a particular area, you should consider moving in."
McClymonds says that many larger firms now subscribe to general commercial databases such as Trinet, which covers various industries by SIC codes. It helps them profile communities and subsequently provides actual leads for their salespeople.
Others are using more transportation specific databases such as TranSearch, a freight flow database. It models movement between various points throughout the U.S., estimating tonnage by SIC code for commodities moving within certain lanes.
"Let's say you want to examine shipping activity between Salt Lake City and Portland. TranSearch will give you the major commodities, listed in descending order. And, it gives you names of companies involved in those industries."
Well-defined niche
Daylight Transport, a $40 million a year less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier of motor freight, has carved itself a well-defined niche in the transportation industry. Daylight specializes in expedited over-the-road delivery, coast-to-coast and Texas. It delivers faster than most surface carriers with a rate structure that is less expensive than air freight.
"Most of our competitors take six or seven days to the East Coast, we do it in four," says Daylight's Guy Denniston. "That's our little niche, so the markets we go after are the ones where we can shave off coast- to-coast transit time."
To date, Daylight's marketing research techniques are best described as informal, but Denniston is planning to incorporate more formal research techniques in the immediate future. "We're in the process of developing a detailed mail survey that we hope to introduce in the second quarter of '92. We're also planing quarterly focus groups and roundtable discussions with key customers. We'll tell them where we're heading and ask them what they need and how we can better serve them."
The task of Daylight's current marketing research effort is to cost-effectively identify industries and companies that can take advantage of its unique services. "We're not a hundred million dollar company that has a lot of money to spend on outside market research and fancy databases. Ours is a roll-up- your sleeves-and-do-the-basics kind of company," says Denniston.
Thus, Daylight's primary method of market research is talking face-to-face with customers. Denniston and the rest of the firm's sales and marketing management team spend substantial time in the field with sales reps, talking to customers and gathering information. "Our customers see our concern for their welfare, but I don't think they realize that we're using this information for marketing planning purposes."
Another source of information is the company's Customer Satisfaction Group, a centralized customer service department. It averages 800 to 1000 calls a day from customers and potential customers, handling requests, answering questions and resolving complaints. Once a week, the group meets with marketing representatives to share information. "They tell us what type of calls they're getting, what problems are coming up, and what customers are asking for. They keep us tuned to the problems and service requests they receive," Denniston says.
The firm pays close attention to the service requests from prospective clients. "We may discover that something we aren't offering is keeping us from getting more accounts. Recently, one prospect asked if we had electronic billing, something akin to money transfer. We're not quite set up to do that yet, so we lost that account. That's a hurdle we have to overcome, something to look at in the future."
In addition to gathering marketing research on customers, Daylight gathers competitive information. Denniston feels its important to see what the competition is doing and to determine how Daylight can do it better. Again, the sales force is the primary source of information.
"Customers are open with that type of information. If a competitor comes out with a new product or service, they'll tell us. Then we'll try to take that idea a step further, refine it, and offer something better."
Denniston is also an avid reader of transportation industry trade journals, as well as specific customer trade journals. "I'm looking for trends. I'll analyze the shoe industry or maybe the textile industry, looking for changes in their distribution patterns or transportation needs. Then we'll move to fill that new niche, staying ahead of the competition. We have a lot of flexibility because of our small size and flat organizational structure."
It operates in four segments: Professional Instrumentation, Medical Technologies, Industrial Technologies, and Tools & Components
a design for obtaining the information. Of course many marketers do not produce a formal design plan when conducting research. For example, a small retailer who asks a returning customer how she liked the product she purchased the previous week is engaged in research and doing so without the need to produce a formal plan. But for marketers looking to undertake formal research, a written research design plan is important.
The first part of the research design is to decide on the type of research that will work best for the purpose (i.e., explain, predict, monitor, discover, hypothesis test) and information that is sought. Research method choices can be broadly categorized as:
Descriptive Market Research
Exploratory Market Research
Causal Market Research
As we will see, these methods differ in terms what each hopes to learn and how information is acquired.
description for something that is occurring. For example, what age group is buying a particular brand, a product’s market share within a certain industry, how many competitors a company faces, etc. This type of research is by far the most popular form of market research. It is used extensively when the research purpose is to explain, monitor and test hypotheses, and can also be used to a lesser extent to help make predictions and for discovery.
Marketers routinely conduct basic descriptive research using informal means. For instance, the head of marketing for a clothing company may email a retailer to see how the products are selling. But informal descriptive research, while widely undertaken, often fails to meet the tests of research validity and reliability and, consequently, the information should not be used as an important component in marketing decisions. Rather, to be useful, descriptive research must be conducted in a way that adheres to a strict set of research requirements to capture relevant results. This often means that care must be taken to develop a structured research plan. Under most circumstances this requires researchers have a good grasp of research methods including knowledge of data analysis.
sales force.
"Salespeople talk to customers everyday," says McClymonds. "They hear things and they feed it back. Companies can synthesize that data and get a sense of what's going on. But you have to be careful, because there are laws that limit what kind of contacts you can have with customers and what type of information you can get from them."
One client takes its competitive information gathering very seriously, keeping extensive files on its major rivals, McClymonds says. Each of those files is assigned to an account manager, who becomes the in-house specialist on that particular carrier.
"Everyone gathers information and forwards it to the appropriate specialist," says McClymonds. "The file is updated every six months. Those files are condensed into competitor fact sheets, which are put into a three-ring binder and made available to anyone in the marketing or sales departments."
At some companies, market researchers are free to examine the wealth of operational data kept in internal databases. "This data can help a company identify its major customers or major shipping lanes. Through computer overlay programs, they are able to access shipment activity and spot trends that are very telling."
New markets
Transportation firms also use their databases to help identify new markets. By tapping external and internal databases, they can look at the demographics and business activity of territories they're not serving and make an accurate determination of whether it makes sense to open a terminal in that locale. "When a company is considering a new territory, it should look at trends in population, retail sales, and number of businesses over a six-, nine-, and twelve-month period."
One major transportation firm uses its own "interline activity reports" to gauge whether new markets should be entered. "When a transportation firm handles a shipment and the final destination is outside its own service area, it will hand the shipment off to another carrier. If you track this activity closely and see that you're turning a lot of business over to another carrier in a particular area, you should consider moving in."
McClymonds says that many larger firms now subscribe to general commercial databases such as Trinet, which covers various industries by SIC codes. It helps them profile communities and subsequently provides actual leads for their salespeople.
Others are using more transportation specific databases such as TranSearch, a freight flow database. It models movement between various points throughout the U.S., estimating tonnage by SIC code for commodities moving within certain lanes.
"Let's say you want to examine shipping activity between Salt Lake City and Portland. TranSearch will give you the major commodities, listed in descending order. And, it gives you names of companies involved in those industries."
Well-defined niche
Daylight Transport, a $40 million a year less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier of motor freight, has carved itself a well-defined niche in the transportation industry. Daylight specializes in expedited over-the-road delivery, coast-to-coast and Texas. It delivers faster than most surface carriers with a rate structure that is less expensive than air freight.
"Most of our competitors take six or seven days to the East Coast, we do it in four," says Daylight's Guy Denniston. "That's our little niche, so the markets we go after are the ones where we can shave off coast- to-coast transit time."
To date, Daylight's marketing research techniques are best described as informal, but Denniston is planning to incorporate more formal research techniques in the immediate future. "We're in the process of developing a detailed mail survey that we hope to introduce in the second quarter of '92. We're also planing quarterly focus groups and roundtable discussions with key customers. We'll tell them where we're heading and ask them what they need and how we can better serve them."
The task of Daylight's current marketing research effort is to cost-effectively identify industries and companies that can take advantage of its unique services. "We're not a hundred million dollar company that has a lot of money to spend on outside market research and fancy databases. Ours is a roll-up- your sleeves-and-do-the-basics kind of company," says Denniston.
Thus, Daylight's primary method of market research is talking face-to-face with customers. Denniston and the rest of the firm's sales and marketing management team spend substantial time in the field with sales reps, talking to customers and gathering information. "Our customers see our concern for their welfare, but I don't think they realize that we're using this information for marketing planning purposes."
Another source of information is the company's Customer Satisfaction Group, a centralized customer service department. It averages 800 to 1000 calls a day from customers and potential customers, handling requests, answering questions and resolving complaints. Once a week, the group meets with marketing representatives to share information. "They tell us what type of calls they're getting, what problems are coming up, and what customers are asking for. They keep us tuned to the problems and service requests they receive," Denniston says.
The firm pays close attention to the service requests from prospective clients. "We may discover that something we aren't offering is keeping us from getting more accounts. Recently, one prospect asked if we had electronic billing, something akin to money transfer. We're not quite set up to do that yet, so we lost that account. That's a hurdle we have to overcome, something to look at in the future."
In addition to gathering marketing research on customers, Daylight gathers competitive information. Denniston feels its important to see what the competition is doing and to determine how Daylight can do it better. Again, the sales force is the primary source of information.
"Customers are open with that type of information. If a competitor comes out with a new product or service, they'll tell us. Then we'll try to take that idea a step further, refine it, and offer something better."
Denniston is also an avid reader of transportation industry trade journals, as well as specific customer trade journals. "I'm looking for trends. I'll analyze the shoe industry or maybe the textile industry, looking for changes in their distribution patterns or transportation needs. Then we'll move to fill that new niche, staying ahead of the competition. We have a lot of flexibility because of our small size and flat organizational structure."