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Hooray For The Recession?

The recession is hitting some people very hard – and I know many businesses and individuals are suffering. However, even the biggest and blackest clouds can have a silver lining if you look closely enough. And evidence is mounting that this recession could be a godsend in terms of the development of Insight teams – if they are ready and willing to grasp the opportunity!
 
In past times, when the going was tough – either due to a recession that affected everyone, or just as a result of a bad patch that hurt one particular company – Research and Insight teams were as liable to be cut as any other part of the business.
 
But anecdotally (based on a survey of members of the Customer Insight Forum), it seems that apart from a few isolated cases, this recession is different in the following ways:
 
A new perspective – In these troubled times, insight is perhaps being seen as more valuable than in the past. Certainly, demands to pursue more strategic work are increasing. And the number of Insight teams that are growing (or are expected to grow this year) is similar to those that are experiencing freezes or cuts.
 
A new empowerment – Perhaps some of the most encouraging stories we’ve heard recently have involved the empowerment that the recession has given to Insight teams. It has enabled them to take a more proactive role, and to turn away less valuable work. It seems that the psychology of a recession means that otherwise demanding internal clients will more readily accept negative messages.
 
A new opportunity – On top of all this is the opportunity to really demonstrate your worth. Everyone is crying out for any useful information and insights that will help them to understand how to cope in the current climate. So, the opportunity for preparing and distributing market summaries and trend data has never been better. By supporting that information with any positive implications and opportunities, you could become the most welcome voice around!
 
So, what should you be doing now? These are our five Top Tips:
  • Prioritise – in the current environment, it’s easier to say ‘No’ to lower value work, and therefore make more time for doing the higher value work.
  • Focus on the positive – actively look for those areas of work that will enable you to help key people to meet targets or minimise losses.
  • Produce and distribute incisive market summaries – and always highlight both threats and opportunities.
  • Maximise the value of existing data – trawl existing data to help clients who may not have the budget for new research.
  • Ask for freebies – a recession is the time when agencies may well give you things for free so that they can keep you as a client.
So be positive – and keep looking for that silver lining!
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