Speaking during a presentation at the event in London yesterday ( 20th May), Paul Griffiths, founder, Client Advocates, said that in a tough environment for new business, getting more work from existing clients offers “a quicker win” for insights suppliers.

To do, that, he said, agencies must better understand and address clients’ needs and focus more on business impact, as clients want and expect more from their partners.

Griffiths, who works with end clients and agencies, said: “It is no longer good enough to just pitch up and do research. We have to do other stuff on top of that, and that means having a better understanding of that client’s business.” 

Clients also want agencies to focus more on value beyond what they do and methodology, he said.

“What we are not doing is talking about the value we generate for our clients,” said Griffiths. “The impact of insight is fundamental to how you are going to get more work from your existing clients.”

Griffiths also talked about the importance of being communicative and proactive with clients between projects, saying: “Heads of insight have multiple stakeholders with competing demands and they're being told their budgets are less. How do you – as a small sliver of their time – compete to remain front of mind?” 

To support better engagement with their clients and find value inf the gaps between projects, agencies need activation plans for priority clients, with targets and KPIs, and regularly review progress. To assist with this, businesses must also ensure they have a named person accountable for the plan and allow that individual time to work on client engagement. 

Griffiths added: “The agencies that do this really well are having their teams think of themselves not as project managers but as relationship managers building the relationship on an ongoing basis.”

He also said in-person contact couldn't be overstated. “Create opportunities to get face-to-face with clients. The agencies I see that are doing that are getting more work.”

Research companies also need to create content to be able to share with clients, added Griffiths – whether by training staff in marketing or buying in marketing services.

Also at the forum, Iosetta Santini, director at Keen as Mustard, discussed the importance of brand salience, brand awareness and thought leadership for insights companies. 

During her presentation, Santini said: “In the insights industry, a lot of companies say the same thing, so for people who want to tell a story – you have the opportunity to stand out.” 

Referencing data from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science that suggests 95% of potential B2B customers are not in the market for services at any one time, Santini also noted additional research suggested that of the five per cent who are ready to buy, the majority will make a list of suppliers they're considering.

“Trust in B2B right now, when budgets are tight, has never been more key. Buyers are going to go with what feels safe and trustworthy [to them],” she said.

Discussing the findings of the recent Insights Awareness Index, Santini said Zappi and System1 had achieved good brand salience by clearly focusing their positioning on one thing and avoiding direct competition with bigger players. 

Santini said: “Once you have positioning, focus on a clear, simple message in context, then stick to it. Decide what you want to be famous for, then stick to it.”  

She also advised attendees: “Address the unique benefits you can bring. Don't put all your eggs in the tools basket and don't lead with products or solutions. Don't make it about you – it’s about your client.” 

To be successful with thought leadership, Santini said, businesses need to find the “outlier or new point of view” to make the audience pay attention. 

With AI disrupting the research business model, there is an opportunity for the sector to redefine its value and design new commercial models, according to John Robson, consultant, adviser and former co-owner of Sparkler.

Speaking in an introduction to a group discussion, Robson said: “Our business has been made up of selling a set of operational processes and having a sliver of strategic value on top. In future, we can minimise processes and start to charge properly for the strategic value at the top.

“What do you call it? How do you define that and sell it? All the people in adjacent sectors have worked it out and we haven’t.”

Robson also said the sector needed to work together and consider the future, saying: “The real competition isn't in this room – it’s outside. We've got to look at the consultants, the whole UX world and restech platforms.”

Sharing an anecdote about an MRS session on neural networks in 1992, he said: “We [market researchers] were part of that AI discussion. But then computer scientists went away and now run the world, whereas we aren’t. We've probably got a more natural ownership over the intersection of human thought and human emotion with data. We’ve got the binary, and non-binary, they [computer scientists] have just got the binary.”