Market
Research
Understand how prospects respond
Our benchmark survey
Market research determines who to target and what messages will be most effective. Here are some ways Winsby's benchmark survey will help increase your sales.
Winsby's benchmark survey has been used in a wide range of industries to answer the recurring questions about your market. The result is a compendium of everything that's important in developing your sales and marketing plan. It's a blueprint for how you should be selling your products and services.
What you learn
You'll hear from customers and prospects what are the three most important attributes for your products and services when they are looking to purchase. Often, these attributes are the things you're taking for granted, and you're forgetting to mention them in your sales pitch. Why? You know so much about what you offer that you think these key attributes are too basic to mention.
You'll find out what are the metrics that are critical to whether prospects will do business with you or not. What sort of payment terms do they expect? What are their expectations for turnaround times for quotes, deliveries, follow up, appointments? Where do you fall in rankings when compared to your competitors?
What offers will they respond to? What types of communication are ways of reaching them effectively? We ask, and they tell us!
How we conduct our surveys
Our research surveys are completed by phone. When our research callers talk to respondents, they make sure the answers are thoughtful and relevant. The results are accurate, and we keep them engaged and interested throughout the survey.
Email surveys have an extremely low response rate and can be very unreliable, because there's no assurance that they are actually reading the questions. Also, we find the decision makers for your products and services, and that's who we talk to. We want to be sure that we're gathering the most accurate information possible.
What is most important to your customers?
A well crafted research script will reveal what's most important to your customers and why they are purchasing from you. Often, businesses excel at exactly what their customers are looking for, but they don't always include those selling points in their messages. When you know the two or three attributes that customers and prospects are most interested in, your message can be adjusted on your website, in your advertisements and company literature, and in your sales pitch. Customers will recognize immediately that you offer exactly what they are looking for.
What offers and contact methods will your customers respond to?
Effective research tells you exactly what offers will cause customers and prospects to purchase. Once a new customer makes one purchase, you have a reason to contact them and try to expand the types of purchases they make with your company. You can also find out what types of communication methods they will respond to—emails, sales visits, which websites they visit for information, and what ads they respond to. Then, you can shift your marketing efforts to optimize your time and your budget to achieve much better returns.
Where are you ranked against your competitors?
Market research will show how the market ranks your company when compared to your competitors. Who is #1 in your market? Who is in the middle, and who is last? Where does your company rank?
Your sales team can target customers of companies who are considered less capable. Market research includes conducting surveys with prospects in your market to find out who they do business with. This kind of approach can also work in a sales effort. If they are doing business with a company that is considered less capable than yours, provide an offer that the research says will work to persuade them to try your company.
Benefits of a Survey
If you have questions about a particular part of your business that you'd like to expand, it would make sense to conduct a survey to identify the most economical ways to increase revenues. A survey is an excellent way to discover the answers before you make spending decisions. We've conducted surveys to find out where buyers go when they are actively looking to purchase in many industries, what the buying process involves, what's effective in convincing them to purchase a particular brand, and where they go for advice.
The results provide you with everything you need to move forward cost effectively and successfully.
What You'll Learn with Market Research
How Market Research Changed
One Company's Business
Stephenson Equipment is a Manitowoc dealer with seven locations in Pennsylvania and New York. According to Dennis Heller, who was president at the time Winsby conducted their market research, "Winsby's market research report changed the company's culture." In particular, the messages the company was sending to their market was completely revamped after the results of the study were presented.
They discovered that the crane buying decision was not based primarily on the equipment's attributes. Rather, more than 50% of the crane buying decision was determined by the reliability of the product support available. As a result, the dealer began to promote parts and service in a way that emphasized uptime. Their messages refocused to what was most important to crane owners.
For example: "We used to talk about how many millions of dollars of parts we had in inventory," explained Heller. "Now we talk about our 24-hour fill rate."
How the Research Was Implemented
The results of the research were used to revamp messages in the company's brochures for new products, rental, and product support. Now, messages were ones that customers said they would respond to. Product support brochures were revised to explain the dealer's services, such as operator training, welding repair services, and reconditioning services, which are key factors when a crane owner is considering what dealer to go to.
"Why talk about the color of the machine, when you can talk about your ability to supply parts or how quickly you can turn around a repair?" asked Heller. "That's the new dialogue."
One of the top forms of communications that customers said they would respond to was emails. Topics included in the emails are things the customers and prospects said were important to them: OSHA regulations, changes to crane laws, and special promotions.
Results
After the approach was revised, year-over-year parts sales rose 18%, service sales increased 16% and new machine sales were up 20%.