Archive for September, 2008

Published by Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda in Santiago Chile on 29 Sep 2008

Focus Groups

focus groupsFocus groups are a powerful means to evaluate services or test new ideas as it is possible to obtain a great deal of information during a focus group session such as:

  • Information on how groups of people think or feel about a particular topic.
  • A greater insight into why certain opinions are held.
  • Help improve the planning and design of new programs.
  • Provide a means of evaluating existing programs.
  • Produce insights for developing strategies for outreach.

There are three phases in conducting a focus group :

1. Conceptualization – Includes the determination of a purpose, a target, and the development of a plan.
2. Interview – Includes development of questions, moderating skills and participants.
3. Analysis and reporting – Evaluation of the results of the discussions as well as description and presentation of the meaning of the data.

According to the knowledge and expertise of Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda. some of the advantages of focus groups are:

  • Individuals come together and express diverse views on the topic: useful not only to find the range of views, but also for the participants to learn from each other, and to generate a sense of social cohesion.
  • Relatively easy to undertake. Generally requires less preparation and is comparatively easy to conduct.
  • Provide data more quickly and at lower cost.
  • Researcher can probe for clarification and solicit greater detail as it allows clarification, follow-up questions.
  • Data uses respondents’ own words; can obtain deeper levels of meaning, make important connections, identify subtle nuances.
  • Very flexible; can be used with wide range of topics, individuals, and settings.
  • Results are easy to understand and more accessible to lay audiences or decision-makers than complex statistical analyses of survey data.

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Published by Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda in Santiago Chile on 12 Sep 2008

Mystery shopping

mystery shoppingMystery shopping is a performance evaluation process that allows the owners and managers of service organizations to really understand how their customers are treated in their shops, offices or practices, on the telephone, in writing or online. By learning about its customers a company can:

  • Improve its customer service
  • Improve its product knowledge
  • Improve the communication of promotions and new product launches
  • Improve the selling skills of its employees

As a business intelligence consulting company, Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda offers customer experience evaluations (mystery shops), market research, compliance audits, reward programs, competitor shops, pricing audits, business verifications, physical inspections and merchandising.

We specialize in designing and implementing tailored performance -measurement programmes, which will provide you with the feedback you need regarding your customer-facing staff. The research may be undertaken through a single service or, increasingly, across a number of services to ensure that an overall picture emerges.

Our service works in partnership with your business to increase your customers’ positive experiences and boost your sales. We will help you build and develop a valuable research program in an honest, objective and ethical manner.

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Published by Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda in Santiago Chile on 02 Sep 2008

Market Intelligence

intelligence marketimgMarket Intelligence provides a company a view of a market by using existing sources of information that will lead to understand what’s going on in a market place, what the issues are and which is the market’s potential.

There are two different spheres of market intelligence:

  • Market Intelligence from external data: it is information gathered through desk research to build a picture of a market to try to answer some specific commercial questions such as what is the market potential. The success of such desk or “published” research depends on the ability to track sources of information and to provide the right level of analysis. For example identifying who your competitors are and analyzing their market position against yours to find strengths and weaknesses and indications of new developments.

Related to desk research is list building. This involves seeking out lists of likely prospects or partners for relationship or network building and finding out key information about the company for marketing purposes.

  • Market Intelligence based on internal data: Through database analysis you can understand where you have cross-sale and up-sale opportunities, or you can understand what type of customers are your most profitable. By performing cross-analysis and looking for missing data it becomes easier to spot weak spots and points of vulnerability.

The information from your website can be as valuable as the database information as a source of market data.
Web site traffic analysis can help you understand what customers are looking for and why. Collecting and disseminating the information that your staff has about customers, markets and competitors can help businesses focus far more on what the customer wants and says.

Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda enables its clients to compete more effectively and make better decisions regarding investments, partnerships, and new product launches. Our market intelligence-oriented consulting services help our customers become more competitive.

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