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Four Ways A Research Coach Can Help Your Business

By crooky | May 14, 2008

I’ve recently started a new avenue of my consulting practice - research coaching. I can’t take credit for the idea because to be honest, my client coined the idea. At a meeting where I was proposing a normal research project, it became clear that the available funds for the project had shrunk by as much as 70% - the client could no longer afford a normal research and analytics package (normally valued at between $15-30K). I really, really like this client and they weren’t scared of getting their hands dirty so I offered them an alternative off the top of my head. My proposal:

- They do as much of the legwork on the research as possible
- I design the research and advise them on implementation
- They can use my specialized subscription tools
- I will walk them through the analysis process and give them my opinion on the research outcomes

Here’s why this is a good arrangement for them:

1. Cost

Hiring someone like me as a Research Coach helps cut the up-front cash costs by as much as 75%. There’s a caveat here though - when someone hires me to produce a complete research package, 95% of what I bill them for is my time. When you take on a Research Coach and agree to do the bulk of the legwork on a research project, you’re spending your own time - whatever that is worth.

The client that just retained my services as a Research Coach is bootstrapping their business and has already done some pre-research so they’re keen to get their hands dirty to ensure the success of their business. This is a great approach.

2. Business Intelligence

There are many advantages to writing your own business plan, doing your own market research and doing your own lead generation. The biggest advantage is the fact that you get to know your business inside and out. It’s sad when you go to a Venture Capital forum and you see some drop-in CEO giving their business pitch when he clearly only understands their core business at a theoretical level.

You need to be able to answer curveball questions that come up when you’re defending your business ideas. People are going to ask questions about the assumptions that you’ve used to come up with your revenue projections or your total addresable market. If you’ve done most of your own market research, you’re going to have these numbers ready in your head.

3. New Skills

The skills you’ll pick up while learning how to do market research will help you in other aspects of your life and business. Market research skills are valuable in policy work (if you end up in a regulated industry). They’re also handy when you want to explore new market opportunities as your business takes off or there’s a change in the market.

4. Street Cred

Doing your own market reseach will earn you a lot of respect amongst your peers - it’s hard work. A lot of your entrepreneur peers have gone through this themselves and in some cases, without the help of a Research Coach. Doing your own market research = instant entrepreneur street cred. Give it a shot!!

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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology.

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Topics: Research Methodologies |

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