August 10, 2017 TO: Marketing Research & Intelligence Association RE: NAFTA Negotiations Regarding Out-of-Country Storage of Publicly-Held Personal Information Q. 1: Do you see any issues with publicly-held personal information flowing to the United States? Q. 2: Should the MRIA (Marketing Research & Intelligence Association submit a brief to the…
Aug
10
Aug
08
Explorations into B2B Mystery Shopping: Recruiting An important component in developing a successful mystery shop campaign is the recruitment of the shoppers. Mystery Shoppers The most important characteristics of a good mystery shopper are: A sense of responsibility and a willingness to successfully fulfill assignments; An innate sense of curiosity;…
Aug
07
Common Knowledge, Human Behaviour & Mystery Shopping Galileo & Copernicus For thousands of years we lived in a geocentric world. The earth was the centre of the universe, with the sun and stars revolving around the earth. This was accepted as common knowledge, the accepted and inviolable view of the…
Jul
27
Inflation, Proportionality & Justifying the Cost of Market Research Inflation While growing up in the 60s and 70s I got an education on the effects of inflation. I distinctly remember that $20 in the late 1960s was more than enough to pay for the weekly groceries. By the early to…
Jul
14
What's in a Name? (OSFI's Restrictions on the Use of the Words "bank", "banker" and "banking") Let me start by saying that the views expresses in this article are my opinion based on my understanding of OSFI's decision to restrict the use of certain words by non-banking financial institutions like…
Jul
11
From Commodities to Valued Services: Helping Customers to Appreciate Competitive Intelligence & Market Research as Professional Services I recently received an email from a prospective client planning to conduct on research on competitors and requesting “some additional information on the services you offer and an approximate cost of your…
Jul
01
Competitive Intelligence Research: Staying On Track (Time Spent on Developing a Project Scope Statement is an Investment for Success) Over more than 30 years as a Competitive Intelligence and Market Research professional, I have successfully delivered valuable insights to clients in a wide range of industries. The biggest successes have occurred where…
Jun
23
Competitive Intelligence & Deming (Driving Out Fear & Breaking Barriers) I was searching through some old documents when I came across a document on W. Edward Deming’s 14 Points for Management. I haven’t looked at this document for many years, and reading it proved to be an intellectually refreshing experience.…
Jun
13
Networking:Using Internal Sources of Competitive Intelligence (The starting point for smart CI and marketing professionals) Getting Information from Internal Sources Many years ago I wrote two articles for Competitive Intelligence magazine, Getting CI from Internal Sources and Location! Location! Location!, which are still valid to this day. Some of the…
Jun
04
Competitive Intelligence: Learn from Your Competitors, Part I (The Courage to Ask Questions Beyond the Comfort Zone) The value that Competitive Intelligence research can provide is often determined and measured by the willingness of the researchers and decision-makers to ask the hard and uncomfortable questions, regardless of how disconcerting the…