News & Press

Article Published in Quirk's Marketing Research Review
"Working With Marketing Research: A Message To Marketers"by Bob Walker, Principal & Founder, Surveys & Forecasts, LLC was published in the October 2001 issue of Quirk's Marketing Research Review (pp.48-51).

"There is ample evidence to prove that sound research practices consistently drive business success. So why do our colleagues in marketing not believe it? As we emerge from our current economic malaise, businesses will again need to create new products and launch new marketing strategies. Smart companies understand that intelligently developed research programs will not automatically 'invent' new products for them, but will consistently drive business success, year after year."

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Marketing Research Salary and Staffing Study Highlighted In American Marketing Association's Marketing News
S&F was recently a focus in Marketing News, a publication of the American Marketing Association (August 14, 2000 "Honomichl Global Top 25"). The story "Compensation Prize", reported by Steve Jarvis, reviewed findings from the widely-read "1999 CCG Benchmarking Survey of Marketing Research Salary and Staffing". The study, conducted with Career Consulting Group (now part of Stephen-Bradford Search, Inc.), is widely recognized as the most comprehensive assessment of corporate marketing research salaries and staffing of its kind.

Low unemployment, combined with a years-long shortage of marketing research professionals, continues to boost salaries in the profession, according to the sixth annual Benchmarking Survey of Market Research by Career Consulting Group Inc. (CCG), an executive search and consulting firm based in Stamford, Conn. The traditional salary dividing line between senior researchers and the up-and-comers -- about $60,000 -- hasn’t moved, but the vast majority of researchers already are earning more than that, according to the survey. Nearly a quarter of researchers earn more than $100,000 a year. Recruiting pressures are expected to force that benchmark higher: “We’re probably going to have to revise the breaking point up to $70,000 to $75,000 next year,” says Robert Walker, principal at Surveys and Forecasts LLC in Fairfield, Conn., who conducted the survey for CCG.

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Survey Shows Complete Customer Satisfaction Is Necessary for Insurance Carriers To Retain Small Business Customers
A survey of 1,820 small businesses finds that most small business insurance buyers will accept no less than the best from their providers. More than three out of every four customers who are "completely satisfied" with their business insurance will definitely renew their coverage with their present carrier. In contrast, only about one out of every four "very satisfied" customers and one out of twenty "somewhat satisfied" customers will definitely stay with the same carrier.

"There’s no question that customer satisfaction improves retention, and carriers who put their customers first will benefit greatly," notes Claude Fongemie, former Senior VP at Conning & Company. "But up to now small business insurers had no easily affordable way to find out what their customers really want. The marketplace is getting more competitive and complex. Only the carriers that know how to truly delight their customers can feel secure about keeping them." The pioneering study was conducted by Surveys & Forecasts, LLC marketing research and consulting of Fairfield CT.

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S&F Completes Landmark Study On "Prospectus Simplification" In Conjunction With NAVA and the SEC
NAVA (National Association for Variable Annuities) is attempting to make prospectuses easier to use in accordance with the SEC's "plain English" directive. Variable annuities (VA's) represent one of the fastest-growing financial service products for estate planning and retirement. VA's are essentially mutual funds repackaged with an "insurance wrapper" that provides life insurance benefits. Because of this feature, the underlying value of the mutual funds in a VA can accumulate on a tax-deferred basis. The study was designed to assess the consumer reaction to three separate prospectuses, each with different combinations of language, tables, and graphics.

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Surveys & Forecasts Speaks On Marketing Research To undergraduate Students at the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan
Robert Walker of S&F lectured on many issues relating to sampling and study design in the context of the overall creative process. This perspective is rarely considered in traditional B-school marketing courses, because few "creatives" end up getting an MBA. Most students at Parsons are concentrating in graphic design, but give little thought about how their creative output will be assessed in the future by prospective advertising agencies or manufacturing companies. The lecture, entitled "A Primer On Research: Considerations For Creative Development" covered a wide range of sampling and design topics, and provided several instructive case studies with relevance to the creative process.