Why Its Critical To Do Research

When asked to identify the importance of brokerage services to agents, a substantial majority said case management, running of proposals and case preparation were "extremely important" services. And "quality service" topped the list of the factors the agencies identified as being important to their future success.

Which distribution channel did the respondents think will be most effective in growing their brokerage business in the next 24 months? Career agents topped the list, followed by CPAs and banks, said Hayes.

And which product line will be most important to the agencies over the next 24 months? Long term care insurance was at the top of the list, he said.

Businesses need to do research "because you are not your consumer," Hayes said, and because "things change." The research helps the business to understand what motivates and influences its customers and to spotlight trends, he explained.

"You cannot afford not to do it," said the professor. Its an investment, not a cost, he said.

"Sometimes, we spend so much time thinking about what we do that were not close to our customer anymore," Hayes said. "Worse, the customer who was there yesterday may not be the one who is there now."

But often, business people become so focused on the day-to-day process that they dont see the changes, he continued. This is why research is essential, he said.

As for types of research, he said firms can use "qualitative" research, like focus groups and one-on-one interviews, to generate ideas, explore feelings and backup quantitative research findings.

But the findings in these tools are not representative of the general population, Hayes said, adding that businesses should make sure to "never ever, ever, ever, ever use focus groups to create marketing strategy."

By contrast, "quantitative" research, done in surveys of random samples of a population, can be projected to a larger population, he said.

In sum, Hayes said, "there always is value in information, if youre going to use it."

To benefit most from research, he said, be sure that every question asked relates to the purpose of the research.

Also, be willing to make changes based on the findings, he suggested, so that "what gets measured, gets managed."

Reproduced from National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services Edition, December 5, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.