If you are running a market research agency, you're familiar with the fast-paced work environment—your staff needs to work quickly and thoughtfully while managing internal and external expectations. It's not an easy task. And then, there is the ever-changing role of technology in our lives.
Generally, everyone has a common idea of growth that promotes the work efficiency of a team. Growth becomes possible mostly through effective collaboration. Research firms that concentrate more on boosting their profitability and scalability find long-term growth by focusing on the purpose of the clients.
Here are some suggestions on how you can achieve positive change as a research agency
1. First, Optimize your resources & talent
Having the right resources and talents is challenging to find. Still, optimizing them by enhancing communication and focusing on purpose increases the growth potential you may not be able to imagine at first. It is more important than ever for a successful research agency to ensure that employees concentrate more on meaningful tasks rather than unnecessary work. It all leads to excellent retention and drives more revenue. An adequate infrastructure and working practices for distance teams are just part of the recipe for success. Consider creating project-based chat channels and zoom rooms to foster communication between project teams. Consider using tools like Miro, Slack, Trello, Asana or flowres for project management software that can help you maintain end-to-end financial control while ensuring you manage your project excellently.
2. Develop an effective digital marketing strategy
We live in a digital world. Continuous genuine content production by your researchers will not only foster their own thinking but will also fetch more customers to consider you as their thinking partner. Clients love to engage agencies that can understand and understand how the world is shaping up. Your ability to showcase your understanding of how the world is shaping up will positively impact your agency brand. No matter how big or small you are, it would help if you had a digital strategy to promote yourself.
3. Focus on increasing productivity and learning attitude
Most agencies lack established processes, which prevents them from completing their planned growth path. Encourage learning opportunities for your team will come when you work on automating all non-essential tasks and pave the way for learning and development. Free up time for your employees to do more. Ask them to spend time on the bigger picture, understanding client business, reskilling them and creating a structured learning path, and creating a timely vacuum in their routines so they can spend time out of day-to-day work. This time can be spent focusing on the agency's larger goals and how they will grow and increase revenue.
Part of fixing this problem is thinking about your employees' workflow. Identify where they are spending most of their time. Can tasks be automated? Is the job being repeated unnecessarily? An increase in productivity indicates an increase in profitability. Once the processes are in place, you can scale from there.
4. Find the right CRM system to manage your customers
We talked about digital marketing. Along with digital marketing, you need CRM to manage your customer flow. Having systems like HubSpot or Salesforce to track and manage client enquiries, proposals and enquiry pipelines will bring many efficiencies. CRM systems like HubSpot can help you manage both inbound and outbound marketing.
Delivering better results enhances the reputation of an agency. A lot goes into building a successful agency, and happy clients are a big part of it. One way to increase clients' happiness is to invest in a system that gives you more visibility of their needs. The most up-to-date information will enable your agency to succeed in this competitive market.
5. Build a brand
Agency's ability to charge a premium is directly proportional to creating thought leadership. Thought leadership comes through the right talent, cutting-edge training and brand-building through thoughtful content writing.
Branding aids in influencing the business by changing their perception and feeling about your firm. Build a positive and result-oriented image in the market that clients can rely on. This suggestion goes hand in hand with having a digital strategy.
