Here’s Why You Don’t Do Market Research Yourself: By John LaRosa, Marketdata

July 12, 2017 – Yeah, I know, you can find everything you need for free on the internet. No need to purchase an “expensive” ready-made market research report about your market or industry. While I agree that market research is not rocket science, and you CAN do it yourself, the big question remains — will you actually save money doing it yourself? Is it cost-efficient?

Here’s why, considering your hourly salary, it probably isn’t…

  • Can you do several dozen phone interviews with company managements, trade association personnel, writers, analysts, consultants and others? Are you a good interviewer, able to trade information and get the info. you need? Are you willing to call or email each of these contacts 4-5 times before getting a reply, since they are frequently on the road or in meetings? Do you even know WHO the right contacts are?
  • Related to the above, are you a persistent researcher with patience? Are you very organized?
  • Do you know how to vet market estimates (industry revenues and growth, for example) that are accurate vs. those taken out of thin air? What are the figures based on, does the rationale make sense?
  • Do you know how to obtain information about privately owned companies that don’t have annual reports, press releases and 10K statements?
  • Finally, can you boil down all the information you’ve obtained, identify the major trends, make forecasts and write up an intelligent report for top management?

If you can’t do all this, then you are not doing a complete job and your conclusions and forecasts will be faulty. If your salary is $40,000 per year, or $800 per week, you make $20/hr. A typical industry or market study, done properly, takes about 150 man-hours to complete. That’s $3,000 of your time. You can easily purchase a ready-made study for that or less.

Maybe it’s just easier and more cost-effective to outsource it to companies and analysts that already possess these skills and know the contacts.

Note: To view ongoing business posts by Marketdata’s President and Research Director, John LaRosa, and to learn about our various market & industry reports, and to obtain free Press Releases, visit marketdataenterprises.com, or email: john@marketdataenterprises.com.