I've refined a number of tools to use in my work over the years. A few of them are tools designed to help clients in one way or another. This free e-book, Painless Insight Planning, is one of these tools with some narrative wrapped around it.
[Download Painless Insight Planning now]
One thing I've found that is often a challenge at the start of a project is getting clear objectives. People may have a problem or concern, but it is often not clearly articulated.
And I can tell you one thing for certain: a good way to waste money on research is not having clear objectives at the beginning. I know this sounds perfectly obvious, but it is an issue more often than you would suspect.
Sometimes the problem is clear, but other elements are not. Such as -- who could we get insight from, otherwise known as "the research target."
I can't sit down with everyone individually and work through this, as I do with clients. So I thought I would put the whole thing into an e-book that you can download and use as much as you want. And then you'll have clear objectives for your research projects. And the world will be in a better place.
Because we really need insights these days, more than ever. And people inside companies can't afford to waste money or appear to waste money, get fired and be unemployed. Suppliers like me also can't afford to waste client's money. We all need to ramp UP on the insight quality and the innovation / ideation, but keep a lid on costs.
What's it worth to get this answer?
An even harder thing for many clients is figuring out how much to spend. They ask me, what will it cost?
WRONG QUESTION! WRONG QUESTION! WRONG QUESTION!
The right question is "what is it worth to get good information on this situation?"
I have created a nice little rule to help figure this out. Not a complicated ROI on research thing. Just a back-of-the-envelope, cocktail-napkin kind of formula that I call the 10 Times Value Rule. It's a great place to start figuring out what you should consider spending to get some insight into your problem / challenge / situation.
[Download Painless Insight Planning now]
Easy worksheets
I hate filling in forms. Most people do. So there aren't forms in this book. There are easy worksheets designed to spur creative thinking to get you started. Here's an example.
Bonus content
If you download the book and actually read it, you'll find a link to some bonus content that will save you even more time.
A small request - no strings attached
I'm simply putting this handy e-book out there for free with no strings attached. You can even add this e-book (with no changes) to your own site or blog for your own customers and prospects to use. But I do have a small request.
If you think this e-book is of any value, please add this blog to your RSS feed reader. I also send out a newsletter about six times a year. You can add yourself to that list if you want to hear about other e-books I plan to release, or just get the newsletter. You can check out the previous issues here.
Thanks for reading. And good luck with your insights research projects!