Manufacturing and Industrial Market Research

Procurement managers play a part in most industrial buying situations. Sometimes they are the key person who chooses the brand, at other times technical teams specify the brand and the purchasing team sources it. We interview procurement managers in their hundreds, every week of the year. Telephone and online interviews are typically used for this audience.

Production and engineering heads are often critical ‘gatekeepers’. This audience obtains feedback on your products from the hands-on production workers and field engineers. As well as having an extremely informed opinion in their own right, they are an important conduit to us accessing those that work for them. We typically interview this group by telephone, the interview doubling as a discussion as to how to reach the respondent’s workers.

The fragmented, labyrinthine supply-chains of many manufacturing and industrial sectors frequently transcend several countries. From raw materials (where wholesalers are frequently used) to high value engineered products (where resellers may install on the manufacturer’s behalf), intermediaries are a critical target audience. In-depth face-to-face or telephone interviews with intermediaries are an excellent way of understanding the structure and needs of the whole supply chain.

The manual workers who conduct the manufacturing process are generally not ‘signing the checks’ but are invariably crucial influencers on those who make the purchase decision. If our machinery or tool is difficult to handle, the worker will quickly tell the Production Head of his frustrations. Likewise if our manufactured raw material is proving difficult to manipulate on our customer’s site. It is crucial to include the views of those using our products, not simply those who ostensibly decide to buy them. Self-completion or face-to-face interviews are frequently used to interview this group.

Field engineers and technicians operate offsite – installing, maintaining and repairing systems. They are typically skilled manual labour and often work in the utilities or telecoms sectors, using and installing sophisticated equipment. This group is notoriously difficult to interview: they are almost permanently offsite, and often out of phone and email range. Self-completion interviews are often used to interview this group, with telephone interviews also used where possible.

Interviews with C-level decision makers may be necessary if your product is a strategically important, high cost item. A small number of in-depth face-to-face or telephone interviews can give the key to the whole market.

Quality Managers and Health & Safety Managers are rarely seen as key decision makers, but in many markets are important influencers. Examples include production line components, chemicals and food. Telephone interviews are typically used.