PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS Research that makes a difference!
While much of Chléire Consulting's work is understandably confidential, here are some recent achievements that we can share with you:SPEEDING UP THE PROCESS WITHOUT SACRIFICING QUALITY; SURVEYING "CHALLENGING" POPULATIONS AND SUBJECT MATTER:
- WHO: National nonprofit in the healthcare field
- ISSUE: How to educate transplant recipients about minimizing their increased risk for certain kinds of cancer when they may not even realize they are at risk? With lives at stake, speed was of the essence. Plus, the client sponsors an event every other year that brings together transplant recipients from across the United States. It was only weeks away and they wanted to use this opportunity to start educating recipients. Before the client could develop effective materials for this event, they needed to know what patients already knew. The usual timeframes needed to be compressed.
- SOLUTION: A series of seven focus groups in four different cities followed by parallel national surveys conducted online and by mail (respondent choice) that adhere to federal privacy (HIPAA) guidelines
- RESULTS: The focus groups provided the outline for the materials. By the time the outline was done, the client had preliminary survey findings available to use as input. This gave them and their expert medical panel several extra weeks to polish the materials. The panel members, most of them doctors who regularly publish medical research, were so excited by the findings that they were able to arrange an unprecedented "late-breaking" showcase of this study at an international transplantation conference. The findings are being considered for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Other publications are also planned. Many of the 70% who responded took the time to thank the client for the opportunity to share their opinions and for the sensitive way we handled the subject.
- OTHER: "Challenging" populations successfully surveyed have included children, physicians, and people on the waiting list for an organ transplant. "Challenging" subjects handled sensitively in surveys of the general public have included xenotransplantation and how to set priorities for receiving the organs available for transplantation.
APPLYING PROGRAMMING SKILLS CREATIVELY:
- WHO: Corporation providing business services
- ISSUE: How to help customers get the biggest "bang for the buck" from their direct mail expenditures? (And thus offset postal rate increases and decrease the allure of promotional alternatives.)
- SOLUTION: A readable, actionable report that helps customers better target their mailing lists—and details how to increase profits—along with a proprietary system to create it efficiently
- RESULTS: The report, which is generating rave reviews, can be tailored to each customer at a surprisingly affordable price.
IMMEDIATELY BOOSTING THE BOTTOM LINE:
- WHO: A nonprofit educational institution and cultural attraction
- ISSUE: How to attract new audiences and build relationships using a workshop series with a limited advertising budget?
- SOLUTION: Key questions inserted into participant evaluations, with immediate analysis to effectively adjust outreach strategies between workshops
- RESULTS: Uncovered lower cost ways to promote the workshops, allowing the advertising budget for the workshops to be cut by more than 20%. The workshops were filled in record time and attracted more non-members. This immediately boosted workshop revenue (members paid a discounted price) and added future revenue through increased sales of memberships and admissions. As an added bonus, the organization expanded its audience to previously untapped markets, built new community partnerships, and experienced an increase in word-of-mouth advertising.
POSITIONING FOR GROWTH:
- WHO: Publicly-operated tourist destination and historic site
- ISSUE: How to change print ads to reverse declining visitation?
- SOLUTION: On-line survey of potential visitors
- RESULTS: We met the original request of selecting the "winning" print advertisement and enabled them to further reverse their visitation decline by providing them these unexpected "extras": (1) the target most likely to be attracted by the "winning" ad AND the targets most likely to be missed; (2) the best prospects for future growth; (3) how to adapt the campaign to appeal to the "missed" targets; (4) the most cost-effective media to reach their current visitor base and new targets; and (5) the specifics of what made the "winning" ad most appealing that could be applied to future promotional campaigns.
REVVING UP THE SALES FORCE:
- WHO: Bank
- ISSUE: How well does the employee training program support maintaining dominate share in the current markets and planned expansion into new, larger markets?
- SOLUTION: Telephone survey of customers to gauge satisfaction and unmet needs
- RESULTS: This study confirmed that the new training program and customer satisfaction were both on-target. It saved the bank money by pinpointing a contemplated expensive service expansion that few customers valued. But the biggest impact was the unexpected ammunition it provided that made employees more active salespeople—customers saw it as adding value to their relationship. That revved up the sales force and aided greatly in a successful expansion.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE:
Start-ups or evolutions we helped put on a solid foundation- Virginia Foundation for Architecture's new state architecture museum
- Virginia Career Education Foundation, a new public-private partnership that promotes career and technical employment and training programs
- DataShare Richmond, a new local partnership to expand data access and sharing for community problem-solving
- Virginia Green Industry Council, a state-wide umbrella organization of related business, professional, and educational interests
- Richmond Shakespeare Festival, formerly Encore! Theatre Company
- State Fair of Virginia as they evolved and planned for their move
How can research help you? Call Chléire Consulting and let us put the power of research to work for you.
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