When assessing the need for market research it is important to find a professional research organization dedicated to the type of work needed for your team – if you are employed by a pharmaceutical company, biotech manufacturer, medical device manufacturer or other healthcare-focused organization it is important to find a vendor partner which has experience and an understanding of your team’s needs.
Q. The first and most critical question should be: Does the vendor understand my research question?
If they specialize in healthcare this is a good start, as with the abundance of market research vendors in the marketplace sifting through the options is a much less daunting task when you narrow down to vendors who work in your area of concern.
While there are many well-known and excellent market research companies who provide great insights for the mobile phone industry, this expertise doesn’t always translate to healthcare.
Has the vendor done work in my therapy area? Have they done projects similar to mine in the past with a similar set of respondents?
Q. Does the vendor have experience doing the type of work that I need?
There are companies who specialize in providing secondary data or syndicated reports, which are quite useful and have great utility when your research need is very focused and can be answered by market statistics, understanding prescribing patterns from historical data or a market analysis of key competitors and products in development in a given therapy area.
On the other hand, if you have a research question specific to your own product and market situation there may not be any existing data to answer your questions – in which case primary custom research may be appropriate.
What types of similar work has the vendor done in the past? How successfully can this translate to my own team’s needs?
Q. How do I know if they are the best choice for this project?
Like making any purchase the factors which go into partnering with a market research supplier in healthcare should be based on their ability to understand your research objectives, whether they can deliver the results you need in a specified timeframe, and whether your budget allows for conduct of the work proposed.
Their proposal should give you confidence in their ability to do the work and provide the details needed for consideration. Comfort and trust with the vendor ultimately should help give you confidence in your decision.