Market Research Consultants for
Growing Businesses

At Ground Floor Partners, our market research efforts focus on the needs of B2B and niche B2C firms. We uncover market opportunities, and sometimes, marketing challenges, that others may have missed. We work at three levels: we do exhaustive research using periodicals, trade magazines and proprietary data sources; we conduct telephone or Internet surveys to dig a little deeper; and finally, we conduct one-on-one interviews, focus groups, or roundtable panel discussions to provide the deepest insights.

Why Market Research is Important

Accurate market research is the foundation for every business or marketing plan.
Ground Floor Partners can help you gain a much deeper understanding of:

• market opportunities
• existing customers
• prospects
• competitors
• employees
• industry trends
• environmental risks

We Help You Focus

Effective marketing is all about targeting and focus. Better targeting means less waste, lower expenses, and higher profits.

• Conduct a comprehensive market opportunity assessment - Assess your markets and current market positions (market size and share of market, channels, growth trends, threats, and opportunities)

• Identify customer needs and determine which market segments hold the most, and least, attractive profit potential.
• Find out what customers and prospects think about your new customer service procedures, your sign-up process, your newest product, your new tag-line, your invoicing process, etc.
• Identify regulatory, political, and demographic trends that could create problems - and opportunities - for your business.
• Develop a thorough understanding of competitors - Who leads and who follows in this space? How much market share does each player have? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do they differentiate themselves? How does their pricing strategy compare with yours? How do they market their products and services? How does their brand equity compare to yours?
• Identify opportunities to use your strengths and exploit competitor weaknesses.

Benefits of Market Research

When you understand your markets and competition, your business will benefit from —

• A more efficient, more effective sales process that reduces your
  cost of customer acquisition.
• Greater profitability, as well defined customer segments will mean
  sales are closed based on superior value, avoiding the need to
  compete on price.
• Faster growth fueled by customers who become loyal evangelists
  for your enterprise.
• Sustainable competitive advantage based on superior knowledge
  of what it takes to succeed in the markets you serve.

Market Research Examples

We focus on the needs of start-ups and small and middle market businesses. Our market research produces solid, factual, defensible information that is directly relevant to your specific needs, not the needs of the "average" company in your industry. We combine quantitative market research (statistical analysis, graphs, charts) and qualitative market research (interviews, articles, opinions) to give you a balanced and accurate picture.

Here is a brief sampling of the types of work we have done in the past:

• Survey design and execution (invite respondents, collect
  results, analyze, report)
• Phone or in-person interviews of customers, employees,
  executives, business owners, industry experts, etc.
• Focus groups, roundtables, and executive forums
• Market opportunity assessments
• Competitor analysis / competitive intelligence studies
• "Blue sky" sessions on product / application / market possibilities,
  particularly in the area of technology commercialization