FAQ

• What is a BRiC?
  “BRiC” stands for Business RIvals and Customers, which represent the critical information sources for our market studies. Our use of “BRiC” is generally synonymous with “market” when referring to the specific group of companies a client competes with or sells to.

• Doesn’t that get confused with the BRIC Nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China)?
  Yes, but, “BRiC Study” is the trade name we have used since before 1980 to describe our particular type of research project. Once in a while a client expresses confusion over common references to the economies of BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), but we look upon this as a peaceful coexistence of two acronyms.

• How much does a study cost?
  Cost varies with the number of question topics and number of desired Customer Report interviews but most studies range from $20,000 to $50,000. A firm structure and cost is agreed upon during the proposal review process.

• What is the “proposal review”?
  Any proposal we submit is considered “draft” and is revised and fine-tuned several times to best address the Client’s objectives.

• How do you reach a high percent of customers?
  We commonly interview 50% to 75% of targeted customers. Multiple factors affect this, including a good list at the start, our methodology of using “polite persistence” and enticing messages, and our professional approach once a Contact is reached.

• How do you get them to open up?
  This is not a simple answer because this ability is our core competency. It reflects the years of experience of our Project Manager interviewers, our conversational interview technique, asking the right question at the right point of the interview, and a lot of other variables.

• Have you ever done work in the “XYZ” industry?
  Except for follow-up work for existing Clients, we rarely work in markets where we have extensive experience. Our methodology is a bigger key to our success than specific industry expertise. However, we have experience in a lot of markets, including an array of industrial, technical, and manufactured products as well as a variety of services, distribution, and government/agency enterprises.

• Do you do work in China?
  We have not had much success with studies in China. Our approach and methodology allows good, predictable success in North America and Europe. Unfortunately, cultural differences, time zone limitations, and language barriers result in less predictable success elsewhere. We will consider global and cross-regional studies on a case-by-case basis, but will be bluntly honest if we feel a request would be unsuccessful or unproductive.