Strategic and Tactical Research and Implementation Studies

As an outside, third party, we can legally and ethically interview our clients’ competitors about the issues they care about most. These interviews are conducted without misrepresentation of any kind, and the identity of the client never revealed at any time, unless the client requests us to do so.

Our skilled interviewers can determine what the client needs to focus on in order to obtain sales, exploring such areas as:

• Product needs
• Service needs
• Pricing issues
• Desired sales process
• Strengths and weaknesses of current provider
• Strengths and weaknesses of other vendors

We can anonymously interview customers to determine their opinion about clients, competitors, and the other suppliers. These interviews can vary from a simple checklist of specific concerns to in-depth probing about especially important issues.

When clients find themselves in a bidding situation or having just lost an important account, a third party can anonymously determine the answers to key questions, such as:

• What criteria is used by the decision-maker to determine the winning bid?
• Who makes the decision?
• How can our client improve its position now or next time?

East Coast Consulting Group consists of project managers, researchers, and interviewers from a broad variety of backgrounds and technical skill sets. We find that interviews work best if the interviewer “speak the same language” as the respondent. Therefore we carefully select the interviewers best suited for each assignment.

Most interviewers have considerable experience in interviewing. Many have chosen to work from home due to life changes, such as caring for young children. They bring excellent technical skills to the interview process.

We encourage clients to attend at least one telephone conference with the interviewers present, so that the interviewers have the opportunity to directly listen to the client’s objectives.