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Lisa Shepherd

weren’t interested. We did some interviews to understand
their perspectives, and also talked with other executives in
the corporations. Through these calls we learned that the
marketing VPs weren’t interested because they were pretty
happy with the way things worked, and they didn’t want to
implement a new technology that might even shed light on
where things weren’t working well. The CFOs that we talked
to, on the other hand, were VERY interested in the technology.
They loved the transparency and the ability to see where
financial inefficiencies existed. The lesson—interviewing can
tell you when you’re trying to sell to the wrong person.

How many interviews do you need? I find that six to eight
interviews per B2B segment is sufficient in developing an
understanding of the group. The challenge, of course, is that
you don’t know the segments before you do the interviews!
But in general, twelve to thirty interviews will allow you to
identify the segments and understand the differences in buying
behaviour between them. The larger or more diverse your set
of buyers, the more interviews you’ll want to do.

Step Four—Analyze the data

It’s easy to conduct primary research and then think you’re
done. But the raw data doesn’t do much for you. It’s the
analysis that delivers the useful insight needed for your
marketing plan.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your research:

1. Develop hypotheses (using the internal perspectives)
and use the interviews or surveys to confirm or refute the
hypotheses.

2. Look for connections and patterns in the information. It’s
ok to use your gut to spot trends or ignore outliers, but
you also need to look at the data systematically to ensure
you aren’t creating biases.

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© 2012 Lisa Shepherd