Sometimes, for our more difficult projects, we have to amp up our game and personally call our potential experts rather than just emailing worthy candidates. Often we spend several hours each day scouring the Internet to find even just one person who might become a valued consultant for our clients. These difficult projects are, of course, time-sensitive like all the others, so if there’s a note of hysteria or desperate subservience when we reach you on the phone, that’s why.
Well, today is no different; my colleague Elizabeth and I are calling potential corporate banking customers to get professional opinions on the process of choosing a bank for one’s lending/banking needs. And you know what? I’m generally very surprised and touched at how genuinely interested and responsive some people are. I mean, we’re calling people at work, out of the blue, asking them to participate in a market research project that they previously had no interest in (that is, until we called them), yet they’re willing and able! “Set it up for next week!” they say. And just to clarify, these are not individuals who have nothing better to do with their time. These are extremely busy C-level executives that have loads on their plates and yet they’re taking time out of their schedules to speak to us, to share their opinions and insights, to become Knowledge Leaders. So, I really just wanted to say:
THANK YOU. THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR KNOWLEDGE LEADERS FOR BEING SO WILLING AND ABLE, FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE YOUR VAST EXPERTISE WITH US AND OUR CLIENTS. Without you, we’d be nothing!
technorati tags: hand-recruitment, thank you
It’s been a long while since I’ve written, and I apologize for that. We’ve just been so freakin’ busy! I, myself, have been working with our web developers to build a search engine for our database. This will become the new client portal, and its ease of use will allow clients to find Knowledge Leaders they’d like to speak to, as well as ask them questions and request consultations. Pretty sweet!
In the meantime, there’s a lot of information we need to add to the database to make the search more robust and complete, so it’s been a data populating frenzy around here. I’ve got most of the company filling in missing data fields in their spare time, and it’s become a bit of a contest, seeing who can do the most each day. The prize is free food—we all love food around here. So far, it looks like Dave is in the lead, but Julie is determined to beat him out, and we all know Julie’s like a machine.
In other news, yesterday was Dazhi’s birthday. Happy Birthday Dazhi!
Also, we’re interviewing interns all this week. It’s time to get some projects I’ve been meaning to start off the ground, and the time is ripe for that. Business has been good for us in spite of recessionomics, so we’re all feeling good about that, and we had a doughnuts+coffee party recently to celebrate. Hopefully more of those to come in the future.
Otherwise, the only thing we’d like more of is feedback from our Knowledge Leaders! We’ve gotten a solid following on Twitter, and 60 friends on Facebook (woohoo!). How about some Yelp reviews, eh? I know many of you have had very positive consulting experiences and are eager to do more. Share your thoughts! There are still some skeptics out there who are angry that we dare offer them money to talk on the phone with our clients (I know, we’re despicable), but, for the most part, everyone’s been fantastic and eager to help. Thanks so much!!
I’ll try to write more frequently. Maybe an entry later this week on how the intern interviews went. Till then, have a wonderful week everyone! 
technorati tags: searchable database, data populatin’ showdown, recessionomics, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp
The new website went live at midnight last night! Take a gander, take a peek, and, if so inclined, let us know what you think.
If you’re new to Tribeca Insights, you probably didn’t see our old website, which was, in my humble opinion, depressing. It was very gray, with a stock photo header featuring two businesspeople sitting in chairs on a beach (why?). And while the site was probably just as informative as the new site, it didn’t exactly compel people to look much further than the homepage. It might have even driven people away, since we’d always get feedback saying that people couldn’t tell what we do based on what they found on the site. So, you know what? We decided to make a change.
“More accessible, more engaging, more user-friendly,” was what we had in mind when we designed the new site. A bolder top navigation with drop-down menus displays all the links you need to learn about TI, and if that’s not enough, we now have featured Knowledge Leaders, featured projects and our most recent news. In addition, if you register on the site or for a particular project, even more information becomes available to you. You can read Knowledge Leaders’ full bios, see project descriptions and questions before you apply, discover ways to connect with TI via our various social networks and provide feedback about your consultation experiences. Even just now, we received the following feedback from a registered Knowledge Leader:
Was a very positive experience, and believe client was satisfied.
We are VERY excited! I’ve been clapping my hands all morning like a child at Disneyworld, unable to contain my enthusiasm for the new tribecainsights.com. We hope others like it, too, and that it will engender confidence and trust in our company and services. If all goes well, we will continue to add new features—let us know what you’d like to see! Also, we’ll continuously be on the lookout for Knowledge Leaders who’d like to be featured on the site, so if that’s you, send us an email and a headshot. In the meantime, happy surfing to all our clients, experts, potential clients and potential experts!
technorati tags: Tribeca Insights, new website
In a fit of frustration over a particularly tricky (and fruitless) recruitment project, I lashed out in lament—on Twitter. To my astonishment, the micro-blogging (140 characters or less) community immediately rallied and responded to my cry; two experts engaged me directly, and several industry Twitter users began following my posts.
We’ve gradually been exploring using social networking as a recruitment method. Our Twitter account (http://twitter.com/TribecaInsights) has generated some positive publicity and useful connections, but this was the first time a very niche expert was engaged and recruited via this new milieu. I think that a keen foundational notion behind playing with various expert recruitment methods—e-mail, telephone, Facebook, and now, Twitter—is that industry experts—like television-viewers, food critics, university professors and elementary school students—may be segmented. Consumer segmentation, as most companies already know, is increasingly important and relevant to media consumption, sales and marketing as the power of the internet becomes more widespread.
I remember attending a seminar on segmentation and demographics analytics during my days as a publicist. They presented some interesting supporting statistics on the effectiveness of targeted marketing by contrasting the number of magazines and television stations available in 1940, 1960, 1980 and 2000, along with accompanying data on the (impressive) industry revenue generated through spending, advertising, subscription and merchandising. Needless to say, the exponential growth in media options targeted to very specific users (entire magazines devoted to featuring bridal accoutrements for brides-to-be; golfing destinations catalogs for golf enthusiasts; even eerily comprehensive pet parenting periodicals aimed at Labrador owners, poodle breeders, and terrier trainers!) have transformed the formerly modestly-sized media industry to a multi-billion dollar, globally-linked machine.
Applying the same mentality in expert recruiting—by tapping into the social networks and industry-specific virtual communities target experts are likely to frequent—could uncover caches of previously un-reachable, un-discoverable, or un-responsive experts. We’ll be experimenting and finessing our recruiting procedures into the summer—stay tuned for updates!
technorati tags: Twitter
This morning, Dazhi and I met with Integrity Research (http://www.integrity-research.com), a boutique consultancy focused on devising primary research and market research strategies and services for the financial sector. The meeting was pleasant and substantive; we learned about Integrity Research’s business model and ongoing and upcoming research industry reports, and we were able to introduce ourselves in person to Tom Hutchinson, who oversees IR’s relationships with service providers.
We’ll be tuning into their blog, ResearchWatch for the latest and greatest from our competitors and fellow innovators in the research space.
technorati tags: Integrity Research
The auto industry stimulus plan is one of the most important measures to stimulate domestic consumption. In fact the plan has brought some positive impact, judging from vehicle sales data in March. The stimulus plan includes encouraging the reorganization of the automobile industry, supporting auto technology innovation, especially on the development of new energy vehicles, etc.
*Knowledge Leader Sound Bites are insights from current experts of Tribeca Insights’ Knowledge Leader Forum.
technorati tags: China’s Auto Industry, Auto Industry Stimulus Plan, Autos Experience a Positive Impact in March, Auto Technology Innovation, New Energy Vehicle Development
Interesting time in the Data Storage and Networking world as the 2 become one through the convergence of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). Although, the management and day to day operations remain the same, internally to an organization, the question becomes “Who manages the single network? Network group or Storage group? The answer seems to depend on the size of the organization, as larger organizations are not giving control of its storage to the network group, but smaller accounts are giving the “physical” to the network side of the house. I believe you continue to see consolidation of the SAN and LAN providers (Brocade/Foundry) over the next 12-18 months as FCoE gains adoption.
*Knowledge Leader Sound Bites are insights from current experts of Tribeca Insights’ Knowledge Leader Forum.
technorati tags: Data Storage and Networking Convergence, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), Consolidation of the SAN and LAN providers
We used to hear quite frequently that there wasn’t enough information about us on ye olde Internet. And, it’s true: When you would google us a few months ago, there certainly was very little to be seen except for maybe our homepage and those threads I mentioned in my first post. So, obviously, we’ve been working really hard toward remedying that unfortunate situation in order to bring you the latest and greatest in TI news and accessibility. Below, I will identify and illuminate the various resources there now are for reading about and reaching out to TI and our people:
1. Facebook. Okay, so, we only have 23 friends as of right now. Which is sad, we know. Also, there aren’t any fun pictures or videos of us yet, but we’re working on it. What we’d really like is for our experts and clients to befriend us on FB so that we can more easily keep in touch (so please, if you’re on FB, please find us and befriend us). In this business of global research and remote consulting, it’s easy to think of people as faceless entities, only known to us by their professional bios and screening question answers. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all knew a little bit more about each other and could see each other’s smiling faces? The answer here is yes. Be our friend!
2. Twitter. We use this exceedingly popular microblogging tool to tell our followers what we’re doing—that is, what industries we’re recruiting for, when we’ve put up a new blog post (I’ll be tweeting about this little gem in a minute) and whatever other tidbits we feel like sharing with the world. Our Twitter is linked to our Facebook, so even if you’re not down with the tweet, you can still receive updates on all our activities. Let’s hear it for technology!
3. Yelp. While we don’t have any reviews posted of us yet, we’d like to start getting some. In fact, we encourage all of our experts and clients to post reviews of our services and the interactions we have with you all. We hope everyone we work with has a pleasant experience doing so, so please let us know what we can do to help make your dealings with TI better!
And, in addition to the above, we’re redoing our website, which was redesigned in-house, thank you very much. Given that our current website looks pretty depressing and isn’t exactly web 2.0, we’re going for a more colorful and informative approach. At this time, we’re still working out cross-browser functionality and some other minor issues, but it looks like we’ll be able to launch the new site within the month. Keep your fingers crossed!
Basically, social networking makes it easier for all of us to be engaged with one another and interact regularly. We want you to know what’s going on on our end, and we also want to find out what’s happening on yours. We want to be able to share information easily and quickly, to keep our experts and clients informed and in the know. On that note, let’s connect!
technorati tags: social networking, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp
One of the fun perks of working at a young company is choosing from the infinitely large sampler platter of web-based business-streamlining software. After a rather complicated fling (they never start out that way. . .) with MS Access, we took on a trial (dabbled, if you will) of Dabble DB, an online databasing service that would enable us to keep records of experts we’ve contacted, open projects and calls we’ve scheduled or need to schedule. We had two basic criterion for our database hosts: 1. that the software needed to be able to handle a substantial bulk of data and 2. that it would be user-friendly and accessible not only to Tribeca Insights associates in New York, but also to our team members in Seattle and Wisconsin.
To these ends, Dabble preforms exceptionally well. By using an online platform, we’ve eliminated the cumbersome task of saving, uploading and/or emailing database contacts. We can also deftly manipulate large numbers of expert contacts, biographies and projects in ways that were much more intensive in MS Access, and impossible in MS Excel.
In addition, we discovered a number of delightful Dabble DB functions and applications. I’m no tech pro, but it didn’t take long to become familiar with Dabble’s simple, essentially idiot-proof system, with the aid of their HELP forums (and a couple of calls to Technical Assistance). A few of my favorites, and most frequently used—
Pages. Apparently a newer addition, this sharing function allows us to incorporate user-submitted information—including survey results, questionnaire responses, and contacts—into our database. We can then view the results and benchmark accordingly.
Link to Entry allows a particular piece of information (e.g., an expert’s name) to be linked with a database entry (e.g. an expert’s complete biography and contact information). Derived Fields enhances the Link’s usability by giving viewers quick access to each designed Link. This makes it simple for us to create call schedulers and connect cross-project information for experts without having to re-enter the data each time.
Filters. Oldie-but-goodie filters allow for us to quickly build and dissemble page views.
Import / export. Before touting this rather inextricable tool, I should warn users that the import function bugs out occasionally when burdened with large (in my experience, in excess of 200 Excel rows) hunks of information. There’s fortunately a duplicate-eliminating function for when the system freezes in the middle of a big import task. The program also nicely integrates new information into existing column headings so you don’t have to. You can also export data in all the usual formats.
Now. I’m not the most informed web-based software user (far from it), but the following need fixin’—
Server speed. I’m not sure how frequently encountered this is—my previous experience with benchmarking web-based software hadn’t had this problem in the same capacity—but I’d say once every few days, I get a server-related issue, such as data overloading or freezing. Dabble’s blog keeps users somewhat informed of server maintenance issues.
Invalid Entry ErrorsThese occasionally pop up—but the error doesn’t seem to actually exist. Ideally, I’d like to know where my invalid entries are, and how to remedy them.
All in all, a very satisfying trial. I suspect there’s a lot we haven’t tested or tried yet with Dabble, but I’m looking forward to exploring additional functionality to further optimize our processes.
technorati tags: Dabble DB
Expert networks are utilized by companies conducting extensive research on various industry sectors for a number of reasons—including exploring potential investment opportunities, creating business development strategies, and building a technical knowledge base. Part of the integral, comprehensive primary research process involves speaking with folks who have first-hand industry experience—since, no matter how much academic material is available, there’s nothing so efficient and accurate as culling opinions from combined decades of experience in the field. These companies come to us to source these qualified experts (that’s you!) for them.
Why would a company spend money to hire an outside firm to find experts? Doesn’t that make us ostensible middlemen, simply facilitating a process rather than producing a deliverable? Well, yes. But don’t write it off yet. It would be a short life indeed if we personally undertook every single one of our professional endeavors. The term ‘middleman’ connotes a lot of things—most of them orbiting around ‘busywork’, ‘useless’ and ‘inefficient’. But here in New York, the middleman trade (or, euphemistically: “professional services”) not only pays the bills for most of the white-collar community; we invest money, sell real estate, generates ideas, and perform research for the rest of the world! Individuals and companies rely strongly on the value supplied by third-party specialists.
Consider the following—
You’re an executive heading a new product line at Tribeca Technologies, a premiere software firm. You want to know what sorts of product-related improvements you could make this quarter to increase sales. How would you go about doing this?
You could do it yourself, but that would require your putting off more important tasks directly related to generating profit. Alternatively, you might hire a market research firm to poll all software users, to see what sorts of features they’d like to see in new products. Here, the benefits of involving a third party are apparent:
- You’d skirt the process of having to learn best practices for soliciting honest, critical feedback
- You’d get to punt the grunt work to someone who does know how, while you work on what you do best; making software, managing developers, etc.
And that’s where middlemen come in—not as marginal paper-shufflers, but as helpers who enhance the value of your business by ensuring a more efficient delegation of duties. Tribeca Insights has got a quick-draw research team that looks into companies and projects relevant to our clients’ needs. We’ve honed best practices for getting in touch with—on a project-by-project basis—people with business experience, technical know—how, and great communication skills. In addition to this, we perform all the pesky logistics that come with scheduling a phone call and processing payment. Lastly (but certainly not leastly), we’re here to collect your questions and feedback, which will in turn, help us best serve both our experts and our clients.
technorati tags: Tribeca Insights, expert networks, primary research