Bierer Research Group: FS Vendors’ Vendor of the Week

What is your company name?

Bierer Research Group

Please give a short bio of your company

Bierer Research Group (BRG) is a leader in qualitative consumer and market research. BRG provides full service qualitative research from initial consultation through design, field management, moderation, analysis and impactful reporting. BRG is distinguished by its ability to deliver ACTIONABLE RESEARCH TO DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS.

It is the source for Focus Groups (traditional and Online), Online Bulletin Boards and One-on-One Depth Interviews, Ideation Sessions and Ethnography and Observational Research.

Jeff Bierer is the founder of the Bierer Research Group. He began his research career forecasting market share for new consumer products being developed by Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and other Fortune 100 packaged goods companies. He joined a small Boston research firm to build out its quantitative business while learning to lead focus groups from one of the top moderators in the country. He added training at the Burke Institute and RIVA to the practical experience he gained while moderating hundreds of focus groups for Gillette, Bank of Boston, John Hancock and other industry leaders.

Since then Jeff has managed Research Teams at Allmerica Financial and Bank of America responsible for new product development, customer satisfaction and retention, brand development, advertising research and more. Unique among his research peers, he has as often been the research client heading Marketing and Innovation teams as he’s been the research provider.

When was your company started?

2004

What is your targeted market?

Retail Banking
Payments (Card, Debit, Prepaid)
Online presence
Customer communications
Customer Service and Retention

Who is your competition, and what do you do better?

Qualitative research should solve problems. Yet in far too many cases, the information doesn’t penetrate beyond the surface level. Consumers may say one thing but mean another. What are they revealing? What are they withholding? Are the answers there in black and white?

To maximize the full value of research, it takes a firm with the creativity, persistence and insight, to not only interpret the data, but to ‘drill down’ to the real story…and ultimately, to find solutions that will have lasting impact.

How many current customers do you have and what is your estimated yearly growth?

Financial Service Client List:

Ally Bank
Bank of America
Charlotte Metro Credit Union
John Hancock
Prudential

How do you see your company in the next 2-5 years?

Greater horizontal integration within client firms. My goal is to be THE trust resource for bringing the Voice of the Customer into business decision making.

How many employees and/or freelance contractors do you currently have?

BRG partners with focus group facilities and interviewers across the country. BRG manages all design, analysis and reporting internally.

How much does your company embrace risk?

We mitigate risk by bringing market intelligence into business decision making. Good research may be likened to an automobile’s headlights and windshield wipers. They mitigate risk by providing a clear picture of what you are confronting.

What has been the biggest challenge you have had to overcome as a company?

Many managers are constrained from choosing suppliers and consultants they prefer by corporate vendor management practices. Large banks often have policies that make it all but impossible for a new research vendor to break in.

What else is interesting about your story?

We spend time (at our expense) to understand our clients’ business issues to insure the research we conduct is finely focused on the critical business decisions needing to be made. The research we deliver is ACTIONABLE.

Do you have a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc.?

Blogs are maintained  on the company website: www.bierergroup.com.