Need to know vs nice to know
Market research calls only work when you’re disciplined about the questions. Senior people will give you ten minutes if it’s purposeful. They’ll end the call quickly if it feels like a survey with no point. The fix is simple: decide what you need to know to make a decision, and treat everything else as nice to know.
At Blue Donkey we keep market research human. No scripts. No interrogation. Just a clear purpose, a short run of open questions, and enough space for the contact to think. If you want a companion piece on question craft, see Telemarketing questioning techniques.
1) Does the contact fit your demographic?
Need to know:
If the person or business is outside your target, the insight won’t travel. You don’t need a full company audit. You just need enough to confirm you’re speaking to the right type of organisation and (ideally) the right role in the buying group.
Questions that do the job
- “Just so I aim this properly, what’s your role and what do you own day to day?”
- “Roughly how big is the team this affects?”
- “Are you doing this in-house, outsourced, or a mix?”
Nice to know:
Exact headcount, turnover, or a full org chart. If it matters later, you can pick it up in a follow-up call. Don’t burn goodwill trying to collect detail you won’t use.
2) Is there demand for your product or service?
Need to know:
This is the heart of most market research: does the problem exist, is it painful enough to prioritise, and is your idea credible. The trick is to describe the concept in plain English, then listen carefully for the difference between polite interest and real intent.
Questions that reveal real demand
- “Is this a problem you recognise, or not really?”
- “How are you handling it today?”
- “What’s the impact when it goes wrong?”
- “If you could fix one part of it first, what would you pick?”
Nice to know:
Whether they “like” the idea in principle. Preference isn’t a plan. In B2B, demand shows up as priorities, consequences, and constraints, not excitement.
3) What are the contact’s business needs?
Need to know:
A good research call gets under the skin of the situation. Not by prying, but by asking questions that invite context. The goal is to understand what they’re trying to achieve, what’s blocking them, and what “better” would look like in their world.
Keep it grounded
- “What does success look like in the next 90 days?”
- “What’s the hardest part of the current process?”
- “Who else needs to be comfortable before anything changes?”
Nice to know:
Every single detail of their internal workflow. You’re looking for patterns that inform product, messaging, and targeting. You can go deeper later with the right prospects.
4) Where could you broaden your appeal?
Need to know:
Even if you’re not expanding tomorrow, it helps to learn where adjacent demand sits. This is where you test what else your audience values and what would make your offer more attractive or easier to adopt.
Questions that uncover the next opportunity
- “What would make this easier to roll out internally?”
- “If we removed one risk for you, what should it be?”
- “Which related problem do you wish suppliers solved better?”
Nice to know:
Speculative “wouldn’t it be nice if…” feature requests with no tie to impact. Capture them, but don’t let them steer the whole conversation.
The simple structure that keeps research calls human
Market research works best when the call has a shape. A small shape, not a script. If you’re doing outbound research calls as part of a wider plan, this sits neatly alongside your normal outreach approach (see Inbound and outbound telemarketing).
A practical flow you can reuse
- Set permission (10 seconds): “Could I ask two or three questions? I’m not selling on this call.”
- Confirm fit (1 minute): role, size, context.
- Explore need (5 minutes): pain, impact, current approach.
- Test concept (2 minutes): what lands, what doesn’t, what would make it credible.
- Close cleanly (30 seconds): thank them, confirm what you’ll do with the insight, offer a follow-up only if it’s genuinely relevant.
What a “successful” research call produces
A research call isn’t only about collecting answers. It should produce decisions and next steps: what to change in the proposition, who to target next, and what proof points the market needs. If you want to frame call success more broadly (not just “leads”), see Telemarketing call goals.
A tidy output list
- Top 3 pains (in the buyer’s words)
- Top 3 objections / risks
- What “good” looks like (their measures, not yours)
- Buying group signals (who else matters)
- One messaging improvement you’ll apply this week
Keep it compliant and respectful
Be clear about purpose, store accurate notes, and respect preferences. If there’s any doubt about whether your calls count as direct marketing, treat them with the same care. The ICO’s direct marketing guidance is a solid reference point: ICO guidance on direct marketing.
Next step
If you want market research that produces usable insight (not just “interesting feedback”), talk to Blue Donkey. We’ll help you shape the question set, recruit the right contacts, and turn findings into clear changes to targeting and propositions.
