How I Work
Most people think research means sending a survey. Ask enough people the right questions, get some answers, done.
But here’s what gets missed: before you can ask the right questions, you need to know what you already know — and what you don’t. Skip that step and you risk asking the wrong people the wrong things, and getting answers that send you in the wrong direction.
After 20 years in market research, I’ve seen this happen more times than I can count. Smart entrepreneurs, genuinely good businesses, collecting data that doesn’t help them move forward — not because they did it wrong, but because they started in the wrong place.
This is how I make sure that doesn’t happen.
Research isn’t a straight line. It’s a decision tree.
Every step informs the next. Nothing is wasted. And the starting point is never a survey — it’s always a question.
Step 1 — Define the question
Before we collect anything, we get clear on what you actually need to know.
Not “everything about my customers” — that’s too broad. Not “whether people like my offer” — that’s too vague. The right question is specific. It points to a decision you need to make. It has a clear answer that will actually change something.
This step is deceptively simple. It’s also the most important. A badly defined question produces beautifully useless data.
Step 2 — Start with what’s already there
This is always the first data collection step. Always.
Before talking to anyone, we look at what already exists: your own data, your analytics, your existing client feedback, publicly available market information, what competitors are doing. It’s faster than fieldwork, cheaper than fieldwork, and it almost always reveals more than people expect.
More importantly, it tells you what’s missing — and that shapes everything that comes next.
In research, this is called desk research. But don’t let that put you off. It simply means: look before you ask.
This is the Explore phase.
Step 3 — Identify the gaps and decide what comes next
Once we know what’s already there, we can see clearly what’s missing. And that’s where the real decision happens: do we need to go out and collect more data? If so — what kind? From whom? Using what method?
This is where most research goes wrong. People jump straight to fieldwork without looking first — so they don’t know what they’re really looking for, and they end up with answers to the wrong questions.
Step 3 is a decision point, not a formality. Sometimes what’s already there answers everything and we go straight to step 5. The desk research tells us which.
This is where the Ask phase begins.
Step 4 — Create a way to collect what’s missing
Fieldwork doesn’t just mean surveys. It means designing a deliberate way to collect the data that step 2 couldn’t give you.
That might be a survey sent to your existing clients. A feedback form at the end of every project. A quiz embedded in your website. A single question in your newsletter. The right method depends entirely on what step 3 revealed.
Because we’ve looked first, we already know exactly who to ask and what to ask them. We’re not guessing. We’re filling specific, identified gaps with targeted, well-designed questions.
This is the Ask phase in action.
Step 5 — Analyse, conclude, and act
Data without interpretation is just noise.
This step turns what we found into conclusions you can actually use. We look at patterns. We challenge assumptions. We connect what the desk research showed with what the fieldwork revealed. And we turn all of it into a clear direction — not a 40-page report you’ll never read, but a set of conclusions that point to specific decisions and next steps.
Sometimes what the data reveals is surprising. Sometimes it confirms what you suspected but couldn’t prove. Either way, it’s always more useful than a guess.
This is the Decide phase.
Not sure where you are?
