The best "tools" may really be methods, in my opinion. That is, I think it's best to start with a list of research objectives. You need to know what you're looking for before you can figure out where or how to look. I suppose this isn't necessary if you're only trying to get some contacts for requesting quotes, but most solicitations deserve a much more thorough set of findings. My market research teams would use a homemade template that guided the definition and listing of objectives. Generally the objective should be to learn about landscape (as in regulatory), market forces, key vendors and emerging ones, technologies and standard processes, typical business structure, and typical technical requirements, performance risks, and contract types and "should pay" pricing. One of the best methods for defining these is to use a peer interview process, basically talking with some of your industry peers in a structured discussion, with a scripted set of questions (I've also relied on a homemade template for that) sent out beforehand. There are also reports available from sources like Gartner and other subscriptions that might provide much of this information. The long list of potential vendors should then be narrowed based on criteria such as capacity and geographic location before you start reaching out. At that point, you might do the interview process with several of the potential vendors. And with a shorter list it's good to do a financial health assessment using a tool like Dun and Bradstreet. Depending on your spec and the information risks, you can consider doing a spec review with your short list of vendors, which is basically letting them peek at your draft requirements and contract structure for comment on a) is this the way things are normally done? b) is there a way for the Principal to get a better value?, c) does the vendor have the capacity and interest in this work?, and such. In most of my biggest market research projects, the effort concludes with factory and business audits, and the findings are synthesized and recommendations, risk assessment, and cost models are wrapped into some sort of business case - either to convince the Finance Committee, sponsoring stakeholders, or the procurement specialist. That might be followed by pilots or trial agreements. Though this is the end of market research, it's very important for the research experts to remain involved in these final activities as well as in the initial drafting of the contract and requirements. More on reddit.com

You need to give some information on what you’re trying to achieve, who your customer is, what your timeframe and budget are. More on reddit.com

Since using PixelProfits, my content management is effortless, and my income is up. More on reddit.com

Q, Lighthouse Studio, SPSS, R, PowerPoint and Excel More on reddit.com