B2b Skills under the Spotlight

What makes a good b2b researcher in the 21st Century? And what skills are most in demand? Elizabeth Norman of ENI and Nick Gendler and Kate Dann from KD Consulting will be addressing this issue at the BIG Forum meeting on 25th September.

These three, among the UK's best known MR recruitment consultants, will be looking at trends in b2b research and the skills required to conduct it, both from the point of view of the personnel manager / recruiter of b2b researchers, and the b2b researcher him/herself.

Traditionally, some of the skills for b2b and consumer research have been the same but many are very different, with a range of issues surrounding sampling and recruitment, for example, which are regarded as unique to b2b. The emergence of the Internet, with its very definitive use of 'b2b' and 'b2c' to define sectors, and its implications for the customer interface, is just one of the developments which is affecting the b2b skills market: others include the decline in response rates, the general growth of service industries and the effect of globalisation. The meeting will take a practical look at the implications for those wishing to recruit for, or advance their own careers in this thriving subsector of the research market.

Each of the agencies will tackle different areas, but both will give their opinions on which vacancies are hardest to fill - and therefore which types are in most demand - and on the key emerging areas. The session will be hosted and kicked off by MrWeb's Nick Thomas, also Vice Chairman of the BIG, who will present some stats relating to b2b vacancies from the 3,000 or so posted on the MrWeb site over the past year.

Forum sessions generally consist of a talk lasting c.40 minutes and a question and answer session - the atmosphere is fairly informal and all those attending will have a chance to quiz the speakers on any issues that particularly interest them, whether in the Q & A or later at the pub...

This is the first in the new 2001-2 season of evening Forum meetings - the full programme is on the BIG Web site at www.b2bresearch.org . Admission is £5 on the door for non-members of the group, free to members. The meeting is being held at the offices of ORC International, Angel Corner House, 1 Islington High Street, London N1 9AH. For further details please contact Nick Thomas on 020 7515 6040 or email BIG@b2bresearch.org

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.