Communication in marketing has been such a one way process we still regard interactivity as the novel exception not the norm. Actually apart from mass communications which are abnormal (let's remember) ALL communication is interactive. So this means that even when you are taking a brief from a customer or client, just because you are the supplier does not mean that they entirely dominate the conversation. Even if requests for proposal or RFPs as they are known for short) are far too common.

When I have been running a course for researchers to teach them how to generate greater numbers of insights one of the learnings played back to us is the importance of getting a good brief from the client. And this means asking good questions to find out what is going on.  One very large research agency we trained even told us that their takeout from what they had learned from the course was that they were going to write a discussion guide - for the client briefing meeting! Normally the discussion guide is only used to run the fieldwork interviewing research respondents.

By framing the interaction with the client as equally important and insightful as interviewing customers  you will find a valuable new source of information. More than that the way in which you ask questions will partly structure how the project is run. What you doing is constructing a conceptual framework. That's the point.

Here are some good questions to consider:

Who is the ultimate client? What are they expecting?

What have you done in the past? Are you looking for something different?

What do they think they already know?

What do they need to know?

What will they do as a next steps from this project?

What are the consequences of not doing this project?

There's something else which you should always look for. But you usually can't directly ask for. And that is What is the real brief? The one you can't tell us about? It may be personal, political, it may involve a damaging or humiliating admission. By the end of the project you will know it. If you don't it will probably bite you. But you will kick yourself and will gain so much more understanding if you watch for it at the start. There is always an aspect to the brief that the client won't want to talk about. And its the most important bit.

As a rule of thumb the individual will always tell you (not in so many words) but using hesitations and changes in direction. Just as an experienced researcher knows that people don't say what they mean or mean what they say so the same rules apply even at the briefing. Watch for it. I have focussed on the briefing in particular because normally the flow is all the other way.  And even a briefing is a conversation which takes two (baby).

This is a tip drawn from market research briefings but it applies just as much to any other kind. At a briefing meeting what is articulated is the Explicit brief. But there is always another one which researchers call the Impolicit brief. Its the one the client expects you to answer whether or not you know that its there. Your job at a briefing is to find out what the implicit brief is.

I had one earlier this year. The explicit brief was to research a new design for a magazine. The implicit brief was to find a relevant role for the magazine which was threatened with closure. Funnily enough the client didn't choose to share with me the one line brief: help me save my job. But that was the implicit brief. Research is conducted to kill products and ads, to get people promoted, to get them better regarded in the organisation, to use the budget this fiscal year so they don't get their budgets cut next year. And almost never in a briefing does anyone mention this. But its the real brief. And its your job to find it.

The sweet thing is that the client almost always lets it slip - because it is on their emotional agenda. So there are always tell tale signs. They just can't bring themselves to say it out loud. So ask questions. Good questions which make it possible for the client to tip you off about what the real deal is. And they can tell themselves they were just offering clarification.

 Here are some candidates: 

Has a study like this ever been done before?

Who most badly needs this information?

What will be done with the findings of the reseearch when it happens?

If this research didn't take place what is the worst thing that could happen?