Strategy Project
Reaching Hard-to-Access Stakeholders in a Highly Regulated Vertical
A global strategy consulting firm was conducting a strategy project aimed at understanding technology preferences and user satisfaction among government contractors and A&E (Architecture & Engineering) firms in the US. A previous internal team had engaged us for a successful short-term research effort on a related topic a few weeks earlier. When a new case team took over the next phase of the project, they recommended re-engaging us for support. The objective was to help the client evaluate the positioning of three types of enterprise software tools commonly used by these organizations for resource planning, client engagement, and financial planning. Due to the niche nature of the audience and the lack of available contact lists, traditional expert networks and standard approaches were proving ineffective.
Task
We were brought in to support a six-day research sprint focused on engaging hard-to-reach companies that met strict eligibility criteria, particularly around size and specialization. The client's goal was to gather deep, precise insights from decision-makers to inform a long-term strategy, rather than to meet immediate deadlines. The project required high-quality interviews tailored to multiple themes across different software categories.
Actions
To execute the mandate, we:
- Helped onboard the new case team by co-developing the interview guide and segmenting interview themes based on feasibility in cold outreach.
- Used a flexible targeting approach, aligning daily with the client to adjust firm size thresholds, industry subsegments, and focus areas.
- Conducted deep primary research to identify and verify relevant companies, relying exclusively on our internal resources and databases.
- Adapted the structure of each call to emphasize different software categories (e.g., project management, financial tools, CRM-like platforms), ensuring a broad yet detailed coverage across interviews.
- Delivered structured feedback after every call, including pain points, decision-making factors, satisfaction levels, and implementation nuances.
- Provided insight into why certain vendors were chosen—focusing on drivers such as regulatory alignment, cost effectiveness, local mandates, or usability.
- Engaged senior-level stakeholders such as CIOs, CFOs, IT directors, firm presidents, and project leaders in multiple regions across the US.
Result
In just six working days, we completed 48 high-quality interviews—32 with government contractors and 16 with A&E firms—despite the highly specific and challenging targeting requirements. Notably, we fulfilled the client's request to have over 50% of interviews conducted with users of a particular vendor, a milestone achieved solely through our independent research efforts, as no contact list was provided.
The client particularly appreciated our ability to deliver precision insights in a non-urgent, high-stakes strategic context. Extended daily check-ins (often lasting up to 45 minutes) enabled us to align in real-time, fine-tune the outreach approach, and provide interview-by-interview feedback. The value we delivered during this phase reinforced the trust built in the previous stage and led to continued collaboration with this team on additional project work.
Use Cases
Over 1000 successfully supported projects in hundreds of different verticals, we know how to cover markets.
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Reaching Hard-to-Access Stakeholders in a Highly Regulated Vertical
A global strategy consulting firm was conducting a strategy project aimed at understanding technology preferences and user satisfaction among government contractors and A&E (Architecture & Engineering) firms in the US. A previous internal team had engaged us for a successful short-term research effort on a related topic a few weeks earlier. When a new case team took over the next phase of the project, they recommended re-engaging us for support. The objective was to help the client evaluate the positioning of three types of enterprise software tools commonly used by these organizations for resource planning, client engagement, and financial planning. Due to the niche nature of the audience and the lack of available contact lists, traditional expert networks and standard approaches were proving ineffective.
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