Lesikar's Business Communication: Connecting in a Digital World 13th Edition by Kathryn Rentz,Paula Lentz

Exercise 5

You are a new assistant to a marketing manager at Home Hardware, a national chain of hardware stores. Your boss has been studying the stores' sales data from the last 10 years, and it appears that the post-Baby Boomer generations have somewhat different hardware needs and preferences than their elders did. For one thing, fewer younger adults are buying homes than the Boomers did at their age; instead, the younger generations tend to be renters longer. But even young homeowners seem to want different products, and different qualities in their products, than their predecessors did.
"We need to get into the minds of these buyers and find out what their world is like," your boss says. "I think it's time we did some focus group research to learn more about this demographic. Look into having one of our local marketing research firms conduct a couple of focus groups for us. See what process they'd recommend to help us understand our younger customers. Find out what strategies they use, how much they'd charge-you know, everything that would be involved in having them conduct some focus groups for us."
You do an Internet search to identify some potential firms. To be methodical about your research and have a written record of what you learn, you decide to submit your inquiries in writing. Your first one will go to Burke, Inc. The company's website provides an email address for "general inquiries," and that looks like your best bet. After thinking carefully about what you need to find out and what would make one research firm better than another for Home Hardware's needs, write your inquiry. (You may need to learn more about market research firms in general to figure out what to ask).