Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Marrs.
Hi Shannon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I knew I wanted to work in Client Service or Sales. I always imagined selling something tangible that I could show people or demonstrate how it worked. I never imagined I would land in the world of primary research, where everything we do is proprietary, and every single engagement is unique. Consequently, there are no examples to show our new prospects. That has made me be more creative in my sales approach and knowing what the new client wants and needs for their specific project. Our clients pay for us to conduct all aspects of the research, and they own the data, the deliverables, and the insights.
If you asked me if I ever thought I would own my own company, I would have laughed at the question. Thinking about it now, however, I can see that from a young age, I found ways to solve problems. When my parents refused to buy me designer jeans, I started a car wash to make my own money to buy them. From the time I was 12, I was always working and that leads to problem-solving, which often opens up new opportunities and ideas.
I started Chirp in 2016, and this year we will celebrate 10 years of serving our customers. I am very proud of what we’ve built over the past 10 years.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, and there have been many struggles along the way. Approximately 60 days after I started Chirp Research, another company tried to shut down my business with a lawsuit.
Initially, we were incredibly busy, but we had a small team of employees. We worked long hours, and one of our team members traveled 16 weeks in a row conducting in-person research. We wore multiple hats, starting the company from scratch, obtaining clients, conducting research, integrating into each new client’s system, training new employees, and more.
When you have a small company, each individual has a significant impact. Having someone who doesn’t pull their weight or has a negative attitude drags everyone else down. In the early years, it took a considerable amount of time to find the right kind of employee to join the team, and we had to hire multiple candidates at once to determine what the right mix of individuals was. I’m proud to say that several of those early employees are still with the company.
I knew I was starting a market research company, but I didn’t know I was also starting a “bank.” Before owning my own business, I thought “cash flow” was a problem companies ran into when they didn’t sell enough. The clients we work with are Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and a number of them do not pay on time on a regular basis. We are a small business, and we pay our vendors according to the specified terms, so sometimes “cash flow” is out of our hands.
We’ve been impressed with Chirp Research , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Chirp Research is a full-service market research company. Humans interact with hundreds of brands daily, and many of these brands hire Chirp Research to understand their customers, determine pricing, optimize messaging, test products and services, develop new ideas, conduct taste testing, study the competition, and much more through research.
We put together the exact right team, methodology, and technology to understand the questions and opportunities our clients have. We conduct large-scale projects planning for the next 10 years, such as “What does the future of entertainment look like and how can our organization plan for that?” to quick-turn, immediate projects such as “We need to know which commercial we should air during the Super Bowl in 1 week.”
Our Qualitative, Quantitative & Innovation teams work together to conduct mixed-methodological projects. All of our research is conducted in-house; our moderators are Chirp moderators, and our quantitative analysts perform the programming and advanced analytics in-house.
Many of our clients have worked with us for years and see us as an extension of their team. We conduct research for both B2B and B2C clients locally, nationally, and internationally.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Make a list of 4 things to do each day for the first month. If you think of it all at once, it can be very daunting (building a website, obtaining a loan, networking, getting an EIN, hiring, designing a logo, etc.). Breaking it down into a manageable list makes it digestible.
Know that if you have to hire employees, you may not be able to take a salary for the first year. Save as much as possible so you do not have to take out a loan.
You will try your best to make everyone happy and not to take things personally, but both are impossible. Find another business owner in a similar industry to have as a “vent buddy.” You will be amazed at how similar the struggles are and how you both can be a resource for each other. Not even your spouse will be able to understand the weight on your shoulders, the daily “firefighting” you do, or the deep scars left by trusting the wrong person, like another business owner with a similar number of employees. They are a valuable resource for what to do and what not to do – and having that sounding board can make it feel less overwhelming and solitary.
I wish I had known when I started Chirp that it would work out and become the successful, fulfilling company that it is today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chirpresearch.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chirp-research
Image Credits
sevyn ezra photography
