Our recruiting services focus on the hard-to-find respondent. Most research recruiters find respondents based on what they say and how they shop – we go far beyond that, finding people based on how they think and why they shop.

We never set out to be recruiters, but after years of perfecting our method recruiting for our own studies, it seemed natural to start recruiting for others. Now we are frequently asked by a wide range of clients to find hard-to-recruit respondents to attend focus groups, shop-alongs, in-home ethnographies, or corporate brainstorming sessions. We also supply clients with outstanding consumers to speak at internal offsites, participate in ideation sessions, or sit on a panel of consumers in front of high-level management.

Before we begin, we make sure we understand exactly who you need: how forward should the respondents be? What kind of attitude do you want them to have about your category? What subcultural allegiances should they have within their generation? We make you think hard about your ideal respondent, so we can guarantee delivery.

Next, we hit the streets. The secret to finding the right respondents is knowing where to look: we find nightlife trendsetters on the dancefloor of an indie bar at 4am; we find technology trendsetters posting obsessively on Twitter; we find green trendsetters at organic co-ops. Respondents instinctively trust us because we find them in their world.

Once we’ve identified them, we conduct a face-to-face interview, taking them through a discussion-oriented screener that provides a holistic view of their personality. We always use like-minded interviewers (it takes a trendsetter to find a trendsetter). We record their answers, take a picture, and send all screeners and photos to the client for approval.

We also have a large non-proprietary database of trendsetters. With over 200 Gen Y consumers from SF, LA, and NY, this panel is great for studies that need forward respondents but lack the time or budget to recruit from scratch. All of the panelists have been recruited to be great respondents who are forward in a broad array of categories.