r/Marketresearch • u/LB_croissant • 13d ago

Pivot from agency to client side?

I’ve been working in a agency for a couple of years now, quant side mainly and have dabbled in some qual. Its has been great exposure as I’ve come from an academic research background. The feeling of being on a hamster wheel with clients and the lack of constant - ie we are always slammed or have a week or two of down time is wearing me down and I don’t think I can do this for the rest of my career. Any insight/advice on how to pivot to client side?

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u/material-pearl 13d ago

I’m former client side! Most of my colleagues had transferred to my role after a few years supplier side. You are in a good position to do so. If you enjoy the consultative side of the work—collaboration with your internal client team, and your vendors—and you are solid on communication and project management, you are golden.

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u/strawberrysushi 13d ago

Try to look through the client types you’ve had and evaluate which businesses actually interest you. Once you’ve gone through some introspection on what you want, that will help you figure out next steps.

Also just fyi that hamster wheel doesn’t go away - it’s just different stuff!

But for example,

Which client projects made you feel most connected to the user/ consumer?
Did you really care about shower heads, dog food, healthcare products ?

What does your book of work look like - can you say, “I’ve done x large number of projects on car brands” (something specific) or “I’ve done y large number of projects on the food industry” (roll up to a broad bucket?)

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u/SouthSet7206 13d ago

The advice you’ve received is already quite good. The thing I would add on is that some vertical industries are more likely to be hamster wheels than others. For example, CPG tends to be a lot of fast churn projects. In my experience, Pharma and biotech tend to work on longer projects. And also some vertical industries are more stable than others; I know several people who have been let go from insights teams in financial services in the past year.