The Suit Magazine

It provides litigation support, marketing research, public policy research and political campaign support services.  And those services are rendered with an innovative pricing paradigm. 
“There are inefficiencies built into the large corporate model,” he explained. “When I worked in larger firms, I had made an argument for a different model with alternative pricing and other elements.  They had turned it down,” he explained, “so I developed a business plan based on those ideas.”  That included a simplified pricing model: fixed-median-pricing.  “Research is a fast-moving business.  My pricing model allows a client to anticipate just how much it will cost for increments of numbers of people in focus groups and numbers of cities.” 
The firm’s services include conducting market research with focus groups, holding mock trials for legal clients in order to test out arguments and decide whether to settle or go to trial, public policy research for organizations like AARP, and political campaign support in terms of researching public opinion and conducting debate preparation for candidates.  He now has clients whom he has been handling for over ten years.  In the future, he expects to increase the volume of his work in the areas of political support and public policy research. 
After graduate school, Beal started out with a business research firm owned by Steve Schlessinger.  It was Schlessinger who told him that research is a relationship business, the axiom that inspires his work. He explained, “I recruited for focus groups made up of doctors, nurses, and medical professionals. But I wanted to do research myself.  So I worked for a trial-consulting firm for a few years.” In January 2009, they reduced their work force, and Beal received a severance package. “I thought it was a good time to start out on my own.  It was a tough time to find a job anyway, and I had clients who said, ‘We want to stay with you,’” he said. So he started his firm.”
His future looks bright for the new year. “This is a bell-weather industry.  Focus groups are the first line of cutbacks when times are tough,” Beal said at the end of the interview. “Companies ask, ‘How much will it be for less people and less cities?’  But I stopped hearing that six months ago; now they want more people and more cities.”  That’s definitely a good sign for Beal Research Support Services, and a good sign for our economy as a whole.

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