Sharon Hackenbracht

The Melior Group Team Profile: Sharon Hackenbracht

July 12, 2018
The View From Walnut St.

A few years ago our President, Linda McAleer, was selected to be featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal as part of their ongoing CEO File series – and we created a throwback blog post to share some highlights about her leadership and personality.

Inspired, we decided to create a Melior Team Profile for everyone on our staff. By asking and answering these questions, we hope you’ll get to know us a bit more, both personally and professionally.  So far, we’ve featured Vice President Liz Cohen, Senior Project Director Sindey Dranoff and Vice President Elizabeth Foley.

Today, we’re taking the time to get to know Field Director Sharon Hackenbracht, who shares some fun facts about herself:

  • Essential business philosophy: To give clients everything they ask for, but then go further by considering what else they might need to reach any goals they may have
  • Word that best describes you: Persistent
  • Person most interested in meeting: Joyce Carol Oates – extremely intelligent, funny, complex, and yet seemingly approachable person
  • The most important lesson you’ve learned: Any experience, good or bad, can be the basis for learning something useful

To learn more about Sharon, check out her full bio here.

Elizabeth Foley

The Melior Group Team Profile: Elizabeth Foley

May 24, 2018
The View From Walnut St.

A few years ago our President, Linda McAleer, was selected to be featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal as part of their ongoing CEO File series – and we created a throwback blog post to share some highlights about her leadership and personality.

Inspired, we decided to create a Melior Team Profile for everyone on our staff. By asking and answering these questions, we hope you’ll get to know us a bit more, both personally and professionally.  Earlier we featured Vice President Liz Cohen and Senior Project Director Sindey Dranoff.

Today, we’re taking the time to get to know Vice President Elizabeth Foley, who shares some fun facts about herself:

  • Essential business philosophy: Plan ahead
  • First choice for a new career: Radio DJ
  • Person most interested in meeting: Michelle Obama
  • The most important lesson you’ve learned: Common sense isn’t very common

To learn more about Elizabeth, check out her full bio here.

sindey dranoff

The Melior Group Team Profile: Sindey Dranoff

April 26, 2018
, The View From Walnut St.

A few years ago our President, Linda McAleer, was selected to be featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal as part of their ongoing CEO File series – and we created a throwback blog post to share some highlights about her leadership and personality.

Inspired, we decided to create a Melior Team Profile for everyone on our staff. By asking and answering these questions, we hope you’ll get to know us a bit more, both personally and professionally.  Earlier we featured Vice President Liz Cohen.

This month, we’re taking the time to get to know Senior Project Director Sindey Dranoff, who recently became the leader of our Jewish Studies Initiative:

  • Essential business philosophy: Don’t jump to conclusions, listen carefully and ask questions to clarify.
  • Best decision: Going to Northeastern University in Boston. Northeastern’s Cooperative Education program exposed me to real life and the business world.  Not only did I gain work experience, but I also had the opportunity to take these experiences back to the classroom and apply them in an academic setting.
  • Word that best describes you: Fearless – I am willing to try new things and learn new things in business.
  • The most important lesson you’ve learned: Honesty is the best policy – in life and in business. Be yourself and be true to yourself.  This informs my work in ethics and compliance at Melior, as well as my other work and volunteer projects.

To learn more about Sindey, check out her full bio here.

Eagles community

It’s a Community Thing!

March 29, 2018
Community Studies, The View From Walnut St.

Philadelphians have a unique relationship with our sports teams – especially our Iggles!   We wish for the best, but expect the worst.  So as each win occurred this season, we held our collective breath just a little bit more.  Could it be – could this be the year that the Philadelphia Eagles finally win the Super Bowl?

On Super Bowl Sunday the Philadelphia airport was filled with people “coming home” to watch the game in their community with their friends and family members – to witness history together.  I myself cut short a “girls weekend” in Nashville so that I could be home too.  Almost everyone on my flight to Philly was wearing Eagles paraphernalia – and we even had the flight attendants lead us in an “E-A-G-L-E-S!” cheer.

By now we all know how this turned out – and the resounding “yes we can” turned into “yes we did!” The Eagles overcame injuries, adversity and underdog status and came out on top!  But this is about more than just a group of very talented athletes and coaches who won a trophy.  This is about lifelong dreams finally coming true – about generations of families coming together to celebrate something they never thought they would see in their lifetimes.

As the new leader of the Community Studies initiative at The Melior Group, I look at this experience as an example of the unique culture of the Philadelphia community.  Each community across the country has its own culture, its own way of expressing itself and its own sense of what is important.  In our community studies projects, we ask the right questions to understand what makes a community tick, what is important to community members, how they make decisions and what the implications of those decisions are.

Philadelphians might leave the nest, but they flock home for the important things – like Eagles Super Bowl games and victory parades!  Fly Eagles Fly!

Want to talk about your community’s challenges and opportunities? Please reach out to Sindey Dranoff at 215-545-0054 ext. 108 / [email protected].

market research

The Value of Market Research

February 1, 2018
The Art of Research, The View From Walnut St.

In our 35 years in business, we’ve often stumbled upon the same roadblock with our clients – they know they need to do market research in order to move forward, but they have trouble gaining approval from the higher-ups.  When there is a “we already know this” attitude but it’s not backed up by data, that’s where companies and organizations run the risk of wasting time, money and energy on ineffective endeavors.

We were happy to see Quirks, the marketing research magazine, publish an article that touches on the importance of research, as well as how to explain to colleagues why it is valuable.  If you’re invested in a new research project but know you need approval to start, check out these tactics and then contact us – we will help you get the sign-off you need to move forward.

Click here to read the article: Educating internal stakeholders on the importance of marketing research

Interested in conducting a market research project?  Contact Elizabeth Foley at [email protected] / 215-545-0054 x111 or Linda McAleer [email protected] / 215-545-0054 x104.

Melior sign

Blast From The Past: The Things This Sign Has Seen

December 14, 2017
, The View From Walnut St.

As part of The Melior Group celebrating its 35th year in business, throughout 2017-2018 our blog will be featuring throwback posts to explore the company’s earlier days, such as this one with pictures highlighting our 1980s technology and fashions! (Ah, shoulder pads)

Today we’re featuring the first Melior Group sign, a brass plaque which was bolted to the outside of the blue door of our office on 316 S. 16th Street.  This was The Melior Group’s first office after moving out of founder Linda McAleer’s home.  We loved working in this office for over 20 years, and this sign saw it all – daily mail deliveries of paper surveys (now mostly replaced by online surveys), our first taste of the Internet (remember DSL and Ask Jeeves??), our annual Halloween parties and our neighbor’s small children who (gasp) have now graduated college.  We left this office in 2009 and now the building has been converted back to a residential home – we hope they are as happy as we were!

This sign says The Melior Group does “market research” which is true – but now we do so much more, which is why our current sign says “market research consulting”… as we’ve truly become a strategic consultancy that not only provides data, but also the informative insights that help our clients take action.

Still, we keep this old sign in a place of honor in our entryway – welcoming visitors to our office, just as it did for so many years!

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary To Us!

November 9, 2017
, , The View From Walnut St.

It is with pride and honor that I celebrate The Melior Group’s 35th year in business.  Some time in 1982 in the living room of my home, I had the dream that marketing research could be beneficial to organizations offering services, not just organizations providing products.  With a few people willing to dream with me, we developed the research approach we called Measurement of Perceived Value (or MPV) and assisted public utilities with examining and understanding the value customers placed on the components of their gas and electric service – first, learning what comprised service and then measuring the utilities’ ability to satisfy the things that mattered to customers:  that the lights went on with the switch, that a courteous and knowledgeable person addressed a problem when the customer called, that employees fixed downed poles.

Since then, Melior has been a thought leader and strategic research firm, contributing information, intelligence and insight to clients in higher education, in healthcare, and in the not-for-profit space (among others).  Our marketing director asked me to write about what I am most proud of about The Melior Group… among the many:

  • The amazing team of professionals here, who work collaboratively, are thoughtful for and on behalf of their clients, respect each other’s ideas
  • Those who took the risk with me in 1982 (Michael Halbert, Linda Knoll, Jeffrey Lowenhar) – and, more than anyone, Maitlon Russell – our EVP, the visionary, strategic thinker and coiner of “conventional wisdom is not wisdom… we need to know what consumers value and why”
  • The success of our clients, who recognize the value of strategic thinking and the contribution of research-based insights to planning for their future
  • Being one of the first research firms to work with hospitals as they entered in to the foray of marketing… and continuing to work with some of the best hospitals and health systems in the U.S. today
  • Entering new markets where old ideas may prevail, but client organizations are excited to try new approaches (such as with our community studies for faith-based organizations)
  • Working with education clients to build programs to assure all who want to have access to post-secondary education

The 35th anniversary gemstone is Emerald.  So I’ll close with this… adjectives to define an Emerald that describe today’s Melior are:  brilliant, bright, sparkling and vivid.  Pretty appropriate for a strategic research firm.

To contact Linda McAleer, please e-mail [email protected] or call 215-545-0054 x104

Melior sign

Blast From The Past: Melior’s Early Days

October 12, 2017
, , The View From Walnut St.

On November 1, The Melior Group will be celebrating its 35th year in business!  In anticipation of this celebration, we thought it would be fun to share some pictures from our early days.  While the newest technology and latest fashions may have changed since what is featured in these photographs, some things haven’t changed:  our belief in having a great team of people, working hard and smart, serving our clients and seeking solutions to their problems.  We look forward to continuing this work in the years ahead!

Melior's 35th anniversaryThis photo features our first “laptop” or portable computer. The keyboard attached to the CPU and then you carried it like a suitcase!

 

 

Liz Cohen

The Melior Group Team Profile: Liz Cohen

September 28, 2017
, The View From Walnut St.

A few years ago our President, Linda McAleer, was selected to be featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal as part of their ongoing CEO File series – and we created a throwback blog post to share some highlights about her leadership and personality.

Inspired, we decided to create a Melior Team Profile for everyone on our staff. By asking and answering these questions, we hope you’ll get to know us a bit more, both personally and professionally.  Last month we featured Vice President Susan Levine.

This month, we’re taking the time to get to know Vice President Liz Cohen, who shares some fun facts about herself:

  • Essential business philosophy:  There is no substitute for excellence
  • Best decision: Marrying my husband and having our kids
  • Word that best describes you: Curious
  • First choice for a new career: Sociologist
  • The most important lesson you’ve learned: First impressions can be very misleading

To learn more about Liz, check out her full bio here.

Susan Levine

The Melior Group Team Profile: Susan Levine

August 17, 2017
, The View From Walnut St.

A few years ago our President, Linda McAleer, was selected to be featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal as part of its ongoing CEO File series – and we created a throwback blog post to share some highlights about her leadership and personality.

Inspired, we decided to create a Melior Team Profile for everyone on our staff. By asking and answering these questions, we hope you’ll get to know us a bit more, both personally and professionally.

First up, Vice President Susan Levine shares some fun facts about herself:

  • Essential business philosophy:  Everything has a shelf life
  • Best decision: Marrying my husband and building a family
  • Word that best describes you: Determined
  • First choice for a new career: Clean out specialist
  • The most important lesson you’ve learned: Time is not fungible (even though I keep trying to make it so)

To learn more about Susan, check out her full bio here.

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