Everybody thinks they’re so smart.
On a bad day, I do, certainly. And I bet you a tenner you do, too.
Sadly, it is an established fact that in real terms we are all increasingly less wise. Quite simply, the amount of things that are available to know about, in the world, is huge. And continues to increase, out of any proportion to our ability to catch up.
You could call this “exponential ignorance”.
Of course, a lot of it doesn’t really matter.
The part you really can’t ignore concerns your marketplace and, precisely, the customers you would like to buy your goods or services.
Only the most Neanderthal of used-car sales directors would describe “getting to know your target audience” as a waste of time. (If that’s you, you’re on the wrong site.)
Happily, there are only two elements to understanding customers. One is some form of “research”, sure. The other is the ability to generate real insight from what you find.
You need both.
First point to make: companies often rush into formal, paid research as a first step in understanding their market.
Frequently this is wrong.
The best time to commission your own research is when you already have a fair idea about what you are looking for. Ideally there should be something you believe could be true, or some issue you’ve clearly identified, that’s significant to your future sales.
However, even when you’ve done this, many research agencies will go the roundabout route to addressing what you really want to find out about.
If you have sat through debrief sessions where 80% of the findings were entirely predictable, you can’t blame the agency for being thorough. You just probably wanted a narrower piece of market research.
Now, someone like me is well placed to advise on how to achieve this, and even which supplier you should consider for your next survey.
Ideally, however, there won’t be any survey at all.
Yes, you read that right…
Spring Thinking policy is to always initially assume a large part of the answers you seek exist in your own, previous research. Or in the heads of your experienced colleagues. This is where the ability to generate insight can save time and money.
Example.
Working for TNT Sameday, the delivery service, my team once developed a communications strategy based around the idea that TNT helped you “relax at work”. This unorthodox CRM campaign delivered average ROI over 2500%. The key insight behind it came from the client’s existing research.
As well as confirming that reliability was important (no shit?) and cost was a factor, historic research had also showed that speedy collection of an urgent parcel was important to customers.
Now, strictly speaking, it doesn’t really matter how fast the parcel is collected as long as it gets there, right? So, the very rational logistics industry had dismissed this finding.
By contrast, we felt it showed there was an emotional sales angle, available, that neither our client nor their competitors were using.
The collection of that vital package from a harassed office manager’s desk would cause them to sigh with relief. No more dark looks from the boss or sales director. So, we built a direct mail campaign that didn’t lead on logistics, resources or delivery guarantees, but on relaxation.
Not lorries. Tea breaks, hand massage, office Feng Shei and workplace meditation.
Thus TNT won a national Marketing Society Effectiveness Award for business-to-business. All from our simply taking a fresh look at the existing facts.
It’s possible you, too, just need some new interpretation in order to move your business forward. It can’t hurt to explore this, surely? Just call or e-mail and see what we can discover, hidden on your office bookshelf, together.
