Archive for the ‘Paul Hague’ Category

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Market Research: The Second Oldest Profession?

Paul Hague this week takes us on a trip down memory lane to discover the origins, history and development of the market research profession as we now know it.

A prostitute, a doctor and a market researcher were sitting around late one evening, and they got to discussing which was the oldest profession.  The doctor pointed out that according to biblical tradition, God created Eve from Adam’s rib. This obviously required surgery, so therefore that was the oldest profession in the world.  The prostitute said that this may be so but that was engineered by God, not doctors.  Eve’s temptation of Adam was a clear indication that her profession was the first.  The two turned to the researcher who was listening intently and taking notes.  "Which profession do you think is the oldest?" they asked. "Well," said the researcher, "we can’t be sure without a survey and that will take six weeks.  However, what you should know is that market research is the second oldest profession."  "How is that?" asked the other two in unison.  "No doubt at all about it," said the researcher, "because when Adam and Eve had done their deed, the first words that were uttered were, "How was it for you?"".

This story got me thinking about the history of market research.  Casual questioning, as from Eve, is not the systematic process that we know as market research.  It is said that the first recorded straw polls (incidentally, the term comes from farmers throwing a handful of straw into the air to check out where the wind was coming from) were in the early 1820s when newspapers in the United States carried out simple street surveys to see how the political winds were blowing.  By the early 1900s a fledgling market research industry had started in the U.S. focusing on advertising testing in one form or another.  The industry arrived on the U.K. shores in the 1920s and 30s, and I was reminded of this the other day when I picked up what must be one of the first books published on market research in this country (Market Research by Paul Redmayne & Hugh Weeks, Butterworth & Co – 1931).

Flipping the yellowing, musty pages, I was quickly taken back to my formative days in the market research department of Dunlop, where we had an ingenious device for analysing responses from questionnaires.  The closed answers were represented on single cards, perforated with holes around the edge, each representing an answer to a question.  If a respondent gave a particular answer, the perforated hole would be punched open right to the edge.  When all the cards were punched, they could be lined up in the box and a needle would be run through the holes so that we could lift out only those cards which were not punched right to the edge.  This enabled us to do a quick count of the number of cards left in the box, which represented respondents giving an answer to a question.

Charting in those days was laboriously carried out with my Rotring pen and graph paper.  Redmayne and Weeks had some sage advice for the novice market researcher on this subject: "There are many advantages in using a standard sheet of charting paper, so that charts can be kept together in a ring binder.  It is useful to make a practice, dating each chart and of indicating to whom it has been shown and for what purpose it was first prepared, together with the original source of the various statistics plotted."  Check out this illustration of how they suggested charts should look.  You wouldn’t easily turn out 100 of these by hand the night before a presentation!

So what has changed in the market research industry over the last 100 years?  Answer: almost everything.

The questions we ask are broadly the same but the technology that allows us to ask these questions – the phone and online – has resulted in faster, cheaper and more thorough surveys than ever before.  Qualitative research is, as it always has been, dependent on the skills of the moderator, although focus group venues provide an improved environment for viewing and testing products and concepts.  In quantitative research, the tools and techniques such as conjoint, SIMALTO, Van Westendorp and the like enable us to get a better fix on prices and product features.  I was amused to read Redmayne and Weeks say: "As market research acquires a more established position in industry, its purpose will be better understood and appreciated by ordinary men and women, so that in time we may hope to reach the position of the United States, where the man in the street will respond to questions about his tastes and his buying habits since he can understand the reasons why he is being questioned. The time, however, is still very far off when consumers will have cause to be annoyed by the frequency with which they are approached.  It will need a great number of investigations before many of the inhabitants of this country are called upon twice unless the general technique of investigations become so stereotyped that certain representative towns are continually being chosen."  There must hardly be a person in the UK who has not been subjected to some sort of invitation to take part in a survey in the last year.

Returning to the story of the doctor, the prostitute and the market researcher, it occurs to me that market researchers may or may not be the second oldest profession in the world, but for certain, we will be the last profession hanging in there.  When the world finally comes to an end, and we are queuing at the entrance to the Pearly Gates, there will be someone with a clip board and a questionnaire.  "Just one more question Sir/Madam before you enter.  Can you tell me how likely you are to recommend life on earth on a scale from 1 to 10 where…?"  It’s that question again – "How was it for you?"

Posted in Innovation, Market Research, Online Surveys, Paul Hague, Pricing Strategy, Research Methods, Thursday Night Insight |
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Market research is easy! Not!!!

Paul Hague this week lets off steam about people who assume that working in the market research profession is a piece of cake.

We have been enjoying some balmy summer days recently and one pleasant evening I shocked my wife by coming home early and cutting the lawn.  As I was trimming the edges at the front, my neighbour from across the road called by.  “Hello Paul” he said, “I haven’t seen you for a while but I thought I would just catch up. Have you got a minute?”  Now I don’t know this person particularly well and I was pleased to make his acquaintance.  However, the purpose of his approach soon became apparent.  It turns out that my new friendly neighbour was a supply teacher who has found himself out of work.  He was dropping by to enquire if he could help me in my work.  For one wonderful minute I thought that I was to be given a lift with the backbreaking task of lawn trimming, but it turned out that my NFN was aware that I ran a market research company and was eager to offer his services.

I am pleased to say that over the last 12 months we have been holding our own as a market research company, though I would be kidding if I was to tell you that these were the best years since our inception.  Indeed, we have a recruitment freeze until the green shoots thicken.  So it was relatively easy for me to explain that I was extremely grateful for the offer of help but, sadly, I could not take it up.

Later that evening, as I sipped my beer and reflected on my neighbour’s request, I became more and more astounded and even annoyed.  It occurs to me that the task of the market researcher is little known outside of the industry.  In a way, this is not surprising.  I know very little about neurosurgery or car mechanics.  However, almost everybody thinks they are an expert on market research – after all, it is surely only a matter of asking a few silly questions, isn’t it?  And, hasn’t everybody done market research in some form or another?  You must have done an assignment at school to check out shopping habits in your local township, or if you are the secretary of the tennis club, you will inevitably have run a quick survey to check if people are happy with the puce coloured carpet you fancy.  Market research is simply about asking a few questions, getting some answers, and making some sense of it.  Would my new friendly neighbour have offered his help if I was a lawyer or an architect?  To him, market research is dead easy – anyone can do it, and he was free and available should his help be needed.

Some years ago I attended a Market Research Society conference where one of the luminaries on the stage made a statement which astounded me then and has lived with me ever since – he said he thought that market research was easy and he was amazed that he was paid so much for doing the job!  Am I the only person around here that believes that market research is a proper job, a tough job, and not one that anyone can walk straight into off the street?

At one level market research is simple.  It can help you understand how many people do what and how often.  However, the real art of market research is finding out something that no one else knows and using this to your advantage – and that is a bit more difficult.
A friend of mine who holds a senior position in human resources visited me recently.  She had with her a pack of playing cards on which were written different value statements – honesty, hard work, pleasant environment, good relationships, etc.  My task was to look through the deck of cards and choose five value statements that are really important to me.  I then had to say which single card was the deal-breaker – the most important value statement in my life.  I went through the assignment and chose my five cards including my deal-breaker.  My friend was astonished and told me that it must be wrong; she had me down as some sort of control freak (in a nice kind of way) and this hadn’t been exposed by any of my choices.

I won’t embarrass myself by telling you which cards I chose; I would rather ask you to think whether such a technique can explore and identify the real me, indeed the real anybody, in just a couple of minutes.  The point is that the things that you value are often things that you haven’t got.  And when you have got something, you move on and change your values.  This means that exploring people’s motivations and their needs and values is a moving feast.  We can do it, but it isn’t easy and it isn’t obvious.  It can’t necessarily be answered in two minutes with a pack of cards.

There are two important things in the world that we don’t fully understand – the universe and the workings of the brain.  It is the latter that we researchers are particularly interested in.  Why did you choose a certain supplier?  What would cause you to switch?  How satisfied are you?  What do you need that you’re not currently getting?  We know answers to some of these questions.  We know some answers in considerable detail.  But finding out answers to all of the questions in lots of detail is extremely difficult.  Finding out something that no one else knows about your business or market is not easy.  Anyone who says it is must surely be kidding themselves or be a supply teacher looking for work.

Posted in Human Resources, Market Research, Paul Hague, Recession, Thursday Night Insight |
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The ROI Of Market Research – New Podcast

ROI is an oft-repeated business mantra for any kind of major strategic investment, and market research is certainly no different from other business expenditure in this respect.

Market intelligence studies are often commissioned with laudable intentions – principal amongst these being the development and growth of the organisation concerned. However, for all the lofty ambitions and expectation that may be placed behind a market research project, without careful planning and management, the end result can all-to-easily disappoint. A study may fail to target the original objectives from the market research brief or the report may be too far divorced from the actions that will effect real change within an organisation.

In effect, the question that companies should ask when commissioning market research is "am I getting my money’s worth?" – A query that should be asked of major investments at any time, not least during a recession.

In B2B International’s latest podcast, we broach these very issues: How can we ensure market research delivers value for money? How can this be verified or measured? And, perhaps more fundamentally, what is the value of market research in the first instance?

The podcast is based upon a white paper written by Paul Hague and Julia Cupman of B2B International entitled "Making effective business decisions: Measuring & maximising the return on investment of market research". Links to both versions of this paper can be found below:

	Making Effective Business Decisions in pdf
	Making Effective Business Decisions from The Market Research Podcast

Posted in Budgets, Business Decisions, Julia Cupman, Market Intelligence, Market Research, Paul Hague, Podcast Audio, Return On Investment, ROI |
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Darwin And The Recession

In today’s Thursday Night Insight, Paul Hague puts forward his argument that the recession could be responsible for bringing about a return to ‘traditional values’

Have you noticed an increasing sloppiness in our business attire over the last decade?  I am thinking here of the way we dress, the way we speak and the way we communicate.  Of course, our forefathers would say that there is nothing new in this.  Every generation claims that standards are slipping compared with the previous ones.

I’m not sure I fully subscribe to this.  Just because somebody wears a Trilby hat rather than an ostrich plumed cavalier hat, doesn’t mean that we are moving backwards.  I am thinking about the way we dress for work.  The initial concession of “dress down Friday” gave way to the abandonment of the tie on every day of the week.  ”Smart casual” became “straight out of the garden casual”.

A similar and parallel trend has taken place in our writing.  We dash off e-mails without taking care of either the grammar or spelling.  Blackberries encourage a curtness of communication verging on sheer rudeness.  Text messages have created an interesting but new language which, for some of us, takes longer to decipher and create than the good old English we grew up with.

However, the worm looks as if it might be turning and I think that it is the recession we have to thank.  Have you noticed that the tie and suit is making a return?  Do you get more e-mails which begin “Dear” rather than “Hi”?  Are the comma, colon and semi-colon getting a new lease of life?  And, if this is so, why should it be?

The only explanation I have is that the boom times of the last 10 years created a cockiness which justified the more relaxed way of working.  Claims that informal business practices were breaking down barriers, increasing creativity, and improving efficiency were hard to deny as the profits rolled in.

In the yin and yang of life – that delicate balance between good and bad, sloppiness and perfection – we can all be guilty of sliding down the route of least resistance.  Dress codes, forms of address, written notes have all suffered.  And now as the economy tightens, we suddenly feel we can’t leave anything to chance.  When visiting a potential client, some small gremlin at the back of my mind advises me to wear a crisp white shirt, pick out a red tie and don my navy blue suit because I have known for years that it engenders confidence in both the wearer and the observer.  My notes to clients have increased in their frequency and I try to improve on my accuracy.

Perhaps we will see this trend gather momentum so that it isn’t just the things I have been talking about that will change.  I predict there will be less automated phone answering systems and more real people to talk to.  Perhaps there will be genuine improvements made to services as people fight for every inch of business by trying harder.  I am not enjoying this recession at all but I can see it is whipping me into shape.  It must be doing the same to others.  Darwin would have had great fun if he was alive today watching his principles work out in business.

Posted in Business, Communication, Credit Crunch, Economic Downturn, Paul Hague, Recession, Thursday Night Insight |
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Mastering The Craft Of Market Research

Paul Hague has this week been contemplating whether, after some 40 years in the market research industry, he can truly call himself a master in his chosen profession?

I used to work with a marketing trainer who introduced his session by saying “Most of the fundamentals of marketing I can teach you in three days – but it will take you a lifetime to master”.  

I was reminded of this homily recently when I heard an interview with Malcolm Gladwell, the author of best selling management books Blink and Tipping Point.  This academic and guru claimed that you must spend 10,000 hours honing your skills if you want to be a success at anything.

He backs up his theory by citing sports stars such as Boris Becker, Jonny Wilkinson, Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters, who have all become world-beaters because of the obsessive devotion they have shown to their game since childhood.

In his new book Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell says that if you examine the greatest athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians and scientists, you will notice they only emerged after spending at least three hours a day for ten years practicing.

He claims that the principle holds everywhere.  You can’t become a grand chess master without your 10,000 hours of homework; you need to start playing the piano at 4 if you want to début in Carnegie Hall at 15, and so on.

Of course, innate ability, work ethic, the age you start to learn and a good dose of luck all play a role, but it is the repetitive practicing of the craft that gives you mastery.

This got me thinking about market research and how long it takes to master our craft.  There are no formal apprenticeships in this job, most people fall into it and if they like it they stay, sometimes for only a few years before moving on, usually into some broader field of marketing.  Assuming that there are 200 working days in the year and we have our heads down grafting for seven hours each of those days, this means there are 1,400 working hours in a year so we should reach mastery of our craft in around seven years by applying the 10,000 hour rule. 

Of course, every hour of every day is not spent on pure market research.  In this job we spend a good deal of time solving logistical problems.  However, Gladwell has a point; it probably does take us around seven years before we have seen a wide variety of different market research problems and become good at solving them.

And where does that leave someone like me?  With 40 years spent on the front line of market research, all of them at a frenetic pace, managing and doing the work, it ought to mean that I am the Yehudi Menuhin of the business.  I have done my 10,000 hours five or six times over. 

The trouble is, it doesn’t feel like it.  Every job seems more and more challenging.  This is no bad thing – in fact, it is this adrenalin rush you get from the job that has kept me interested over the years.  Certainly past experiences are helpful in giving us hints and wrinkles that we can use, but there is nearly always a new learning in every job – something that you hadn’t anticipated or that surprises you.  And whereas for a footballer the goalposts always do remain 24 feet apart, in market research they are always changing.  More emerging countries to research, more new techniques to apply, more to learn about e-research, another new software programme to master.  So, buckle down Paul, you are not there yet – there are still 9,999 hours to go.  Phew!

Posted in Market Research, Marketing, Paul Hague, Thursday Night Insight |
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