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Stop Feeding the Metrics Monster
February 4, 2009 Joe Pulizzi's comment on my last post is right on the money: "Great sales in the future involves less selling and more listening and giving."
Interestingly, sales isn't the only place that the "more listening" movement is picking up steam. It turns out that market research is listening more too.
Acccording to AdAge, Joel Rubinson, the Chief Research Officer at the Advertising Research Foundation, is leading an effort to "plot a new course for market research less dependent on conventional surveys and more focused on creating strategic insights for marketers."
At a recent ARF panel, Kim Dedeker, VP of market research for Procter & Gamble, said that P&G is moving away from "feeding the metrics monster."
"What we've lost, because of that focus [on evaluating product concepts], is the opportunity to listen more on the front end and co-create with consumers and to sense and respond on the other side."
Listen more. Co-Create. Sense and Respond.
Not what you would expect from market researchers.
Daniel Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind, argues that we are shifting from a left brain (logical and analytical) to a right brain (conceptual and creative) world. The sources of differentiation are therefore based on a new set of senses or skills.
- Design - Going beyond function to sensory engagement
- Story - Going beyond argument to narrative
- Symphony - Seeing the big picture beyond the detail
- Empathy - Engaging emotion and intuition, not just logic.
- Play - Bringing humor and light-heartedness
- Meaning - Imbuing products with feelings and values
The ARF panel talked about new skills for market researchers, including story telling, ethnography, and online community.
If Pink is right, and market differentiation is a result of these "right brain" senses, then market researchers are going to have to follow suit. Joel and the ARF seem to be on the right track.
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Reader Comments (1)
This is counter-intuitive (and therefore inherently thought-provoking). In an economy such as ours, one would predict that the only businesses and services that would survive would be those that can demonstrate quantifiable, tangible results. Less touchy-feely, less listening, and more hard core measurable results. If you can't document your value, and identify the actual improvement, then you can't prove your value to your client.
I have always suspected that clients like having these numbers, but value the personal connection and interaction-- the behind the scenes relationship-- just as much as the objective number-crunching they portray as the crux of their need to hire outsiders.
Whereas businesses might claim they need objectivity, in fact what they need are people who are like family members... people who know the clients well enough to see their warts and love them anyway. I'm not sure how businesses are going to justify spending lots of dough on these "listening" sessions, especially in a time where any expenditure will be under intense scrutiny. As someone with a training in sociology, I would love to see a social scientist's perspective get more respect in the business world!