House Repairs and Consumer Research

To me there is a striking relationship between the seemingly very different tasks of home repairs and consumer research. I look at the similarities from two perspectives.

First, there are some tasks that the home owner can do while there are others, where the tasks are formidable or the risks are very high. In these cases, we as home owners need to have a good file of experts in different areas of expertise. In some cases a handy-man is OK but in others I want an expert. I don't want a plumber doing electrical work, or a painter doing work on my furnace. To my amazement, I find companies that have one or two suppliers that do almost all of their work. Either these companies have only one or two kinds of problems (research methods) or they are willing to risk their company's future to a generalist (handy-man). I have not found a single supplier with a strong talent pool covering a broad range of methods. Generally speaking, suppliers have talent in one or two areas of expertise.

Secondly, from basically the same perspective, I find that there are some companies that have a talented in-house Market and Consumer Research operation. These companies have diverse experience and a tool box of research methods. Other companies have very limited internal resources with limited research protocols. This is much like having a tool box at home consisting of a hammer and a screw driver. With just two tools, there are very few jobs you can do effectively and therefore the greater need for outside assistance.

I come from a school, my Procter & Gamble education, that says you should have a complete in-house tool box and the knowledge to do the basics of all the tasks. Not so much that we were expected to do all the tasks but that we would have the ability to know if those that we delegated to do the tasks are doing them appropriately. An example of the limits P&G would go to is best seen in a project called "Project Discovery." In this venture P&G selected those they thought were the 100 most creative people in the organization and put them through a week of extensive training in the areas of Anthropology, Creativity, Ergonomics, Psychology and Futurism. The team was sent outside of Cincinnati to a large, old hotel in a small Midwestern town for a week. Leading experts in the above topics were brought in for the on-site training. A continuing program was put in place for the team members.

Someone once asked me "How many tools (knowledge) do you need in your tool box?" My answer was "as many as the types of problems I have." There are, however, some basics and they include technical performance and perception research, product and brand research, spot testing and use testing, along with the common research programs of market analysis, aesthetics, packaging, concept, positioning, advertising, communication, pricing, image, etc. Each of these areas have sub-areas such as in the case of packaging research where we have research aimed at functionality, communication and appeal. All different research and all requiring specific protocols.