Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

Looking For The Movers And Shakers

How many marketers spend their lives looking for those special people among the general population that can make or break the success of a brand? How often do they struggle with asking population samples about their habits and practices in order to find this select group of people? How often are personality traits studied to identify that select group that can help you identify the next generation of products?

Isn't there a song about "Looking for the right people in all the wrong places?" That line reminds me of a project a group of researchers were faced with in the late 1960s. We were asked to research improvements in operating rooms. I won't go into the process of matching needs with capabilities, there is just not enough room at this time. But one of the first recognized needs was the need to collect data about the current situation and the current needs and desires of the hospital staff. We did not have anyone skilled in medical research, so the first thing to do was locate a contractor who could do this for us. After seven attempts we came up empty. We had a lot of promises but little delivery. The next move was to train ourselves.

First step, review our experiences with the seven failures. Why did we consider their protocol less than desirable? Step two, develop a strategy. Our strategy was to develop a method that would lead to a thorough understanding of success and failure within the OR. The basis of this concept was Observation, Investigation, and Interrogation. Unlike the companies we reviewed, we would not sit in the nurses' lounges and interview surgical nurses, we would not conduct telephone interviews among surgeons, and we would not hire doctors from med schools for such things as one-on-ones and as consultants. Our protocol would demand that we were present in the operating room during surgery to watch and listen, we would discuss the procedure with the surgeons and the nurses immediately following the case, and we would bring projective techniques of our profession into the surgical suite.

A great deal of innovations were developed during the first two years of our work. Remember this was the late 1960s and early 1970s when each hospital had a large laundry and cloth surgical packs were utilized. One of the first changes involved the question as to why they draped the patient with three sheets. The answer:  for protection against the migration of fluids onto the patient. We could wrap the patient in Saran Wrap.  Not really, but we could use a single drape that was impervious to fluids. Now that fit right into the needs of the orthopedic surgeons that wanted to get the fluids away from the wound site. But a waterproof drape would cause fluids to run down the sides of the patient's drape and onto the surgeon's gown. Result:  bloody shorts (not good). Ok, make the gown disposable and waterproof. These changes are what led to the growth of disposable surgical packs that have given us cheaper supplies that are safer for the patient, and faster to use. The research showed that the sterility problem with linens was not the laundry, but the methods used to transport the linens from the laundry to the OR.

All the above is said to point out that if you really want to know what is happening and how you can deliver meaningful change in the market, GO TO THE SOURCE OF ACTION.

If you want to talk to the movers and shakers of the nondurable consumer products category, GO TO THE SUPERMARKET. The people that guarantee the success or failure of your brands are those experts that are pushing those wire baskets on wheels with the unhappy children walking down the store aisles.

Good research is more about quality data than quality analysis. Quality analysis of garbage leads to quality garbage. Too many experts have not researched the effects of protocols on the quality of their data. Now I don't consider myself an expert, only a researcher that has witnessed first hand too many poor studies.
 


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