Groups are as different as the folks who sit around those oblong tables.  Don’t jump to conclusions just because you’re sitting around the table with a group of teachers (typically more friendly than others), anesthesiologists (typically more guarded than most), or banking customers (typically more hostile than others) because even though there are those generalities or even stereotypes, those can be quickly blown when you realize each and every one of those anesthesiologists, teachers or customers are just people:  people who live their lives above and beyond their interaction with your clients’ products or services;  people who deal with family happiness’s and challenges;  people who come from different races, religions, creeds, genders, cohorts, etc.  Sure, package them into subsets, draw enough assumptions to build your guide and frame the discussion, but once you sit down with 8-10 strangers sitting around you, take off the gloves, heck, if you have to, take off your shoes too, and look at them as individuals who need to be treated as such.  And, never forget, the guide is just a guide.  A moderators’ guide is a fantastic jumping off point but it’s the nooks and crannies that you explore, while you’re in the group, learning about your respondents as people that will bring you those gems that every client will be pleased to have gotten.

Last, but hardly least – reap the rewards and the surprising extras!

So, all the very best to you as you moderate a group, or hire a moderator to tend to your project.  But as you’re doing so, take a moment to remember that people are just people and they all come to your table with aback story.  The job of the moderator is to decipher where these folks are coming from as effectively and efficiently as possible.  Thus informed, you can then get down to brass tacks.   Dig into the guide and make sure you come out of there having answered the clients’ objectives and, in a perfect world, even gleaned insights well beyond the barriers of the guide.  Of course, for me, my biggest reward isn’t hearing from the client how thrilled they are with the groups (now, dear clients, don’t get me wrong…I love making you happy but my responsibility to you is to get unguarded information from your customers/clients/employees and that’s what I’m bound to do) but from the respondents themselves.  When you have respondents walking out of your groups thanking your for having invited them, there simply isn’t much that is more rewarding.  You know when respondents say ‘thank you,’ they trusted you enough to open themselves up and share their honest opinions.  You know you mined those gems which will serve your client well, and that, dear reader, is the key, no, it’s the technique of all techniques, that puts you heads above the rest.  Know your project, understand the objectives, learn the clients’ product or industry but, above all, moderate a group which will leave the respondents leaving happy having been there.

No group is a cakewalk, but they are fun, challenging and productive if you know how best to proceed.  So, as to what technique(s) I employ, I guess I’d have to say I’m part moderator (adhering to the needs of my client), part therapist (gathering insight into my respondents’ stories, their past…what they bring to the table and breaking down walls), part friend (put them at ease, validate their concerns) and part parent (keep them on track, after all we do have a guide to get through and everyone knows there’s no dessert (their incentive) until dinner’s done).

Of course there are many other hats I wear during the course of a group but these are present at most every one.  I’m good cop/bad cop, mom/dad, Frick and Frack, all rolled into one.  You have to be.  You need to be as flexible, agile and complex as those individuals sitting around your table.

A moderator with a monotone voice and a one size fits all philosophy need not apply.  Sure, you’ll get through the moderator’s guide with that type of person at the head of the table but will you get to the heart of the matter?  Will you gather honest input? Will you break down the barriers that just about every respondent enters the room with and bring them into your world enough to share space in a safe and unguarded way?

I can almost hear you ask … A conversation?  How do you do that?  Well, assess your group.   Do you have a friendly group?  They could get a bit chatty so tread carefully on the whole bonding thing.  Perhaps they are a guarded or ‘anxious’ group?  Take a couple extra minutes before you jump in, no need to rush.  Trust me… using a few extra precious moments up front, before you set in to the business at hand, will serve you well in the end.  Then there’s the hostile group – hmmm, why do you think they are hostile?  Are they sad, scared, and/or angry?  Listen for clues to figure out the genesis of their hostility – is it something directly related to the topic at hand, your client, the industry that you’re discussing?  Or is it bigger than that?  Maybe things have changed in their geographic area/within their company and it’s affecting the respondents around your table.  Validate their anger, sadness or fear, give them a moment (just a moment!!) here and there to air their frustrations and continue to stay the course.  This is the type of group you can’t manage with precision (or an iron fist) because flexibility (and kid gloves) is the only way to get them to open up.  In fact, if you try to shut themdown, you’ll practically hear the clicking of the mortar shovels building up those walls.

Don’t be fooled

So, you have groups which are friendly, anxious, hostile, and then, on occasion just an easy going group.  Oh, that’s great you say, right?  No, there are potholes here too.  An easy going group can be complacent and complacency leads to the following; leaning back in the chairs, doodling (and not necessarily the productive kind), day dreaming, etc.

More ‘techniques’ to follow throughout December…my little way of spreading the holiday ‘giving’ throughout the entire month.  Happy, happy, merry, merry and a HoHoHo!

Check back throughout December for suggestions and my recommendations to making a focus group unique, efficient and, honestly, an event your respondents will be happy to attend.  But, in the meantime, I wish you and yours nothing but health and happiness this holiday season.

SHE continues to say (can’t quite shut her up on this one…SHE has passion for this level), get them in and do it using all of the newest greatest technological gadgets, widgets, blogs, posts, and blasts that you can.  Why not?  Everyone else is and if you don’t, your competition will (sorry, but someone had to tell you that).  Just do it smarter, do it with a plan and never, ever, lose sight of your customers.  The new are great, but the old are loyal.  You can’t buy loyalty; you had to earn that. Congratulations! You did it!  Now, keep that existing customer happy, but be sure to show the new group just what’s in store for them when they, too, become your loyal customers.

Want more ideas to make this happen?  Here’s a check list.

1. Call your local ad agency and have them whip up a fantastic new ad campaign that is loaded with bells and whistles that would make folks heads turn, and likely get them in your door.
2. Reach out and inundate your social media network with chatter and get them all ‘abuzz.’ This is never a bad idea…keep them talking.  Keep them talking about you.
3. Click through to groupon, living social, sharing spree, or moolala; set up your campaign and watch them roll in.

I’m just full of good ideas today.  Use them, but, in the meantime, talk to someone.  Talk to your old customers. Talk to your new customers.  Talk, talk, talk.  It’s all about communication, folks, because communication begets a relationship (I don’t know about you, but I have never heard of a successful relationship that didn’t also have great communication, did you?  It’s no different in business!).  Without it, forget it all.

So, I say (OMG, SHE’S still on a roll!), do it all.  Flood the airwaves, blast your messages, tweet, post, bargain, grovel, beg, pray, and wait.  But, as you wait, be proactive.  Waiting is not a mutually exclusive place reserved for the contented.  It’s a place bursting with opportunities; it is that space between doing and receiving the benefits of what’s been done.  Prepare for your new campaign by asking yourself, “What’s next?  How do I keep the new folks coming in and how do I maintain the loyal customer base I already have?”

Good luck to all.  Have fun.  It’s a brave new, profitable business world out there and it’s yours for the taking.  Make sure you get your piece of your customer’s share of wallet without giving up the store!   Yes, you truly can! But, you must be prepared.  Have all your ducks in a row.  Now’s the time to take steps beyond the reduced rate offering.  Sure, the offer’s already out there – but it’s not too late to plan, plan, plan!  Preparation is key!   With post-offer planning you can, you will run a FANTASTIC campaign.  Correctly done, it can lead to strong relationships with your customers.  Uh oh, there it is again … relationship (the glue that holds it all together).  Now, go to it but, before you do … I repeat, PREPARE.  Be ready.  Can you see now why it’s so important to ask the question, “Why?” as well as many more questions?  Yes, of course, I can have ideas for you if you’d like my help.  I’m here.  You know where to find me.

They say (yep, you might likely include yourself in ‘they’) that traffic is vital.  Here’s what I hear:  My business would perish without it.  Warm bodies circulating throughout my establishment make it all work.  I will do anything, absolutely anything I can in order to make this happen.  I tweet, I post, I bargain, I grovel, I beg, I pray, I wait.  I’ve done everything I can do, right?

SHE says:  great thinking and superb effort.  Kudos!  But, now let’s talk about what you’re not doing and see if that disconnect is forcing you to continue to have to tweet, post, bargain, grovel, beg, pray, and wait.

Here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself.  Now be honest!

• Are you focusing on your customer?
• Are you focusing attention on what you sell, how you sell it, and if your customers even want it?
• Have you asked your customers if they value you; if they would choose you over another, even if the other was lower priced, or closer?
• Have you built a relationship with your customer?  Do you have their loyalty?  Or, are you a magnet for the bargain shopper who just spotted you on their last check of their e-mail inbox or social media wall?

Oh, wait a minute; before you get upset let me continue with the social media discussion.  Truth is I’m really not that insensitive.  Heck, I like a tasty daily offer presented to me via my e-mail or my social media network as much as the next.  Yep, gotta admit it … I love a deal!  Who doesn’t?  Offering opportunities via social media is a GREAT idea.  Really, it is, even though every other article out there tells you it isn’t.  Seriously, just google it.  You’ll find A LOAD of naysayers absolutely, resolutely, undeniably against working social media which discounts their product/services to drive foot traffic.  But (now here’s where you listen carefully to what SHE says), if done right, with reasonable limits and a follow-up plan (while never losing sight of your current customers) you’re good to go.  Sure, continue to tweet, post, bargain, grovel (it never hurts), beg, pray, and wait … but be proactive at the same time.  Think through your campaign and take it to the next level.  You know, that’s the one where you ask – What do we do once our customer arrives?

There’s a rather well-known business book which gives you the authority and the okay to let them go, and I agree. After re-reading my copy of ‘Raving Fans’ I was reminded that while it’s important…no, imperative, to create ‘raving fans’ it’s also important to let go of those whom you simply cannot please. ‘…You have to know when to ignore what the customer wants and, if necessary, tell the customer to take his vision elsewhere to be fulfilled.’ Now, don’t look at this as a free and easy pass to release ‘difficult’ but potentially viable customers. Face it; only in heaven do those customers not exist! The key is knowing when to cut ties but to not do so before trying your best to convert said customer into a raving fan.

A company’s objective is to put forth vital products and/or services. A company’s responsibility is to make customers happy not only because it is always a good course of action (making others happy with your product/services) but because happy customers turn into repeat customers who spread the word which then leads to other customers looking for your kind of customer care. Now doesn’t that sound fantastic? Not only are you keeping a satisfied customer you’re likely bringing on more because your customer, turned ‘raving fan’ tells others and your customer base grows simply because you’re pleasing your current customers.

Now the hard part…how does one do this? Look back with me to a date night with my family last night at our local boutique frozen yogurt shop. Now, I should preface this by letting you know this isn’t your local dip and dash type place. This is a true hands-on, participatory experience. You choose your base from about 12 gourmet choices, serve yourself, and then step forward to the candy, cookies, fruit, hot fudge and other trimmings. Offered a plethora of sweet, crunchy, and gooey gastronomical choices you then personally build your very own creation. And, I might add, receive sticker shock at the weigh-in check-out! But, heck, that’s all part of the fun!

Learn your market, stick to your vision (if you find it’s viable within the confines of your locale) listen to customers and make your customers happy so you can grow your business with the help of others who have a shared vision with your business concept.

Oh goodness, did I really say the “D” word? Yes, I did…and I’ll say it again,
DIFFERENT! It’s not really all that scary a word and, frankly, it’s one that
marketers/retailers need to embrace, especially if it’s the key that reveals the formula to
reach consumers more effectively.
 
For years and, by the way…THANK YOU, ladies … women have striven to be on equal
footing with the guys and to be taken seriously. Yet, for all their passion,
perseverance, and ground gained, it is still a scales-unbalanced, male-focused/dominated
world. Truthfully, it is an ongoing movement which will take much more time, but in the
process we forget to embrace our differences as much as we acknowledge our
similarities. I believe many people would agree that similar competencies can be found
among the genders, but men and women didn’t arrive at those competencies in the same
way. And here’s where we take on the word we’ve pushed so far back – different: Men
and women truly ARE different.

Sure, we know the basic packaging is different and it’s been proven that most infants can
properly tag a male versus a female, but even babies can tell that the differences are far
more than skin deep. They may not be able to articulate or identify it, yet innately that
seem to know that women and men vary on more than just the exterior; they are
inherently and significantly biologically different from the inside out. Now, hang in there
with me guys …don’t run in fear that I’m going to launch into a conversation about
babies and birthing. What I’m talking about here is gray matter. You see, our
brains ARE different – we are wired differently. Here, let me give you a few examples.
 
If you believe, as I do, that marketing is often directed more toward men than to
women, you will understand, after reading some facts I’ve prepared to present to you,
that that approach can lose you too many female customers. Example: women have
some areas of the brain relative to responding to marketing cues that are more developed
than those of their male counterparts (now, I didn’t say better, just different).
Recognizing these critical areas is the key to understanding how to market to women.

Women have a larger hippocampus, the area responsible for memory, so women, more
than men, remember things (and details) whether they’re good or bad. And because
women are more likely than men to share such events, due to their inherent need to
connect and establish and nurture relationships (also more so than men), this is important
to take into account when trying to sell to a woman. Women remember (larger
hippocampus), women share (need to connect), women are loyal (need to nurture
relationships) – it’s in our makeup, it’s in our upbringing, it’s in our culture. Knowing
that is half the battle; addressing it and working your campaigns around such knowledge
is the other half.

This brings me to one of the very first projects I ever undertook as a market researcher
…tires. You might think it’s a product which is firmly entrenched in the male camp but
you’d be wrong. According to a recent article in Par Excellence magazine, women buy
68% of new cars in the U.S. and 65% of new tires. Yes, you read it, women are buying
those sexy, rewarding, and enticing things called tires and, boy, does that excite us;
nothing like a brand new pair of boots and tires to get us talking. Seriously though, if
done in the right way, it actually does.
 
Selling a tire in a way which evokes fond memories will not only keep women customers
but will bring in more because when a women has a good feeling, and positive memories
form, they’ll tell a friend, who will tell a friend who will (you guessed it) tell a friend.
Talk about grassroots marketing at its best.

So take a look at your local tire store, or any automotive center. What do you see? What
do you hear? What do you smell? Do you ever think of it this way? Well, let me let you
in on a little something I see … I see tires, rows and piles of them; I hear noise (think a
noisy concert of whirring power socket wrenches), and I smell rubber and grease. Now, I
realize that is the nature of the industry and I can’t expect relaxing lavender fragrance in
the air or soothing water fountains, but I can expect, and would certainly build positive
memories around a more relaxed, pleasant atmosphere.

Think about the person entering an automotive establishment. From the statistics I
quoted, you now know there’s more than a 50% chance it is a woman. But let’s go
beyond that. This woman is a mother, a caregiver, a worker or some combination of the
above. There’s more than a little on her plate and, frankly, she seeks refuge whenever,
and wherever possible, even if that means at her local tire store/car dealer/fast lube place.
Yeah, even there! She may, or may not, have children at her heels and this may be the
only spare 30 minutes in her day which are not spent at desk, stove, or washing machine.
So why not make it some of the best 30 minutes in her day? In case you’re asking
yourself “why?” it’s because she’ll remember, and she’ll tell her friends, who will tell
their friends who will tell…(you get it, right?).

I remember a large regional supermarket up north called Wegmans. Although not a tire
store it still offered a great lesson for the tire industry. Let’s take into account that
grocery shopping, similar to car maintenance, is not likely the best part of anyone’s day.
But shopping for groceries is a necessary evil. These two “chores” often fall on (yes, I’m
going to say it) the womens’ shoulders. Sure, men do both of these things but statistics
prove that women do them more…facts prove that they are more than the majority of
your customers. They need your attention and you’d be wise to honor their needs.
Wegmans gives women an out, a free pass, a moments’ peace in an otherwise crowded
place. Wegmans offers their customers not only a clean, well-lit, well appointed place
within which to shop it also offers its customers child-care. When a customer enters
Wegmans one has the option of taking the kiddos along or leaving them in a clean, fun,
well-attended area within which they can play while you shop unencumbered by little
hands and grand demands. I remember this, though I’ve since moved away from a
favorite store, but the point is…I remember this.

In the automotive world a great example is Lexus. My local Lexus dealer/service shop
offers space away from the noise, well appointed with comfy seating, a clean area (with
no automotive smells/grease) within which children can find refuge, wi-fi to allow me to
stay connected and fresh baked pastries and gourmet coffees to easy mind and nourish me
while I wait and fill the otherwise mundane moments of car repair.
 
So, what can the automotive industry and other historically male-dominated industries, learn from this?
Offer your customers an out, a free-pass, conveniences that will build relationships, offer support and
make the moments memorable. Consider rooms that will allow customers to relax and take a break. These
things may include child-care or just child-friendly rooms, coffee, cleanliness and quiet.
Some or all of things could help, and they certainly won’t hurt. Next time you think
about your customer…really think about what you can do to help instill positive
memories. How can you create an environment that not only keeps them but helps you
pass the word which, as you well know, will not only help you maintain a customer base
but grow it…and isn’t that the point after all?

In this instance, the need is to go beyond the numbers. Sure, it’s great to
get a quick gut-check on brands offering one view or response to the question,
but now let’s go beyond the numbers.  Why did the respondents choose what
they did?  What, specifically, do they respect in a brand?  Is there anything about the brand they feel could be changed in order to increase its level of respect, not just its use?  The broad-brush approach is certainly a valid approach but it’s just that — broad, so let’s take it to the next level
and listen to the consumers. 

Knowing the what and whys of a situation takes you from the 30,000 foot view
of the intimate and provides you insight far deeper and much more robust than
simple numbers on a page could ever do.  Next time you’re met with a number
don’t hesitate to ask ‘why’ and if there is no answer don’t hesitate to
triangulate.  Triangu-what?   Here, let me explain …
‘Triangulation is a powerful technique that facilitates validation of data
through cross verification from more than two sources. In particular, it
refers to the application and combination of several research methodologies
in the study of the same phenomenon’. [Wikipedia]  Ahh!  You see, there are many ways to achieve this by bringing in a researcher who is well-versed in more than any one methodology, open to approaches which often need a little
wiggle room, and consequently will afford you the opportunity to not only obtain the numbers but uncover the whys.