As a researcher, I have always felt that in order to
understand anything, you had to look at it from different perspectives.
It is
something I firmly believe and a concept I have always pushed.
Even
my Springboard Class at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI)
insisted
that our graduation picture not be just one photograph but three taken
from
different angles. In 1980 when I left the Paper Division to take
over
management of the Package Soap HPT Group, the people in the Paper Group
gave
me as a parting gift, a framed picture of the group. The picture
was
a little unusual. If you looked at it from the front, you saw the
faces
of the group. If you turned it around, however, you saw a picture
of
the same group from the rear. The pint of view does make a
difference.
How often do we get out from behind our desks and look at the world
from a different perspective? How are our products being shipped,
stored in the warehouses, handled in the back rooms of the stores,
displayed on
the store shelves, and handled by the consumer? In the home,
where
is the product stored and how is it used? All of these points of
activity
affect how the product performs and how the user sees the product.
All
of these points are physical interactions of our product and the
environment.
Beyond the physical, we have the psychological environment. It is
not just the consumer's thoughts, images and experiences that we should
be concerned with. We should be aware of how the thinking of the
buyers, store managers and stock clerks affect our business. For
instance, in
the early 1980s, I set up a program within P&G to study the P&G
image
and the effects of the image among major store change managers.
The major portion of the program involved P&G Sales
Management participating in two-on-one discussions with store managers.
The store managers were told that we were consultants who were in
the process of developing a program to be used in training corporate
managers how to effectively deal with the retail trade. The
discussions were eye opening to say the least for the P&G Managers.
In many respects, the comments were very uncomplimentary for
P&G while in some cases they were complimentary. One of the
immediate steps that the P&G Managers could take to improve their
relationship with the trade, related to their damage product exchange
policy.
By mutual agreement it was decided that the report of the program was
not to reach Corporate Management. Without this agreement, I dod
not think we would have ever completed this very successful program.
We went
into the program with the expressed purpose of identifying problems,
which
we did in spades.
It was all about looking at all sides of the issue with all the
different eyes involved while removing the barriers to full cooperation.
Sponsor: Sorensen Associates Inc
Portland, OR
800.542.4321 Minneapolis,
MN 888.616.0123
The In-Store Research Company --
Dedicated to the relentless pursuit of - WHY?