2010 Marketing

All Circuits Busy, Dear Customers

"Many companies that have gone bust didn't die because of the recession. They failed for one reason: They treated customers poorly." So says Inc Magazine in its May 2009 edition. "When I actually needed a new TV, however, I found the Circuit City salesperson to be so aggressively unknowledgeable and remarkably useless that I fled to Best Buy, where I was helped by a cheerful, 20-year-old twerp who knew everything." Says 2010 Marketing Experts: Customers cannot be taken for granted. They are your income. You are overhead. Treat them well and they will buy from you. Survey them. Ask them. Don't tell them.

Focus Groups Clarify the Issues

You know what you know, and that's what is important! But do you know what your customers really think about you? About your company? And what do your employees really think? And the community??

Focus groups are a research tool with many applications. The process gathers information to create findings and perceptions, which can or cannot result in recommendations. It consists of a gathering of folks, selected at random from a given population, who are brought together in an objective setting. They gather to discuss their attitudes, opinions, and ideas about predetermined subject areas. Other topics may also arise during the discussion and are reported as well.