What are you thinking subconsciously?
I read this interesting link at Meg Pickard's site and I think it is a pretty devastating comment on the bullshit that seems commonplace in today's business world. I haven't any experience of working with naming experts but I have been in a lot of focus groups. Sometimes I even told the truth.
They seem to be set up in naive ignorance of the GIGO principle. They have to be structured so the results can be presented as pseudo science, but what they are really measuring is people's techniques in lying and being polite.
I have attended groups where every single person is acting. We are trying to take it seriously but the questions are so daft that we either have to make something up or laugh out loud. I have actually been asked, "If this car was a guest at a party, how would they behave?". "Does the colour of this packaging make you feel more secure about the product or less?".
Now obviously people react to things, but at a largely subconscious level. The clue is in the word subconscious. Getting people to try to analyse their reaction to adverts is a waste of time. A behavioural psychologist looking at the session from behind a mirror might well be able to get some uselful information out of the event, but that rarely happens. We tended to end up frustrated when we didn't like any of the adverts being proposed (for instance) but the group facilitator was desperately trying to find what we disliked least. "They're all crap" wasn't an answer he was happy taking back to the client.
What was very revealing and came up time and time again was that when they talked to us about good adverts we had seen in the past, we could alll identify adverts that impressed or amused us but we could hardly ever remember what company they advertised. The cleverer they tried to be the more this was the case (particularly with adverts for cars and financial services).
I deal with sales calls a lot in my job, where people are for the most part trying to crudely manipulate my responses; and I have also participated in a number of telephone surveys. Without exception they are unable to represent my opinions. Particularly irritating is the "on a scale of one to ten..." nonsense. I do not think like that, and I have never met anyone who does. What number means "I don't care" or "It does not apply"? They think that they are getting useful information but as the survey progresses my responses become more and more formulaic.
The article also reveals a mind set that assumes that the more the client dislikes the solution the better it is. After all, why employ an expert at a huge cost and then ignore what they tell you?
This is why we don't get what we want. They ask us the wrong questions, we lie, and they ignore the answers.
They seem to be set up in naive ignorance of the GIGO principle. They have to be structured so the results can be presented as pseudo science, but what they are really measuring is people's techniques in lying and being polite.
I have attended groups where every single person is acting. We are trying to take it seriously but the questions are so daft that we either have to make something up or laugh out loud. I have actually been asked, "If this car was a guest at a party, how would they behave?". "Does the colour of this packaging make you feel more secure about the product or less?".
Now obviously people react to things, but at a largely subconscious level. The clue is in the word subconscious. Getting people to try to analyse their reaction to adverts is a waste of time. A behavioural psychologist looking at the session from behind a mirror might well be able to get some uselful information out of the event, but that rarely happens. We tended to end up frustrated when we didn't like any of the adverts being proposed (for instance) but the group facilitator was desperately trying to find what we disliked least. "They're all crap" wasn't an answer he was happy taking back to the client.
What was very revealing and came up time and time again was that when they talked to us about good adverts we had seen in the past, we could alll identify adverts that impressed or amused us but we could hardly ever remember what company they advertised. The cleverer they tried to be the more this was the case (particularly with adverts for cars and financial services).
I deal with sales calls a lot in my job, where people are for the most part trying to crudely manipulate my responses; and I have also participated in a number of telephone surveys. Without exception they are unable to represent my opinions. Particularly irritating is the "on a scale of one to ten..." nonsense. I do not think like that, and I have never met anyone who does. What number means "I don't care" or "It does not apply"? They think that they are getting useful information but as the survey progresses my responses become more and more formulaic.
The article also reveals a mind set that assumes that the more the client dislikes the solution the better it is. After all, why employ an expert at a huge cost and then ignore what they tell you?
This is why we don't get what we want. They ask us the wrong questions, we lie, and they ignore the answers.
posted by Other Kosh at 11:04 pm
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