Matthew J. Roberts

Determine what story is most compelling in terms of conveying your brand's worth and impact. Its simplest--and most compelling--to extract and distill this story from one of your happiest customers. Collect several high-impact stories that differ slightly. Then, with the main points of these multiple high-impact stories, determine the best way in which to convey them to people who, first, may be the most susceptible to the people or the outcome. Then, second, select the details of each story that would be likeliest to turn a head among people who you cannot assume are actively looking for your product-driven solution. The plan is about how and where to tell these stories that will serve them in the most compelling or intriguing way.

While this isn't always bad news--the fact that it is NEWS to the senior execs means that someone trusted with having their ear to the ground (as the primary way of earning their 6-figure salary) has a problem. This could be a VP of Sales, Product Design, Industry Affairs/Relations, CEO or CSO. My experience is that I needed to fortify my results--and bullet proof them--with insights that might support or rationalize them--from third party experts. I reflexively turn to expert opinions and analysis published by industry experts. Sometimes I need to pay for these, other times, I can find them (whole or quoted) in trade organs such as online newsletters or journals. I precede my results with a foreshadowing quote from a 3rd party expert.

First, triple check your assumptions about your target audiences' needs, interests, and perceptions. A common problem, I've found, is that customer and prospect feedback is coming from Salespeople to a degree that is disproportionately skewed by either their success or failure--but the reality is much more than a binary (Sales won or lost) situation. Too often, the most senior sales officer has THE authoritative opinion on what buyers and prospects perceive--but, too often, this is coming second hand from their sales team members. When a disconnect emerges between assumptions that composed research questions and realities of respondents' responses, the likeliest suspects are second hand (Sales reported) or third hand (industry) reports.

While I agree, my more specific advice involves listening from the apparent perspective of finding solutions as a partner. Realize that your product or service may not be the remedy at the moment. Put another way: If your current product or service can be right, just not "right now," then ensure that your brand IS. The best prospects are not always aware that what they need is what they're seeking at the moment. But, the only way you can know this, is to listen after you say, "Our brand is committed to making a difference in this market. If you let us know what think that you need, we will help in any way that we can."

All good. All fine. My addition to your advice is to go beyond surveys and conduct live Qualitative Market Research with a representative sample of both clients and and competitors' clients. Do this anonymously, of course, and work with an experienced third-party Market Research agency specializing in QMR with experienced staff. The dividends are amazing.

The smart move is to collect insights from people who chose your competitor: Why, exactly was your offering ruled out? How happy are your competitors' buyers? Do they have any regrets for which you have a better story? What can your competitors' clients teach you about precisely where and how you can improve? AND, if their choice was driven by things you cannot change in your offering, you can learn about how your likeliest buyers differ from your competitors' likeliest buyers. These insights will point you to which selling points should be the focus of your promotional messages, the better channels, and key words.