Growing Up in Idaho: A Market Research Story
I grew up in the state of Idaho in a town of 50,000 people called Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls is not known for much. It has a lot of rural area, farms full of potatoes and a Budweiser plant. The main employer in the area is the Idaho National Laboratory, which employs about 8,000 employees and stores spent nuclear fuel. I wasn’t very good at storing spent nuclear fuel (God forbid, I’m in charge of THAT…we’d all be doomed), so I got involved in market research.
If you’ve ever traveled north on I-15, you may have driven through Idaho Falls on your way to Yellowstone National Park. Growing up in a fairly small town had its ups and downs. In general, in addition to dollar movies, we were forced to find our own forms of entertainment. We didn’t occupy our time with the “luxuries” of today, ie video games (it took a short time to beat Pitfall), computers, the Internet, mobile phones, text messages, etc. they seem to suck every spare minute out of today’s teenagers. We spend a lot of time exploring our surroundings, playing sports, and getting into trouble.
It’s funny how things change. When I was young, I spent time in a pool and slide called “Thunder Ridge” that was located in the hills on the east side of town. My high school prom was located in this pool. The prom had to have been one of Thunder Ridge’s last major events because within a year of the prom, the operation was shut down.
For many years after its closure, Thunder Ridge and its water slide continued in an increasingly dilapidated state. In an attempt to find something to do, my friends, siblings, etc. and I used to go to Thunder Ridge and go down the slide on a skateboard and a block of ice. This is how it worked. We would go to the slide at night (the police would kick you out if they found you there) and sneak, quietly, down the slide (neighbors would call the police if they saw you there). We’d make sure we had a couple of pieces of safety equipment…
Converse All-Stars, Levi’s 501 jeans, long-sleeved flannel shirts, gloves, and a flashlight. The flashlight was placed at the bottom of the slide. You will remember from your own experiences with water slides that at the end of any water slide is a drop into a pool. It was extremely important to know when your ride was about to end so you wouldn’t be thrown off the ledge into the empty, muddy, abandoned pool (happened more than once). We would walk to the entrance of the slide and lie face down on the skateboard. We would ride the skateboard tail end first, placing the ice block under the tail so we didn’t get the “wobble of death.” The ice block was slippery enough to allow for the curves and transitions on the water slide.
We rode the skateboard and ice block combo upside down so we could hold the ice block under the skateboard while riding (wearing the gloves). The long-sleeved shirt and Levi’s jeans were important to avoid accidents on the road if we fell off the contraption at full speed. Converse All-Stars were used as brakes. The instant he saw the flashlight at the bottom, or sped up too much, he dragged his All-Stars onto the edges of the slide. You can imagine how terrifying and fun this experience was as we screamed down the slide at a million miles an hour, hoping we could stop in time to avoid getting shot at the end…falling four feet into a muddy, dirty , pool full of garbage.
While managing and working in your business or for your employer (whether it is a market research group or any other type of business), while conducting your market research, health care research, or operating your MROC (Medical Research Online Community) market), while surveying your customers or patients, etc. Have you ever felt that you have been placed in a business situation like this? Do you ever go through your business life feeling like you’re being sucked into a path that’s going too fast and you can only hope it works out in the end? If so, I have some suggestions:
* Slow down: Many of us do too many things at once. At some point or another, we’ve all done this. Slow down and focus, prioritize and do the items that will have the biggest impact on your business first, especially if they are the easiest to eliminate. When you’re learning to skateboard down a water slide, it’s important to slow down…at least the first time so you understand the process.
* Learn to drive: you can drive a skateboard and a block of ice. Have you learned how to run your business? Market research will help you make informed decisions. If your business sells a product or services a customer (we all do), collect customer feedback, understand your patient satisfaction, research your product. If you are involved in a market research organization, work on your market research techniques so that you can effectively deliver the results of your market research data collection in a concise manner that is responsive to your client’s research needs. .
* Wear the “proper” gear: Just as it’s extremely important to wear gloves, jeans, long-sleeved shirts, and sneakers on this type of “ride,” it’s important that you wear the proper gear when doing your market research. There are some really great market research products and services available in the industry…and there are some really bad ones. The bad guys will lead you in directions you don’t want to go, collect information that doesn’t represent your target audience, and lead you to make decisions that may not have the impact on your business you hoped for. For those of us who are involved in market research, it is extremely important for us to have stable platforms that produce accurate results and perform as expected. We should regularly assess the “fitness” of our platforms.
* Obstacle check: I am embarrassed to admit that on one occasion I did NOT check the slide for obstacles. Idaho Falls has a tremendous amount of wind. As it got older, the slide deteriorated and the wind blew one of the top pieces of the slide into the slide. I ran into this “sliding part” at a million miles an hour and broke four fingers. The best team in the world couldn’t make up for my own stupidity. The obstacles you need to be aware of when doing market research projects are your market research methods. It is important that you understand the method that will best answer your market research question.
If your market research study must use quantitative vs. qualitative market research depends on what you are trying to achieve. Whether you should collect customer or patient surveys vs. conducting a focus group vs. Using an MROC (Market Research Online Community) depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you must use online vs. Face-to-face vs. phone or IVR methods also depend on what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t automatically assume that a specific method “fits” your research question… just because it’s a “hot” collection method at the time. Each collection method has its obstacles and advantages.
* Use the buddy system – It’s important to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing and have your best interests in mind. When I broke all four fingers, my “friend” had to drive me home. Not all market research companies are the same. Each has a specific set of methods, experiences and approach. Has your market research provider ever said “No, I don’t think we’re the best fit for that particular project?” Surround yourself with a group of people you trust and who can deliver and who will be honest with you when they can’t. Market research companies should be that friend.