Zora Neale Hurston
Never Listen to What Your Customers Say...
but Know What They Feel
At the beginning of The Culture Code, Clotaire Rapaille tells a story about Chrysler Corporation's struggle in the late 1990s to stimulate sales of the Jeep Wrangler.
"Once in a category all its own, [the Jeep] had been supplanted by scores of SUVs, most of which were bigger, more luxurious, and better suited to soccer moms. Chrysler had reached a crossroads with the Wrangler and gave serious thought to a major overhaul."
The company did extensive research and asked hundreds of people in dozens of focus groups thousands of questions, but they were confused by the answers they were getting. Some people said they liked the traditional Jeep, others said they'd like it better if it were updated. Some wanted luxury. Others wanted better gas millage. Some wanted the Jeep to be enclosed. Others wanted it as a convertible.
When Chrysler called Dr. Rapaille in to consult with them, the French psychologist was already famous in corporate America for being able to identify what consumers really want. Still, they were taken aback when he put aside all the research they had given him and told them that it was impossible to know anything about what customers want by asking them directly.
"You have to ask questions," he told them. "But not these questions. And you have to listen to their answers. But you must ignore what they say."
When I read that (which was on page 15 of his book), I knew I was going to like Clotaire Rapaille when I eventually met him.
Clients and longtime readers of ETR know that I've been saying the same thing for ages.
You have to know what your customers want. But you can't find out what they want by asking them. I learned this early in my career. I loved the idea of customer surveys and focus groups. I conducted dozens of them. But every time I developed a marketing plan based on the answers I was given, it failed.
What was going on?
I got a clue when I started making enough money to be able to treat myself to new car (as opposed to my usual clunkers). Soon after I made the purchase, the car company sent me a questionnaire to fill out. As I recorded my answers about my car-buying "experience," I realized that I wasn't exactly telling the truth. I was sort of answering honestly and sort of checking off boxes that made me look better. I inflated my income. I made my job title sound more impressive. I pretended I had bought other new cars before. I didn't think it mattered -- but it was clear to me that the information I was giving the car company was somewhat distorted.
This sort of misinformation is often given unconsciously, too. If, for example, you ask someone why he bought a $400 fountain pen, he might tell you it was because of the pen's fine craftsmanship and the lifelong guarantee -- because that's what he believes. But chances are he really bought it because it somehow made him feel more masculine or powerful.
Point is, if you want to know what your customers want, you must dig below the surface, get beneath their conscious rationalizations to the emotions and even instincts that compel the decision-making process.
"Even the most self-examining of us are rarely in close contact with our subconscious," Rapaille says.
The fact is, most people are out of touch with the forces that drive many of their actions. Because they are not conscious of these forces, they provide "rational" answers to questions about what they think -- answers that sound logical and are even what the questioner expects.
That is why polls and surveys are so often useless (and why the executives at Chrysler got the wrong "answers" to their questions regarding the Wrangler).
Dr. Rapaille might be the most influential corporate marketing consultant in America, if not the world. He's used his unique method to help Chrysler revamp the Jeep and launch the PT Cruiser, to help Procter & Gamble make Folgers coffee a major success, as well as to establish the direction of marketing campaigns for GE, AT&T, Boeing, Honda, Kellogg's, and L'Oreal, to name a few. He is the personal adviser to 10 high-ranking CEOs, and is kept on retainer by 50 Fortune 100 companies.
So when one of my clients invited me to meet Dr. Rapaille and work with him on a line of anti-aging products (cosmetics, supplements, and publications), I was very happy to do it.
I was hoping to get some new and useful ideas. What I got was an inside view of his method and an opinion about why it works as well as it does for large corporations. I also came away feeling that for entrepreneurs and small businesspeople, my own method of figuring out what customers want is just as good.
Dr. Rapaille conducts a three-hour, three-part focus group. In the first session, the participants are asked to tell how they feel about certain words related to the topic in question. In this case, the topic was youth -- and the words were beauty, vitality, longevity, etc.
In the second session, the participants are asked to recall the words discussed in the first session and then -- without referencing the original words -- to match them with other words that came to mind.
In the third session, the participants are told to rest on the floor and listen to relaxing music. Then they are asked to write three short "stories" about their first and strongest experiences with the topic in question (youth).
Based on all that, Dr. Rapaille comes up with a word or phrase that is the "code" for the topic. And then he helps the client develop a marketing campaign around it.
When he applied his system to the Jeep, the code word he came up with was "horse." That suggested that Chrysler should ignore the customers who said the car should be made more luxurious and spacious and instead focus on making it more rugged and durable. So, for example, they changed the leather used in the interior from one that was softer and more refined to one that was more like saddle leather. Dr. Rapaille even recommended that they change the headlights from square to round, since a horse's eyes are round.
Dr. Rapaille's method is ingenious. But it is also time-consuming and expensive. Generally speaking, his workshops begin at $50,000 and go up from there.
As a consultant to small businesses and entrepreneurs, I don't have the luxury to even think of suggesting that my clients spend that kind of money on market research. So, years ago, I came up with my own method. And, as I said, it seems to work just as well.
I call it the Prism. It's also referred to as the "core complex."
In the program I helped develop for American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI), I explained it this way:
"People buy for emotional, not rational reasons. In fact, most direct-marketing purchases wouldn't be made if people gave them enough thought. That's why throughout your entire package, every step of the way, you must tantalize and tug at your prospect's core buying emotion. This buying emotion isn't a solitary emotion like fear or vanity -- but a rich mixture of intertwined feelings. A mixture that represents the core of who and what your prospect truly is. You must know your prospect and his needs in great detail. Intimately understand and empathize with his wants, needs, fears, aspirations, loves, hates, angers, and irritations. What keeps him awake at night?
"You can start your investigation into your prospect by looking at the buyer profile for the product or service. It's simply data that has been gathered about customers. It could have information about age, gender, income, as well as more clues like political affiliation, net worth, and some of their beliefs and views. You might even get data about spending habits, what the customers buy and how much they spend.
"One of the best (yet commonly overlooked) places to find clues about your prospect is within the product or service you're selling.
"If you were selling a book or newsletter, you would peruse it and note any hints about your prospect embedded in the text. For example, if you came across a phrase that said 'this is an invitation for no-nonsense everyday people,' you would know that your prospect is probably not college educated and may be in a low socioeconomic group.
"Another way to delve into your prospect's mind is to examine past sales letters that have 'sold' him. Think about it... whatever emotional phrases and images tugged at him before might rouse his interest again. Of course, the best letter to start examining would be the most recent control. The control is the strongest sales letter. You can also look at letters that weren't so successful. This way, you can double-check your assumptions.
"Once you've collected all these clues you can start to piece them together until you can actually 'see' your prospect. One of the best ways to do this is to think of someone you know who fits this mold. Is it you? If so, you're lucky. But more than likely, the prospect may be your uncle, your next door neighbor, a co-worker, or a best friend."
It's interesting. Out of every 10 people I explain the concept of the Prism/core complex to, only one or two understand it. For some reason, people have a hard time differentiating between thoughts, feelings, and desires.
We all think we know the difference, but in actual practice we confuse the terms.
"How do you feel about what happened on 9/11?"
"I feel like it was a conspiracy."
"That's not a feeling. That's a thought."
"But I really feel like it was."
"But that's a thought. How do you feel?"
"Okay. I get it. I feel like killing the guys who did it."
"That's not a feeling. That's a desire."
"But I really feel like doing that."
"But that is a desire."
"So what's a feeling?"
"A feeling is anger, frustration, fear, etc."
"Well, I guess I feel those things too."
To be able to use the core complex to figure out what your prospective customers really want, you have to understand the difference between thoughts, feelings, and desires.
In thinking about the product you are selling, you must ask:
1. What does my prospect think about it? What are his thoughts?
2. How does he feel about it? What are his feelings?
3. What does he want from it? Deep down inside, what does he really want?
In the AWAI program, copywriter Will Newman gives this example:
"Let's say you're selling a male nutritional supplement that improves prostate function and also burns fat. The core complex for your prospect (an active, 61-year-old, married man) is made up of fear, embarrassment, and vanity. So you'd make a promise to him that this supplement would eliminate his fears about all the health problems an enlarged prostate can cause. He won't have to worry about being embarrassed by the symptoms that bedevil most older men. You'd also promise that when he walks down the street, women will look at his trim body and smile, while other men his age will be jealous."
If you are a senior executive for a Fortune 500 company and you haven't yet used Dr. Rapaille, I recommend you do. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner or marketer without a huge budget, then I recommend you use my method.
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