Conducting Customer

Peggy Staite-Wong, M.A.

Robert Wong, M.A., M.C.I.P, C.M.R.P.

The Resource Management Consulting Group

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Parks & Recreation Ontario 2006 Conference

A bit about us…A bit about us…

Marketing research & strategic planning

Enjoy projects that benefit our community: Business plan for G’Nadjiwon Ki Aboriginal Tourism Association City of Barrie Pesticide Policy Downtown Collingwood Image Research Nottawasaga Region Business Retention & Expansion Surveys Southlake RHC Regional PCI Project Patient and Staff Research

Peggy: Research project design, implementation and reporting Roots in environmental planning & horticulture (Master Gardener)

Robert: Coordinates Research Analyst (post-graduate) Program at Georgian College Specializes in tourism research and planning Past-Director of Marketing Research

Intelligence Association

Improve products and services Obtain timely and reliable

information to… Make informed decisions Eliminate a bottleneck Understand customers’ concerns Document resource requirements Determine which changes will produce

the biggest payoff

Make changes that customers will notice and value

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Keys to SuccessKeys to Success

FFocus ocus your feedback needsyour feedback needs

EEnergizenergize your customersyour customers

EEfficiencyfficiency with technologywith technology

DDiscover iscover open-ended value open-ended value

BBenchmarkenchmark your resultsyour results

AAsksk valid questionsvalid questions

CComplimentompliment with profile questionswith profile questions

KKeepeep growing your feedbackgrowing your feedback

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K K

Focus your feedback needsFocus your feedback needsEEDBACK

Establish the Research DirectionEstablish the Research Direction

Translate Your Issues to Research Objectives

What do I need to know and who can tell me?

Previous research?

Programs & services that will benefit from the research?

Decisions that could be made using the results?

Information gaps?

Iceberg PrincipleIceberg Principle

Research the potential cause…

market changes?

new policies?

poor facilities?

Look beyond the symptoms… low use complaints

high employee turnover

staff performance?

FEEnergize your customersnergize your customers

EDBACK

Customers want to Customers want to participate!participate!

Match method to your customers Interests Demographics Issues Communication preferences

Customers perceive they benefit vs.

The “organization” benefits

MethodologiesMethodologies

Qualitative

Small number of customers

Need in-depth information about an issue

Exploratory Unsure of the options Explore the range of ideas

not the preferred

Quantitative

Large number of customers

Need the number Conclusive factual

information Know range of options but

need to know customers’ preference

Dig into the data for patterns and sub-group comparisons

Be CreativeBe Creative

Face-to-face

PDA

Survey

OnlineSurvey

MailoutScannable

Telephone Survey

Quantitative

Online

Discussion

Focus Group

In-depthInterview

Observation

Qualitative

Mixed Methods WorkMixed Methods Work

Face-to-face

PDA

Survey

Quantitative

Online Discussion

Qualitative

F E EEfficiency with technologyfficiency with technologyD B A C K

Peek at TechnologyPeek at Technology

What’s it look like?What’s it look like?

Web Online Web Online

SurveySurvey Online Online Discussion BoardDiscussion Board

Palm Palm ComputerComputer

F E E Discover open-ended valueDiscover open-ended value

B A C K

Why Open-Ended?Why Open-Ended?

When? Exploring Don’t know all the answers Learn their words, their language Unprompted response

Challenges? Analysis

Open-ended responses add value

Images of CollingwoodImages of Collingwood

Extremely Clean-well maintained

-clean!!!!(not mentioned about other

communities)

Pedestrian Friendly-great parking Downtown

-pedestrian friendly

Heritage & More…-natural but historic

-nature and town together-kept up historically … nice individual

stores kept alive-love wide street & mix of old and new

Quaint & Charming Atmosphere-charming, quaint

-friendly people place!!!-welcoming, feel very at home

-relaxed, unlike the city-growing up!

Classic-cute, attractive, beautiful

-classic with great feel of the past

-pretty: the way its laid out, wide streets and sidewalks,

history, character

Love the Beautification-overall appearance is pleasant and relaxing:

greenery, flowers, cleanliness, music

-shady, comfortable, green

F E E D Benchmark your resultsBenchmark your resultsA C K

BenchmarkingBenchmarking

Quantitative Establish basis for comparison Requires set of common questions Examples

Within department over time Throughout one organization Against other similar organizations

Benchmarking on Benchmarking on a National Scalea National Scale

The Common Measurements Tool (CMT) Set of commonly used survey questions and

response measurements Enables organizations throughout Canada to

compare results Facilitates sharing of information gained and

lessons learned

F E E D B Ask valid questionsAsk valid questionsC K

5 Common Wording Problems5 Common Wording Problems

1. Vague questions Need context of situation, time frame

How often do you ski? CCS or alpine? Over a season or at holidays? In Ontario or anywhere?

None, few times, a little, some, lots

2. Double-barreled questions Easier to spot on key words

“helpful and courteous” More difficult to spot in a statement

“I just need time! I need time for myself as well as quality time with my child”

5 Common Wording Problems5 Common Wording Problems

3. Collectively exhaustive All possible choices offered Use other as an option but be prepared for high

response

4. Mutually exclusive No overlapping categories

Age 20-30 30-40 40-50 What type of vehicle do you drive?

Camry, SUV, Outback, Explorer, GM

5. Undecided, Don’t Know They are different! Undecided attracts fence sitters

Let’s Look at Some SurveysLet’s Look at Some Surveys

F E E D B A Compliment with profileCompliment with profile K

Profile TipsProfile Tips

Profile questions allow comparison to other studies Demographic anchor points should match Canada

Census Open-ended occupation, then match with Standard

Industry Classification (SIC) Manual Check other research from your organization

Income is sensitive to some Do you need to know? Art to getting a response

Presenting a ProfilePresenting a Profile

Prime working years 65% work for a company 20% self employed 42% have children living at home,

of these about ½ under 14 yrs of age

Age

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

<35 35-44 45-54 55+

Employment N=556

Corporate65%

Self-employed

20%

NFP/not employed

7%Gov't8%

F E E D B A C Keep growing your feedbackKeep growing your feedback

4 Ways to make research useful4 Ways to make research useful

1. Communicate the results clearly

Research should be exciting, not boring

Satisfy everyone’s curiosity

3. Keep reporting short & sweet

Message must be clear Use data for backup

4. Use visuals

Graphs, charts, photographs,

clipart to reinforce findings

2. Focus on decisions and actions“Everything”What you need to move forward

Graphs reinforce wordsGraphs reinforce words

Pesticides have negative effects Contaminate surface &

groundwater (86%) Harm children (80%) Pollute air (68%)

Pesticides are not essential Never for sports fields (70%) 54% use pesticides but only

30% said pesticides were necessary

Attitudes about Chemical Pesticides

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

pesticides necessary

pollute air

not on sports fields

harm children

surface/ groundwater

% respondents n365-378

strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree undecided

Residents are aware of pesticide impacts

Creative PresentationCreative Presentation

Creemore N=267

-very small, tiny

-artsy, lovely, quaint

-old country but not heritage

-dull, boring, looks like something could happen

but nothing does

-nicely done, quiet, friendly

-not much there

Thornbury N=300

-similar to Collingwood, just smaller

-cute, quaint, small

-expensive stores, trendy

-village-like, whimsical

-needs a face lift

-more charming, less practical

-growing, improving

Wasaga BeachN=320

-half of comments negative

-tacky & dirty, but nice beach, just too crowded

-lacking a real main street & friendliness

-touristy, cheesy

-entertaining, young

-wild, busy, fun

-party central

Keys to SuccessKeys to Success

FFocus ocus your feedback needsyour feedback needs

EEnergizenergize your customersyour customers

EEfficiencyfficiency with technologywith technology

DDiscover iscover open-ended value open-ended value

BBenchmarkenchmark your resultsyour results

AAsksk valid questionsvalid questions

CComplimentompliment with profile questionswith profile questions

KKeepeep growing your feedbackgrowing your feedback

FEEDBACFEEDBAC

K K

QuestionsQuestions

Connect with us:

wong.rmcg@sympatico.ca

Creative Methods

Creative Methods

BenchmarkBenchmark

Technology Advantage

Technology Advantage

Researchable Objectives

Researchable Objectives