B2B Market Research - The Four Steps To Successful Business Market Research

B2B market research can be a challenge even for experienced market researchers. But there are four steps anyone can take to successful B2B market research. These steps are:

• understand your market
• learn about your business customers
• telephone your business customers
• visit your business customers

Understand your market

Business market research begins with making sure that you really understand as much as you can about your B2B market and the companies in that market. Start by making sure that you are aware of the regulations and customs surrounding the market, as well as the trends going on in that market. This is particularly important when entering new markets. Fortunately, there are websites and posts written about most B2B markets, describing the regulations and customs relating to that market, as well as the trends going on in the market.

Then, make sure that you list the business customers in your B2B market, as well as your possible competitors. But, don’t stop with just ascertaining the names of the companies in your market. Also identify the names of the executives at those companies. This, again, is particularly important when entering new markets. Fortunately, those same B2B websites and posts typically describe most of the business customers and competitors, along with the executives at those companies.

Learn about your business customers

Business market research depends on learning about your business customers. Start by collecting information from your CRM system, and from your sales team, about your business customers. Then go back to the websites and posts you have already identified to get yet more information from websites and blogs about your business customers. Make sure that you know as much as you can about the key executives at those business customers, and the issues that they are likely to face, so that you can move to the next step, which is calling them by phone.

Visit your business customers

Business market research really does depend on visiting your business customers. Go to your business customers’ factories, offices, or design studios, and spend time talking with their engineers, plant managers, designers, manufacturing personnel, and other staff. All the focus groups and surveys in the world are no substitute for visiting your business customers in their places of work. Similarly, while chatting with business customers at trade shows is nice, it is not a substitute for actually visiting your business customers. Once again, this is particularly important when you are entering new markets.

Even now, it never ceases to amaze me just how much valuable information you can learn from actually visiting business customers and going to their factories, offices, or design studios, and spending time talking with their engineers, plant managers, designers, manufacturing personnel, and other staff.

When you put these four steps into effect

Although business customers vary significantly from B2B market to B2B market, I have found that two things never change. That is, if you put these four steps into effect, then:

• you are more likely to understand the true needs of your business customers, and
• your business customers are much more likely to want to develop a business relationship with you

No matter which B2B market you are researching, in the end, that is always the key to success in B2B market research.

Mission Statements - Getting Them Right

Mission statements are supposed to help with your:

• business strategic planning – by providing the long term direction for your organization
• strategy coaching – by enabling your employees to understand what your organization is trying to accomplish over the long term

In reality, too many mission statements fail miserably at these tasks. They neither assist with business strategic planning, nor with strategy coaching. Most mission statements are just too long, and they just don’t differentiate their organizations. In order to get mission statements that work, we need to follow what I call the “CDW rule”. This rule is that a mission statement should be:

• concise
• differentiate your organization

In addition, executives should:

• walk the talk in the mission statement

Concise

Mission statements should be concise. This matters, because the longer a mission statement is, the less likely people are to remember it. To illustrate this point, how many people do you know who can recite their organization’s current mission statements off-by-heart? (When I ask this question, only a small fraction of the executives that I ask are actually able to recite their organizations’ mission statements, without prompting.)

The lesson here is quite simple - keep your mission statement concise. In practice, a mission statement should be no more than one sentence, so that it can assist both with business strategic planning, and with strategy coaching.

Differentiate your organization

Differentiate your organization in your mission statement. Unfortunately, all too many mission statements contain anodyne phrases such as “delight our customers” and “satisfy our stakeholders”. There is nothing wrong with these sentiments, except that they fail to differentiate an organization. They fail to give employees any kind of direction for their organization, and thus are ineffective in guiding business strategic planning and in strategy coaching.

Successful mission statements are finely tuned to the strategic direction of the organization which they serve, and thereby differentiate their organizations. They make it clear to employees what their organization is trying to accomplish over the long term, and are effective in guiding business strategic planning and in strategy coaching.

Walk the talk

Walk the talk in the mission statement – otherwise your mission statement is nothing more than a collection of words. So, for example, if an organization’s mission statement includes the statement that it will “delight our customers”, it is essential for executives to carry out customer satisfaction surveys on a frequent basis so that they can see whether their organization is actually fulfilling its mission. Executives who follow the directions of their mission statements make them into effective tools for both business strategic planning and for employee strategy coaching.

It takes work to develop a mission statement that is concise and which differentiates your organization. It takes even more work to put the mission statement into effect. But by using the CDW rule you, too, can make your mission statement into something that will help your organization succeed at business strategic planning, and with strategy coaching.

Brand Positioning Statements - Getting Them Right

Brand positioning statements are supposed to help with your:

• brand planning – by providing the long term direction for your brands
• brand education – by enabling your employees outside of marketing to understand what you are trying to accomplish with each of your brands

In practice, most brand positioning statements perform both tasks poorly. They do little for brand planning, and not much more for brand education. In order to get brand positioning statements that work, we need to follow the same “CDW rule” as for mission statements. (See Mission Statements – Getting Them Right to learn more about the CDW rule.) In the case of brand positioning statements this rule is that they should be:

• concise
• differentiate each of your brands

Above all, executives should:

• walk the talk in their brand positioning statements

Concise

Brand positioning statements should be concise. This matters, because the longer a brand positioning statement is, the less likely people are to remember it. To illustrate this point, how many people do you know outside marketing who can recite any of your organization’s current brand positioning statements?

The lesson here is quite simple - keep your brand positioning statements concise. In practice, a brand positioning statement should be no more than one sentence, so that it can assist both with brand planning, and with brand education.

Differentiate each of your brands

Differentiate each of your brands in your brand positioning statements. I recommend that every brand positioning statement includes not merely who should buy the brand and why they should buy it, but also the competitive uniqueness of the brand from a customer perspective.

Unfortunately, all too many organizations water down this competitive uniqueness with bland wording such as “quality” and “leadership”, failing to differentiate one brand from another. Undifferentiated brand positioning statements fail to give employees any kind of direction for their brands, and thus are ineffective in guiding brand planning and in brand education.

Successful brand positioning statements are finely tuned to the strategic direction of each brand, and thereby differentiate their brands, while leaving clear water between each brand. Successful brand positioning statements make it clear to everyone what the rationale is for each brand, and are therefore effective in guiding both brand planning and brand education.

Walk the talk

The key issue that brand positioning statements face is that all too many executives just do not walk the talk in their brand positioning statements. This is crucial. Walk the talk – if you want results from your brand positioning statements.

For example, if you have a brand positioning statement which includes “safety” as a brand descriptor, it is essential for every executive associated with the brand to make sure that everything done on the brand focuses on safety – including managers in product development, manufacturing, purchasing, etc. It is essential for all executives to follow the directions in their brand positioning statements if they are to be effective tools for both brand planning and for employee brand education.

It takes effort to develop brand positioning statements that are concise and which differentiate your brands. It takes even more effort to get your fellow executives to walk the talk in your brand positioning statements. But by using the CDW rule you, too, can make your brand positioning statements into something that will help your organization succeed at brand planning, at brand education, and above all with your customers.

Does brand consistency matter?

Most marketers know that brand consistency matters. The reason for this is that marketing communications accrete in peoples’ brains over the course of time. Because brand consistency matters, marketers know that they should stick with the same brand message components, even when it comes down to what might seem like small-scale issues like the brand color, font, etc. Most marketers, therefore, strictly enforce uniform rules about the style, logo, font, color, message, etc that apply to every use of their brands.


The only problem is … that brand consistency doesn’t always matter. There are plenty of examples of brands that have stuck better in peoples’ brains because they have been inconsistent.


A good example is Google. From its very early days, Google has changed its brand font, logo, and indeed its brand message, on almost a daily basis on its home page, so as to highlight obscure holidays, birthdays, etc. Maybe what Google does to its brand shouldn’t work, but it does. Google is brand inconsistent because it knows that inconsistency actually does a better job of getting customers to pay attention to, and to remember, the Google brand.


To sum up, be brand inconsistent if that will do a better job of getting customers to pay attention to, and to remember, your brand. In other words, brand consistency matters except when it doesn’t, and brand consistency doesn’t always matter.

New Market Entry - The Five Steps To Global Marketing Success

The world is not flat

Contrary to popular belief, the world is not flat. The way that people behave varies significantly from country to country, differing each time from the US. And this matters when it comes to new market entry.


Many companies face this issue

Many companies face this issue. For some reason, numerous successful, well managed, organizations, like Wal-Mart, eBay, and Toyota, have incorrectly believed that the world really is flat. As a result, they have all made similar, very basic, mistakes when they left the comfort and security of their historical markets and entered new markets.


Language is a problem

As we will discuss part of the problem is language. Although English is the most widely spoken second language in the world, it varies significantly from country to country. American English is not the same as British English, which in turn differs from Indian English, while Jamaican English is different again, etc.


But culture is the real problem

However, the issues executives face when they enter new markets go way beyond language. In fact, the main reason why executives run into problems in new markets is not language, but because they do not really understand how people think and behave in other countries. In other words, they do not know the local cultures. It is these often unwritten cultural rules that trip executives up when they enter new markets.


The five steps to success

Because culture is the real problem in entering new markets, the key to success in new market entry is understanding the culture of each country you want to enter. In Treitel Consulting’s experience, there are five steps that anyone can take that will significantly increase their chances of new market entry success in virtually any new country. They are:

• read websites, blogs, and newspapers about / from the country
• talk to people who already know the country and its culture
• watch locally produced TV shows, (but not CNN)
• go for a walk
• prepare for the language barrier


Step 1 - Read websites, blogs, and newspapers about / from the country

Before doing business in any new country, read websites and blogs about that particular country. Fortunately, there are websites and blogs written about almost every country in the world, describing its history, culture, language, religion, politics, and local business customs.

If websites and blogs do not give you enough background information, try the local press. In most countries, local newspapers and magazines can give you a good view of what journalists in that country consider to be relevant and newsworthy.


Step 2 - Talk to people who already know the country and its culture

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Talk to people who already know the country and its culture before you try to enter it. Find people who have done business in-country, or who originate from there. Have them tell you how business is done in-country, what traps to avoid, and how to be successful. Ask them to share with you the essential, but to them quite obvious, information that you need to know about doing business in-country.

To give just one obvious example, in many Latin American countries, it is quite normal for men to give each other an abrazo (body hug). I would not, however, recommend trying an abrazo in England. Armed with this kind of information, you will be in a much better position to succeed internationally, no matter which country you may happen to be in.


Step 3 - Watch locally produced TV shows, (but not CNN)

Watch locally produced TV shows. Many of these shows are available on the internet, or on one of those obscure cable channels most people never watch. They can help you understand crucial aspects of the local culture, such as:
• how people ask questions
• how people interact with each other
• what makes people laugh and smile

Of course, you will have a much greater opportunity to watch locally produced TV shows when you travel to the countries you intend to enter. But, unless you happen to be traveling to the US or the UK, never ever watch the BBC or CNN. This is because watching the BBC and CNN will keep you, psychologically, in the UK or the US, with little chance of absorbing, let alone understanding, the local culture.


Step 4 – Go for a walk

When you travel to the countries that you plan to enter, go for a walk. Take a stroll or car drive around the neighborhood. If you keep your eyes and ears open you will be amazed at how much you can pick up from a simple short walk or drive.

To give just one obvious example, a few short walks in Tokyo taught me a great deal about such factors as the local dress codes, commuting habits, the role of women in society, and the hours people really work in Japan.


Step 5 - Prepare for the language barrier

As mentioned previously, English varies significantly from country to country. The same thing is true for Spanish, French, and any other widely used language. Be prepared for those language differences. (To give an example of a company that is prepared for these language barriers, Disney produced four Spanish language versions of The Incredibles, with Argentinean, Castilian, Colombian, and Mexican Spanish language versions of the movie. Each version featured local celebrity voice-overs, with country specific dialog.)

If you plan to enter a non-English speaking market, learn a few words of the local language. It will show that you care about the local culture. Although people vary significantly around the world, I have found one thing never changes. That is, if you show people that you care enough about them to have taken the effort to have learned a few words of their language, then they feel much more positively inclined towards you. They are much more likely to trust you, and to share with you what you really need to know to do business with them. In the end, that is the starting point of new market entry success in any country, anywhere around the world.

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