-   Autumn courses

Welcome to the latest edition of 5-Minute Insights, the e-mail newsletter from Steve Wills and Sally Webb at Customer Insight Solutions (CI Solutions). We hope that in the few short minutes that it takes to scan the key messages, you will find snippets that are both informative and stimulating. If you want to find out more, we have provided links to longer articles for some of the insights.

INSIGHT IN PRACTICE

PARETO: STAKEHOLDERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Last month, we outlined the Pareto Principle, which suggests that in most situations, about 80% of useful results are generated by 20% of the total effort. This month, we look at how this broad principle can be applied to stakeholders…

A quick Pareto analysis can help you to understand how you can best allocate time and resources to your various stakeholders:

• Relative worth - Firstly, think about your stakeholders in terms of their value and their potential impact on the business.
• Strategic importance – Consider how your insight can help those stakeholders that have a major strategic input to your organisation.
• Resource allocation - Allocate your time and effort to your stakeholders according to their relative worth and importance.

Once you’ve gone through this exercise, you can start to think how you can deliver real value to your most valuable stakeholders whilst still helping those who are perceived to be less valuable. 

For more details of how to apply the Pareto Principle to stakeholders,  please click here.

TRADING PLACES: FUN WITH A FOCUS

For insight to be truly effective, people need to act upon your findings. But how can you encourage them to do this? One approach that will help to get your output to the top of their agendas is to make it memorable by injecting a little fun. A great example is an approach called ‘Trading Places’:

Alter ego: A research company invited the client’s entire team to the research venue - but then asked them to sit in the main room rather than the viewing suite. They were then given personal profiles of consumers for a role play. In their roles, they discussed the issues that would be important to them. 

The real thing: The client’s team was then moved to the viewing suite. To their surprise, the consumers whose roles they had taken then entered the main room and went through the same group discussion.

Point made! The impact of this approach was huge and the client team became much more involved in what was happening. 

So, think about how to introduce participation into your processes. A memorable event means that your clients are more likely to act upon what they’ve learnt!

To look at this example in more detail, please click here.

TAKE A NEW LOOK AT INSIGHT: THINK LIKE A....... JOURNALIST

This new series looks at how other professions can teach us some valuable lessons.

A Journalist? - A bit young maybe?

Insight teams can learn from other people who deal with information on a daily basis. A prime example is the journalist. Most respected journalists are experts at the type of work at which we should also excel. Here are some examples of how their approach can help us to become more effective:

• Start with a plan. The key starting point for any type of document is a logical structure that will attract the reader and encourage them to read on.
• Find an angle. If the topic is boring, journalists won’t write about it because people won’t be interested in it. So, focus on topics that really matter.
• Produce a headline. A headline is the first thing that the readers sees – so it must grab their attention. Sub-heads can then guide the reader through the key messages.
• Keep it short but sweet. Precis is a key weapon in the journalist’s armoury - condensing a large amount of evidence into an easily digestible report.
• Make it readable. Readability is all about simplicity. In reports, as in newspapers, use simple words, simple sentences and simple paragraphs wherever possible.

If you would like to delve deeper into this subject, please click here. And check out our Impact Writing course, which will give you more pointers and practise in writing simply and well, like a good journalist.