Issue 1 - December 2006
CONTENTS
- A 'Brief' Form of Communications
- Meet the client - Shifty Sharon
- A Matter of Judgement
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to 5-Minute Insights, a new e-mail newsletter from Steve Wills and Sally Webb at Customer Insight Solutions (CI Solutions).
CI Solutions is committed to developing best practices in customer insight for the benefit of our whole industry. A key element of insight is effective communication - which is why we are launching this newsletter. Its aim is to be:
- Appetising - busy people have limited time, so all items will be in 'bite-sized' chunks that you can digest more easily
- Nourishing - like food, for some messages to be really taken in, they need to be given regularly and often
- Strengthening - we want to give you tips and ideas that will help to build you up!
With this in mind, each edition will contain five or six summary items so that:
- The key messages can be scanned in less than a minute
- The whole newsletter can be read in less than five minutes
- If there is a link to a more detailed article, this can also be read in less than five minutes
So, here it is - short but sweet! We hope that each edition gives you at least one insight that will help your company.
INSIGHT IN PRACTICE
A 'BRIEF' FORM OF COMMUNICATIONS
Most teams preparing for a research or data analysis project will have a template for the briefing document. However, although this template may address the business and research objectives and methods, it often lacks a vital element - communications. If a project is going to be meaningful, its results need to be communicated effectively. So, ask yourself these key questions:
- Have I clearly identified the main audience and other interested parties?
- What are the most effective ways of communicating with them?
- What information should I be giving them to stimulate their continuing interest?
- How can I encourage them to act upon the results of the research?
If you incorporate a detailed communications plan into your brief, you will have made a vital step towards optimising the effectiveness of your project. Take a closer look into the possibilities by clicking here.
MEET THE CLIENT - SHIFTY SHARON
Over the coming issues, we will be producing 'pen portraits' of different types of internal clients, and the issues you may need to address when working with them.
Shifty Sharon
Sharon is a Product Manager who commissions lots of research, but is always moving the goalposts. When a problem arises, she will often act impulsively and demand almost instant information from the Insight team. This can give rise to a range of issues, as her needs will change as she continues to shift the goalposts.
The solution is to get to the root of the underlying problem that led to her request. Don't just blithely accept changing requests for information. You should persist: to find the true problem, you need to see how and why the issue is costing the company money, and find out how you can reverse this trend. Click here to take a closer look...
Next edition - meet Visionary Victor...
DEVELOPING SKILLS
A MATTER OF JUDGEMENT
Putting a commercial value on research results can seem very daunting, but in reality it becomes much easier if you practice regularly. The bottom line is that it ultimately involves intelligent guesses rather than relying on special skills or in-depth figures from your clients. In the world of insight, we need to strengthen our ability to make intelligent insight, we need to strengthen our ability to make intelligent estimates.
We can all learn from the TV programme, 'Dragon's Den'. The entrepreneurs involved sometimes stake a lot of money on a project by making an intelligent guess about its potential. They simply ask themselves a series of simple questions. So, if you want to learn to assess the potential value of an insight, start practising now. It all comes down to a matter of judgement! To find out more, please click here.
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
If you are developing an Insight team, it will need specific skills and a strategy that complements and supports the corporate strategy. But how can you get your team up to speed, and ensure that it has the necessary skills? Where can you source effective training in Insight Management?
Don't worry - the answer is close at hand! At CI Solutions, we have been developing a series of new and stimulating Insight courses. The first three courses will be available in the New Year and will cover the following topics:
- Insight Management: from vision to reality
- How to communicate for maximum impact
- Commercial thinking
We also want feedback from you about your specific needs. For more details, please click here.
FEEDBACK
We want 5-Minute Insights to be as useful as possible. That's where you come in!
Please email us at feedback@cisolutions.co.uk with any comments you have about its content, its style, or with requests of items that you would like to see.
If you have a difficult problem that you are having trouble solving - such as a Marketing Director who insists on ignoring unwelcome insights; or an issue that is challenging your team on the journey towards insight - please let us know. If we can make helpful suggestions we will, and if several people have a similar problem, we will write an article for 5-Minute Insights.
If you would like to pass this newsletter on to your colleagues, please feel free to do so. Equally, if you know anyone who would like to be added to the mailing list, please let us know. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.
