 |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
Issue 2 - January 2007 CONTENTS - Laminate to Accentuate! - Meet the client - Visionary Victor - You CAN Make a Difference! - Putting the Power Back into PowerPoint
INTRODUCTION Welcome to the second edition of 5 Minute Insights, the new 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 LAMINATE TO ACCENTUATE! If you want to make a short document appear more important, try laminating it! Emails can be overlooked, and paper messages are often binned or lost – but an item that has been laminated stands out, and also lasts longer. It may even get pinned to a wall or notice board! Be selective about what you laminate – don’t over-do it, or it will lose its impact. One major FMCG company laminated some ‘Basic Insights’ sheets which contained ten key facts from customer research, along with ten implications and product ideas. Here are a few potential applications you could try:
Bring your laminated articles to life with colour, or with graphics or photos – anything that will keep relevant insights in mind and that will help to keep the consumer at the heart of the business.
VISIONARY VICTOR This is the second in a set of 'pen portraits' of different types of internal clients, and the issues you may need to address when working with them.
Visionary Victor Victor is a Marketing Director – and a good one! He is very bright, and has a clear vision of where he wants to go. However, he isn’t good when it comes to detail. He will often paint a motivating picture of his aims, but then leave it to others to work out how to get there. They will struggle to understand how he has built his picture, and therefore what they need to do. Even worse, if the facts get in the way, the bearer will often be branded as negative. The problem lies in different working styles. Victor is at one extreme – both expressive and passionate – whilst members of Insight teams lean towards the other extreme – very rational and wanting to take in much more than they give out. The answer is not to change Victor, but to learn to talk in a language that removes any antagonism: to support the vision whilst carefully introducing negative aspects, and suggesting potential solutions. To find out more about how you can do this, click here. Next edition - meet Timid Tim...
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Do you sometimes feel as if you’re a back-room information provider, when really you want to play a more active and influential role in your organisation? Our IBEX benchmarking study showed that most companies feel the same. They actually want their Insight team to:
So, it’s time to stop being reactive and to start being proactive! All you need is a little confidence and some in-depth knowledge about:
Intrigued? Please click here to find out more and to access the IBEX survey results.
DEVELOPING SKILLS PUT THE POWER BACK INTO POWERPOINT People are all too ready to join in when they talk of "Death by PowerPoint". What they mean is that they have been to too many very boring presentations. However, the fault lies with the presenter, not the tool. PowerPoint has many communication applications beyond simple presentation and must be mastered. When used properly, PowerPoint can be your friend and ally and can be a highly effective way of driving home a series of messages. It can even help presenters who otherwise have all the charisma of a carrot... Mastering PowerPoint involves many different technical and creative skills – and making the effort to develop these can really pay dividends. But probably the most important of these is planning – ultimately, PowerPoint can never totally compensate for poorly planned or poorly executed material. When starting to plan, here are three questions to address:
For some useful hints about developing your PowerPoint skills, please click here.
‘NO’ CAN BE A VERY POSITIVE WORD… It’s easy for Insight teams to end up reacting to demands all of the time: always delivering but never having time to stop and think and plan. So, how can you break the cycle and become proactive rather than reactive? The key lies in learning to control events – which sometimes involves saying ‘No’. To be a more proactive team, you first need a proactive plan. A member of your team will therefore need to set aside some specific thinking time. Developing the plan will involve: * Making a rough assessment of the potential value of each requested project * Prioritising the most important items and making sure they are carried out effectively * Learning to say ‘No’ to the least valuable requests To find out more, please click here.
TRAINING Just a reminder that we are running three open Insight training courses in London in February and March this year. They are: Insight Management: From Vision to Reality - 8th February 2007 Commercial Thinking - 15th February 2007 How To Communicate for Maximum Impact - 15th March 2007 Please Click here for more details
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.
|
||
 |
||
 |
||
