Market research methods

There are different definitions of marketing, but in fact they all mean the same thing: find out what customers want and produce / deliver it. The four key elements of marketing are:

• research - finding out;

• strategy - the vision;

• planning - the "how";

• tactics at the sharp end.

Several methods are available. The main ones are:

• telephone Interviews;

• written questionnaires; о street interviews;

» face to - face interviews.

Others you may come across are:

• product testing;

• consumer panels; о observation;

• focus people.

You must choose die right combination of methods that will yield the answers you need. Each of them has pros and cons.

Exercise 10. Everyone knows that "yesterday's luxury is today's neces­sity." Work in pairs and decide if the objects arc luxuries or necessi­ties. Put a tick in the chart. Then compare your answers with another pair. Agree on a definition of luxury and necessity.

Object-Luxury	Necessity	Own use	Brand name	Reason for buying
| car
coffee
I shampoo
perfume
toaster
j wristwatcK
! television
telephone				I
sunglasses				!
! jeans			I • I

Keys

Exercise. 2. promotion, management, selection, development, introduction, information, attention, environment, segmentation, position, combination, distribution, promotion, introduction.

Exercise 4. 1. Marketing is the performance of business activities that di­rect the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.

2. Ti is 4 p-s - the product, the placc. The price and the promo­tion. Part II Role simulation

1. Getting acquainted witii manager and manager's role in the company

You arc at annual parly of Tresor PLC. You have just started work­ing for Tresor and don't know anyone here.

• greet your Mends;

• ask your friend Mike Fields to introduce you to Marketing and Com­puter Managers;

• thank your friend for introducing you to these people:

• answer their questions about your professional interests and companies you have worked for;

• thank them tor the talk and say good-bye lo ihcm.

You are invited to your friend's place. It is not your first visit to their place, hut you sec a new girl there.

• greet your friends;

• ask your friend to introduce you lo this girl; ask her about her place of work;

ask her about her interests;

• ask her to give you her address and telephone number;

• promise her lo call in 3 days after 7 o'clock.

You are invited to a business meeting at Tresor PLC. You see some new people there; you know that these people can be your part­ners:

• greet them;

• try to start a conversation politely;

• try to get information about their jobs and places of work;

• give them information about yourself, using the business card.

Nelson Electrics

Cathy Lester. Computer Manager 375 Montefiore Road, Brighton, England Tel: 1)9387 Telex; 119367

Discussing Management Problems a. The Manager's role

You are a new Managing Director of Linden Motors. It's your first meeting with middle management. You speak about 5 kinds of tasks which are generic to all management jobs:

• explain that they are planning, organizing, leading, controlling and achieving (POLCA);

• ask middle managers to explain their understanding each of them;

• Mr. Smith speaks about planning (mission/strategy planning, objec­tive-setting) and organizing (organizing time, organizing work, deci­sion-making);

• ask Mr. Roncn if he agrees that leading is teambuilding, motivation, communication, meeting;

• ask Mr. Smith if controlling involves correcting errors, disciplining, appraising;

• ask Mr. Nelson if he knows that achieving is putting it all together and getting the right things done;

• express your satisfaction with the talk and wish everybody good luck.

You discuss the manager's role in transition from specialist to man­ager. You think that there are some golden rules of the newly- appointed manager and of the newly-appointed manager's boss.

• greet your colleagues;

• ask them if they know golden rules of the newly - appointed manager;

• explain that the newly-appointed manager should:

• renegotiate previous on-the-job relationships (colleagues, mates, old bosses);

• be loyal to the new boss;

• face the music - he is not a conductor.

• ask your colleagues if they agree that as the newly-appointed manager's boss you should:

• communicate the promotion and all its consequences to all the team members;

• delegate - don't abdicate;

-be sensitive to the new manager's role-conflict.

• ask your colleagues about their opinions on the main difficulties in these kinds of work;

• thank them and say good-bye.

B. Planning

You are discussing planning with middle management. First, you ex­plain that all good strategic or operational plans answer the six ED SODA questions:

• Experience?

• Direction?

• Situation now?

• Outcome desired?

• Deadline?

• Action steps?

• Mr. Frost speaks about experience and direction. Experience in­cludes traditions, culture and management style, resistance to change. It is the question "Where are we coming from?" Direction means an­swering the question "Where are we heading (ifwe keep going)?"

• Mr. Nelson speaks about situation now and outcome desired;

• Mr. Backer speaks about deadline and action steps (strategy, sub- objectives, resources needed).

You arc discussing the planning cascade, including organizational mission, strategy, unit objectives and individual objectives.

• Mi". Welsch understands mission as voluntary imprecise statement of purpose, overall task, ethic, policy of the organisation.

e.g. "To provide excellent service to our customers".

• Mr. Burton speaks about strategies as conscious choices as to how the mission is to be fulfilled (e.g. operating options; areas of empha­ses, decisions on methods, resources and direction).

e.g. "To improve customer service by computerizing, order handling and stock control".

• Mr. Frost speaks about objectives. He considers them to be the criti­cal few measurable differences between performance now and per­formance expected at the end of a given period.

e.g. "To have reduced the number of customer complaints on delivery from the present 10 per month to max. 2 per month by July 31^st with­out extra headcount. - you agree and say that a good objective must meet 3 criteria (neces­sary, realistic and agreed) and must have 3 components (result, dead­line, limits). - you say that action steps mean sub-objectives.

C. Organizing

You are discussing problems of organizing time:

• Mr. Becker speaks about principles of time planning. lie mentions 4 main principles of time planning:

• define and record your key goals;

• selcct appropriate time-planning instrument;

• define most useful time savers; get organized;

• Mr. Fletcher thinks that in order to define key goals, first it is neces­sary to conduct an ED SODA exercise on yourself.

Experience. Where am I coming from? Direction. Where am I heading (if T keep going)? Situation now. Where am I now? Outcome desired. Where do I want to be? Deadline. By when do I want to be there? Action steps. How will I get there?

• you agree and say that it gives the opportunity to define your career goals, annual goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, daily goals;

• you thank the participants and say good-bye.

You are discussing problems of organizing work. You think that the professional manager organizes the work of his or her unit by:

-job descriptions (which tasks are to be performed by which func­tion?);

-job specifications (what kind of person is required to perform cach job?);

• job maps (which responsibilities are given to each person and how will that person be judged?).

- you ask Mr. Benson how he understands job descriptions and he ex­plains that they include:

• accountabilities (checklist of duties for which position is accountable):

• dimensions ("size" of position - sales? budget? machines?);

• framework (organization chart);

• relationships (list of internal and external contacts the position re­quires and their frequency).

• Mr. Townsend speaks about time planning instruments, such as:

-pocket planner, -desk diary, -desktop calendar, -wall planner, -things to do checklist, -personal computer, -hand-held memo-calculator, -post-it notes.

• Mr. Brown thinks that there are time-savers in the office and outside the

office. If you are in the office, you should:

• prioritize action items: A - do now, В - do soon, С - do later;

• treat all the appointments like the dentist (postponing means sliding back);

• implement a "quiet hour" with no interruptions;

• never touch a piece of paper more than once;

• group appointments together;

• always seek precise information;

If you are outside the office, you should:

• always have your time planner close at hand;

• use down-time productively (delayed flights, waiting);

• read weekly, not daily news (in bus, train or plane);

• watch TV news every day;

• get up 30 minutes earlier;

• block hours for hobbies;

• when in doubt - do it now.

• Mr. Thompson thinks that a job specification for each position de­scribes the kind of person required to perform satisfactorily in terms of:

• physical (health, appearance, age);

• achievements (education experience, training);

• aptitudes (with equipment, words, figures);

• disposition (acceptability, dependability, persuasiveness);

• environment (domestic, background);

• interests (hobbies);

• salary requirements.

• Mr. Gration gives special attention to the fact that job discriptions and job specifications are formal and somewhat rigid. As for a job map - it is flexible. It should be up-dated with eraser and a pencil each time something about the job or the job-holder changes. It should cover 4 essential performance ingredients:

• mission (Why is this person here?);

• accountabilities (One phrase for each area);

• standards (Performance will be satisfactory when ...);

• authority limits (How far can the person go in each area of account­ability).

You are satisfied with the discussion and thank everybody.

D. Leading

You greet everybody and propose to discuss the problem of success­ful teams. You think that successful teams have several things in common - whether they arc sports teams, business teams, military teams or whatever. You think that there are 8 characteristics of team- building which will help you to analyze the "health" of your own team:

1. a mission or charter;

2. common objective;

3. interdependence of members;

4. an effective relationship to the environment;

5. an identifiable decision-making system;

6. well-motivated members;

7. an effective leader;

8. well-organized, effective meetings.

You suggest discussing some of them. Mr. Frost considers the problem of common objectives to be the most important one. He thinks that common objectives should be necessary, realistic, agreed. For that the team should plan results, deadline, limits and action steps.

Mr. Brown considers the problem of interdependence of members to be the most important one. It includes clear rules and roles, encouragement of individual differences and good management of tension. He offers a small diagram to illustrate good management of tension in every team.

amount of tension

• Mr. Lincoln speaks about an identifiable decision-making system. He thinks that depending on the situation decisions will be taken by:

• consensus (most efficient but time-consuming);

• information exchange - majority decides;

• information exchange - leader decides;

• leader makes unilateral decision.

• Mr. Fox considers that the most important factors are well-motivated members and an effective leader. As for well-motivated members it is necessary to provide good salary, working conditions, tools. Individual needs should be identified and satisfied and management style should fit needs and expectations. In addition to it an effective leader is a part of the successful team building. The effective leader should be good plan­ner, organizer, controller, leader and achiever. But that's not all. He should be good communicator (questioner, listener, presenter). He should be assertive. It is also necessary to agree objective with team members and to monitor performance.

• You are satisfied with the discussion and thank everybody.

You are discussing the problem of leadership. Is there such a thing as an ideal leader? You ask managers to describe the best leader they have ever known. They describe the best leader giving the following charac­teristics:

a) fair b) intelligent c) competent

courageous fair communicative

friendly dynamic decisive

decisive firm

hardworking

intelligent

generous

competent

- You add that though you can't change your personality, as a team leader you have to change your management style according to the situation. Some aspects which differentiate situations are: urgency, emotions, skill mix, environment.

2. TRAYELLING

You are going to travel on business abroad and you are calling to the Embassy to find out about a business visa:

• greet the Consular Department secretary;

• introduce yourself and explain the reason for your call;

• ask him about the time necessary for visa preparation;

• find out if it is necessary to submit a completed application from, pass­port and photographs;

• clarify, how many photographs you have to submit;

• tell the secretary that you'll bring the photographs tomorrow;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You are going to travel to London for 10 days for pleasure and you are calling to find out everything connected with a tourist visa:

• greet the Consular Department secretary;

introduce yourself and explain the reason for your call;

• find out the way of applying for a visa - personally or by post;

• find out if it necessary to submit a letter from the travel agent in addi­tion to a completed application form passport and photographs;

• ask the secretary who will take care of your tickets and accommodation in London;

• find out how long it will take to prepare a tourist visa to London;

• ask the secretary how expensive it is to have a tourist visa;

• thank him for the information and say good-bye.

You meet your foreign partner at the airport. You haven't seen him for a long time. Speak to him and:

• greet him;

ask him about the flight;

• offer him to go to the airport building to have a eup of coffee;

• tell him that the car is outside the airport building;

• find out if he wants to go to the hotel or to the office;

• tell him about his business schedule for 3 days;

• invite him to the car.

You travel by plane to London. You don't know airport formalities for the international flights. Speak to your colleague who is an experi­enced international flight traveler:

• ask him when you should arrive to the airport;

• find out the free luggage allowance;

• ask him about the allowed and prohibited things to bring in;

• find out what customs declaration is;

• find out if it is necessary to have a vaccination certificate for a visit to any country or only to exotic countries;

• ask him to explain the difference between Green and Red sections of the Customs;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You are booking a plane reservation. You are speaking to a clerk:

• greet him and introduce yourself;

• tell him you would like to book a seat on the plane to Rome;

• specify the date - the 10^m of March;

• answer his question about your class of travel - it is economy class;

• ask him about the time of your arriving to the airport before the flight; clarify the time of arriving to Rome and the length of flight;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You are on the way back from your business (rip to Moscow. You are registering your ticket and weighing in your luggage. Speak to an of­ficial:

• greet him;

• ask him if you can check in for the flight to Moscow here; ask him what tree luggage allowance is;

• as your luggage is too heavy ask him if you can take something out;

• ask where you can pay extra for an excess luggage;

• thank him.

You travel on board the plane. Speak to a stewardess and find out everything about the service during the flight:

• greet her;

ask her about meals and drinks on board the plane;

• tell her that you have a headache during take-off and ask her for a headachc pills;

• find out if it is allowed to smoke on board the plane;

• ask her if it is possible to have any newspaper or magazine free of charge;

• find out if they have any video film to watch during the flight or any radio-program to listen to;

• thank her for her help.

You travel on board the plane and feel yourself not quite well. You speak to a person sitting next to you:

• apologize and ask him to call for the stewardess;

• ask him if he doesn't mind lowering the back of your seat;

• ask him to switch on the ventilator and thank him;

• ask him to open the bottle of mineral water for you;

• thank him and say that you feel better.

i

You have come to a custom's desk and answer the questions of the custom's official:

• greet the custom's official and give him your declaration;

• tell him that you are going to slay in the country for a couple of weeks;

• explain that you haven't got anything to declare - no fruit, alcohol or cigarettes;

• ask if it is necessary to open your suitcase for careful examination;

• explain that you are brining some gifts for your friends, such as per­fume and 2 boxes of chocolates;

• ask the official where to go after the examination of your luggage;

• thank him and go to the gate over there.

You have arrived to a big city and would like to rent a car. Speak to an official at the car rental agency:

• greet an official and tell him that you have reserved a car, which you would like to pick up;

• tell the official your name, the date of reservation and the way of reser­vation (by telephone, by fax or by E-mail);

• answer the question about the kind of car you have ordered (an Audi);

• explain that you travel alone and don't need such a big car now;

• explain the official that you are going to use the car for 3 days;

• answer the question about the way of payment for renting - by Visa Card;

• thank the official for help and say good-bye to him.

You have to travel to a small city by bus and have come to a bus depot (автовокзал). You speak to a clerk:

• greet him and ask how much a ticket to Reno is;

• explain that you need a round trip ticket;

• ask if there is a discount for a round nip;

• say that eighty dollars is not expensive for a round trip tickct;

• ask if it is necessary to check the suitcase;

• ask if they take Visa Cards to pay for the ticket and luggage; ask where your bus stop is;

• thank the official and say good-bye to him.

You have just been married and would like to spend your honeymoon abroad. You speak to a travel agent:

• greet him and explain that you have just been married;

• explain that you have got a couple of weeks for your honeymoon trip;

• ask what routes are offered for a honeymoon trip;

• explain that safari honeymoon is not good for you as your wife can't stand heat;

• ask if it is possible to spend two weeks at the seaside of the Baltic Sea;

• find out if there are any discounts for just-married couples;

• ask how and when you should pay for the trip;

• agree to the route offered by a travel agent and pay at once by credit card;

• thank the clerk and say good-bye to him

You are at the airport and you would like to change your reservation. Speak to the clerk and:

• greet him;

• tell him that you have got a reservation for 14.00 on 3 September;

• explain him that you have got some urgent business in New York and need an extra day;

• find out how much it costs to change your reservation;

• explain that you'd prefer to fly in the evening to have enough time to complete the airport formalities;

tell him you'd prefer business class;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You arc talking to a travel agent about your holiday trip:

• greet him;

• tell him you are prepared to pay S1500;

• explain him you would like to start from London and move westwards;

• ask him what countries you may visit for a 10 - day trip;

• find out if it is necessary to have inoculation against yellow fever;

• explain him that you'd prefer to have a package tour as you don't like to take care of meals and accommodation while traveling;

• decide whether you travel or not;

• thank him and say good-bye,

3. HOTEL

You are calling to Sheraton hotel to make a reservation. You speak to a receptionist:

• greet him;

• introduce yourself;

• tell him you would like to make a reservation;

• ask him if they have a vacancy;

explain him that you would like to stay for 3 nights - from the 1^st to the 4^th of Octobcr;

• tell him that you would like to have a single room with a shower;

• ask him how expensive it is;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You are speaking to a receptionist about accommodation of 3 top ex­ecutives.

greet him and introduce yourself;

• tell him that you would like to accommodate 3 people who are top ex­ecutives;

• explain him that you would like to reserve 3 single rooms with the view;

• tell him that they would like to have rooms with shower, background music and mini-bars for 3 nights;

• find out the price;

thank him and say good-bye.

You are talking to a bell-boy at a hotel:

greet him and introduce yourself;;

• ask him if you can have room - sendee day and night;

• find out if they charge extra for meals and drink in the room;

• ask him when they serve breakfast in the breakfast room;

• find out if you can fill in a breakfast order and place it on the door han­dle outside the room;

• thank him for the information.

You are talking to a maid about laundry order:

• greet her and introduce yourself;

• ask her if they provide laundry sendees or dry cleaning services;

• find out what kinds of clothes they laundry;

• find out if it is possible to have an urgent order;

• ask him when you can have your laundry back; thank him and say good-bye.

You have failed to reserve a room in advance. Speak to a receptionist and try to persuade him and to register you at a hotel:

• greet him and introduce yourself;

• explain him that you have been sent to this city on urgent business and you haven't reserved the room in advance;

• tell him that you need a room for 2 nights only;

• tell him that you agree to stay in the double room without the view; agree to his suggestion to slay in the room on the ground floor without a bathroom, but with a shower;

• be ready to pay by credit-card;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You are speaking to a telephone operator to book a call to Moscow:

• greet him, introduce yourself and give your room-number;

• explain her that you would like to call to Moscow;

• explain that it is an urgent business call;

• give her the telephone number in Moscow; explain her that it is station-to-station call;

• tell her that you will pay after the call at the reception;

• thank her and say that your are waiting for the caJI.

You are staying at a hotel and need get to the airport. You call to the Fast Taxi Service. You speak to a manager of this service:

• greet him and introduce yourself;

• explain him that you stay at the Sheraton Hotel and need get to the air­port;

• tell him that this trip is urgent and you need a taxi in 15 minutes' time;

• tell the manager that you'll be waiting at the reception hall;

• thank him for being helpful.

You are booking the hotel to accommodate 100 people. You are talk­ing to a manager of the hotel:

• greet the manager;

• introduce yourself and tell him that you would like to organize a 2 day- conference;

• explain him that you would like to discuss with him accommodation, facilities and catering;

• as far as accommodation is concerncd, you need 5 single rooms, for 2 days, 2 dinners and 5 breakfasts;

• find out the price of these services;

• specify that you need a conference room and display area for 1 day;

• find out the price for them;

• as far as the catering is concerned, you need 100 cups of coffee, and biscuits lunch for 100 people and tea for 100 people.

• find out the price for everything;

• ask if there is a discount in the view of the large order;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You are checking out. Speak to a receptionist:

• greet him and say that you would like to chcck out;

• ask him how much you should pay;

• ask him if it is possible to pay by credit card;

• thank him for everything and say good-bye.

4. EATING OUT

You are on board the plane. You arc talking to a flight attendant:

• greet her;

tell her that you are thirsty;

• ask her if it is possible to have some mineral water or lemonade;

• fmd out if you can have some chewing-gum or peppermints;

• ask her when they are going to serve meals;

• find out if it is possible to order chicken and some salad, you don't eat rice and beef;

• thank her.

You are talking to a receptionist at the hotel and frying to get infor­mation about meals at the hotel:

• greet him;

• tell him that it is your first visit to this hotel;

• explain him that you would like to get information about meals at the hotel;

• find out if they have a restaurant and a bar;

• find out when they are open;

ask him if they serve breakfast and dinner in the room;

• ask him if the price for breakfast is included into the bill;

• find out if they serve national cuisine at the hotel restaurant; ask him if they serve traditional local drinks at the restaurant;

• thank him and say good-bye.

You have just arrived to Madrid. You are a bit tired and refuse you partner's invitation to the restaurant:

• explain him that it was a long and tiresome flight;

• tell him that you are a bit airsick;

• promise him to go to the restaurant on Saturday evening;

• thank him for the invitation.