HOW TO: Connect Your C-Suite to Your Consumers

Executive team members can benefit significantly in their individual functional areas by putting their consumers first and getting to know them in a deeper and more dimensional way with these tips:

1. Move research from ignored to inspired

Elevate the importance of research and ensure it is a business intelligence function that informs all areas of your business. Insist that content and presentations are informative, inspiring, engaging and action-oriented with insights, implications and ideas that can fuel decision-making. Ban PowerPoint and insist on dynamic and interactive conversations rather than presentations.

2. Move research from analytical to directional 

Research is often overlooked or quickly forgotten because the presentations are data-driven and dry. Insist that all forms of research are delivered with data-driven insights presented with clear implications and provocative questions to inspire new thinking.

3. Move from research that illustrates statistics to stories that profile people 

Bring your consumer to life in a way that people can understand and relate to. Insist that deep personifications of each of your consumers are created that show them as real people, with all facets of their lives clearly illustrated to help connect your company to the way your consumers live their lives.

4. Move from static to dynamic research

With amazing research design, technology and a clear directional brief, research should be dynamic and inspiring. Ensure you have an active portfolio of research methodologies that provide you with regular and directionally informative updates about the needs, wants, opinions, behaviors, habits and concerns of the people who buy your products.

5. Evolve data into business intelligence 

Develop a dashboard model that connects all of your data so it tells a story and becomes a predictive tool that models scenarios for business performance, business decisions and strategy development. The model should connect sales and traffic performance data, category, economic, environmental, financial and emotional indicators that are combined to help you understand the directional changes of consumers.