Here. тут. For entertainment, we are told about “magical marketing techniques,” “insights,” or rather, revelations. They say that these discoveries are kept secret behind seven seals. For example, marketers were surprised to find that people buy non-stick cookware not to save on oil, but because it is easy to clean.
So, there’s this guy who has never set foot in a kitchen and simply doesn’t understand that oil isn’t just for preventing sticking, but also to increase the contact area between the food and the heating surface, and that food tastes better with oil. Then it hits him that the cookware they produce and sell is bought not for the reasons they think, but for entirely different ones. Can you believe it? They’ve been selling frying pans for years without ever buying one for themselves or using it to understand how it works! Or maybe they did buy one and made an omelet without oil (just like they convinced themselves to do), then tried this “rubber” and decided that people are idiots for buying it, but their job is just to lure customers into making a purchase, not to ensure their satisfaction during use.
For any salesperson, this sounds crazy and stupid. Sales, when people work with questions rather than statements, would even hesitate to call it an “insight.” It’s obvious to ask customers what they like about the product, how they can use it, how else they might use it, and who else would benefit from the purchase. These are standard “discovery” questions that every decent salesperson should ask before closing a deal. A salesperson will always achieve customer satisfaction not from the purchase itself, but from the use of the item or service. Salespeople need referrals. They have long been operating in a flat world where no one believes in television or billboards anymore.
Salespeople are on the client’s side. This is essentially what marketing declares by definition: “Marketing is a type of human activity aimed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange.“However, marketers see themselves as scientists in remote (to keep their faces intact) selling, rather than in meeting needs. And that’s how it should be. After all, marketers work for the employer who pays their salary, while salespeople work for the client, from whom they earn commissions and referrals.”
Companies purchase “mystery shopper” services, having pulled service standards out of thin air or from “smart books” that are also fabricated, while never actually visiting their own stores or even those of their competitors. People sell something, believing that certain aspects of the product are necessary and useful from their own perspective, and they never, I repeat, never go to the customer and ask, say, a year after the purchase, what they liked and what they would like to improve. These are simple things. This is the ABCs of sales.
If a washing machine can be used to press grape juice, the lawyers and marketers will write in the manual something like “do not do anything other than washing.” Meanwhile, the salesperson will ask what can be improved in the machine to make it better at juicing. After that, the enlightened marketers, inspired by their “insight,” will release the same product under the name “juicer.” Because of this, we have a plethora of small household appliances in stores that, in theory, are unnecessary. Yogurt makers that could be replaced by good ovens with a heating temperature starting from 35 degrees, fruit dryers, steamers, sandwich warmers, pancake makers, and so on. At most, these products are used as gifts. In other words, they serve as souvenirs or one-time-use toys, and then they gather dust in apartments, spreading waves of negative recommendations. Warehouses are overflowing, money is extracted from circulation, the company is on the brink of bankruptcy, all because a marketer came up with a “new segment” and based it on “stars” and “cash cows.” Now he will be asked how to sell it, and he will suggest discounts or wrapping it with tape labeled “promotion” to another product. Just like in the USSR, “as a bonus.” And before that, instead of surveying “focus groups,” he could just take it home and figure out whether he’s selling something useful or not—he lacks the common sense to do that.
No, damn it, I need to come up with something. unfalsifiable People often refer to the simplest things as insights. However, when it comes to delving deeper into the issue, learning to create and sell products that may not look great on the shelf but are valuable in the home, very few can do it. Well, some can, but that’s considered an “insight.” 🙂