Sergio Zyman, was VP of marketing at Coca-Cola during 1985 during one of the biggest marketing flops in business history, the introduction of New Coke.
Zyman recalls in his book, The End of Marketing As We Know It, that it all came down to failing to ask a single question as they interviewed test customers:
"We gave them samples of various reformulations of Coca-Cola and tested them against the old Coke and also against Pepsi. We also asked them: ‘What would you do if we gave you a product that tasted better than Pepsi, but still was a Coke?’
They told us, ‘I would buy it.’
‘Would you like it?’ we asked.
‘Sure I would like it,’ they said.
The problem was that even though we were asking them the right type of research questions, we didn’t ask The Question.
In truth, the only question we really needed to ask was:
‘If we took away Coca-Cola and gave you New Coke, would you accept it?’"
When "New Coke" came to market, the public answered that question with a responding, "NO WAY!" and sent a multi billion-dollar corporation stumbling down a rocky path.
On your next customer visit, think about the questions you ask. One question can make a huge difference.
"Would you accept it?" Certainly the key question, I remember the public completely rejecting the product. Communication is key! Thank you for the reminder...presented in such a good way!
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Posted by: Avril Shelton | February 27, 2009 at 02:40 PM
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Posted by: replica hermes birkin | December 29, 2011 at 02:18 PM