Top of Mind Thursday December 20, 2018: Sometimes You Just Need to Ask

Top of Mind Thursday

I walked into my neighborhood supermarket last week to find the aisle of gluten-free products had disappeared.

Leverage2Market Logo
Well, the physical aisle was still there, but the products weren’t. I asked an employee where they’d gone and he deferred to the manager, who told me we’ve “integrated them into the rest of the store.” What that means is that instead of having all of these in one place, the gluten-free pasta is now mixed with the regular pasta, the gluten-free crackers are now mixed in with the regular crackers, etc.

I’m sure someone at “headquarters” decided this would be a good idea. But here’s the problem. No one ever asked customers how they felt about this.  Having a place where I know to go to look for a particular type of product made this really easy to go in and find what I need. Now I need to go up and down all the aisles and read every package in the cracker section to see which are gluten-free and which aren’t.

When I mentioned this to the manager, he said, “Gee, we never thought of that.” Of course not, because they made a decision without understanding customer behavior–without realizing this would make the shopping experience much more challenging. My first thought was not in what aisle are the cookies now. It was where else can I shop that makes this easier for me.

How do you find out what customers like and don’t like? It’s a really complicated process. Ready? Here goes: Just ask.

Contact me to find out how to get heard above the noise.


Limited time to devote to marketing? Check out our weekly Just a Moment for Marketing videos. They only take a minute.

Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts.

Marketing Above the NoiseCheck out the new video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.

Download a FREE chapter now.

What are people saying?

Buy now.


Let us help your business rise to the top.

linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com

This entry was posted in News and Updates, Top of Mind Thursday Memo and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.

  • Read Our Blog

  • What’s New

    PodcastLinda Popky appears as a guest expert on Technically Speaking to outline your steps to launching and promoting your book! - Listen

    Podcast: Linda Popky and Dan Weedin (Shrimp Tank Podcast) talk with Brett Clark from BC Fitness about the importance of staying active and doing resistance training to slow down muscle loss as we age. - Listen

    SAC® Press Release: "Companies Eye Innovation and Disruption in Volatile Economy" – Read Release.

    Video: Just a Moment for Marketing: One-minute marketing tip videos. – View over 100 videos.

    eBOOK: Top of Mind: 101 Insights to Transform Your Business
    Purchase PDF or ePub book.
    Top of Mind

  • Read Our Blog

  • Subscribe to the Top of Mind Thursday Newsletter

    Free articles download with sign up
  • Marketing Above the Noise

    Introducing Dynamic Market Leverage™, an approach to help cut through the clutter, stand out, and effectively build business.

    Marketing Above The Noise

    What's Inside Available in Hardcover and eBook formats