Nobody likes to hear bad news. The bearer of bad news gets the blame. The hearers of bad news give no credence to the presenter and don’t want to accept ownership of the problem.The biggest challenge a researcher can face is presenting findings that challenge the long-established assumptions of a client company. Perhaps the research uncovers a weakness in the client’s offering – weakness that has been identified and exploited by a competitor. The research also shows that the client’s own customers are aware of the weakness and have become frustrated by it. How should such findings be presented without losing the audience? Can the message be put forward in such a way that prompts the audience to take ownership of the problem and develop solutions that beneficial to their company, their clients and to their entire business sector. This session will provide a real-world example of how a global company was presented with research findings that challenged its view of its products and the company’s position within its industry. The session will seek to demonstrate that how a dilemma is defined and presented plays an important role in winning over the audience and the development of creative solutions.

1. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
The Message is the Method:
Present “Bad News”
and Live to Tell the Tale
Enrico Codogno
Customer Foresight Group, Limited

2. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
NewMR 2018 Sponsors
Pla8num
Gold
Silver
Communica8on
Your name here?
S8ll 8me to be a
2018 NewMR Sponsor

3. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
PresenJng “Bad News” to Clients
What Market Researchers Like:
• Good news
• High Customer Sa8sfac8on Scores
• Uncovering new business opportuni8es
• Maintain the status quo or suggest small changes to the product/service
offerings and prac8ces
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4. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
PresenJng “Bad News” to Clients
What Market Researchers Don’t Like:
• Being messengers of Bad News
• Low Customer Sa8sfac8on Scores
• Uncovering new and unexpected compe88ve challenges
• Need for significant changes to the client’s offerings and prac8ces
• Impact on C-Suite and among stakeholders
Your
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5. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
Nowhere to Run and Hide Your
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6. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
Scenario Your
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Scenario:
• Client provides a subscrip8on service to other businesses, paid in full at the being of the
year
• Customers tend to be mul8-na8onals with 10,000+ employees
• “Use or lose it”: if service not used to the fullest extent, the remainder could not be
carried over to the next year
• Research: top compe8tor found this flaw and exploited it during sales presenta8ons
• Result: lost bids and long-8me clients

7. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
PresentaJon of Research Your
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Presenta8on of Research Results
• Results were indisputable (mystery shopping)
• Client’s customers were aware of the problem: Why not the client?
• Implica8ons for C-Suite and other stakeholders
• Hard decision: accept or reject research results
• Client made the difficult but correct decision to change their product
offering

8. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
ValidaJon of Research Your
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Valida8on of Research Results & Cost
• Proof lay in sales results before and acer research
• Before: Unsuccessful Bids and Loss of clients ($)
• Acer: Successful Bids and Reten8on of Clients ($$)
• Improved sales more than jus8fied the costs of the research (a minimum
of 400:1 within 12 months)
• 0.1% Rule: Research budget should be at least 0.1% of total sales

9. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
SummaJon Your
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• Acceptance of “Bad News is largely dependent on two factors:
1. Quality of the Research (execu8on and presenta8on of the findings)
2. Corporate culture of the client company
(Consultant can only control the first factor)
• Non-tradi8onal market research techniques (e.g., mystery shopping) can provide
insights that tradi8onal market research cannot provide: real 8me/real life interac8ons
between buyers and vendors (CX)
• Benefits of market research: Every $1 spent on market research can result in $100s
and $1,000s in benefits, specifically, in new sales and customer reten8on.
• Market research budgets should be the equivalent of at least 0.1% of sales: $1B in
sales=$1M in market research budget.

10. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
Thank You!
Customer Foresight Group, Limited
www.customerforesight.com
enrico@customerforesight.com
Your
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11. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
Q & A
Enrico Codogno
Customer Foresight
Ray Poynter
The Future Place

12. The Message is the Method
Enrico Codogno, Customer Foresight
Festival of
#NewMR 2018
NewMR 2018 Sponsors
Pla8num
Gold
Silver
Communica8on
Your name here?
S8ll 8me to be a
2018 NewMR Sponsor