The Conference Board’s press release about Americans’ job satisfaction certainly has caused a buzz. Their annual survey of US households found that only 45% of all Americans are satisfied with their jobs. This, according to the Conference Board, is an all time low.
I can’t say I blame people for being unhappy. 2009 was a really hard year for a whole lot of people. Unemployment rates were at twenty year highs. And while some research showed that those with jobs were happier than they had been – maybe just happy to have a job at all – there is no doubt that those who kept their jobs paid a price. Layoff survivors were expected to pick up the slack while many employers cut wages and benefits. And those nest eggs employees thought they had built up lost much of their value.
I am positive that many companies will see a talent exodus as the economy picks up. Those hard working but exhausted employees may see their opportunity to jump ship in 2010.
And yet – I was surprised by the Conference Board’s findings. (more…)
The following link is for a presentation I recently gave at the Marketing Research Association conference in Minneapolis. It describes in detail some of the tips and tricks we have learned at Questar for presenting market research findings to nontechnical audiences.
I would be interested in any suggestions or stories people have surrounding presenting market research findings.
-Tom McGoldrick
Filed under: Customer Satisfaction Issues, Research | Tags: automakers, consumers, reputation management
Out of 31 responses from Liz's Twitter following, 9 said they would consider buying a US-made car, and 22 said they would not.
Out of curiosity, I asked my Twitter followers yesterday if they would consider buying a US car right now. I should have known that this would turn in to a blog post, but that isn’t why I asked. This has been a frequent topic of discussion on the social sphere lately. Ford has Scott Monty managing their reputation on the social web right now, and he frequently reminds us that Ford’s quality numbers are right up there with foreign automakers. But nobody seems to care about that.
The results of the poll in a nutshell: Most people said they would “probably not” and a few people said they’d consider it. I received 31 responses that I could determine a “yes” or “no” from (a lot of people informed me that they would not consider buying any car right now, maybe I should have noted that this is a hypothetical question). I will also note that my Twitter following is not at all a valid sample of the US population, but I follow them because I think they are interesting and intelligent; therefore I value their opinions.
This conclusion is unscientific and based on the explanations from those who responded, but I believe that perceptions of the auto industry right now are much more of a deciding factor than quality numbers. Most of those who said they would not buy an American car believed that foreign cars are better. A lot of people said they never have and never will buy American. Although Ford’s quality numbers are comparable to those of foreign automakers, consumers are in disbelief. The Big 3 need to do something about changing consumers’ perceptions of their brand, and quality numbers will not suffice.
I will admit; I thought everyone would say no. Nine people said yes and twenty-two said no, so it’s not as bad as I presumed. However, it is clear to me that perceptions of US automakers need to change if they want to compete with foreign companies, and it’s going to take more than quality numbers. This is going to take both stability and reliability.
I’d love to hear more in-depth reactions to this topic from those interested in sharing. Thanks again to everyone who responded!
-Liz Giel
There is an interesting article in today’s Chain Leader on the dining habits of most consumers. The article references a study finding that most consumers frequently dine at only 6-10 restaurants per year. This does not indicate that people don’t try a variety of restaurants; it only refers to those restaurants that we dine at repeatedly. The article focuses on how consumers tend to be creatures of habit when deciding where to dine.
This number makes sense to me. In our consulting business, we are always trying to get our clients to think of the lifetime value of each customer. When you lose a customer you don’t lose just one meal- you lose all of their future meals, and all of the new customers they would have brought with or referred to your restaurant. The best restaurant/retail managers don’t think of their customers in terms of an individual visit; they see a visit in the context of the long term relationship they have with each customer. These managers naturally think in terms of service recovery when something goes wrong. They know there will be bumps in the relationship, but always do what they can to make things right. They never just assume they will do better with the next customer.
This is also a good example of the power of brands. When driving down the road tired and hungry, most people will go to the same restaurant for dinner that they habitually go to. I would guess that the more tired or stressed someone is, the more likely they are to go to a familiar brand. Just look at all the large brand restaurants that cluster around airport hotels.
-Tom McGoldrick
