In a 2001 column, World magazine publisher Joel Belz called relying too much on research "the fallacy of false precision." Precision is what Ford was seeking when it famously passed on launching the minivan. Hal Sperlich, who ended up taking the concept to Chrysler, recounted in a 1994 Fortune article that Ford balked because research couldn't prove there was a market for such an unprecedented vehicle. "In 10 years of developing the minivan we never once got a letter from a housewife asking us to invent one." Call it a hunch, call it intuition or insight, call it whatever—Sperlich and his team were correct, regardless of what the research said (or didn't say).
As is animated movie studio Pixar, time after time, as it churns out one hit after another. Andrew Stanton, director of WALL-E, admitted in a 2008 Wall Street Journalcolumn, "We selfishly make movies for ourselves that happen to be juvenile enough that they cover the kids' interests. We've learned to trust our own instincts about what we like and not rely on, or trust, what the outside world tells us is going to work." Apple's Steve Jobs is cut from the same cloth."We do no market research," Jobs told Fortune in a 2008 interview. "We just want to make great products." I think he has proven his approach works.
Market research is a compass, not a map—it can give you a sense of where you are, but it can't tell you where to go. Measure to guide, don't measure to lead, and when you do talk to customers, remember you can't always go through the front door—sometimes you have to sneak in through a window to find out what they really think. Figuratively speaking, of course.
Steve McKee, "The Perils of Market Research," BusinessWeek, 12 Mar 2010,
www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2010/sb20100312_705320.htm.
www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2010/sb20100312_705320.htm.
