The Many Faces of the Customer by Brian Kon, President, AZtech. Getting to know the various faces of the consumer, at an early stage in the development of the product, is crucial to its success in the marketplace.
Some key tools are focus groups, direct-mail surveys and personal interviews.
Each session has approximately eight to twelve participants. Multiple sessions also eliminate the effect of situations where groups are brought together that do not have a good interaction with one another, or groups that are affected by the influence of a dominant participant. The focus group environment should create a sense of warmth to make the participants feel they are safe to share their feelings or concerns. The participants share a common background to the topic being discussed. The experience of each customer representative provides a different perspective of the topic and promotes deeper discussion by the participants.