Management consulting and market research
are huge multi-billion dollar industries; they are trendy, sleek and always in
demand in today’s world. Corporations want get to know you, they want to learn
more about how often you buy breakfast cereal and how likely you are to switch
to a new brand of toothpaste after your 30th birthday. All this data is then
used to formulate new company strategies or assess the risk factors of opening
a new factory.
But, behind all the glamour of fancy
corporate meetings, expensive suits and shiny slogans are actually people who
have to gather all that information and translate quotes and opinions into
numbers and charts. Sometimes such projects surpass country borders and demand
that the researcher reach out to people and businesses in cultures he or she is
not familiar with. Knowing several languages definitely comes in handy in this
field. In other instances, the researcher is expected to project an aura of
deep understanding of the subject of the research despite the fact the he or
she might not even have heard about it. This is not as easy as it sounds. Say
you are an Australian researcher trying to gather information about the
shipbuilding industry in Denmark; if you speak Danish that's a plus, but if you
can't distinguish a rudder from a mast, people will be reluctant to take you
seriously, let alone give you the data you need.
The best way for a business to study the
market in a specific country is through surveys and inquiries. After all it is
much easier to ask a people what brands of cereal they like than read 20
financial reports on the subject. Just call someone up and ask them a few
friendly questions - how difficult is that, right? Well it is. When your phone
rings and you hear something like: “Good day sir, do you have 5 minutes to
answer some questions?” you immediately think “annoying telemarketer” and feel
like dropping the line.
Here are some tips if you are willing to
test yourself in the field of market research:
1- Never use words like “survey”, “can I
take a few moments of your time” or “would you mind telling me”. These “taboo”
words are often associated with telemarketing and could disrupt the flow of the
conversation. Always use softer alternatives like “we are trying to get a
general understanding” or “gathering ideas and opinions”.
2- Never read from a scripted survey
questionnaire. This makes you sound robotic. Always take the time to read the
questions beforehand and restructure them into an easy flowing informal
conversation. If you are talking in a language that is not your mother tongue,
don't be afraid to use slang terms (in moderation of course) - this makes the
interviewee feel like you know their culture well.
3- If you are conducting your research in
different countries, try to get native speakers of those countries to translate
the questionnaires and, if possible, to conduct the interviews, as well. The
more local the language sounds to the interviewee, the better.
4- Never start doing phone surveys directly
without a proper briefing and research on the topic in question, even if the
deadline is drawing near. Always take some time off to read some
Wikipedia articles about the subject. This will give you enough confidence to
engage in conversation without the fear of stuttering at a critical point in
the interview.
Of course, the best advice of them all is
to actually hire competent people who know what they are doing, whose
translation services are up to the task, who speak the target language fluently
and who are capable of throwing in the necessary amount of charm to get the job
done. inWhatLanguage has all this, plus an extra dose of communication with the
clients, great prices AND an amazing, unbelievable skill: we can make EVEN
market research FUN! Yeah, we are THAT good. Get a free quote now and see it
for yourself!
No comments:
Post a Comment