Parks & Recreation Ontario 2006 Conference
Conducting Customer
Peggy Staite-Wong, M.A.
Robert Wong, M.A., M.C.I.P, C.M.R.P.
The
Resource Management Consulting
Group
A bit about us…


Marketing research & strategic planning
Enjoy projects that benefit our community:






Peggy:



Business plan for G’Nadjiwon Ki Aboriginal Tourism Association
City of Barrie Pesticide Policy
Downtown Collingwood Image Research
Nottawasaga Region Business Retention & Expansion Surveys
Southlake RHC Regional PCI Project Patient and Staff Research
Research project design, implementation and reporting
Roots in environmental planning & horticulture (Master Gardener)
Robert:



Coordinates Research Analyst (post-graduate) Program at Georgian College
Specializes in tourism research and planning
Past-Director of Marketing Research
Intelligence Association


Improve products and services
Obtain timely and reliable
information to…






Make informed decisions
Eliminate a bottleneck
Understand customers’ concerns
Document resource requirements
Determine which changes will produce
the biggest payoff
Make changes that customers
will notice and value
Keys to
Focus your feedback needs
Energize your customers
Efficiency with technology
Discover open-ended value
Benchmark your results
Ask valid questions
Compliment with profile questions
Keep growing your feedback
Success
Focus your feedback needs
E
E
D
B
A
C
K
Establish the Research Direction

Translate Your Issues to Research Objectives

What do I need to know and who can tell me?

Previous research?

Programs & services that will benefit from the research?

Decisions that could be made using the results?

Information gaps?
Iceberg Principle
Look beyond the
symptoms…
low use
complaints
high employee turnover
Research the potential
cause…
F
Energize your customers
E
D
B
A
C
K
Customers want to participate!
 Match method to your customers




Interests
Demographics
Issues
Communication preferences
Customers perceive they benefit
vs.
The “organization” benefits
Methodologies
Quantitative





Large number of
customers
Need the number
Conclusive factual
information
Know range of options but
need to know customers’
preference
Dig into the data for
patterns and sub-group
comparisons
Qualitative





Small number of
customers
Need in-depth information
about an issue
Exploratory
Unsure of the options
Explore the range of ideas
not the preferred
Be Creative
Observation
Quantitative
Focus Group
Face-to-face
Mailout
Scannable
PDA
Survey
In-depth
Interview
Online
Discussion
Telephone Survey
Online
Survey
Qualitative
Mixed Methods Work
Quantitative
Face-to-face
PDA
Survey
Online
Discussion
Qualitative
F
E
Efficiency with technology
D
B
A
C
K
Peek at Technology
What’s it look like?
Online
Discussion Board
F
E
E
Discover open-ended value
B
A
C
K
Why Open-Ended?
 When? Exploring



Don’t know all the answers
Learn their words, their language
Unprompted response
 Challenges?

Analysis
 Open-ended responses add value
Images of Collingwood
Heritage & More…
-natural but historic
-nature and town together
-kept up historically … nice individual
stores kept alive
-love wide street & mix of old and new
Classic
-cute, attractive, beautiful
-classic with great feel of the
past
-pretty: the way its laid out,
wide streets and sidewalks,
history, character
Pedestrian Friendly
-great parking Downtown
-pedestrian friendly
Quaint & Charming
Atmosphere
-charming, quaint
-friendly people place!!!
-welcoming, feel very at home
-relaxed, unlike the city
-growing up!
Love the Beautification
-overall appearance is pleasant
and relaxing: greenery,
flowers, cleanliness, music
-shady, comfortable, green
Extremely Clean
-well maintained
-clean!!!!
(not mentioned about other
communities)
F
E
E
D
Benchmark your results
A
C
K
Benchmarking
 Quantitative
 Establish basis for comparison
 Requires set of common questions
 Examples



Within department over time
Throughout one organization
Against other similar organizations
Benchmarking on
a National Scale
 The Common Measurements Tool (CMT)



Set of commonly used survey questions and
response measurements
Enables organizations throughout Canada to
compare results
Facilitates sharing of information gained and
lessons learned
F
E
E
D
B
Ask valid questions
C
K
5 Common Wording Problems
1. Vague questions

Need context of situation, time frame

How often do you ski?
 CCS or alpine?
 Over a season or at holidays?
 In Ontario or anywhere?

None, few times, a little, some, lots
2. Double-barreled questions

Easier to spot on key words


“helpful and courteous”
More difficult to spot in a statement

“I just need time! I need time for myself as well as quality
time with my child”
5 Common Wording Problems
3. Collectively exhaustive


All possible choices offered
Use other as an option but be prepared for high
response
4. Mutually exclusive

No overlapping categories


Age 20-30 30-40 40-50
What type of vehicle do you drive?
 Camry, SUV, Outback, Explorer, GM
5. Undecided, Don’t Know


They are different!
Undecided attracts fence sitters
Let’s Look at Some Surveys
F
E
E
D
B
A
Compliment with profile
K
Profile Tips

Profile questions allow comparison to other
studies




Demographic anchor points should match Canada
Census
Open-ended occupation, then match with Standard
Industry Classification (SIC) Manual
Check other research from your organization
Income is sensitive to some


Do you need to know?
Art to getting a response
Presenting a Profile




Prime working years
65% work for a company
20% self employed
42% have children living at home,
of these about ½ under 14 yrs of
age
Employment N=556
Selfemployed
20%
Gov't
8%
NFP/not
employed
7%
Corporate
65%
F
E
E
D
B
A
C
Keep growing your feedback
4 Ways to make research useful
Graphs reinforce words
Residents are aware of pesticide impacts
 Pesticides have negative effects  Pesticides are not essential



Contaminate surface &
groundwater (86%)
Harm children (80%)
Pollute air (68%)
Never for sports fields
(70%)
54% use pesticides but
only 30% said pesticides
were necessary


Attitudes about Chemical Pesticides
surface/groundwater
harm children
not on sports fields
pollute air
pesticides necessary
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% respondents n365-378
strongly agree
agree
disagree
strongly disagree
undecided
Creative Presentation
Creemore
N=267
-very small, tiny
-artsy, lovely, quaint
-old country but not
heritage
-dull, boring, looks like
something could happen
but nothing does
-nicely done, quiet, friendly
-not much there
Thornbury
N=300
-similar to Collingwood, just
smaller
-cute, quaint, small
-expensive stores, trendy
-village-like, whimsical
-needs a face lift
-more charming, less
practical
-growing, improving
Wasaga Beach
N=320
-half of comments negative
-tacky & dirty, but nice
beach, just too crowded
-lacking a real main street &
friendliness
-touristy, cheesy
-entertaining, young
-wild, busy, fun
-party central
Keys to
Focus your feedback needs
Energize your customers
Efficiency with technology
Discover open-ended value
Benchmark your results
Ask valid questions
Compliment with profile questions
Keep growing your feedback
Success
Questions
Connect with us:
wong.rmcg@sympatico.ca