
	Member Login

	Articles Online
	White Papers
	Presentations
	Newsletters
	Best Practices
	Directory
	Meetings


	Featured Links
	Resource Guide
	Industry Resources
	TMCA Blog
	Resource Guide
	Ask The Expert
	Industry News

	Join TMCA

Featured Links: Measurement

	Dick Metzler shares advice on how and when to use research.

	How important is market research? “Research is the heart of marketing,” says Dick Metzler, Chief Commercial Officer of Greatwide Logistics Services, a truckload transportation and distribution company. “Research should drive everything in marketing. Every good marketing plan has a good situation analysis. But no good situation analysis can be good without market research. However, it doesn’t even necessarily mean you need to spend a lot of money to do it.” Metzler, who is a past recipient of the TMCA Marketing Executive of the Year Award and who has more than 25 years experience in marketing, sales, strategic planning and M&A, shared his advice on how and when to use research at the recent TMCA Marketing Bootcamp in Dallas. He began with his own personal definition of the discipline: “Marketing is used to manipulate perceptions in order to build a preferred brand.” Perceptions may or may not be reality—but they’re generally somebody’s perceived reality,” he added. “When you have the right research,” says Metzler, “whether it’s comprehensive research, a solid situation analysis or SWOT, it then makes it very easy to develop marketing objectives, strategies, tactics, budgets, and measurement systems—which all make up the marketing strategy.” When To Go On The Front Lines With Research—And When To Retreat There are many instances when research is critical, explains Metzler: “You better have all the facts when there is significant risk to a marketing or business decision. You should also use research when people need to have a reason to believe or if you have a strong “sales prevention” department. “Another ideal time to use research is when there are several logical ways to go,” he adds. “Or wherever you have to know who, what, why, etc. with a higher degree of uncertainty.” Metzler also notes that there are many instances when you shouldn’t use research: “If the flipping answer is obvious, don’t waste the time or money. Or if your internal audience just doesn’t care or need proof, why bother? Certainly you shouldn’t use research if it’s serving as a crutch and your gut feel is actually more effective. And if you can’t afford to do it right (unassailable methodology), then don’t use it improperly.” Dick’s War Stories Metzler shared several of his war stories that have been peppered throughout his career in transportation marketing. One tale involved a critical point in his 18-year career stint with FedEx and his first job in a marketing function there was to build a strategic marketing plan. This was in the days before its chief competitor, UPS, was even in the air or express business. “You could see it coming,” recalls Metzler. “UPS was testing second day and on-call pick-ups. Eventually they were going to do next morning by 10:30 and they would have a lower cost base because they were coming from a ground perspective. We had done a lot of good research—primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative—and we had found that we needed a product in-between 10:30 and our second day service so we wouldn’t be forced to lower our price on our 10:30 service. “So we presented our findings and Fred Smith (the founder and chairman of FedEx) said ‘you don’t have a clue about how this company is run,’ and kicked us out of the boardroom. “After I licked my wounds, I asked my team, ‘What are we missing here?’” he continued. “We created an ad hoc research development team, which had never existed at FedEx before at that time, and conducted some more research. Again they presented their recommendations with new data. And again, he threw us out.” Metzler and his team wasn’t deterred, and they gathered yet more evidence that UPS was coming on. He went back again with additional data and asked Fred Smith to allow him to test it in three markets—and he did. They then expanded to nine markets, and then to 25. “It really insulated FedEx’s 10:30a revenue stream,” says Metzler. “Standard Overnight Service still is today a huge business for FedEx, and its because research was used the right way to build the argument. When you’re prepared to put yourself on the line based upon research, it can be very powerful.” Metzler also points out that “triangulation” in research can be crucial. This method is when you obtain primary and secondary research, qualitative and quantitative—and several sources are all saying the same thing. Triangulation is critical when you’re “playing for all the marbles” or making a substantial recommendation that could be putting your job on the line—and you need to establish credibility. Metzler offers this war story as an example: “Several years ago I was assigned to be the head of marketing with FedEx in Europe. They owned various companies over there, many of which weren’t aligned with the FedEx core business. They had made a lot of bad acquisitions and were losing a lot of money. So when I landed across the pond, we start doing research. We talked with customers and industry consultants, and what we found wasn’t good. No one knew FedEx—about 10% had never heard of us on an aided basis. Those who did know us said we picked up later than the other guys, we delivered later, our service delivery was poor, and our billing was inaccurate. “The general manager of Europe said he didn’t care what our research said. His perspective was that he had bought all these companies and we just need to grow it. So we embarked on the most comprehensive research I’ve ever done. My people scattered across the continent…we had guys with stop watches at the end of runways clocking TNT, DHL, FedEx take-off times. We had 10,000 blind packages that were part of a “Mystery shopper” exercise that identified pick-up and delivery accuracy. We did focus groups, market surveys, the works. It was a great piece of triangulation that truly substantiated what we believed. “So Fred Smith came over to listen to our presentation. By that time I had done a lot of things with him, looking at a lot of ventures together, but I was nervous because he had made a lot of these acquisitions. I was putting my career on the line because I was ready to tell him he needed to get out of two-thirds of his failing businesses in Europe and then concentrate on the only part where we could add value—the intercontinental piece, which is what our brand stood for there. The general manager was opposed to what I was ready to present, and so were the rest of the executives there because they had so much vested into it. At the end of the presentation, Fred excused everyone from the boardroom except the general manager. I never saw him again. “Fred Smith is a guy who’s got a lot of courage, because he took a $254 million restructuring charge and shut it down. All because he was willing to listen to the research.” And marketing played a role in getting it all done.
	> Return to Featured Links

© 2010 TMCA | Privacy policy