Fly with both your eyes and ears wide open

"An army without secret agents is exactly like a man without eyes or ears." Sun Tzu

I've spent my life conducting personal interviews with my clients' ideal customers. They know why they choose my customers' products. After 40 interviews I've got a solid idea of my client's and my client's competitors strengths and weaknesses.

I get frustrated when my clients don't listen to their customers after I've spent a few weeks conducting hour long personal interviews. I feel worse when I don't listen to my own research.

Recently, I conducted research for Big Dudes located in the center of Kansas City's live music district. Ninety-nine percent of the customers I interviewed said they were professional musicians. They play until 1:00 am then go home to watch television. They turn off the TV at 7:30 am, then they go to bed.

They get out of bed at 3:00 PM. They stop at Big Dudes before 6:00 PM to pick up any gear they need before their nightly gig. By 7:00PM they're playing their instrument in front of a live audience. They done playing by 1:00 AM, another day done as a professional musician.

We ran our Big Dude's commercials based on our customer research. Our spots ran from 1:00AM to 7:30AM. Sales went up 15% the first month of the schedule.

With this success, I thought maybe we can lure suburban moms and dads to downtown KC to buy at Big Dudes. Ignoring my own research, I moved half the spots into prime time based on Nielsen ratings. Sales dropped 50% for 3 weeks.

"The Dude" let me know he needed more customers fast. I moved the spots back to the 1:00 AM to 7:30 AM schedule. Sales grew every week for next six weeks. This week they are up 60% above the first week that I moved half the schedule into prime time.

What is the rule of retail I relearned? Eighty percent of your business comes from within a 5 mile radius of your store. If you want a different audience--open a store within 5 miles of their homes.

Listen to your competitive intelligence. Or die a bloody sales death because you flew without eyes and ears, and your mind wide open.