A few words about TRUST.

I was talking to a friend who was trying to help a contact of his who was a professional athlete. The athlete needed some professional financial help but didn’t know who to trust.

Indeed, professional athletes have lost between five hundred thousand and a billion dollars having hired financial managers who turned out to be criminal. And the media makes sure you know every dirty detail. Big names. Big money. It makes the press orgasmic.

So, this athlete didn’t know where to turn because the profession had such a bad name.

But then, it’s not just professional athletes.

Big name entertainment celebrities are a prime target. Here are some examples from just the last year.

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber: $100,000

Liv Tyler:  $214,000

Ben Stiller: $250,000

Kiefer Sutherland: $869,000

Uma Thurman: $1 million.

Sting: $9.8 million over 15 years

Elton John: $29 million

Robert De Niro: $88 million

Billy Joel: $90 million

If you are interested the details, they can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2we5fkcz ,

And here’s a headline from just a couple of days ago:

“Lawyer Sentenced For Blowing Millions Of Clients’ Money On Vegas Gambling Spree.”  https://tinyurl.com/ywzf63vj

This is a subject I know well having founded and run a financial management company for entertainers in Los Angeles for years with my partner Kevin Burke. (We also handled a couple of pro athletes). In fact, I did a number of interviews for LA radio stations when Kareem Abdul Jabbar sued his business manager for $50+ million for mishandling his money.

Both publics (professional athletes and entertainers) need to have someone they can trust handling their money and other financial affairs while they are off shooting a film or TV show or traveling from city to city for a sports event. Also, many of these folks are professionals at what they do, but are not familiar with the world of taxes, investments and financial management.

These high-profile publics bring their (substantial) financial affairs to those they TRUST.

Caring for someone else’s money and other assets is a deeply important responsibility and violating that trust, as in the examples above, is a treasonous betrayal. But if you do a good job, you solidify that TRUST and news spreads?

Now, let me switch gears a moment and share some additional information about TRUST that I have gleaned from many years owning and managing a market research and survey company.

Money managers, of course, are not the only profession from which customers seek trust. In fact, it is the most important quality that shoppers look for when buying a product or service – everything from a BMW to new false teeth. This is validated in survey after survey. The buyer wants to know, wants to trust, that the business will deliver what’s promised.

And, let’s face it, this is not headline news in the New York Times.

Of course, some CEOs know to promote this fact. That’s why testimonials are so important, and why companies seek online reviews. If others bought your product and they trust you, then….

It was marketing great Al Ries who clarified the point in an essay about why PR should precede marketing.

“To get something from nothing, you need the validity that only third-party endorsements can bring.”

This, of course, is the purpose of online reviews and the speaks to the tremendous value of customer testimonials. Indeed, Eyewear Digital claims that using video testimonials on landing pages can increase conversions by up to 80%, especially when they include customer voices.

Eighty percent!

Corral one of your best customers.  Film him or her talking about how you delivered a great product just as you promised. Place it on your website so visitors see (and hear) it immediately. And get it out broadly and watch your sales flourish.

Promoting price can be effective but is sometimes overdone.  I have had clients that focused their marketing materials almost exclusively on price until they saw the results of surveys that showed what their clients considered the most important reasonFor shopping with them. Price can be important, depending on the product or service. No question. But believe it or not, based on having conducted thousands of surveys, price is often the third or fourth most important attribute of what is being sold.

So, whether you are a butcher, a baker or candle stick maker or care for the financial affairs of the rich and famous, use third party endorsement to let your prospects know you deliver a great product just as promised.

Trust is earned. Once you have it, make sure it’s known and promoted.

I wrote this article because a friend who was trying to help another reminded me of what happens when trust is gone. The examples are from the two areas of my business life where trust has been a cornerstone (financial/investment consulting and surveys as the foundation of marketing.)

Since I promoted using third party endorsement, here are a few  comments from people who use my financial services or read my writing on such or have used my survey company.

“Your observations are so refreshing (to the point of chilling) in correctly targeting the key elements and developments! What a bracing antidote to the murky misdirection’s of the news media”

Tom H Business owner

“Scary and frankly shocking… but this is the first time that I got a full understanding of what is going on in the “underworld” of finances.”

Patrick V Business owner

Bruce,

I want to thank you and your team for the amazing survey On Target performed for Energy Professionals. 

We have been using your survey results for our website, all of our marketing materials, our training for our sales reps and for the foundation of all our company communications.  One of the results we have achieved using this information was our highest ever sales last month.

Your services are very valuable, and we will be back for more surveys.

Sincerely yours,

Jim M Business owner

Best,

Bruce Wiseman

President & CEO

On Target Research

www.ontargetresearch.com

Br***@**********an.net

1-818-397-1401

I traveled to Russia several times in the 1990s. I conducted surveys for government agencies and was featured on Russian media. This, of course, was during the years when Boris, “Did someone say vodka? Yeltsin was the nation’s President.

It was the last day of the last century, December 31, 1999, when Vladimir Putin became president of Russia. My travels to Moscow and conducting surveys there ended a bit earlier in the 1990s, but I had become somewhat familiar with the government structure there and so continued to follow the exploits of the world’s most famous ex KGB officer.

Putin was always a thug. But as the 21^st century moved on, he became more so: the widely reported death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB officer (FSB was / is the KGB’s replacement) and one of his political rivals, by radiation poisoning in London, and the murder of opposition journalist, Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow in 2006 are two of the more high-profile killings that made international press. But I have been shocked that despite these political assassinations and hundreds of other unusual instances of dead journalists and opponents, the “Vlad man’s” popularity has remained surprisingly strong throughout. There have been ups and down over the years, but in general, his approval rating has remained strong with the Russian public. Go figure.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the war with Ukraine, Putin’s current popularity is ranging between 85% and 90%. An American President   would “die” for these kind of numbers. At his highest, Ronald Reagan reached 68% approval and “The Donald” hasn’t come close to that.

Not surprisingly, this does not hold true on the world stage where he is generally viewed as a tyrant.

But this is politics. What about consumer products?

When I first went to Russia, most of the “supermarkets” were the size of 7/11s and primarily carried rice, beans and vodka. Today, while not having the retail numbers of the U.S. (actually, no country has the retail activity of the U.S.) they have a $300 billion dollar retail economy. Impressive.

But there are other active retail economies: Canada’s annual retail economy is $70 billion. Health and beauty products are top sellers there. Clothing and athletic wear is big.

We (On Target Research) have an office in Toronto. The place is a ripe destination for a wide range of products and services. We have clients booming there.

But, the biggest potential retail market in North America (outside of the U.S.) is Mexico. The country generates $400 billion in annual retail sales. Jeans, smart phones and beauty and personal care products are all top sellers and booming.

And the country is experimenting a robust economy.

We conducted surveys in Mexico for a Chinese company that was introducing a new tech product. (Not difficult as we have Spanish speaking surveyors if/when needed.)

But then there is all of South America. We can identify consumer need in any of those countries and or survey your product or service in one or more Spanish of the speaking countries. We can research markets and see if you have competitors and if so, how to position your product above them.

If you want to expand, moving into a foreign jurisdiction just might be the answer. We can research and survey in Europe as well.

Let us know where you want to go. We’ll do the rest.

Best,

Bruce

Bruce Wiseman

President & CEO

On Target Research

www.ontargetresearch.com

Br***@**********an.net

1-818-397-1401

‘

We surveyed the marketing directors of the 7 largest oil companies on the planet.

We’ve surveyed state legislators, orthopedic surgeons, movie producers, Mexican cell phone users, and German businessmen. We’ve surveyed CEOs, CFOs, IT directors and consumers of virtually every kind of consumable.

The answers to many of the survey questions are often surprising. Not always, but often.

Here’s an example.

The relationship between the United States and Russia has gone through its ups and downs. There was the Cold War, of course – if a Russian was caught having a conversation with an American in Moscow in the 80s, Lubyanka awaited.

What a change after Gorbachev dissolved the Soviet Union in December of 1991.

It was just 6 months later, in June of 1992 that I handed my passport to the surly immigration officer at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

I subsequently traveled to Moscow several times in the 90s and, in so doing, developed a close relationship with the senior executives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) – the federal Russian police (like the FBI).

It was a fascinating relationship, made more so because the MIA execs were fascinated with survey technology.

You may have seen this picture previously but, if not, this is a snapshot of me delivering a talk to 50 senior MIA executives in an historic conference room in the headquarters of the MIA. Yes, that’s a picture of Lenin behind me.

In the course of my meetings with a Colonel Pylov, he “confessed” that they were having trouble recruiting police – could we conduct surveys to help?

Yes.

The survey of Russian police required bilingual surveyors and tabulators but, once completed, the answer to the key question was startling. Though it really shouldn’t have been.

“What was the primary reason that you joined the MIA?”

“To get free transportation on the metro.”

What?

Yes. Ordinary Russians didn’t own cars in the late ’80s and early ’90s when these policemen would have originally joined the MIA. And police rode free on the metro. This was a big benefit.

There is more to the recruitment story, but I tell this to make the simple point: you don’t really know until you survey.

Something we have been doing for more than 25 years.

If you want to know what your customers think about your products or service, or what will motivate your prospects to buy from you as opposed to your competitors, call us or shoot us an email.

Best,
Bruce

Bruce Wiseman
President & CEO
On Target Research
www.ontargetresearch.com
Br***@**********an.net
1-818-397-1401

“On Target Research is fantastic. Their ability to extract relevant and powerful data from C-level executives is remarkable. In the short period of time, we were able to get profound insight into the hearts and minds of our potential clients. The research is invaluable for all of our marketing branding and sales initiatives.”

MA – President

There was an interview of Kellyanne Conway toward the end of the 2016 presidential election cycle. “Everyone” of the polls predicted that Hillary would win the election.

Everyone knew it and the polls showed it. As one example, here’s a headline to a story from CNN on October 23, 2016, that showed Hillary up 12 points 2 weeks before the election.

New poll shows Clinton over Trump by double-digits

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7776173333.

Well, everyone knew it except Kellyanne Conway. Kellyanne felt Trump would win and said so. Why? Well, before Kellyanne officially took over the Trump campaign she owned and operated a survey company called The Polling Company.

Kellyanne, knew her survey technology. She knew that respondents will often answer survey questions with a “social” answer.

As he comes into his office one bright Monday morning, Dr. Lawrence Jessup, DDS, walks by his office manager, 27-year-old Margie Swanson, sitting at her desk looking at a computer screen.

“Good morning, Margie,” says the good doctor. “How are you this morning?”

“Fine, Doctor Jessup, just fine.”

Fine is a “social” answer to the question.

Margie had a fight with her boyfriend last night. She is hungover.

“Fine” is a social answer to the question.

And that is what Kellyanne could see in the responses to the surveys being conducted by other polling firms. You have to be a pro to discern the difference between social answers and real answers to survey questions. Kellyanne is a pro and could see that the pro-Hillary or “anti-Trump” responses were social answers.

A pro can see beyond the social answers and discern the true feelings of the respondent.

The real key to this is done by creating survey questions that prompt answers that cut through the social veneer. Kellyanne knows how to write those questions.

And so do I. With more than 30 years conducting surveys for companies in virtually every sector of the American economy as well as Europe, Australia, and Mexico we know surveys.

We know how to create questions that will get you honest answers from your clients and / or your prospects. We also know the proper technology of survey tabulation that finds the “hot buttons” you can use in your marketing. The “buttons” from these surveys also enable us to create positioning surveys, the results of which create an instant familiarity and understanding of your brand.

Just ask our clients.

“Working with Bruce was like working with the Roger Federer of Surveys.  The questions evoked exactly what our public was thinking.  Now with the button and positioning in place our promotions are like an arrow going through tissue paper rather than a fist into a brick wall.  Our copy and imagery say exactly what the clientele is thinking and therefor procures more leads.

You served up an ace Bruce. Thank you.”

We conduct competitor research, survey your customers, survey your prospects all of which enables us to come up with recommendations that will make your cash register sing.

Contact me for a quote. Surveys may be just more reasonable than you think.

Best,

Bruce

Bruce Wiseman

President & CEO

On Target Research

www.ontargetresearch.com

Br***@**********an.net

1-818-397-1401