Experience marketing

Nowadays, Marketing is far more four Ps. As the pioneer of the marketing, P&G is creative to bring new approaches to detect what its customer needs and translate that into business.

This comes the Experience marketing. Staff from its Consumer and Market Knowledge division tour the world and spend entire days with women to observe how they shop, clean, eat, apply their make-up or put nappies on their babies. They try to understand how a woman reacts in the first three to seven seconds after she sees an item in a shop (the “First Moment of Truth”, in P&G-speak) and when she tries it at home (the “Second Moment of Truth”).

I am wondering whether the same approach can also be applied in chemical goods sales. Traditionally, the main theme of the chemical sales is the technology. Sales people focus on the issues like whether the product meets customer’s quality standard, lab test and technology seminars etc. No one even will think about the experience of the using of the product.

One product in my company usually is packed in big containers or canisters. One client told us that it is not convenience for him to handle the bulky containers because in his plant, the worker is using hand to pour the chemical compound into the reactors. He asks whether we can offer him the product in small package to facility the production process. Eventually we don’t gratify his demand and he switched to other suppliers. The story tells something unnoticed before, even in chemical business, how customers use the product is also important and can create business opportunities.

Salespeople infatuated with technology should stretch themselves a little bit and take time to observe customer’s experience to use the product. We should start from the cargo receiving area, follow the whole route the product go through the customer’s workshop. Talk with everyone who has the chance to touch our product and listen to their advice how we can make their experience more enjoyable. Through this way, we can attain two goal. First, the new way to design the product might emerge. Second, customer feels our sincerity and build stronger customer loyalty.