|
I flew to Dallas this past week, and man, are my arms tired. Well, actually American Airlines flew me there and back. Just wanted to tell a bad joke.
So anyway, there I am in St. Louis on a layover, and I started thinking about how much I love people watching, and wondering how I might use that information to be a better marketer. We all know and agree, I think, that we need to be where our customers and our clients' customers are, and not only do I love to be around and watch people, I love to talk to them. It is my habit to strike up a conversation with anyone within listening range.
Since our clients often represent a variety of industries, airports seem to be a great place to meet their customers. And better yet, airports are full of sales people, and who knows, or should know their and our customers better?
So, again, I'm thinking what can I learn?
In St. Louis, the passengers are among the best-dressed of the many airports I visit throughout any given year. They also are the most hurried. And everyone seems to be talking on their cell phones. Not much chit chat in the waiting areas. But I am not deterred.
I meet a healthcare supplier and learn a bit about who her customers are and what they want. That's good because some of my clients are her competitors. I also talk with a gun salesperson, who looks more like a Texas University beauty queen, dispelling my notions of what a gun enthusiast looks like. She is returning from a Gun Conference, and wants to talk more about drinking than guns. Now I'm back on stereotypes.
In Dallas, the passengers are much more diverse--lots of jeans, cowboy boots and a few cowboy hats, which are greatly outnumbered by baseball caps. Everybody, even the security guard checking my bag for a deadly weapon, is smiling, courteous and friendly, and willing to chat. Even though the line trying to get through security is backing up.
When chatting up waiting passengers, most want to talk about their families, but will discuss their jobs if questioned. In Dallas, people actually sit next to strangers, where at most airports fliers frequently protect their space by plunking bags onto empty seats next to theirs'. Men and women in uniform are everywhere, and grateful for our concerns with their safety and our gratitude for their work.
In Hartford, everything is casual. Few passengers in suits or anything more dressy than casual business attire. No one seems in any particular hurry, many look bored, and all seem ready for anyone to notice them. I mostly found moms and retired folks to talk with. Great for my retail and healthcare customers.
Airports seem a good place for me to learn about business clients' general wants and needs as well as their customers'. Where do you go for your research? What advice can you give us? Any great experiences to share?
|
Comments
Great post! I'd love to try this, but the only airports I fly through regularly are SAN, DFW, ORD and DCA. My sample size is a bit small.
On my blog, I have argued that Airport CNN is a curse to all conversationalists. The thing ought to be taken out and shot. I recently went through ORD and I found large swaths of the terminal free of that scourge. I blogged about the results here.
http://ktcatspost.blogspot.com/2007/03/little-bit-of-paradise-in-chicago.html
Posted by: K T Cat | 04.23.07
Dallas - that's MY hometown, baby!
Posted by: Spike | 04.23.07
Figures. The time you come to Dallas, I go to Minneapolis. When am I ever going to get you that beer?!
Airports are a bit tricky for people watching. You really have to be engaged, not just be a spectator. Become too obvious that you're watching people, and you look suspicious at a place you really don't want to appear suspicious. :)
Posted by: Cam Beck | 04.23.07
Thanks for the insights and also for the fashion report, Lewis.
I've had some interesting, albeit shorter, conversations in elevators here in NY. I've done elevator market research in a variety of subject areas -- movie reviews, dining tips, laptops and cars.
Fashions vary tremendously in NY elevators, although cowboy hats are on the rare side. We're in the building where Rachael Ray tapes her show, so we've had some celebrity sightings in our elevators as well. A few weeks ago they even took a live bull up -- that's no bull.
Posted by: David Reich | 04.23.07
my spots of choice are:
supermarket
shopping center
bars
restaurant
talking with people, asking for advice to the other customers, looking at their approach to shelves and menu.
i found this people watching really interesting.
Posted by: gianandrea facchini | 04.23.07
Lewis,
Enjoyed your post. You're right. Striking up conversations with people in airports, or anywhere else for that matter, really gives marketers a lot of insight into consumer ideas and behavior. The beauty of this is that given the informal nature of the interchange, the people you're talking to aren't guarded or feeling that they should be responding in a certain way since they're not being formally interviewed or surveyed.
Posted by: Ted Mininni | 04.23.07
Great comments all. Thank you for sharing.
Cam, I was in Dallas 18 hours, including sleep. Arrived, spoke, slept, left. This was one time layovers helped maintain my sanity and allowed me to get some research done.
KT Cat and Spike, CNN can also be an excuse to strike up a conversation, as I did with several soldiers. Dallas people are really warm, Spike. Nice folks. I blogged about that on my site.
David, Rachael Ray and a bull. No bull! What was she doing with a bull? The meat is pretty tough.
Gianandrea, You must be single. I do a fair share of watching in those places but I have to be careful about being too friendly. My wife of 32 years doesn't want me to bring home any new best friends.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 04.23.07
"CNN can also be an excuse to strike up a conversation"
So can public stonings, but I'd rather not get that going. Unless it replaced CNN...
:-)
Posted by: K T Cat | 04.24.07
As a student I used to love people watching. I would sit in coffee shops and soak up the ambience, watch the way that people would interact with each other, the staff, the displays/advertising on the walls and passers-by.
I would notice what they noticed, or notice what they missed or ignored. I was fascinated and continue to be so, by the way we inhabit our worlds. But it is always interesting to see people in transit -- what do we bring with us on our travels to remind us of ourselves, to signal our belonging (to another place/culture/mode of being) or to make us comfortable in these nowhere spaces.
Great post, thanks!
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | 04.24.07
Did I ever tell you my fantasy?
When I'm good and wrinkled with tuffs of white cotton candy hair I want to have a penthouse on top of an international airport. I will come down to the gates in an evening gown, a boa and marabou slippers to talk to all the international travelers. I will tell them stories of when I visited India, Africa, Peru, China, Russia, etc. Because I will have traveled the world 10 times over by then. I will be the famous crazy old lady at the airport.
Come visit anytime!!!
Posted by: Tammy Strnatka | 04.24.07
Tammy,
You could sell tickets and get rich. I'd buy for all my family and friends.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 04.25.07
Great post! We can learn so much from the people we see every day and yes, the airport is possibly the greatest place to catch folks as they are normally, aside from a mall. Shopping malls are a really fun place to watch consumer behavior: what stops shoppers, the flashy display with tv faced mannequins in casual sporty clothes or is it the game display with the Wii and the Playstation 3? What are they talking about as they walk? I can ask a ton of these questions, spend a few hours and no cash and come away with some neat ideas and theories.
On a side note, thanks for totally making me miss my hometown back in Dallas. =)
Posted by: Jenna Holtz | 05.01.07