Since I am a political junkie I have been reading pollster predictions and then after the votes are in I read how they explain why they were wrong in their predictions. Also I am amazed by how finely they slice and dice the electorate. If you're a Christian you could be a Catholic, an Episcopalian or like me, a Baptist, and the pollsters say we are all very different. I know they are right to study voting patterns but it just seems so odd to be thrown into a tiny basket for examination. In an article today at RealClearPolitics.com, Jay Cost explains why he believes quality polling is difficult.
As a business owners we can learn from the pollsters. Think of voters as customers and ask yourself if you know as much about your current customers and prospects as these pollsters know about voters. Of course you don't have millions to spend on research but there are things you can do that take time but not big bucks.
When Paul and Vicki Sharfman, owners of Specialty Cheese, wanted to launch a crispy cheese product for people on the Atkins high-fat diet, they asked what customers thought about the package. It took them time to ask questions but no hard dollars and they ended up with a package that flew off the shelves.
