September10 - 11, 2013

Instructor: Gerry Katz
Executive Vice President, Applied Marketing Science

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What Is This Thing Called VOC, and Why Is It Different From What You Think?

The concept of listening to the Voice of the Customer has been around for nearly 20 years now, and has been empirically shown to be a clear “best practice” in new product development. Yet VOC is still too often misunderstood, misused, and poorly executed. True VOC is not just any kind of market research, and it is definitely not just asking the customer what they want! This highly regarded course, taught by one of the most experienced experts in the field today, will set things straight and teach you how to gather, analyze, and effectively use VOC in your own new product development initiatives.

Objectives

After completing this seminar, you will:

• Clearly understand the true definition of Voice of the Customer
• Have a well thought out plan for your own VOC project(s)
• Understand both the qualitative and quantitative parts of VOC
• Know how to design a sample and write an interview guide
• Be ready to interview customers yourself
• Be able to analyze the mountain of data that results from a good VOC study
• Know how to use that information to set priorities and make better new product development decisions
  
  

Who Should Attend

People involved in new product development, including team members from marketing, market research, engineering, R&D, sales, and product management— virtually anyone charged with the development of new products and/or services in a business-to-business setting, and who are in need of a better understanding of their customers’ wants and needs. 

Content

• Course Overview

Why You Should Listen to Customers
Correctly Defining the Voice of the Customer
How Voice of the Customer Fits Into the Product / Service Design Process

• Designing the Interview Process

Who to Interview – Designing a Sample
Where and How to Interview Them – Focus Groups vs. One-on-Ones, Ethnography / Contextual

• Observation

Logistics of Interviewing – Recruitment, Facilities, Technology
Writing the Interview Guide

• How to Interview Customers

Introducing the Interview
Active Listening
Probing – Getting Past Generalities Like “Durable”, “Good Quality” , and “Easy to Use”
Role-playing and Practice Interviewing

• Analyzing the Interviews

Transcribing, Highlighting, and Winnowing
Needs vs. Solutions, Engineering Characteristics, Target Values, and Opinions

• Organizing and Prioritizing What Customers Say

Affinitizing Customer Needs
Importance vs. Performance

• What You Can Do With Voice of the Customer Information

Avoiding the Pitfalls

• Translating The Voice of the Customer into Product and Service Design Specifications using QFD

• Translating The Voice of the Customer Into New Features and Solutions

Traditional vs. Web-based Brainstorming and Ideation

Instructor

Gerry Katz is a recognized authority in the areas of new product development, design of new services, process innovation, and market research, with more than 35 years of consulting experience. At AMS, he has led more than 250 major client engagements employing the Voice of the Customer (VOC), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and a large number of other marketing science applications. His client assignments have covered a wide variety of industries, with particular emphasis on healthcare, medical technology, and commercial / industrial products. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA), the world's leading professional society devoted to the study and practice of developing and commercializing new products and services. He is also certified as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP) and is a senior contributing editor to Visions Magazine.

Prior to joining AMS, Gerry's experience included twelve years as a management consultant in marketing and market research with Management Decision Systems, Inc., five years in the computer software industry as Senior Vice President of Information Resources, Inc., and two years as Vice President and General Manager of Image Presentations, Inc., a specialized marketing communications firm.

He is the author of several award-winning papers, and received the William O'Dell Prize from the American Marketing Association in 1988. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Product Innovation Management, The European Management Journal, The Journal of Marketing Research, and Interfaces. He is a highly regarded teacher, trainer, and coach, and has lectured frequently at the business schools of MIT (Sloan), the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), Dartmouth College (Tuck), Carnegie-Mellon University, and Harvard University. Gerry has appeared twice on the NBC Today Show and in The Wall Street Journal. His outside interests are in music and education, and he has served on a number of Committees and Boards of Directors at the University of Rochester, the Eastman School of Music, the Longy School of Music, and the Boston Higashi School.

Gerry received his B.S. in Management Science from the University of Rochester in 1970 and his S.M. in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1972.

Date and Location

This seminar will be held on September 10 - 11, 2013 in the Pittsburgh area. Venue and hotel information will be provided upon registration.

Cost and Registration

ISBM Members: $1,500 USD
Non-Members: $2,500 USD

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Cancellation Policy

Up to 30 days prior —no fee
Between 29 – 15 days prior —$100 fee
Within 14 days prior —full conference fee due
All substitutions within 14 days prior to the seminar will be subject to a $50.00 administrative fee.

Contact Us

Paula Dorminy or Gary Holler
Phone: 814-863-2782
Fax: 814-863-0413
E-mail: isbm@psu.edu