Tag Archives: RMG Selection

Consumer Insight-市场越成熟, 消费洞察就越有价值

文|CBN记者 黄瀚玉

This article is published on one of the top financial media CBNweekly. Di Cao, partner of RMG Selection, talks about the significance of product researchers. With the maturation of the market and development of the internet, there emerges much more and much stricter requirements for consumer insight. What qualities are needed to be a product researcher? How about the potential development of this job? What tools can be used to evaluate these researchers’ performance? And  how to acquire deep consumer insight? These are the main topics covered.

早上7时出现在一户人家门口,等对方起床后跟进盥洗间,看他刷牙时怎么挤牙膏、用的是温水还是凉水,以及一口气能来回刷多少次。

这是李丽工作的一部分。

李丽是宝洁亚洲区洗涤品牌技术研究发展部的研发总经理,她领导的那个会盯着别人刷牙洗衣的小组叫做Product Research。小组成员会通过观察普通消费者的行为习惯来探索一些后者甚至都没意识到的需求,再将它们转达给负责设计生产环节的同事,将需求变成新产品。比如你也许注意到MUJI的浴室瓶都是长方体,这也是因为和受访者同吃同住的MUJI开发人员发现,市面上常见的圆体浴室瓶无法和表面滑溜的浴室墙壁相贴合,不方便搁置。

宜家有一款名为Knapper的镜子,它的背后有一个用来放衣服和珠宝首饰的支架。这是调研员们观察了8个城市的8292名消费者每天从起床到出门的一系列活动之后做出的设计—能让消费者在睡前就准备好第二天穿戴的东西。

没错,MUJI和宜家、宝洁一样,也有一群李丽这样的人专门负责消费者行为调查,他们观察人们的生活,他们的工作结果可能会影响最终上线的产品,也可能会影响公司的业务决策。“他们对企业的生存起到了至关重要的作用,能提高企业的核心竞争力。”罗迈国际(RMGSelection)合伙人曹迪告诉《第一财经周刊》。

几乎所有的B2C公司都会用到消费者洞察。万宝瑞华上海地区管理合伙人杨晨告诉《第一财经周刊》,由于要密切关注用户需求上的变化,直接面对消费者的公司对这类职位的需求量更大。

目前在国内,只有业内顶尖的公司或者外资企业,会有专职的消费者洞察人员。这些公司往往会投入更多的人力成本做更细的分工,比如在宝洁,每个品类都有自己的洞察小组。

而在一些本土的中小企业,消费者洞察往往是普通的产品研发人员、市场调研人员的工作内容之一。调研人员需要先找出隐匿在琐碎生活中的需求点,再通过问卷调查、数据分析将它具象。

也有一些企业会把这个工作外包给专职的第三方调研咨询公司,后者内部设有专门的小组来负责消费者洞察——这也是很多从事消费洞察的公司人的一种职业选择。比如IDEO,它是全球最大的设计咨询公司之一,客户包括了苹果、三星、美的集团和方太厨电。IDEO把消费者洞察叫做“设计研究”。IDEO的设计主管金葛发现,中国人才市场对洞察者的需求量正变得越来越大。伴随着消费升级,市场需求变得细分且多层次之后,了解消费者需求变得很重要,“你不可能在不了解消费者行为习惯的情况下,去设计一个和他生活相关的东西。”金葛说道。

随着互联网的发展,商业世界的沟通成本已经越来越低,这让许多公司与消费者之间的距离越来越短,甚至直接面对,也使公司对消费行为洞察的要求越来越多,越来越严格,从事与此相关的工作,会是未来很值得考虑的职业选择,一起来深入了解一下吧!

A 怎么入门?

万宝瑞华上海地区管理合伙人杨晨认为,在B2C公司中从事消费者行为洞察的主要是之前有市场调研及相关经验的人,以及从零培养的毕业生。如果你之前并不从事相关工作但想转岗,或许要看看自己以往有没有积累下和数据统计、消费者访问、问卷调查相关的工作经历。对这个工作感兴趣的在校生则可以早做准备,多去 一些大公司的市场部实习,参与市场调查类工作。由于市场调查需要大量的人力投入,相比其他工作,这类岗位往往会放出更多的实习机会。这样的实习可以帮助在校生对调研形成初步认识,了解运作流程,为以后找相应的工作积累经验。

B 你需要具备哪些能力?

一个好的洞察者必须看得懂数据,并能自己搜集、分析数据,除此之外,也要了解如何设计出一套调研流程,以便更容易提升观察效果,因此单纯的统计学 或社会学学霸未必能做好这份工作。从事洞察工作多年的金葛认为,洞察者还需要具备以下的能力:

视野要既宏观又微观

宏观视野能让人从社会经济的大环境下了解某一特定人群的需求,微观则要求留意细节。IDEO曾做过一个“老龄化、新思路”(Design on Aging)的项目,这个项目需要洞察者既了解老年人在不同的年代都经历了什么,有什么影响,也要知晓他们在现阶段的一些特别举动,比如为什么要去公园帮儿女找对象。

搜集故事、材料的能力

洞察者在一个项目中做的深入观察通常只能局限在一定数量内,为了对研究群体了解得更全面,他们也要大量阅读,包括国外的资料,以查看其他国家是否有类似状况,因此,英语阅读能力也很重要。

迅速和受访者熟络的沟通能力

当洞察者提出“你洗澡时会在哪个环节刮腿毛”这种问题时,意味着受访者得讲一些很私密的事。如何获得受访者的信任也就成了必要技能。每个洞察者都有自己的暖场技巧:我是谁、多大年龄、是否来自同一个城市,有时孩子的问题也能帮助拉近彼此的距离。

C 从事消费者洞察,培训是持续的过程

理论培训是基础

每个公司都会有一套对洞察者的培训理论。IDEO在官网上晒出了它做洞察的工具书,里面包括了如何设计整个调查流程、如何定义受访者、如何开始一段对话、如何细致观察等内容。在宝洁,新人在进入考察环境之前要接受6个月左右的培训,即使是像李丽这样已经工作了20年的资深洞察者,每年也要参加1到3个培训,学习新的数据分析方法。

观察力要在实践中培养

“我们的战场在消费者家里。”李丽说道。采访这天,她随意秀了一下技能,通过对一个人手的皮肤纹路、妆容的精致程度、衣服的材质和工作类型的观察,判断出了她的洗衣频率和洗衣方法。

观察力并不是天生的,事实上,在李丽还是个培训生时,她也经常忽略很多东西。宝洁的培养方式是老人带新人。李丽第一次被资深洞察者带去消费者家里是为了观察对方洗漱的过程,她发现这位前辈在和消费者聊天时不会开门见山地问“你怎么刷牙”,而是从生活追求这样的话题开始暖场。他在观察对方刷牙时,甚至连对方对着镜子哈了一口气都会记录下来。当他们观摩完一次消费者如何刷牙的过程后,前辈问她,“你数他刷了几下了吗?”“我们就站在消费者面前,这些我都没看见,但他看见了。”李丽第一次对洞察力有了实际的认识。

D 怎么考核洞察者的工作?

洞察工作之所以重要,是因为后续的研发部门需要根据他们观察到的市场需求来开发新的商品或服务,这也意味着这份工作某种程度上是以结果为导向的。

在做工作总结时,公司会考察洞察者一段时间内观察到的线索里,有没有一两个能够真的转化成生意,或者为现有产品或服务带来改善。

不过对未知世界的探索总有失败的时候。即使是再仔细的洞察,也可能找不到线索,或者找到也成不了商机。金葛说这对洞察工作来说是常事,管理层也能体谅,“不能说没有伟大发明,之前的积累就是没用的。我们每做一个项目,对消费者的理解都在增加,量变会形成质变。”

在I D E O,除了看结果,公司也会以问题是否严谨、观察到的结论是否站得住脚,来评价一项设计研究的成果,以及形成洞察的好坏。

E 洞察者未来的职业发展

洞察者大多有不错的职业发展前景。一方面可以到专业的第三方调研咨询公司,将这一专长在继续原有领域内深化。由于国内消费市场的细分加剧,未来消费品公司会更多地寻求这些专才的意见,请他们为公司提供解决方案。

另一方面,洞察者也可以在甲方做适当的转型。比如宝洁洞察小组的成员可以去做产品配方和包装。洞察的工作经历让他们对消费者已经有很深入的了解,转到其他部门后他们也更能从市场需求出发。

也有企业青睐提拔洞察者为管理层。一家公司曾经通过万宝瑞华物色市场部经理,选中的正是有消费者洞察经验的人。在金葛看来,很多公司高管的主职就是思考公司战略,这个大方向需要以市场为导向,而那些深谙消费者的研究人员和洞察者恰恰能为制定公司发展方向提供帮助。

F 以下是一些可以参考的洞察技巧

恰当地应对尴尬场面

当一个受访者对你放下心防,就意味着他真的把你当朋友,在你面前很随便。李丽曾经带着几个外国同事去一户人家做护肤品调查,做到一半时,家里的小孩尿裤子哭了起来,于是受访者当众换起了尿布。这种举措让在场的几个外国人有些不知所措,因为在国外,小孩子的隐私会被重点保护。不过这几个外国同事还是尽量保持处变不惊,一边听翻译把受访者对尿布的抱怨逐字逐句地传达给他们,一边做好记录。在调研过程中,如果你对一些尴尬场面作出比受访者更大的反应,容易让对方失去对你的信任。

在生活中锻炼自己的观察意识

职业习惯会让洞察者即使是在工作之外的生活里,也不会中止观察。IDEO的设计研究专员徐楠茜就喜欢坐在便利店的餐台上看外面的路人,通过观察他们的穿衣打扮和正在做的事情,来猜他们背后的故事。这对于洞察者来说也是锻炼自己的好机会。

让自己变得更友好

徐楠茜向《第一财经周刊》提到了一种叫做“共情”的思考方式,它要求观察者设身处地、用受访者的方式想问题。在工作中,“共情”能让洞察者更快和受访者建立信任,在工作之外,“共情”的职业惯性也让他们更容易与人相处—想想那些愿意倾听别人、懂得换位思考的人吧,他们总是有不错的人缘。

对任何事不带预判

徐楠茜告诉《第一财经周刊》,抱着“这件事我知道”的心态去做洞察和调研是绝对不行的,“这是一个倾听的工作,你要放下身段,不要对很多人和事做预判。”这样能让洞察者在观察过程中更留意细节,也能让受访者觉得前者对他没有成见,容易产生信赖。

阅读原文,请点击:http://www.ted.cbnweek.com/v/article?id=20175

                                     http://news.hexun.com/2015-06-13/176714867.html

To read the original article, please click: http://www.ted.cbnweek.com/v/article?id=20175

                                                                          http://news.hexun.com/2015-06-13/176714867.html

过完年想跳槽可年终奖还没发,怎么办?-job changing without annual bonus

Q daily-min

This article is published on <Q Daily>. Tony Liu, consultant from RMG Selection in the IT industry, offers suggestions about how to deal with a dilemma-job changing without annual bonus. Go for the new position? Or stay in the current company to get annual bonus? How to choose between these two has always troubled employees. In fact, employees of different levels should think differently.

每年春节前后职场上最热闹的话题一定是跳槽,相伴而生的总是另一个问题,那就是年终奖。

50 薪虽然对大多数人来说想都不要想了,但有个双薪、三薪的,好像也还算不错。年终奖确实是一些公司留人的一种手段,但对于公司人来说,觉得真的受够了,但又不想错失这份收入,有什么办法呢?

《好奇心日报》采访了罗迈国际商务咨询(RMG Selection)的互联网行业猎头顾问刘君,他给了一些建议,大家不妨参考下。

<Q Daily> invited Tony Liu, consultant from RMG Selection in the IT industry, to give suggestions about how to choose between  a new position and annual bonus. Suggestions are as follows.

就目前的状况来看,公司年终奖的发放主要集中在每年一、二月份,比较及时的公司会在上一年12 月底发放完毕,较晚的公司会在春节过后即发,但也有部分公司会到六月份才将年终奖发放完毕。所以,如果年终奖发放时间是比较正常的大多数,完全可以和下一家公司开诚布公地说明年终奖发放时间,并商定在这之后的入职时间。但是总有一些情况导致跳槽不能两全其美,比如现公司发年终奖太晚,比如下家公司的职位需求非常着急,再比如你自己也不希望再在现公司消耗下去等,那么针对不同级别,刘君给了不同的建议。

对于基层级别员工,年终奖真的没多少

Basic-level Staff: Annual bonus would not be much.

对于基层级别员工来说,其未来职业发展都应该是其第一选择。如果可以明确新公司可以提供一个 3~5 年内更优质的发展,事实上在职业初期的涨薪幅度也会是不小的,所以从经济和发展角度都是优选。更何况,对于基层级别员工,无论年终奖占一年收入几成,其绝对值都不会太大,以后再看这个放弃不会觉得可惜的。 Career development should be the first choice for basic-level staff. If the new company promised better development in 3 to 5 years, then accept the new position is wiser both from the perspective of money and development. Because on the initial stage of your career, usually higher salary increase  is offered. Further, annual bonus normally would not be that much no matter how much it accounts for one’s salary. So basic-level staff won’t regret to give up the current job.

中层员工,有 3 种情况可以考虑放弃年终奖

Mid-level Staff: In these 3 cases, you should give up annual bonus.

对于中层级别员工,事实上是比较复杂的决定。取决于你个人年终奖多少,未来公司提供的机会如何。我会建议以下几个情况可以在冲突时选择放弃年终奖:1. 从中小型公司跳槽到大型公司。2. 从不带领团队到带领一个 3 人以上的团队。 3. 基本薪水涨幅在 50% 以上。在一些特别的情况下,也可以考虑和下一家用人单位签订签约奖金作为放弃年终奖的补偿形式
The situation for mid-level staff actually is more complicated. How much is annual bonus? How is the position offered by the new company? All these should be taken into consideration. Here are three cases in which I suggest you give up the annual bonus. First, you are leaving from a small and medium-sized enterprise to a large-sized enterprise. Second,  you will lead a team with three members while you are not a team-leader in the current company. Third,  over 50% of salary increase is offered. And in some special conditions, you can also discuss with the new company to give you sign-on bonus.

高层员工,你完全可以两全其美 

High-level Staff: You can absolutely achieve both.

对于高层级别员工,很多公司都是会给予股权、期权年终奖,其行权期会有 3~4 年的时间,数额涉及也比较大,而且这些高层级别员工也是市场上稀缺的人才,一旦和新的公司达成跳槽的共识,新公司也很难很快找到其他 BACK-UP 人选,所以无论是何时发年终奖,这类型的员工都可以和新公司商谈在年终奖之后再入职。

The new position always offer high-level staff stocks and  option bonus which can last for about 3 or  4 years. It can be a large amount of money. Moreover, high-level staff is in strong demand in the job market. Once they agree to change their job, the new company can’t find replacements in a short time. So it is alright for high-level staff to ask for joining the new company after receiving annual bonus.

 

赵京(Celina)出任罗迈国际集团首席财务官

新闻公告 赵京(Celina)正式出任罗迈国际的集团首席财务官,工作地点为北京的公司总部。她将负责所有公司法人事务并改进集团的财务系统和流程。 Celina为公司带来了近20年的财务经验,之前她曾负责国际招聘公司科锐安拓在整个中国区的财务运营,其在业内20年的经验还包括财务团队管理、资产处置、再融资和改制,以及包括与第三方财务人员接洽的有效经验。 罗迈国际集团创始人兼首席执行官潘瑞宝(Robert Parkinson)说:“我非常高兴Celina加入了管理团队。我们相识多年,她在人力资源市场中以专业性和丰富的经验出名。她的加入对整个团队带来的价值不可估量,我也相信她能够为公司做出巨大的贡献。” 关于这一任命,Celina如是说:“Robert Parkinson在中国的人才市场有很高的声誉,不仅是因为罗迈国际的迅速壮大并获得了一系列国际奖项,还因为他在上一家公司所取得的成就,在他的领导下公司规模从5人迅速发展至超过100人。我知道RMG在中国市场有着可以相比较的发展轨迹。选择RMG对我来说是理所当然的。   媒体咨询,请联络集团市场主管Sophie Li,邮件地址:[email protected].

Celina Zhao Jing appointed as Group CFO at RMG Selection

Celina Zhao Jing appointed as Group CFO at RMG Selection

It can be announced that Celina Zhao has been appointed as group CFO of RMG Selection based in the firm’s headquarters in Beijing. Her responsibilities will be to lead the finance function for all of the company’s legal entities and to improve and upgrade the systems and processes of the group.

Celina brings to the company almost 20 years finance experience, latterly at the international recruitment firm Antal International where she was responsible for the entire China finance operations. Celina’s 20 years experience in the services sector includes management of substantial finance teams; asset disposal; re-financing & restructuring as well as substantial experience working with third party finance vendors.

Robert Parkinson, Founder & CEO of the group commented “I am delighted that Celina has joined the executive team. We have known each other for many years and she is well known for her expertise and finance experience in the Human Resources market. I am delighted that she brings so much to the table, and I feel sure that her contribution to the company will be considerable.”

Commenting on her appointment Ms Zhao said “Robert Parkinson is very well known in the China talent market both for the rapid grown of RMG Selection which is already an award winning brand and indeed for the success of his former firm which under his leadership grew from 5 to over 100 staff. I know RMG already has a comparable, if not larger, foot-print in the China market place. RMG for me was therefore a natural choice.

For any media enquiries, please contact Sophie Li, Group Marketing Director via [email protected].

Working with Third Party Recruiters

sZsi9XwLEo6W6WB4LaduPnNSObdjFb7vEZd8Sa7eAo7qSYN4OXR8BadmBWdO9acrFZMyM Working with Third Party Recruiters

By Ruben van den Boer, Recuitment specialist of RMG

A common mistake that a lot of HR managers make is that they attribute unsuccessful hire s to either job-seekers or recruitment consultants. However, according to the data from the RMG China Talent Flow Survey of 2012 and 2013 (see figure 1), the role of third party recruitment consulting agencies is quite important in the interview process. Two-thirds of the hiring calls for mid and senior level positions come from recruiters instead of HR people from the hiring company. Imagine if HR managers and recruitment consultants became team players during the interview process. In this instance the chances of a successful hire would be greatly enhanced. In this regard, I would like to share some basic principles of how HR managers can work better with third party recruiters to control interview processes and candidate selection.

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A recruitment consultant with systematic training understands that to guide candidates through the whole interview process is a primary task. On average, executive search professionals spend at least 45 minutes preparing candidates for one single interview, and another 30 minutes on an after-interview debriefing. This guidance will not stop until the candidate is well seated in the new role. On the employers’ side, recruitment consultants need to work closely with the HR department to ensure a smooth interview process. While working with some clients, I have noticed that problems often appear when HR managers are not clear about four things, which are listed below in each point:

1. Communicating clearly with the senior management

To start with, I would like to take a real example. Last year, the HR manager who worked for one of my clients in Tianjin resigned. It was difficult for me to believe that she had quit her position within a top market player in the logistics industry where she had worked for over six years. Later on, she explained the reason of her resignation to me. She felt too much pressure from top management regarding a special job opening which was vacant for a year and a half. As I recall, I was also working with her on that case at the time. However, I stopped after providing 10 candidates. The reason why I stopped was that there was no mutual agreement on the prospective candidate profile from her and the managing director. Even though she repeatedly sought the understanding of senior management, there was little support. The pressure went up while the budget and requirements barely changed.

Recruitment consultants can help in-house HR a lot on difficult head accounts, but they need to be very clear of the candidate qualifications. In this case, the biggest pressure of HR managers in their recruitment job comes from a lack of information and support from the senior management.

Challenging the returning employees’ loyalty is a necessary step before allowing them back into the company.

2. Formulating unique company selling points (USPs)

In general, when HR managers describe to me in detail what their ideal candidates should look like, the question I usually ask them is: what are the unique selling points your company has? The interesting phenomenon, however, is that there is always a 30-second silence over the phone call when I ask this question. I understand what clients are looking for. I also know where and how to find those candidates who fit the requirement. However, prudent competitors are hiring the same candidates with good qualities. So if a company does not figure out what its unique selling points are in the first place, then it will be difficult for both HR managers and recruitment consultants to convince potential candidates.

Hiring companies should realize that they need to promote their image in order to attract the best candidates. To define a company’s USPs, HR managers and the senior management team should have a sitdown discussion about the company’s business model, organisational culture, missions and values, team building events, company public relations and branding, internal training system and so forth.

3. The interview process matters

In order to save time, some hiring managers or senior management personnel would like to make a hiring decision after one round of interviews. To be honest, I would never advise my clients to do so. Although it is possible for a hiring manager to select the right candidate fairly quickly, for candidates it is a different story. Changing jobs is an important step in one’s career. There are many factors to consider before a candidate can clear his or her mind and make a balanced decision. Experience shows that when a candidate is rushed into a decision, he or she often quits the job within three months; just because the decision was made unbalanced.

When a company decides to hire a candidate based on their performance during the interview, that candidate does make a decision to accept a job based on the interview process. A candidate puts high value on the professionalism of the HR manager, the duration of the interview process and especially the communication towards the candidate during the process.

4. Working with specialists, not generalists

Some companies assign many different recruitment agencies with the belief that this will result in a broader choice of candidates. However, the reality is that the HR Manager spends too much time screening unqualified candidates and eventually eliminating under performing agencies from the search process. A recruiter needs in-depth market knowledge to understand the client’s hiring needs and to judge whether their requirements are realistic or not. Only an industry specialist recruiter has the understanding of both the client and the candidate to ensure a smooth procedure of the interview process. Specialized recruiters can indicate the best talent in the market due to their wide network in a niche sector. They are able to attract the right candidates through their market knowledge. Specialists are well aware of current market trends and understand the availability of the labor market, and it is important for a company to select the right recruitment consultant to work with.

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