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We all want that ability to be able to see the next big trend before it happens — what people will be wanting, doing, needing, going to, and buying NEXT. We want to be there ready and waiting for those customers.
Some folks can see that next trend and hit it fairly often. No one can do it 100%. No one can get any customer base to behave 100% predictably.
Good morning, Class.
Find the next trend. Oh yes, 97.9% of you wll fail this test.
People Data Isn’t on Paper
Folks might lead you to believe that spotting trends is a mysterious talent. Bunk. It’s not. Trendspotting is not about magic or guesswork. It’s about work, preparation and a variety of data. In the calculation of a trend, guesswork, hunches, intuition is probably less than 5%.
Want to see the next trend? Study people and their patterns. Study the folks who follow your passion. Think of that as Trendspotting Infrastructure. Your field of passion is the raw data. Observing folks and talking to them is data collection. Identifying patterns and sorting them is warehousing.
Have a respect for numbers, specifically those that analyze your customers. But don’t fall in love with numbers. Numbers without live voices are like beautiful graphs without spreadsheets behind them. People don’t live in static, little groups on paper. Numbers aren’t enough.
This is the place where 97.9% fail. They think that 100 numbers are smarter than 10 persons’ voices. In predicting behavior, people are more than numbers — not focus groups — people, individuals, single, multi-dimensional, feelingful persons who have thoughts.
So Where Are We Now
People –Patterns –Ideas –People –Patterns –Better Ideas –People Patterns –Even Better Ideas
All you did was pay attention, and suddenly someone says you can spot a trend.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
(The Hows of People Data is Next)
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Find My . . . um . . . Passion ââ¬â What?!!