"Effective marketing. Hiring great people and letting them do what they do well."
Meet Roger Jackson – he founded his first company Shopper Intelligence after a 20 year marketing career in CPG corporates (Unilever, Kraft, United Biscuits) and consulting in Category Management. Now in 12 countries, SI provides a unique set of data to help suppliers and retailers work together by providing an objective fact base on what shoppers think and want. They create quantitative evidence about the direct point of view of their mutual end customer. It’s now the largest data source of its kind.
Recently, he launched ‘Sensecheck‘ which plugs the gap in marketing feedback for small B2Bbusinesses. Companies that can’t afford to do traditional market research and lack a breadth of perspective in house. Put simply its a platform that enables owners and managers to give each other feedback on marketing ideas – acting as a proxy for prospects, most importantly by giving that external unbiased perspective. The reciprocal peer-to-peer character keeps costs down to a minimum whilst still proving extremely useful.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Roger Jackson: I founded my first company Shopper Intelligence after a 20 year marketing career in CPG corporates (Unilever, Kraft, United Biscuits) and consulting in Category Management. Now in 12 countries, SI provides a unique set of data to help suppliers and retailers work together by providing an objective fact base on what shoppers think and want. We create quantitative evidence about the direct point of view of their mutual end customer.
Its now the largest data source of its kind. Recently I launched sensecheck.com which plugs the gap in marketing feedback for small B2Bbusinesses. Companies that can’t afford to do traditional market research and lack a breadth of perspective in house. Put simply its platform that enables owners and managers to give each other feedback on marketing ideas – acting as a proxy for prospects, most importantly by giving that external unbiased perspective. The reciprocal peer to peer character keeps costs down to a minimum whilst still proving extremely useful.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Roger Jackson: Our SI business has been relatively resilient during Covid, because we worked remotely anyway and our product is data. I learned how hard it is to get attention to a new concept in managers in big companies when their working patterns have been disrupted. But we have also discovered new ways to get eyeballs through more investment in digital marketing particularly webinars where we give out useful insights. Webinars appear popular for folks working at home
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Roger Jackson: I don’t think the key planks of business have changed much. Keeping things simple, Being really clear on your proposition (what you offer and how). Effective marketing. Hiring great people and letting them do what they do well.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Roger Jackson: I think our Industry has struggled to adjust to the absence of face to face meetings but in general market research hasnt been the hardest hit. The ongoing pressures on overhead costs for our clients remain a bigger trend to deal with.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Roger Jackson: Don’t panic! I still think we can do a lot more to improve our marketing now that its evident digital/online everything behaviours are here to stay
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Roger Jackson: A small readjustment but yes we had 10 years of development in just two years. Its great now we can default to Zoom for almost all purposes reserving F2F for when it matters most. That makes us far more efficient.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Roger Jackson: Most of my working day is on a laptop so I’d say 6 -7
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Roger Jackson: I share stories of how our data helped clients in any of the countries we work in. I push others to do the same. What matters is the end result for our client – stories about their world and outcomes (not ours) It’s hard to get to those, we have to ask. We did some work in Fresh Fruit and Vegetables for a major retailer and they just relaid out their entire section based on our data. Its performing well. Its a great testimonial but we don’t yet even have pictures to share of it.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Roger Jackson: I think most people are becoming very tired of social media and digital “stuff”. There is a lot of overload from poor quality content and that is making it harder and harder to have an impact even if our material is good quality.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Roger Jackson: I continue to be a student of marketing. Particularly given the launch of my idea Sensecheck I am passionate about the way small business appears to miss out on better results just for the lack of some additional input and perspective. Something their bigger competitors have to hand very easily
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Roger Jackson: I am sure we are all guilty of thinking we don’t have a problem. We just lost two key people and for sure this was a factor. Working from home for 2 years has made everyone’s job relatively boring. Lets get people back together (in a room) and talk about how we can make work more interesting again.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Roger Jackson: The power of perspective. To be able to keep seeing my own business from the perspective of an outsider.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Roger Jackson: For Sensecheck to change the world of marketing for small business.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Roger Jackson for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Roger Jackson or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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