Boss . . . I don't like the colour of the carpet . . . By Director Wayne Hall

May 30, 2008

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During a meeting with one of our strategic partners recently, the “issue” came up about how to deal with the scenario where a client looks for feedback from their staff about the effectiveness of their music strategy.
Like so many things in business, handling matters that involve receiving information from a number of people becomes a question of balance. At times it can seem that the advantages of the exercise well outweigh the disadvantages, as what seemed to be a good “inclusive” idea becomes a myriad of varying (and incompatible) opinions in someone’s inbox.

Furthermore, when it comes to music, there is probably no other topic that will generate as much interest and emotive response from staff about what to play and why - and understandably so, given the integral part it plays in our daily lives. As we say in this business . . . everyone’s a DJ.

So how does a manager or music consultant go about managing this scenario?

First of all, feedback should be encouraged - but not immediately. The critical factor for any strategy is the “brief”, or key criteria, which has been set down as the formal guide for implementing the solution in the first place. Most businesses go to a lot of time and expense (usually engaging experts) to obtain assistance with, for example, selecting a certain logo, signage typeface, colour, lighting and design, to name just a few physical attributes. If you ask a typical Marketing or Operations person within a business about why their “brand” is a certain colour, why their posters have a certain “look”, or why their flooring is a particular style, they will answer in a way that relates back to their understanding of the customer (in the case of the marketing manager) or of the practicality and efficiency of the service (in the case of the operations person) . . . or both. (What’s more, most of the time they will be able to point to a formal document - paid research findings - that supports their case).

Critically, though, the look and feel of these attributes have all been arrived at with an eye to satisfying the brief - which in turn spelled out things like the customer (and staff) demographics, the nature of the business and it’s products . . . and so on and so forth.

Four very powerful points arise from this observation in respect of music:
• A strategic music solution is based around understanding the nature of the audience that a business wishes to attract. Correctly profile this audience and you have the information for selecting the appropriate music program ie profile the business, THEN the music. Music is a function of the brief.
• Once implemented, when it comes to a review, the music strategy should be managed just as any other brand strategy is managed  ie relevant feedback is about determining if the BRIEF is being met.
• No strategy, however comprehensively implemented, will ever satisfy everyone. A well executed strategy of any kind provides the business (management and staff) with the confidence for explaining why the business does what it does.
• The “outcomes” from the exercise, assuming the original brief was signed off with due care - are either (i) the brief has changed or was not right in the first place – eg. new product and services have been introduced or the customer profile has changed - or (ii) the music programmers are not meeting the brief. All feedback should be classified as one or other (or both) of these situations -  contrast this with trying to summarise a batch of individual preferences about music styles

Once this is appreciated, the great advantage about getting feedback from staff is that you have a group of interested, informed people providing you with constructive information.
And like any brand review exercise, a review of the music strategy should be done carefully; it is suggested you “test” a small number of staff to begin with in order to refine the process so that it is manageable and adds value to the business.

Finally, and at the risk of offending some, how frequently do business (management) seriously respond to personal views from staff about the look and feel of, for instance, their logo, colour schemes . . . or type of flooring materials ? 

Perhaps we should do so more often; my point, though, is that a comprehensively implemented music strategy should be reviewed just as other brand elements are reviewed - periodically, properly, and in the context of the overall strategic direction of the business.

Of course, feedback about music should never be off limits. Staff and others can and will provide a lot of valuable information, but we owe the person providing it a clear explanation of why it is the way it is for the moment . . .


Wayne Hall
Director

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