Success shaped by anthropology

Many companies promise to put customers first, but at Knauf Insulation we aim to go further using anthropological research techniques to unlock what is really needed on job sites. Agnieszka Strzemińska, Marketing Manager for Poland and the Baltics, explains.

A team of anthropologists has been helping our colleagues come to a deeper understanding of the challenges facing customers on construction sites and how we can help. We wanted to develop beyond traditional conversations about issues such as prices, after-sales service or technical details and pursue a more authentic level of customer knowledge. For that we needed anthropological expertise.

LEARNING TO LISTEN

The result has been KI Discovery, an initiative that started with a pilot project in the Baltics and has now grown to include 114 of our colleagues across 68 construction sites providing hundreds of insights.

The project is now gaining momentum right across our company. Agnieszka Strzemińska, our Marketing Manager for Poland and the Baltics, says the project evolved from a need to achieve a real understanding of construction site issues to genuinely address the challenges facing installers.
“To ensure this was a success it was important to find the time, expertise and right approach to understand the work of installers and carefully listen to them being experts in their job,” she explains. “We were used to talking to installers on a daily basis but the circumstances were usually connected to sales — and making a presentation is not a conversation.”

To be authentically customer-centric it is vital to establish the dynamics of having a conversation, she says. ”It became clear that when we genuinely engaged and listened to installers, we became knowledgeable and understood their expertise rather than simply presenting ourselves, selling a solution.” Using research methodology, supported by anthropological experts, colleagues were trained in new ways of observing, interviewing and learning. This meant asking more open questions and learning to understand “what customers need, not what they want”.

CUSTOMER REALITY

“We want to really understand our customers – not the ‘polished versions’ of themselves – but the authentic versions that are real and active on site,” says Agnieszka.
“We want to provide innovations based on real needs and increase the perceived value of our products and solutions. With KI Discovery this is what we are achieving.”

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