Using Fridgenomics To Gauge Prospect Buy Likelihood
I caught a half-hour BBC World Talking Business with Linda Yueh discussing fridgenomics.
It began fairly factually. A trio of white male middle-aged analysts explained how fridge ownership portrays a country’s middle-class make-up.
The aspirant working class all desire a tv, mobile phone and fridge. You start off storing ten basic items in your fridge with an efficiency mindset, like eggs, raw ingredients, convenience foods and processed meat.
Then as your earning power rises, sugary drinks and treats like ice cream dominate alongside butter, jam and beer.
As you become comfortably wealthy, salads and health food like low fat yoghurt and juices take over.
In 2004, 24% of Chinese homes had a fridge. Ten years later that rose to 88%.
Another remarkable stat was that of all the UK’s energy consumption, refrigeration accounts for 10%.
A fascinating finding was then provided by photographer Stephanie de Rouge.
She shot various household fridges.
She concluded that the state and contents of their fridge gave the most personal insight into their values and personality of anything she could have photo’d in their home.
Her observed ‘perfect mirror of attitudes and beliefs and how they aspire as consumers’ could also be on view for us in our b2b arena.
You’ve probably long joked with friends how you must judge a restaurant by the calibre of its ablutions.
I remember assessing manufacturing plant attitudes to quality by the state of their stores room.
Likewise a wholesale distributor and their warehouse.
And which car-bound rep hasn’t taken note of the cars parked outside to guess at the chances of spending big by those inside.
It occurred to me there are plenty of other subtle indicators as to potential match between how you and your prospect think.
The stationery cupboard springs to mind. Is it even unlocked for all to enter? What kinds of brands and products are held within?
Then there’s the communal kitchen. One I was making myself green tea in recently had a Nespresso machine with fresh vases of flowers alongside, free fruit in wonderful wooden bowls and even free soya milk on hand.
Perhaps for me personally the greatest reveal is the state of the walls. Not whether the paint is peeling. Rather what adorns them. This truly shows the underlying culture and direction.
Is there any hint of individuality or do corporate diktats reign?
In any case, there will be something that you witness that will tell you the precise nature of the fit.
Once you recognise such psychographic, it is vital you log it, and make it part of your process.
Which reminds me of a dating compatibility survey I read about not long back, which I’ll blog on shortly too…