Jerry Pournelle Quotes

I love market research because you really have an idea of what your consumers are looking for.

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.

How do you know what people value? Well, you watch what they buy. How do we know what products to create? Well, it's based on what they value.

Customers don't know what they want. There's plenty of good psychology research that shows that people are not able to accurately predict how they would behave in the future. So asking them, 'Would you buy my product if it had these three features?' or 'How would you react if we changed our product this way?' is a waste of time. They don't know.

When companies try to guess what consumers want, they essentially make the choice for consumers.

We're not in the business of shaping consumer demand. We respond to it.

Certainly in business terms, considering how thriving the market is. Understanding what people want is essential. We have a team on the ground whose job it is to keep tabs on what's good, whether it's a tapas bar in Barcelona, or an amazing fish and chip shop in Yorkshire.

I have come East to find what the public likes.

Consumer habits are key to understanding how to launch a product.

Don't talk to me about aesthetics or tradition. Talk to me about what sells and what's good right now. And what the American people like is to think the underdog still has a chance.

The public don't know what they want; it's my job to tell them.

Companies are very, very good - better than consumers themselves - at knowing what consumers are actually craving.

In America, they never make anything without first having a market survey to ask the public what they want. People only ask for things they already know about, so you don't get anything new that way. That's why American fashion is stuck.

You have to understand who your customer is and her motivations and marry it to what's happening in the outside world.

There just doesn't seem to be a market for something with aspiration anymore.

One of the things which make any company successful, in particular the Home Depot, was that we understood and catered to the customer. If it didn't sell, it didn't make a difference what we thought or our research told us. They told us if it was successful by buying it or not.

Television networks are a lot like automobile manufacturers or anyone else who's in commerce. If something out there catches on with the public... I guess you can call it 'market research.'

Advertising generally works to reinforce consumer trends rather than to initiate them.

But if people are buying the products, naturally they're gonna use them.

I mistrust anyone... if they're saying, 'Well, that market wants this,' and you're not part of that market.

The habits of the American consumer are changing; that's a reality.

We need to be in front of consumer trends and translate those trends into insights and foresights.

You don't need Math to do business reporting. Business is all about choices that consumers make.

If you think you know the consumer better than anyone, then you're in real trouble. So we take a close watch. You spend time in stores.

Can you say that in 20 years people would still use the iPhone? Maybe not. Maybe we'd have a new product or something more innovative. What I can say today is that, in 20 years, I'm quite convinced that people will still drink Dom Perignon.