Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a Business Class.

旁白：听一段关于商学的讲座。

Professor: OK, as we've talked about a key aspect of running a successful business is knowing, um, getting a good sense of what the customer actually wants, and how they perceive your product.

教授：好，我们之前谈到了做一笔成功的生意的重要方面就是知道，嗯，就是了解客户的需要，和了解他们如何看待你的商品的。

So with that in mind, I want to describe a very simple method of researching customer preference and it's becoming increasingly common.

那么，关于这个概念，我想要描述一个非常简单的关于受众喜好的调查方法，而且这个方法越来越普遍。

It's called MBWA, which stands for Managing by Wandering Around.

它叫做MBWA，意思是漫游式管理。

Now, MBWA, that's not the most technical sounding name you have ever heard, but it describes the process pretty accurately.

MBWA，可能对你来说，它听上去技术性不是很强，但它其实比较准确地形容了整个过程。

Here's how it works.

它是这么起作用的。

Basically, um, the idea is that business owners or business managers just go out and actually talk to their customers and, uh, learn more about how well the business is serving their needs, and try to see what the customer experiences,

基本上，商人或者商业管理者，他们就直接到外面去跟客户谈话，去了解自己的商业机构是否满足了他们的需求，而且试着发掘客户都经历了什么，

because that's a great way to discover for yourself how your product is perceived, what its strengths and weaknesses are.

因为这对于你自己来说，是个非常好的办法去了解自己的产品如何被客户看待的，它的优势和劣势是什么。

You know, how you can improve it, that sort of thing.

你知道的⋯⋯如何去改进它，等等。

You know Daltons?

你们知道Dalton公司吗？

They make soup and canned vegetables and such.

他们制造汤和蔬菜罐头那样的产品。

Well, the head of the company had Daltons' top executives walk around supermarkets, um, asking shoppers what they thought of Daltons' soups.

这个公司的领导，让Dalton的高层行政人员在超市里走来走去，去询问客户觉得Dalton公司的汤怎么样。

And he used that data to make changes to the company's products.

而他则把这些数据用来改进公司的产品。

I mean, when Daltons, of all companies, embraces something as radical as MBWA, it really shows you how popular the theory has become. Yes, Lisa?

我的意思是，连Dalton这种公司都接受了MBWA这种近乎激进的东西，足可以显示出这个理论的受欢迎程度。好的，Lisa,请讲？

Student A: But isn't it dangerous to base decisions from information from a small sample of people?

学生1：但是把决策建立在少数人组成的样本之上，会不会有点太危险了？

Isn't large-scale market research safer, getting data on a lot of people?

大规模的市场调查不是更保险吗，从大量人身上获得数据？

Professor: That's a good question.

教授：这个问题提的很好。

And, uh, well, I don't want to pretend that MBWA is some sort of, uh, replacement for other methods of customer research.

我不想假装MBWA可以替代其他的调查方式。

Now market research data definitely can give you a good idea of the big picture, but MBWA is really useful, it kind of filling in the blanks, you know, getting a good on-the-ground sense of how your products are used and how people need to respond to them.

一个市场调查肯定能给你一个更全面的视角，但MBWA在填补空白的时候的确非常有用，你知道，一种暗访意义上揭示你的产品如何被使用，人们对它的反映如何。

And, yes, the numbers of opinions you get is small, so you do need to be careful.

但的确，访问的人数有限，所以要格外小心。

But, good business managers will tell you that the biggest fear they have and one of the most frequent problems they come across is, well, becoming out of touch with what their customers really want and need.

但是，一个好的商业管理者会告诉你，他们最担心的东西，也是频繁出现问题的东西，就是跟客户的真正需要发生脱节。

You know, surveys and market research, stuff like that, they can only tell you so much about what the customers actually want in their day to day lives.

这些民意调查，市场调查，它们只能告诉你客户在日常生活中的需求。

Managing by wandering around, on the other hand, well, that gets you in there and gives you a good sense of what customers' need.

漫游式的管理方式却实实在在告诉了你客户想要什么。

So, when using combination, then, MBWA and market research, well, they are powerful tools.

所以应当联合使用这些方法，MBWA和市场调查会是非常强大的工具。

Oh, here's another example for you.

再举个例子。

Uh, senior executives for a clothing manufacture, it was, um, Elkin, Elkin jeans, you know?

一个服装制造业的高级管理人员们，Elkin服装，Elkin牛仔裤听说过吧？

They went and worked in the store for a few days, selling Elkin's clothes.

他们甚至在商店里工作了几天，销售Elken服装。

Now that gave them a very different idea about their product.

这个经历使得他们对自己产品的看法发生了一个非常大的转变。

They saw how people responded to it.

他们亲眼看到了人们对产品的反应。

They could go up to customers in the store and asked them questions about it.

他们可以直接在店里走到客户面前问问题。

Uh, yes, Mike?

好，Mike，请讲？

Student B: Well, I would think that a lot of customers would be bothered by, you know, if I'm shopping, I don't know if I want some business representative coming up to me and asking me questions.

学生2：但我觉得客户应该不太乐意⋯⋯比如我吧，我可不喜欢在我买东西的时候冒出来一个高层人员问我问题。

It's like when I get phone calls at home from market researchers.

就好像我在家接到了市场调查的电话。

I just hang up on them.

我一般都直接挂断。

Professor: Well, it's certainly true that, well, no one likes getting calls at home from market researchers or people like that.

教授：人们当然都不喜欢在家接到市场调查之类的电话。

But I'll tell you something.

但实话告诉你吧。

Most customers have the exact opposite reaction when it comes to MBWA.

大多数客户在MBWA的过程中反应恰恰相反。

Now, don't ask me why because I really have no idea.

别问我为什么，因为我也不知道。

But the fact is, that customers tend to respond really well to MBWA, which is the key reason for its success.

事实是，客户通常对MBWA的反映还不错，这也是它成功的一个主要原因。

In fact, the techniques of MBWA work so well.

事实上，因为MBWA技术实在太好。

They've actually been extended to all kinds of different contexts like politics, for instance.

它甚至延伸到了其它的领域，比如政治。

Uh, a few years back, the mayor of Baltimore, uh, I think his name was Shaffer, or something like that.

前几年，巴尔的摩市市长，他好像叫，嗯，Shapher还是什么⋯⋯

Anyway, he decided that the best way to serve the people of the city, of his city, was to actually get out there in it and experience the things that they experienced.

不管怎样，他决定服务市民的最好方式，就是到城市里去，去经历市民们在经历的事。

So, he'd ride around the city and, well you know, in all parts of it, and he'd see all the pot holes.

所以他在城市的各个地方转了个遍，他看到了所有路面坑坑洼洼的地方。

He'd see how the trash was sometimes, uh, not picked up off the side of the street.

还有路边上没有被捡起来的垃圾。

And then he'd go back to his office and he'd write these memos, now, they were memos to his staff about the problems he'd seen and how they needed to be fixed.

然后他回到了办公室把这些写进了备忘录里，这些备忘录是用来记录他发现的问题，和员工们如何解决这些问题。

You know, that sort of thing.

你知道的，那种事情。

But, the thing is, he got all these information just by going around and seeing the different Baltimore neighborhoods and talking to the people in them.

但他这些信息的获取，仅仅是靠在城市里瞎逛，看看不同的社区，和跟市民们谈话。

Now, he called this smart politics; we'd call it MBWA, or just playing good customer service.

他管这个方法叫智慧策略，而我们叫它MBWA，或者只是在客户服务中游刃有余。