Word: gm
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Changes. GM began customer research during the teapot tempest over freewheeling. Every executive in the industry had positive ideas on the subject; Buck Weaver, then on Alfred P. Sloan's personal public relations staff, wondered what the public thought. On his own he sent a questionnaire to a few hundred automobile owners. Some 60% voted for freewheeling. Then a few months later a second questionnaire showed that only 50% wanted it on their cars. GM abandoned freewheeling. It still took Weaver some time to persuade the company that a regular customer research department was warranted. Allowed...
...questionnaires, made an average of a speech a week, carried on an enormous correspondence and built up a formidable battery of charts and files. From it all he and his staff of 37 have winnowed exactly 185 public reactions which have found their way into the design of GM cars. Researcher Weaver carefully points out that he was not completely responsible for any of these changes; most of them were already contemplated by GM engineers. But the fact that the public wanted them was often the deciding factor in their adoption...
...line with Weaver's findings-though in some cases ''discovered" independently by other manufacturers using more prosaic methods-are such changes on GM's new cars as lower centre of gravity, improved visibility, partial elimination of running boards, gear shift lever on steering post, door locks on both front doors in some models, locks on ventipanes. Most 1939 cars have the headlights submerged in the fenders; GM's still have their lights mounted independently. Other Weaver conclusions about the public...
...personally conducted tour of the show. This week, too. Weaver's biggest customer research opus makes its debut-a slick, 80-page Motorist's Handbook and Buyer's Guide to be distributed to 5,000,000 customers to tell them what they have told GM about their taste in automobiles...
Propaganda. The Motorist's Handbook demonstrates that GM's customer research is not merely a fact-finding project. It is also a highly polished sales and propaganda device. And there is no question that the selling aspects of Weaver's activities are fully as valuable to GM as the research findings...