Editor’s note: Rhoda Schild is president of Rhoda Schild Marketing Services, a New York research firm.
A no-show is precisely what it is, a no-show. A respondent - a humanoid evolved from the void of the universe, standing upright, thumb in opposition, brain bordered by that wonder of wonders, the cerebral cortex - who was invited and promised money to attend a focus group to give their esteemed opinion, has not shown up. Will the universe cease expanding? Hardly.
The no-show reasons are as many and as straightforward as, “The weather is frightful,” there was a work emergency, a personal emergency, “I don’t want to,” “I have something better to do,” “I forgot,” and, lest we forget the most definitive reason: they have died and rudely enough, they have not called the recruiter or the facility to warn them of their no-show.
The client anticipates filling a quota, is expectant that their paid evaluator will show up and verbally give them their all, that a dialogue between client and customer will take place, that a texture will form, and mostly that this sharing will yield an alliance.
But, the truth is, almost anything big, small, relevant or irrelevant, can, will and has become more important to the invitee than a focus group.
So can you avoid no-shows? No. But you can hedge your bets, ease the moderator’s angst, assuage the client’s expectations and refrain from calling the recruiters nasty names. How? Provide a budget that includes enough cash for an ample over-recruit. This is the single most assured resolution to guarantee a fulfilled quota.
Be confident that your chosen recruiting provider will do their darndest. A responsible supplier will spend hours, days and weeks calling, querying and listening, eager to lasso in the client’s expected groups. They send, they e-mail, they fax, they confirm, they re-confirm. To recruit well is to be on a first-name basis with the word harassment. A good supplier will replace, replicate and fill in whenever they can, but occasionally all efforts go for naught and a no-show happens. Amazingly the earth’s axis remains stable.
Your supplier knows the recruiting process, can read a list, has a notable database, knows how to network, has contacts, contacts, and yes, more contacts, understands the give-and-take of a realistic incentive, and comprehends geographical diversity. Hopefully your supplier is working on your behalf to recruit the best they can using every tactic known to ensure a complete show rate.
But in the event of a no-show it negates the working relationship to call a facility or recruiter and inquire, in the castigating tone of a schoolmarm, “Did you confirm so and so?” Know for sure, they did, they did, they did. And know that the cheapest, the bestest, the ultimate resolution to a no-show is an ample over-recruit.
“Ample” for a responsible population would be 10 for eight to show; for a high-risk, busy, emergency-driven population, 10 for six to show; for an irresponsible population, 10 for five would be safer. An abundant over-recruit is security that errs on the side of caution.
The recruiter: vital link
The recruiter occupies a spot at the very bottom of the totem. They are obscure, hidden, a voice on the phone, most often lacking any information as to what the client really wants or why the client has chosen these particular respondents. Yet, when truth be told, this anonymous recruiter is possibly the most vital link in the focus group food chain. Have a bad recruit, and a moderator sprouting wings and promising everlasting life could not elicit an opinion worth writing about.
More often than not, this secret entity, this unknown recruiter, is given a screener chock-full of questions - sometimes clear, occasionally opaque as a dirty martini - and the spec sheet, the screener blueprint for recruiting, a now-archaic remnant.
Recruiting for focus groups is not in the guidance counselor’s bible. This job is not available through your local headhunter’s office and although there are courses aplenty given in most major cities by those infamous fast-food education outfits on how to become a “professional” respondent, there does not seem to be anyone out there doing a reality-based training course for recruiters. If they are, they are more secret than an al Qaeda cell.
Recruiting for focus groups is a job for odd people. It’s a job you fall into, a job you get through a relative, a job you do while looking for your “real” job, a job you do for a year, then say with a eureka smile on your face, “Hey, this is a job for me!” Recruiting can be a great job if you are one of those “odd people.”
Focus group recruiting is always different, often challenging, sometimes creative and, unlike government work, it has a genuine beginning, an anxiety-ridden middle, and a legitimate ending. You invoice and are off to the next case.
And although there could be 50 people involved from start to finish on one small print advertising campaign - creatives, strategists, lots of smart, sassy folk - one day out of the blue a respondent who went to a focus group six months ago will call up and say, “Thanks so much for that group I went to. I just saw an ad for blahblahblah plastered all over the busses. They picked MY idea after all! I just want to thank you. Can you imagine I got paid for giving them that idea?”
And so, recruiting is a pleasure-giving occupation. After all, what is the second-best thing a person can do after they have consumed, purchased, imbibed, traveled, gone through heaven or hell, and paid little or dearly for a product or service? They can brag about it, tell their story, share their ideas and opinions, talk endlessly about the expertise they have garnered.
The best thing is, they are going to be listened to, really listened to. In a world where almost nobody listens to anyone, a focus group may be the last place on this planet where people are “really” listening.
And oh yes, they also get paid for their opinion.