Covert research: simple, savvy and somewhat sneaky ways to get the scoop on what your target audience really thinks and wants.

Your customers and prospects are lying to you. They're misleading and misguiding you. Not in a malicious or intentionally deceitful way, mind you. It's all part of a noble effort on their part to provide constructive feedback, objective input and thoughtful opinions in response to what we call "market research."

Here's the problem.

People have two reasons for everything they do. The real reason and the one that sounds good. I'm paraphrasing J.P. Morgan there. Although he was not a bank marketing maven, he understood human nature.

Go ask your neighbors why they bought that expensive car. They'll tell you all about Consumer Reports' safety statistics, resale value, performance. Yeah, right. Sounds good, but we all know the real reason, don't we?

The same thing can happen when you do marketing research. You've got to be careful. Harry Beckwith, in his book "Selling the Invisible," cites Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle of quantum physics. Essentially, it says that the very act of research, experimentation and observation can change the behavior of the objects being studied. And Heisenberg was talking about atoms and molecules in the physical world. If the act of observation can change how things we can't see behave, imagine how much it can change things we can see. Like people, Beckwith suggests.

When people know they're part of a research study, they aren't themselves. They're on their toes, thinking twice, trying to "get it right," making sure they don't look dumb. I've heard people say they've heard of a financial services company that I made up and that it had a good reputation for above-average performance, too. Because they wanted to appear well-informed.

I've heard people say they were former customers of a bank that didn't exist. They just liked being asked for their opinions, and they wanted to answer more questions about banking.

People will say one thing and do another.

Guy Kawasaki, former Apple marketing exec, told a story about Sony boom boxes in his keynote at a national conference. Remember when they first came out, those portable CD/AM/FM stereos? They came in bright blue, yellow, orange and hot pink.

That's because Sony did research with young people, and the young people told Sony they didn't like black. Black was the color their parents would buy, and no way would a cool kid want to carry around a boring black boom box.

But the fluorescent-colored boom boxes didn't sell. So Sony did focus groups and asked again what color the boom boxes should be. "Not black" was still the answer.

Once the focus groups were over, the kids were invited to take home a boom box of their choice from the display downstairs in the lobby. Guess what color every single kid took home?

Black.

Which is why you should avoid hypothetical questions in your research and focus groups. "Would you like it if we bundled this with that?" "How much would you be willing to pay for XYZ?" Remember Sony. Remember that people spend their hypothetical time and money quite differently than how they spend their real Curie and money.

And while we're at it, stop asking "What do you think of ...?" People don't understand the question. They think you asked them "What's wrong with....?" And that's exactly what you'll get. Criticism and nit-picking.

Going beyond the data

How do you get the real answers?

When we embark on market research, we typically start with collecting data that describes the marketplace, the target audience, and their behaviors and beliefs. When that data is analyzed, simplified and reported, it becomes information, a "map" of the marketplace.

For instance, after collecting data, you might "know how many of your debit cards consumers carry, compared to how many consumers carry the competitors' cards. You might know how people rate your bank on various dimensions of service quality. Or you might know what keywords or attributes are associated with your brand compared to other brands. Charts, tables and graphs come in handy to draw a simplified picture of all that data.

"All too often, this is the point where many people stop," warns Lisa Fortini-Campbell, Ph.D., professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Integrated Advertising. "Certainly we have a good description, but by itself, we don't have any real understanding of our consumers. We have not found that critical insight we need to be effective."

So don't rest on the laurels of your data and information. Go undercover. Lurk. Observe. Chat with your target audience when they don't know you're "doing research."

A bank with 14 branches dotted throughout small towns found a valuable insight in a coffee shop. I was early for a meeting at the bank, so I went to a coffee shop just outside of town to kill time. The bank was one of only two in this small town. Hometown Bank carried the name of the town, and the other bank was my client. The banks were like bookends, each holding down a corner of the same block. Client Bank had been in its location 10 years, but was perceived as an outsider. Client Bank figured it was because Hometown Bank had the advantage of a local name.

In the coffee shop, I put on my undercover detective hat, and I asked my waitress a question. "I am so embarrassed to ask you this, but I have a job interview at the bank in an hour, and I lost my directions. Can you tell me where it is?"

"Which bank are you interviewing with, hon?"

"There's more than one?" I said, with feigned aghast inflection.

"Well, there's only two. Hometown and ... oh what's their name ... they keep changing it all the time." She shouted to sonic regulars at the counter, "Hey, what's the name of that other bank in town?"

The makeshift "focus group" that ensued was amazing. When someone accurately named Client Bank, others argued: "No, they got bought last year. It's something else now. I'm sure of it because they put up another new sign."

Bingo. I realized why people considered Client Bank the out-of-town intruder. Because Client Bank's CEO had been playing around with the logo for the last three years. The name had remained the same, but changing the logo, including signage, gave the impression that the name and ownership had changed. We knew where we needed to focus the marketing.

Data can be misleading

In another market, Community Bank told me not to worry about Behemoth Bank, their competitor. "Nobody likes them," the marketing director said, because Behemoth was impersonal and treated people like an account number. Community Bank, on the other hand, was the local, friendly, customer-focused bank. That's what the survey research said.

I visited a couple of Behemoth Bank branches anyway. I dressed in business attire so that any self-respecting banker would consider me a "live one" for potential deposits. I entered the lobby of the first branch, checked my watch and went to a brochure rack.

Within 60 seconds, an employee walked over, pointed out the free coffee and invited me to help myself while I browsed. If I had any questions, she'd be glad to answer them, she said. Her name was Maggie. I also met Liz, Ralph and Christine. when I visited their respective branches later in the day.

Then I visited a Community Bank branch (where they didn't know me). I went to the brochure rock and checked my watch. After I'd read four, tri-fold brochures, I walked around. No one was at the "new accounts" desk. No one was in line for a teller, or retail banker, as they were called at the friendly Community Bank.

No one approached me or even made eye contact. Maybe they thought I was casing the joint. Maybe they had called tilt FBI and were waiting for someone to haul me away. Finally, I was tired of waiting, so I asked someone where the restroom was. She asked me if I were a customer.

"Not likely," I thought to myself.

But I did have to go back to the marketing director at Community Bank and tell him he was right. Community Bank didn't have to worry about Behemoth Bank. They had to worry about themselves first.

When eavesdropping is good

Don't get me wrong. Collect the data and review the information. Then put it down and go look around. Stand in line and eavesdrop. One marketing director did that and heard the customers wondering why her bank had left such a mess in the lobby. "I guess they're doing some remodeling, but you'd think they'd put the ladder and drop cloths away during business hours."

The marketing director was shocked. The bank wasn't remodeling. The ladder, tools and drop cloth were part of a display tied to the home equity loan promotion going on. She asked one of the tellers if any one had mentioned the display to them, and she was told, "Oh, yeah. All the time. They want to know what color we're painting the lobby."

Play dumb now and then. One marketing director called her own call center after a feature story ran in the newspaper. "I read something in the paper the other day about the bank sending people as speakers to the schools. Can you tell me how that works?"

"Oh, that was just something our PR department did to get us in the newspaper. I don't think they really do that."

Look when and where no one else is.

Insight is what you're after. That spot in the target audience's heart and mind that makes your marketing meaningful. Not to mention more effective. Just as your best family photos are candid shots, captured when the subjects didn't know you had a lens aimed at them, your most insightful research will come the same way. Dig deep. Look for the real reasons, when people don't know you're looking. You may not know what you're looking for, but you'll know it when you find it.

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Terri Langhans is the author of "The 7 Marketing Mistakes Every Business Makes and How to Fix Them." She speaks on "Maverick Marketing" and consults in the area of bank marketing. Website: www.blahblahblah.us.