What Designing a Shampoo Bottle Taught Me About Business

You want to be in control of that shampoo bottle, not the other way around. 

During the brief period between graduating from business school and the start of my first real job, I felt on top of the world. I knew the theories. I’d read the case studies. I’d generated brilliant solutions and business plans for hypothetical companies. I had a brand-new briefcase and some sharp professional clothes. I was so ready to impress.

My First Day

And then that first day came, and I started my job as a marketing manager at Proctor & Gamble. I got my desk, my phone, a tour… and an assignment: “We’re developing a new shampoo product. We need you to figure out how big the hole in the bottle should be.”

Like many a newly minted hotshot before me, I thought, “You have got to be kidding me. I’m an MBA, not a designer! Don’t people who spend their careers designing shampoo containers already know the answer? Isn’t there a chart somewhere? Besides, what difference could it possibly make if the hole is four millimeters or six millimeters?”

Of course, I did not say any of that.

My next thought was, “Wait a minute. Maybe this is just a logic test. The answer is simple: Make the hole bigger so the customer will use more shampoo and then have to buy more.”

But as I started to research this issue, I realized it’s not a design decision. Forget the countless business-school case studies I’d read — this was my first real-world lesson in marketing.

Determined to do well on my first assignment, I used the consumer research tactics that were the heart and soul of P&G: I read stacks of existing research; talked to consumers in focus groups and one-on-one interviews; and shadowed customers as they shopped. Like a sponge, I soaked in their needs, desires, and pet peeves. I listened intently to their stories about the way our products made them feel.

A Real-World Education

I had just learned my first and arguably most important lesson in consumer marketing. You do not know what you do not know. Don’t forget to listen to the people who have a stake in whatever you are about to do.

Here’s the thing: Consumers are very particular about shampoo because the shower is a very personal, sometimes vulnerable place. It’s never feels good to be duped by some corporation’s plan to increase sales, but especially not when you have soap in your eyes and no clothes on. You want to be in control of that shampoo bottle, not the other way around. So, after hearing from our customers, we designed a bottle with a hole that provided just the right amount of shampoo — not too much, or too little.

Active listening is a vital skill for any leader. It builds and strengthens relationships between customers and brands, or managers and employees. It helps leaders appreciate that everyone has something to contribute to the business, the brand, the reputation.

Why It Matters Today

I’ve carried this philosophy with me throughout my career. Now, as CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, I listen carefully to our customers, partners, and employees as they navigate today’s ever-changing technology landscape. Hearing about their challenges — their unique journey to the cloud, or how they’re trying to make sense of big data, or protect themselves from cyber threats, or provide digital experiences anytime, anywhere and on any device — demonstrates what issues are most important to them, and ultimately helps me make better business decisions.

It doesn’t matter whether your product is a server or a shampoo bottle. Taking the time to recognize, understand, and appreciate what the people around you have to say will mean the difference between success and failure.

This article was first published on February 29, 2016 by Meg Whitman on her LinkedIn Page. 

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