Jan Hofmeyr, Butch Rice
ISBN: 0-471-49574-3
Cloth
320 pages
November 2000

• Why don't people who are unhappy with a product/service convert to a different product?
• Why do others convert?
• Why are people more committed to the brand of petrol they use than to their motor-car manufacturer?

If marketers knew the answers to these questions imagine the power they would have in gaining the best share of the market place. Jan Hofmeyr and John Rice have developed the conversion model which is a technique that analyses the degree of a person's psychological commitment to anything and everything. The model has been applied to over 160 product categories ranging from toothpaste or beer, to motor cars, financial institutions, environmental causes, and even politics*. The process acts as a sort of sieve where the brand manager/ marketing manager can filter out those customers who are most likely to be committed to a product and once they have been identified the process allows you to convert these customers to your product. The method can throw up implications for products/ brands such as: you may have to redesign part of your product to attract the newly committed customer. This is a revolutionary approach to integrated marketing. Marketers will be able to gain a strategic advantage across a wide range of product categories if they implement the thinking, tools and strategies outlined in this book. The authors have proved committed customers can improve sales by up to eight times. * The ANC and Nelson Mandela have used the conversion model (CM) for strategy development in every election campaign, starting with the planning for the first election in 1993, and most recently for the 2nd general election held this year. The process starts with nationwide research which identifies the following:

1. Regions which are safe (because voters are committed to the ANC)
2. To identify 'no-hopers' (because voters are committed to other parties).
3. To identify swing regions and swing voters (1 year before the election this research is carried out because it establishes the issues undermining commitment to the ANC [and other parties] which can then be swung back).

The process then focuses on the 'swing' voters' and an overall campaign message is created, with four or five different executions (literally slogans, mini-speeches etc). At this stage more research is carried out using the CM to measure the persuasive effect of the different messages. The process then goes into a more qualitative phase to identify voters. The results have been unanimous in their accuracy in terms of the election results. For example, in 1994 the CM identified the coloured (mixed race) voters as rocky ground for the ANC. Until the vote proved the CM right the ANC refused to believe the authors. In 1996 local elections the CM identified a swing to the ANC among rural coloured voters (contrary to all expectations). In this year's elections the CM was the most accurate both in terms of where the ANC was secure and where it was under threat.