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OTIN: Your network is a very useful source of data

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2-3 minutes

MarketPlace

Sunday, July 29, 2018 22:00

By JOE OTIN

Use your network to win more business. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

In this age of big data the late David Ogilvy’s quote comes into play
when he says, “I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of
ignorance (and) we pursue knowledge in the way a pig pursues
truffles.”

Let’s explore the face-to-face mode of sourcing news. When Gaston

Glock created the famous pistol named after him, his primary source
of information came through analogue means.

At that time the highest selling firearms were made by the Americans,
the Swiss, the Italians and the Germans, and not a single soul expected
any good to come from Austria, where Gaston was born and bred.
As a small supplier of utility knives to the Austrian military he
occasionally walked along the corridors of the army offices and one
day he overheard an exchange that led him to believe that the force
was looking for a new type of weapon.

He reached out to his contacts in the administration to get details and

began to design what he thought would fit the brief.

Within his network were weapons designers and mechanical engineers

with knowledge and skills to bring the dream to life. He brought them
together in a well kitted workshop. He developed a number of
prototypes which needed testing, and once again reverted to his
network within the army, the final users of the product.

He invited high ranking officers to his home for meals and they
discussed the design of handguns. This type of research was
instrumental to the success of the pistol that he first produced, the
Glock 17, and subsequent firearms.

He had a deftness for recruiting the right people, a penchant for mixing
with influencers in the defence sector, and an acute understanding of
the impact that trade fairs and conventions had on sales.

When his brand was chosen by the New York Police Department as a
standard issue, its popularity rose rapidly.

Among the things that Gaston Glock put in place to set the ground to
create a top selling firearm brand was the ability to gather data the old
fashioned way while expanding his network.