The Secret Ingredient Celestial Seasonings on effective market research.
By Jessica Hale •
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How did Mo's 36 Herb Tea--a hand-picked blend of herbspackaged in muslin bags and fastened with scrap telephonewire--become Celestial Seasonings, America's favorite herbaltea company? Celestial Seasonings' success has been due inlarge part to founder Mo Siegel's insistence that the companylisten to one voice: the customer's.
Dedication to discovering and fulfilling its customers'desires explains why Celestial Seasonings' Sleepytime brew isthe most popular specialty tea in the United States. With net salestotaling more than $70 million in 1996, Celestial Seasonings hasmore than 50 percent of the herbal tea market and hassingle-handedly popularized herbal tea--previously used primarilyfor medicinal purposes--as a healthy, flavorful alternative tocaffeinated beverages.
The principles that guided Siegel's earliest market researchefforts remain the foundation of market research at CelestialSeasonings today, proving that you don't need a big budget tofind out what your customers will respond to. But you do have tomake market research a priority, devoting your resources and energyto interacting with and understanding the most key component ofyour small business: your customers.
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