Customer Reviews

The Trendmaster's Guide : Get a Jump on What Your Customer Wants Next

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Don't be fooled by this book's diminutive size and brief length. The content is rock-solid and thought-provoking. Waters' suggestions and recommendations are eminently practical. This book is also written with a style which has Snap! Crackle! and Pop! Usually an A to Z organizing principle is merely a gimmick. Not so in this instance. Waters offers a series of brief but stimulating discussions of 26 subjects which range from A (Antennae by which to "tune in to the little things, the trivial nuances, and the irrelevant data which everyone else misses") to Z (Zen which embraces opposites, paradoxes, contradictions, etc. while celebrating duality and embraces polarity). Waters urges her reader to learn to practice "the Zen of trend."

As she carefully differentiates, a "trend tracker" is someone who is alert for indications that help his or her business to stay [begin italics] up to the minute [end italics] whereas what she calls a "Trendmaster" uses that information to determine [begin italics] where that minute is going [end italics]. Years ago when asked to explain his effectiveness as a hockey player, Wayne Gretzky replied that others know where the puck is while he knows where it is going to be. Larry Bird once said that when he played basketball, he saw plays develop as if in slow motion and he could "see" exactly what would happen next. There are countless other examples of precisely the same skills on which Waters focuses, all of which almost anyone can possess and then improve.

She may be overstating the case when suggesting that what she recommends is a "new way of looking at the world." The fact remains, however, that her insights will seem "new" to those readers who were previously unaware of "the invisibility of the obvious" and may have been captive to what Jim O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." As a result, they have failed to recognize seemingly insignificant indications of emerging trends which (sooner rather than later) determine success or failure in any competitive marketplace.

I highly recommend this book, especially to decision-makers in small-to-midsize companies which have limited resources and thus must somehow do more and do it better, do it sooner, and with less. I agree with Warren Buffett who said something to the effect that "price is what you charge but value is what others think it's worth." This is especially true of current and prospective customers. Mastering the use of various tools which Waters provides will help each reader to become a Trendmaster. Because trends evolve in sometimes unexpected directions, the same tools and skills can then be used to make necessary adjustments of the given strategies and tactics.

Waters includes a brief section, Recommended Reading, in which she lists a number of outstanding sources. To them I presume to add five others: Thomas S. Kuhns's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Joel A. Barker's Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, Eileen C. Shapiro and Howard H. Stevenson's Make Your Own Luck: 12 Practical Steps to Taking Smarter Risks in Business, and two by William Bridges, Transitions and Managing Transitions. To varying degrees, all five of these books develop in much greater depth several of Waters' core concepts.

She does include Seth Godin's Purple Cow on her list (which I think is terrific) but his recently published All Marketers Are Liars is, in my opinion, even more relevant to those who intend to become a Trendmaster. So, I recommend reading both of Grodin's books as well as Waters'.

A is for Apple.

B is for Bunny.

C is for Cookie.

We're all familiar with these sorts of books from reading to our kids - usually in the age 2-4 category.

This is the format that Robyn Waters, self-styled trendmaster par excellence has chosen for this book.

Given the nature of this work, it's a good choice. In the introduction Waters writes, "My goal is to simplify and demystify the art and science of trend". Instead, what she's succeeded in doing is writing a skimpy and simplistic book that insults the intelligence of her reader.

So - A is for Antennae.

B is for Big Picture.

C is for Connect the Dots.

And so it goes...

The main content is a conglomeration of anecdotes and stories about products the author apparently likes. Some may be mildly interesting, but certainly nothing rises to the level of helping the reader to "Get a jump on what your customer wants next".

Along the way we encounter platitudes, nonsense, and much that's just inane. A couple of examples -

"When you're faced with an important decision, why not try the Trend Taste Test? Think. Feel. Swallow. Yum? Yuck? Yawn? You know what to do next".

"Think of each small trend you observe as a thread that you can weave, twist, braid, knit, or splice together with other common strands into a tapestry of opportunity. Get creative. Create a masterpiece".

OK, I think you get the idea.

Trust me, if you skip this one, you won't be missing a trend.

The book purportedly has 26 ideas (A to Z) but being a consultant, she gave very little away to the reader. One would just have to read and make the quantum leap yourself. Most of the more detailed sharing were from her days at Target. All in all, the book fulfils her dream of writing and publishing a book and that is about it.

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is well written and directly to the point. It is the type of book which should be kept nearby for frequent reference. Easy points serving as good reminders.

This book is the trend catechism, a must-have for any company or department trying to understand how to make their company, products or services more appealing to consumers. With examples from the Hotel Monaco to dish soap, Waters serves up relevant examples that tell how fledgling trend spotters and entrepreneurs can sharpen their skills. And because it is all based on Waters' experience as VP of Design and Development at Target, the hottest "class for mass" retail store on the planet, you know she knows what she's talking about. You can read Trendmaster's Guide on the train and be enlightened on your way to work, because this book is exactly what's it's supposed to be: short, quick, revelatory. It's well worth the $13.

I have never read so much in so small a space. Ms. Waters has captured the essence of trend-watching she's obviously learned from her years in business (especially as a significant contributor to Target's success) and she has distilled many of these down in this pithy & powerful book.

Make no mistake: this is not a lengthy text book (thank God). Ms. Waters undoubtedly has much more flesh to put on these tasty bones. One can only hope she will be following-up this gem of an introduction to trend-watching with future insightful books. If you're a child, you'll be waiting for the next "Harry Potter" book; if you're a marketing professional, you need to be waiting for the next Robyn Waters book!

Fast, fun and, better yet, memorable. Since reading the book, I've put Robyn's A to Z advice to work in my business. "Connect the dots" helped me come up with an idea for iPhone application. "Edit" gave me permission to say no to a client assignment. "Keep it simple" saved me overthinking upcoming travel plans. And "Walk in other worlds" inspired me to attend a conference I would never have gone to otherwise. While I may not yet know what my customer wants next, Robyn's book has assured me I do have what it takes to guide my own ideas from concept to reality. And for me, there's nothing more valuable.

This book was very disappointing, to say the least. It was terribly superficial and shallow, and lacked any intellectual sense of marketing expertise. After reading this book, I think anyone can understand why the author, Ms. Waters, was let go from Target...because fluff just doesn't sell.

Frankly, not impressed at all with this book nor its writer. Full of fluff and "truthiness" (a person who claims to know something intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts). A perfect word to describe this book, coined by our good friend, Stephen Colbert.

This book sucked./