Bob Yazbeck from Gongos, a Royal Oak-based decision intelligence company, came to Oakland University on Tuesday, March 10 for “Innovative Marketing” to discuss the company itself, as well as a day in the life working at Gongos and the importance of reporting for impact. 

According to their website, Gongos helps organizations “operationalize customer centricity in a way that influences decision making and behaviors throughout [the] entire organization.” Customer centricity is an approach that looks to upholster a positive customer experience. 

Currently, Gongos works with a plethora of companies, including but not limited to Coca-Cola, GM, Kelloggs, Edward Jones and Hilton. 

Through their two dimensions of knowledge and understanding and planning and activation, they strive to help organizations transform by giving them strategies in areas like customer centricity, anticipated customer needs and business satisfaction.  

Yazbeck discussed the importance of customer satisfaction, and how many companies use quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus group, interview) tactics to better understand their audience. 

“It’s important to observe what’s going on with the customer,” Yazbeck said. 

He mentioned there can also be nonverbal cues that customers give off in situations such as testing a survey, like slamming their phone down. The ability to probe and understand this feedback is important. 

Yazbeck touched on a day in the life of a Gongos employee, saying that they often work in teams. Teams are project based, and roles within them include managers, moderator, platforms specialist, programmer, analyst, among others. 

Additionally, Gongos works with an “open office plan,” where employees change seats daily based on future collaborative efforts. 

“People go at their own pace and on different paths,” Yazbeck said. “At Gongos, [one] can carve out the career path that works best.” 

Touching on Gongos’ interactions with clients, Yazbeck also discussed the importance of integration and storytelling, where one works to bubble up reports to tell a story and deliver impactful messages to their audience. 

Senior Sejla Ahmetbasic said the event “made [her] more interested in marketing research and moderating.” Additionally, she recommends that freshman and sophomores interested in marketing should begin looking for internships as soon as possible and begin networking. 

Some questions from participants were taken at the end, where Yazbeck was able to give his own insights.

“When I started in the [business marketing] field, things were more person to person.” Yazbeck said, “Now, so much research is over the phone. It was more rewarding in person, because you [could see the client’s reaction] and their likes/dislikes. Online is more impersonal.” 

To wrap up the event, Yazbeck touched on how students from a variety of areas and degree paths can enter into the field of business, marketing and decision intelligence. 

“We have people [at Gongos] who come from a lot of different backgrounds.” Yazbeck said. “You don’t have to be in business to do this kind of work. Just get that first job and learn what you like to do and what you don’t like to do, and then do more of what you like and less of what you don’t like.”