Chuck Ptacek

(602)-870-2958

(602)-524-8656

chptacek@aol.com

www.charlescharles.com

1. What led you to the consulting profession?

When I came out of graduate school in Minnesota I knew that I was going to pay my dues working for big companies and then go out on my own. That’s the way it’s been for my whole family. My father and three brothers all run their own businesses. We all grew up that way, wanting to be in charge.

During the time I was working on my Masters degree in Psychology, I was "moonlighting” with a number of large food manufacturers in Minneapolis and St. Paul. At any point in time, I was working on two or three research projects while I was in Minnesota. After I graduated from the U of M, I worked for Green Giant Company as a Market Research Analyst. Interestingly, I continued my "moonlighting” with non-competing manufacturers.

From Minnesota, I went back to Kansas State University where I worked on a Ph.D. That turned out to be post-graduate work because I was offered a management job at General Electric Corporate Consulting Services in Bridgeport, CT. Now this was a big deal for a farm boy from Manhattan, Kansas, where I grew up and got my undergraduate degree in Psychology. Going to U of M was a big deal, and this was an even bigger deal. They needed my experimental marketing research capabilities to turn around a pretty shabby internal research consulting organization, which was part of a much larger internal management consulting business unit. There were probably close to 200 professionals associated with GE Corporate Consulting Services during the five years that I was employed by General Electric. My organization worked with many of the 139 different GE "Strategic Business Units” and I made a lot of contacts that have represented the basis of my business for over 30 years. I started my own consulting business, Charles, Charles & Associates, in 1981.

2. Do you have a specialty of niche in the management consulting industry?

I am really a marketing research management consultant. I’m an industrial psychologist who works within a marketing research paradigm. I’m not a survey market researcher, but that’s my background. I came out of consumer market research. My concentration is market driven. My investigative consulting efforts are usually directed at highly dynamic industries that are being driven by rapidly changing market conditions brought about by deregulation, enhanced competition, and/or emerging as well as converging technologies. My human intelligence investigations address tough technical questions requiring informed input from knowledgeable persons with unique industry expertise. Given the level of difficulty associated with my assignments, I have established rigorous normative research procedures for conducting professional, in-depth market and competitive evaluations using the Delphi investigative methodology. My client base is heavily influenced by my experience and contacts I made while at GE Corporate Consulting. Generally, my clients are Fortune 500 manufacturing companies such as United Technologies, General Dynamics, General Electric and AT&T.

3. Is there one unique thing that you would like the membership to know about you?

I’m individualistic and that’s a driving factor behind the reason that I became a management consultant. I never intended to work for any company for more than a few years. A lot of people get fired and become consultants or they get forced into the profession. But, that hasn’t been the case for me. My plans to be a marketing research management consultant were formed before I started working for Green Giant and I have saved every research report that I have been involved in. I don’t like reinventing the wheel.

4. Do you have any books, blogs, or publications?

I have published many articles over the past 40 years. I began publishing research-based articles as an undergraduate at Kansas State. My first publication was with Dr. F. H. Rohles, November 1971 in Aerospace Medicine, "Drive and Performance Modification Following Multiple (Light-Light) Shifts in the Photoperiod.” This was followed by research supporting my honor thesis, which was published in Billboard, January/February, 1972, "Study Shows Oldies Boost Jukeboxes” and "Jukebox Patron Attitudes Polled in Kan. Oldie Test.” Most recently, over the past couple of years, I have published three articles in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review. I published the articles to help explain the process and procedures that I use in my Delphi investigative practice. The articles discuss the methods of sampling, analysis, interpretation, and investigation that I use in my research efforts. Below are links to two of the publications.

Using the Delphi investigative paradigm for market forecasting

Qualitatively speaking: Nonprobability sampling assures representation and validity with B2B universes

5. What one tip or piece of advice would you give to other consultants?

It’s easy to deal with the technical aspects of what you do. But, it’s really important that you come to terms with the marketing and sales effort that's required. Selling services are fundamental to the operation of a business. I always sign up for marketing and sales sessions at CONFAB because marketing yourself is one of the most important aspects of this business.