In today’s dynamic consumer industry, building sustainable brands is not just a trend—it’s a necessity. As a versatile leader with over two decades of experience across automotive, appliances, interiors, and health foods, I’ve seen firsthand the transformative power of sustainable practices.
The consumer journey to picking up your brand is not a straight forward process of eye level & buy level anymore, which means that no more does it involve only being present in the retail and blasting the media out with your presence. With the evolving consumer and the information overload because of the digital world, the complexities are increasing by the day. It involves many explorations over the net, checking with friends, experts, word of mouth, the influence of peers, media and other touchpoints that the consumer visit, and it is essential that the brand engages the consumer at all these points to drive him towards the moment of truth where he or she feels the real urge to pick up your brand.
A Manager or a BOSS leads a team, so naturally, he is a leader of his team. However, in the business management sense, both of them have a different approach in getting their team to achieve the Business objective, Sales Target & overall development of the company, I still remember those days of my Sales Career where I utilized most of my time towards achieving the Sales targets. This in turn resulted in me having to compromise my social life and never find time to spend with my family & friends. In those days, we always listened to our managers/BOSS and thought that that’s what I should do, when I reach that position, as well.
The last 90 odd days have been unprecedented for everyone around the globe – ambiguity, uncertainty & fear were the key words. With lock downs and social distancing, businesses slowed down, consumption plummeted & most revenues are on a downward trend. Organizations are cautious of their spends and marketing budgets are typically the first expenses to be rationalized. However, marketing also happens to be one of those critical functions which has the power of propelling the organization into new growth trajectories. So, what do you do in these times?
In the world of Data Science & Data led decision making, a lot of executives across the corporate ladder suffer from “I see, said the blind man”. “We do enough & we know enough” is a resonating statement across corporates and teams. In reality, a very few organizations have a holistic understanding of their data, the science of data analytics, available technologies to analyze & use it to enhance business decision making.
Running a data driven operation was simpler ten years back. There was limited data available and there were limited data analytics options available. It was easy to grasp few simple tables and charts at the end of a quarter and plan a strategy around that. The mathematics and science of data analytics has not changed over the years but the amount of data available as well as the increased computing power has crowded us with choices & options.
The world is moving from product selling to solution selling. Simultaneously, in any work
environment, both bosses & subordinates are looking for trustworthy colleagues & specialists,
who are resourceful enablers and can get the job done with tenacity, by taking full ownership.
A brand can only win confidence of consumers/customers or a team member can win
confidence of his/her boss, subordinate or peer by exhibiting assurance or re-assurance that
he/she is worthy to perform the role assigned to him/her. Thus, this assurance, confidence &
trust you provide to your internal & external customers led me to the unique philosophy, which
I derived from Bollywood’s block buster, “Main Hoon Na!” i.e. don’t worry, I am here to serve
you, to your satisfaction.
Healthcare marketing has always required a specialized skill-set considering healthcare is a ‘Grudge-Category’. However, never has healthcare marketing been under the kind of pressure that it has been, in the last couple of years. The paradigm is shifting irrevocably with increasing Government regulation putting huge pressures on private healthcare’s business model on one side and increasing patient vigilantism and trial by social media on the other. Amidst these, private healthcare seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place.
To stay relevant in a milieu rendered further difficult by COVID, the rules of engagement between healthcare marketers and their target groups have to undergo some broad level changes.
Learning to overcome objections is a critical part of the sales process. You have to respond in a way that alleviates the prospective buyer’s concerns and allows the deal to move forward. However, it is a winning strategy to prevent objection in the first place by giving the prospective buyer all the right reasons to buy before going for the close. The following selling basics will help you prevent objections in the first place or reduce their impact on the selling process.
Making a Robust VOC Mechanism for Customer Delight
A leading bank in Asia had commissioned us a few years ago for a short consulting assignment, where I got to know their marketing leader. What was extraordinary about her was that she would start each of her days by listening to customer calls from her call center for at least half an hour. She would tap into the system that recorded the calls and listened to a random bunch. This ritual was sacrosanct and part of her schedule every single day, and she was committed to it even during the days of travel. Now for some, this might seem extreme, but hopefully not shocking. Most leaders understand the value of listening to the Voice of Customer, or VOC, as it is called, and there is enough literature about why it is important to listen to the VOC. But truth be told, very few of us make it a point to listen to this VOC and act on it on a regular, proactive basis. Over the years, the nature of VOC and our relationship with the VOC has changed.
Innovative technologies influence logistics and its marketing in many ways. Advancements in the digitalization of supply chain including automation of logistics process such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), smart sensors, big data and Artificial Intelligence has paved the way forward. Technological advances such as these are effectively being used in both internal and external logistics processes.