“ Why around 80% CMO’s Don’t Make It. What It Takes To Get To The Top”.
The top marketing job in the company is a minefield where many talented executives have failed. While some of this is attributable to the ambiguity of the role itself, its also a function of how a CMO builds consensus among his / her other C-suite peers and looks at his / her department more in terms of the business impact it delivers and not merely a function relegated to marketing activities.
The core principle of Marketing comes from an intersection of science + art + human behaviour. As a lot of you will be starting or planning to accelerate your marketing careers, I am happy to share 5 essential skills that have helped me to be a successful marketer.
In 2008, I was at Microsoft looking after a territory in South India region. The 2008 financial crisis hit hard every business. Majority of business in South India was hit as it was not only impacted by India slowdown but also outsourcing business was hit because it was directly connected to US Economy. It was a tough period, we applied numerous strategies and some clearly proved to be very effective. Those learnings are very useful in the current times during this pandemic as well.
The existence of the human race, is a story of survival; in the midst the vagaries of our existence, we have innovated and we have evolved. The unexpected vicissitudes has always brought with itself lessons, which have caused a paradigm shift in behavior; be it our daily routine, our lifestyles, our choices and in the way we conduct the businesses of our life.” Keeping this dimension of change simple for a management undergraduate and limiting it to a business scenario, we need to open up a new chapter.
As a professional from the Energy Sector, I feel one of the sectors, which have undergone tremendous transformation in India, during the last couple of decades, is Auto-fuel retailing. From a regime of Administrative Price mechanism (APM) and from a mode of traditional distribution, it has slowly but steadily moved into an era of competition and marketing.
A complaint was received by a senior executive of a well known major Automobile manufacturer.
‘This is the second time I have written to you and I don’t blame you for not answering me because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varied every night, as the whole family voted on which ice cream to have and I drive down to the store to get it.
Over the past few years, the automobile sector has been stuck in a quagmire, with floundering sales as a result of slowing economy.
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic could result in vehicle sales plunging further and the recovery path will be slow.
Even as automakers try to tide over the crisis with virtual showrooms and contactless deliveries, there seems to be a growing concern with Economic factors impacting the automotive Industry as a whole across the World.
In the wake of the slowdown, the auto industry has been requesting the government for support through a viable tax structure in India, taxes for vehicles go as high as 28 percent. Then there are additional levies, mostly charged as a compensation cess that range between one percent and 22 percent, based on a car’s fuel type, length or engine size. A buyer will also have to pay road tax depending on the state of domicile, which could go up to almost 20 percent.
“I don’t care what others think about me, I just want to get on with doing a good job only”, well good job and hard work surely matters and there is nothing wrong to have such attitude, but such attitude may not be enough for achieving the desired career goals. Personal branding has a key role to play in the development and advancing of one’s career. Creating yourself as a brand at work can often be the deciding factor for a successful career.
Today only a few organisations have all the resources & infrastructure to tackle new market opportunities or competition independently, maintain economies of scale, cost efficiency and deep network penetration. Going it alone only, may lead to unreasonable investments and an infrastructure which may require dismantling afterwards. Business partnering can actually be cheaper and more flexible than a merger or acquisition.
“Strategic Business Partnering”, here is in context to an organisation which have manufacturing facilities but still enters into an alliance with another manufacturer for mutually beneficial goals, viz, capacity utilisation for one and for the other catering to the market demands without additional infrastructural fixed investments.Here we are not discussing of relationships viz, of a manufacturing company with trade, financial institutions or a venture capitalist.
It’s often said that at the core, everyone is a Salesperson. Irrespective of the work, level or the profession you are in, as long as you are dealing with people, you are selling something. Hence, shouldn’t sales be second nature to all?
When you set aside the commercial angle of Sales, it is just an exchange of goods, services or ideas, which is an integral part of our daily lives. So, what is the larger definition of Sales? Here’s what I would put it as – anything you do to help another person or provide value to them in exchange for something tangible or intangible, is Sales. And when that exchange entails a monetary value, its commercial sales as we know of it. And when there is no monetary aspect in this exchange, which is very often the case in our daily lives, we seldom think of it as Sales. However, the exchange for some intangible benefit is also Sales in another form.