10 years! And I am back!
I have returned after an absence of 10 years from the world of #MacroBlogs. What had kept me away was...let me think!!
Well, yes, 140 characters, single impulsive pictures that defined an instant, 7-second videos that described my state mind; instant connections actually had me by the throat. Easy, fast, riveting. Simpler to produce and they did not take much time!
Just as the story of cricket. Remember the fun of watching test match cricket. You savoured the technique of each player, the flair in the game and the ever cheering crowd – the richness of the game stretched to five days. Then came the faster and more decisive one-dayers. The T20s soared in popularity just as instant noodles. It cut across class, caste, creed, gender and age. Everyone had an opinion on every performance, game or even techniques. Most reactions and opinions were rubbish, particularly when it came from people who have never faced a ball coming at even 100 miles an hour!
#Microblogging has turned out to be just the same. People were expressing themselves freely. Actually, the exact reason it was created for. However, maturity and responsibility of what is published did not match the newfound ability to write.
In the beginning, people were cautious, chivalrous and even very measured. Once they had tasted blood with instant reactions and appreciation, messages, opinions and postings got bolder. Giving rise to slanging matches, erroneous data, fake news, trolls, organized trolls, funded trolls, malicious allegations, slangs of vicious kind, and much more. Anonymity helped to a large extent.
Both close circle and open circle micro blogs became platforms for creating conflicts. This is not to say that we do not have good content here, but the turn of events in the last three years have pushed the credibility of the micro blogs down the drain.
Is that why I am back to my macro blog after 10 years? Well, yes and no. No, because I still think the fun of explaining a point of view is best with macro blogs. And yes, because I do not believe more than 60% of postings on micro blogs!
After all, T20 is just entertainment. Test Cricket is the real game!
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Monday, November 26, 2007
Customer Centricity - The Old Paradigm Rules
"In today’s world, customer centricity is well emphasized. This is what one used to see in the world’s oldest profession from time immemorial. Nothing new. They allowed customers to decide what they want. When they want and where they want. They were symbols of true marketing. They offered the best platform for networking and sharing. Allowed customers to drive policies, drive pricing, drive product and of course, experiences. They allowed customers to give, take and share. An ultimate flexibility that was just a norm of doing business. Frankly, it was really all about personalized interactions. And technology did not enable it. Yes, am still talking of the oldest profession.
Today, corporate marketers try to use the same principles in varied degrees of success. They use the latest widgets in Web 2.0 to increase interaction with customers. Interestingly, Web 2.0 rules on the same premise as the oldest known business. As a consumer/customer, it allows you to share your opinions, beliefs, feedback, dreams, needs, apprehensions, joys, emotions, fears, anger …the list can go on. Believe me, there is someone at the other end who is listening. Or at least we like to believe so. Web 2.0 actually allows you a path to customer centricity."
I repeat this section from my previous post. The reason is simple, I have just gone through an experience with a large multinational car marketer (incidentally they also manufacture some of the best cars).
No I am not going to talk about Web 2.0 here. Am talking about customer centricity.
Customer centricity is allowing him to decide on the 'WH' questions and for the marketer to deliver it exactly the way the customer wants or may be a few shades beyond.
Let me give an example. I bought a pre-owned Mercedes Benz E320 last month from a non-Mercedes Dealer. Obviously, I did not have the warranty. I got a good deal, and I could have got the same deal for many other cars in the range, may be much cheaper if I changed the range. It is that basic belief that a Merc is a Merc and always a Merc. My dealer told me that he had bought it from the Mercedes dealer at Bellevue, WA. And that they felt the car was in immaculate condition. A month later I fix an appointment online after registering with Mercedes website as an owner. The website promised that someone would call me soon (somehow I hate the word 'soon' - it is so customer unfriendly). No response from the showroom. I call them back in the evening to fix a date for the next day and I immediately get an appointment - very prompt. Before I leave the next day for my car's health check-up, I updated my contact details. My experience was good. I walk in and there is someone to see me. Find what issues am facing with the car and finally giving me a 2 hour schedule (not 'soon') for the entire check-up. I also got a ride from them - the driver was not Mercedes to my mind as he was too grumpy, but I let it go. A $ 5 bill did the trick and he was good.
I was promptly picked up after a couple of hours. My car inspection was over, and I had a complimentary car wash thrown in. I paid my bills, swiped my card and then requested the service manager to tell me what was the issue. This is where the whole Mercedes image fell in my mind.
01. You ask me to pay the bill even without explaining what is the condition of the vehicle - this is not Mercedes
02. The service manager very grudgingly explains that the car is a piece of shit. He talks very clinically - did not say 'shit' exactly. He of course advises me, "if I were you, I would do these three corrections on the car immediately. The others can wait." Certainly not Mercedes.
03. I get a mail from Mercedes to rate my experience with the dealership. I rate them well. I add a comment about, "how can Mercedes sell a car that is so bad to another dealer and make money and still believe that their image will remain clean?" No response for almost a week. Am still waiting. This is not Mercedes at all.
They did all the right things. Well almost! This is what goes wrong. The almost bit. One, you want to make small money at any cost. Two, you ask for feedback and do not act upon it. This is certainly not Mercedes.
How often have each one of us experienced something such as this? And you feel that these guys do not know their front side from their back side. And customer centricity is just a good word for advertising campaigns. Often, corporate houses and marketers have annual initiatives and customer interaction and customer satisfaction surveys become one of them. Of course they also have sales targets and budgets to achieve them. Invariably these line to-do items reside with a person or a group who take the command from management and drive it to the best possible way – within their limitations and vision. No marketer in her true sense will let an opportunity go when devising the program. They have the best of strategies, best plans ahead, best of intentions yet, they fail to achieve. At the end of they day, it will be a line item in one presentation to the board.
Yes, there are monthly reviews and reports to management. They talk of leads to walk-ins to conversions. Cost per conversion. Revenue per month. Cost of revenue. Split of revenue from sales and services. How many customers registered with us online. What percentage have liked our clean loos... etc.
Hello! wake up. Its not about your revenues, its not about your product. Its not about your quality of your products. Its also not about what you think the customer said. Its about what the customers feel and what they say - which means, explicit and implicit. Are you geared to handle your brand? Every touch point with the customer injects your brand. The effect of this injection is very delicate. You can gain a customer for life or you can lose a customer for life. Gaining a new customer is tough. Losing an existing customer is the toughest. What are marketers doing today? Why do they create the best of strategies and have such poor implementations? How come the oldest profession beats them - almost every day?
This is how it goes. Tough questions are asked: "how many participated and how many were good remarks and how many were bad". "How many have given a positive recommendation and how many were neutral". These are numbers – and we are so comfortable with numbers. Statistics can tell lies - always. The first two quarters goes and the teams run with flying colors. Good data. The novelty dies - good marketers take a year others take a quarter to two. Now this is a liability and enters the balance sheet on the expense side. The management is no longer interested, as they have proudly tried a new initiative and the finance department asks for a cost cutting there. Most unfortunate are the companies where these initiatives continue for years and years to come - Mercedes for example - and now it is a routine. This is what I call the ISO (or any other quality initiative) - do what you have done every time predictably, even if it is headed wrong way. Wake up marketers or companies who believe that you are a marketing driven company. Today, it is not about whether I have the will to learn about my customers or not. It is not about making the fast buck. It is about time, we all looked at our customers more closely. Try to understand them. Try to walk the talk of the brand. Intent and execution, each of them are critical from a customer perspective. Take a harder look at your plans for this year and the next or for this week and the next - both from a design and implementation perspective at different levels in the organization. And this is not limited to marketing.
Every part of the organization is working for 'a' customer. Take a hard look. Do not commit on doing what you can't do. That better than not gaining a new customer. At least you will not lose a old one.
Good tools, technologies and ideas have always been the walking sticks of marketers. Bad implementation – a function of commitment to customers is the key. What a lot of companies such as Mercedes miss is customer centricity – it was certainly better done by the oldest profession without these tools and technologies. They were simple – customer satisfaction focused.The next time you decide to tread upon one of the new buzzes in the industry, remember the old paradigm. "Customer Centricity". You would do any of these only if you are committed to your customers and to serving them better.
How about hearing your experiences as consumers or customers (good and bad) for a change. I am sure all of us can gain a lot of insights about sales and marketing from our collective experiences as customers or consumers.
Today, corporate marketers try to use the same principles in varied degrees of success. They use the latest widgets in Web 2.0 to increase interaction with customers. Interestingly, Web 2.0 rules on the same premise as the oldest known business. As a consumer/customer, it allows you to share your opinions, beliefs, feedback, dreams, needs, apprehensions, joys, emotions, fears, anger …the list can go on. Believe me, there is someone at the other end who is listening. Or at least we like to believe so. Web 2.0 actually allows you a path to customer centricity."
I repeat this section from my previous post. The reason is simple, I have just gone through an experience with a large multinational car marketer (incidentally they also manufacture some of the best cars).
No I am not going to talk about Web 2.0 here. Am talking about customer centricity.
Customer centricity is allowing him to decide on the 'WH' questions and for the marketer to deliver it exactly the way the customer wants or may be a few shades beyond.
Let me give an example. I bought a pre-owned Mercedes Benz E320 last month from a non-Mercedes Dealer. Obviously, I did not have the warranty. I got a good deal, and I could have got the same deal for many other cars in the range, may be much cheaper if I changed the range. It is that basic belief that a Merc is a Merc and always a Merc. My dealer told me that he had bought it from the Mercedes dealer at Bellevue, WA. And that they felt the car was in immaculate condition. A month later I fix an appointment online after registering with Mercedes website as an owner. The website promised that someone would call me soon (somehow I hate the word 'soon' - it is so customer unfriendly). No response from the showroom. I call them back in the evening to fix a date for the next day and I immediately get an appointment - very prompt. Before I leave the next day for my car's health check-up, I updated my contact details. My experience was good. I walk in and there is someone to see me. Find what issues am facing with the car and finally giving me a 2 hour schedule (not 'soon') for the entire check-up. I also got a ride from them - the driver was not Mercedes to my mind as he was too grumpy, but I let it go. A $ 5 bill did the trick and he was good.
I was promptly picked up after a couple of hours. My car inspection was over, and I had a complimentary car wash thrown in. I paid my bills, swiped my card and then requested the service manager to tell me what was the issue. This is where the whole Mercedes image fell in my mind.
01. You ask me to pay the bill even without explaining what is the condition of the vehicle - this is not Mercedes
02. The service manager very grudgingly explains that the car is a piece of shit. He talks very clinically - did not say 'shit' exactly. He of course advises me, "if I were you, I would do these three corrections on the car immediately. The others can wait." Certainly not Mercedes.
03. I get a mail from Mercedes to rate my experience with the dealership. I rate them well. I add a comment about, "how can Mercedes sell a car that is so bad to another dealer and make money and still believe that their image will remain clean?" No response for almost a week. Am still waiting. This is not Mercedes at all.
They did all the right things. Well almost! This is what goes wrong. The almost bit. One, you want to make small money at any cost. Two, you ask for feedback and do not act upon it. This is certainly not Mercedes.
How often have each one of us experienced something such as this? And you feel that these guys do not know their front side from their back side. And customer centricity is just a good word for advertising campaigns. Often, corporate houses and marketers have annual initiatives and customer interaction and customer satisfaction surveys become one of them. Of course they also have sales targets and budgets to achieve them. Invariably these line to-do items reside with a person or a group who take the command from management and drive it to the best possible way – within their limitations and vision. No marketer in her true sense will let an opportunity go when devising the program. They have the best of strategies, best plans ahead, best of intentions yet, they fail to achieve. At the end of they day, it will be a line item in one presentation to the board.
Yes, there are monthly reviews and reports to management. They talk of leads to walk-ins to conversions. Cost per conversion. Revenue per month. Cost of revenue. Split of revenue from sales and services. How many customers registered with us online. What percentage have liked our clean loos... etc.
Hello! wake up. Its not about your revenues, its not about your product. Its not about your quality of your products. Its also not about what you think the customer said. Its about what the customers feel and what they say - which means, explicit and implicit. Are you geared to handle your brand? Every touch point with the customer injects your brand. The effect of this injection is very delicate. You can gain a customer for life or you can lose a customer for life. Gaining a new customer is tough. Losing an existing customer is the toughest. What are marketers doing today? Why do they create the best of strategies and have such poor implementations? How come the oldest profession beats them - almost every day?
This is how it goes. Tough questions are asked: "how many participated and how many were good remarks and how many were bad". "How many have given a positive recommendation and how many were neutral". These are numbers – and we are so comfortable with numbers. Statistics can tell lies - always. The first two quarters goes and the teams run with flying colors. Good data. The novelty dies - good marketers take a year others take a quarter to two. Now this is a liability and enters the balance sheet on the expense side. The management is no longer interested, as they have proudly tried a new initiative and the finance department asks for a cost cutting there. Most unfortunate are the companies where these initiatives continue for years and years to come - Mercedes for example - and now it is a routine. This is what I call the ISO (or any other quality initiative) - do what you have done every time predictably, even if it is headed wrong way. Wake up marketers or companies who believe that you are a marketing driven company. Today, it is not about whether I have the will to learn about my customers or not. It is not about making the fast buck. It is about time, we all looked at our customers more closely. Try to understand them. Try to walk the talk of the brand. Intent and execution, each of them are critical from a customer perspective. Take a harder look at your plans for this year and the next or for this week and the next - both from a design and implementation perspective at different levels in the organization. And this is not limited to marketing.
Every part of the organization is working for 'a' customer. Take a hard look. Do not commit on doing what you can't do. That better than not gaining a new customer. At least you will not lose a old one.
Good tools, technologies and ideas have always been the walking sticks of marketers. Bad implementation – a function of commitment to customers is the key. What a lot of companies such as Mercedes miss is customer centricity – it was certainly better done by the oldest profession without these tools and technologies. They were simple – customer satisfaction focused.The next time you decide to tread upon one of the new buzzes in the industry, remember the old paradigm. "Customer Centricity". You would do any of these only if you are committed to your customers and to serving them better.
How about hearing your experiences as consumers or customers (good and bad) for a change. I am sure all of us can gain a lot of insights about sales and marketing from our collective experiences as customers or consumers.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Old Paradigm Rules
In today’s world, customer centricity is well emphasized. This is what one used to see in the world’s oldest profession from time immemorial. Nothing new. They allowed customers to decide what they want. When they want and where they want. They were symbols of true marketing. They offered the best platform for networking and sharing. Allowed customers to drive policies, drive pricing, drive product and of course, experiences. They allowed customers to give, take and share. An ultimate flexibility that was just a norm of doing business. Frankly, it was really all about personalized interactions. And technology did not enable it. Yes, am still talking of the oldest profession.
Today corporate marketers try to use the same principles in varied degrees of success. They use the latest widgets in Web 2.0 to increase interaction with customers. Interestingly, Web 2.0 rules on the same premise as the oldest known business. As a consumer/customer, it allows you to share your opinions, beliefs, feedback, dreams, needs, apprehensions, joys, emotions, fears, anger …the list can go on. Believe me, there is someone at the other end who is listening. Web 2.0 actually allows you a path to customer centricity.
What happens to that listening is critical. Often, corporate houses have annual initiatives and customer interaction becomes one of them. This resides with a person or a group who take the command from management and drive it to the best possible way – within their limitations and vision. They provide reports to management on a monthly basis talking of how many people registered, how many participated and how many were good remarks and how many were bad. How many have given a positive recommendation and how many were neutral. These are numbers – and we are so comfortable with numbers. After the novelty goes, two quarters down the line (or for a larger company a year down the line), this becomes a liability that enters the expense side of the balance sheet. The management is no longer interested, as they have proudly tried a new initiative and the finance department asks for a cost cutting there. Most unfortunate are the companies where these initiatives continue for years and years to come – what results from these are web statistics that frankly has little meaning here.
These are not stray cases. Think about Web 2.0 initiatives in your organization, you will possibly have to justify it or argue for it. And if you have envisioned it or implemented it, take a harder look. One of the large IT companies started to show their supremacy in Web 2.0 and hence build a customer experience site that was supposed to be monitored by the account executives of the firm. There was a fancy opening. It was launched online through a webcast. The webcast participation was only by invitation. Key senior management was on board. All program managers and project managers from the client side were on board. So were the IT company’s staff – delivery heads, sales & marketing and talent heads, and other support staff. Friends of employees and clients. And this was an ‘only by invitation’ webcast.
Three months after this fanfare, a client called the COO of the company and inquired about the action taken on a certain dissatisfaction that he had posted on the site a couple of months back. Any guesses as to where the message was lost? The initiative team did not understand the issue and hence did not know who to send it to. And teh account manager did not bother checking her client responses, nor did the COO. This happens more often that you would like it to be.
Good tools, technologies and ideas. Bad implementation – a function of commitment to customers was the issue. What was missing was customer centricity – it was certainly better done by the oldest profession without these tools and technologies. They were simple – customer centric.
Hence, next time you decide to tread upon one of the new buzzes in the industry, remember the old paradigm. Customer Centricity. You would do any of these only if you are committed to your customers and to serving them better.
I will try to pen down my thoughts on how to use Web 2.0 in certain industries and what can be realistically achieved in my next articles. In the mean time, do send me your comments, views and perceptions on this article.
Today corporate marketers try to use the same principles in varied degrees of success. They use the latest widgets in Web 2.0 to increase interaction with customers. Interestingly, Web 2.0 rules on the same premise as the oldest known business. As a consumer/customer, it allows you to share your opinions, beliefs, feedback, dreams, needs, apprehensions, joys, emotions, fears, anger …the list can go on. Believe me, there is someone at the other end who is listening. Web 2.0 actually allows you a path to customer centricity.
What happens to that listening is critical. Often, corporate houses have annual initiatives and customer interaction becomes one of them. This resides with a person or a group who take the command from management and drive it to the best possible way – within their limitations and vision. They provide reports to management on a monthly basis talking of how many people registered, how many participated and how many were good remarks and how many were bad. How many have given a positive recommendation and how many were neutral. These are numbers – and we are so comfortable with numbers. After the novelty goes, two quarters down the line (or for a larger company a year down the line), this becomes a liability that enters the expense side of the balance sheet. The management is no longer interested, as they have proudly tried a new initiative and the finance department asks for a cost cutting there. Most unfortunate are the companies where these initiatives continue for years and years to come – what results from these are web statistics that frankly has little meaning here.
These are not stray cases. Think about Web 2.0 initiatives in your organization, you will possibly have to justify it or argue for it. And if you have envisioned it or implemented it, take a harder look. One of the large IT companies started to show their supremacy in Web 2.0 and hence build a customer experience site that was supposed to be monitored by the account executives of the firm. There was a fancy opening. It was launched online through a webcast. The webcast participation was only by invitation. Key senior management was on board. All program managers and project managers from the client side were on board. So were the IT company’s staff – delivery heads, sales & marketing and talent heads, and other support staff. Friends of employees and clients. And this was an ‘only by invitation’ webcast.
Three months after this fanfare, a client called the COO of the company and inquired about the action taken on a certain dissatisfaction that he had posted on the site a couple of months back. Any guesses as to where the message was lost? The initiative team did not understand the issue and hence did not know who to send it to. And teh account manager did not bother checking her client responses, nor did the COO. This happens more often that you would like it to be.
Good tools, technologies and ideas. Bad implementation – a function of commitment to customers was the issue. What was missing was customer centricity – it was certainly better done by the oldest profession without these tools and technologies. They were simple – customer centric.
Hence, next time you decide to tread upon one of the new buzzes in the industry, remember the old paradigm. Customer Centricity. You would do any of these only if you are committed to your customers and to serving them better.
I will try to pen down my thoughts on how to use Web 2.0 in certain industries and what can be realistically achieved in my next articles. In the mean time, do send me your comments, views and perceptions on this article.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Ramblings of a Marketer
“Marketing is rear-end gas”, said one of the leaders of a large country recently. Let me not write down his name here and get my life jeopardized.
Actually he is right. His perception and experiences of marketing are real. He sells what he has. Markets what he has, exactly the way he believes is right to sell. He is a producer marketer.
Marketing has evolved from the older days. My old grocery store who knows what soap I use will always have two pieces of the same – I don’t get to see this brand in very many places. Your granny’s corner jeweler. She keeps going there and every time she is treated as the only customer of the store (or should I call it outlet?).
These two examples are where customers were limited. Every person in these outlets behaved as if there were owners – not by holding control, not by taking decisions on business, not by leading a team and of course not by looking down upon other co-workers. They behaved similar to customers by being sensitive to them. By understanding their needs. By giving personal attention to them. By moving customer loyalty to a whole new level – customer engagement (guess this is a new term of the 90s but it existed way before that).
Yes, marketing has evolved. Across industries, consumers and geographies. Some for good and some not so good. In every technology company, marketing is evolving. Slowly but surely.
I remember someone asking me as to what is the size of the marketing team today and I replied, “3500”! Yes, at that point I believed it was 3500 as that was what I knew was the size of the company. I was wrong. But yes there are companies in technology, manufacturing, services, entertainment and various other industries that are truly marketing companies. Take Microsoft for example, what do you think their core business is? I would say marketing. Marketing and only marketing. Yes, they do not have all satisfied customers. They have enemies as well. But who cares, they rule.
The point is, marketing is not a set of activities that is done by a set of people. It is a culture. What is it that they do that distinguishes them from other companies? What distinguishes Microsoft from other large B2C and B2B technology companies?
One, they are customer focused and two, they were forward looking. The traditional four Ps of marketing are clearly driven by their customers rather than them. They allow their customers to determine what should be their next release. How often have all of felt the need for a cable to connect our iPods or mobiles to our laptops? How often we hate our gadgets as they do not interact with one another? How often does one feel the need of a touch pad or joy stick that never malfunctions? Microsoft has taken this to the next level – with Microsoft Surface. This article is not to promote MS but to show an example of how consumers wants/needs are converted into solutions for them.
At the top of this is just one question in each employees mind – ‘How do I give the best experience to my customer?’ Believing this delivering this is the true form of marketing.
Customer is the King (or Queen in many cases). The truly marketing companies should believe in this more than talking about it.
A question at the end. How many of you believe that you are marketing magnets and why? Drop in your responses here at this blog. I will keep adding more blogs to this section and in a month’s time take a deep dive into technology marketing.
Actually he is right. His perception and experiences of marketing are real. He sells what he has. Markets what he has, exactly the way he believes is right to sell. He is a producer marketer.
Marketing has evolved from the older days. My old grocery store who knows what soap I use will always have two pieces of the same – I don’t get to see this brand in very many places. Your granny’s corner jeweler. She keeps going there and every time she is treated as the only customer of the store (or should I call it outlet?).
These two examples are where customers were limited. Every person in these outlets behaved as if there were owners – not by holding control, not by taking decisions on business, not by leading a team and of course not by looking down upon other co-workers. They behaved similar to customers by being sensitive to them. By understanding their needs. By giving personal attention to them. By moving customer loyalty to a whole new level – customer engagement (guess this is a new term of the 90s but it existed way before that).
Yes, marketing has evolved. Across industries, consumers and geographies. Some for good and some not so good. In every technology company, marketing is evolving. Slowly but surely.
I remember someone asking me as to what is the size of the marketing team today and I replied, “3500”! Yes, at that point I believed it was 3500 as that was what I knew was the size of the company. I was wrong. But yes there are companies in technology, manufacturing, services, entertainment and various other industries that are truly marketing companies. Take Microsoft for example, what do you think their core business is? I would say marketing. Marketing and only marketing. Yes, they do not have all satisfied customers. They have enemies as well. But who cares, they rule.
The point is, marketing is not a set of activities that is done by a set of people. It is a culture. What is it that they do that distinguishes them from other companies? What distinguishes Microsoft from other large B2C and B2B technology companies?
One, they are customer focused and two, they were forward looking. The traditional four Ps of marketing are clearly driven by their customers rather than them. They allow their customers to determine what should be their next release. How often have all of felt the need for a cable to connect our iPods or mobiles to our laptops? How often we hate our gadgets as they do not interact with one another? How often does one feel the need of a touch pad or joy stick that never malfunctions? Microsoft has taken this to the next level – with Microsoft Surface. This article is not to promote MS but to show an example of how consumers wants/needs are converted into solutions for them.
At the top of this is just one question in each employees mind – ‘How do I give the best experience to my customer?’ Believing this delivering this is the true form of marketing.
Customer is the King (or Queen in many cases). The truly marketing companies should believe in this more than talking about it.
A question at the end. How many of you believe that you are marketing magnets and why? Drop in your responses here at this blog. I will keep adding more blogs to this section and in a month’s time take a deep dive into technology marketing.
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