Number crunching and innovative/wonky ideas- WELCOME TO SALES PLANNING..

Sales planning, one of the topics which evoked maximum response during MBA days.. And the favorite lines which charged up all and sundry were

1) ” Plan to change the game”.

2)  Dynamism is what you can bring.

3) Fresh blood with fresh perspective is what you take to corporate world.

4) Numbers are at best indicative. Remember how Maruti launched more models in one year, than what they did in last ten years.

5) Recession ” What are your views on Lipstick syndrome”? So, don’t get bogged down.

6) Formats are at best redundant. Ideas make the difference.

Cut to Corporate world and the reality..

1) Please ensure the attached format is filled and sent 2 days before the planning meet. And it takes donkey years to fill the same.

2) Please understand, we are all but a player in market and can not change things and market behavior overnight.

3) Good growth figures but what about the 2 year CAGR? And what about 3 year CAGR?

4) How do you relate the same to GDP growth expected over the year? How have we behaved historically in this regard?

5) Can customer sentiments be changed just because of wishful thinking?

And then the questions, whom no one even thinks of. Coming at 2 am does not make it easy either.

1) When is Diwali and Durga Puja? So, does this mean an extended season for us?

2) What can be the short-term and long term strategy? Lets look at the same from directional, operational and developmental point of view.

3) How are our allied industries doing? What does this imply for us? And what about the sentiments of the market? So, is the market service class driven or economy dependent?

4) Plans for the year look ok, but how can we look at micro picture? And nano picture? The size can get smaller and smaller till the time you say “I GIVE UP”

Many can know, where I am coming from. But long live Planning Presentations..

Month end- Its just the beginning

If the winter comes, can spring far away? So said Shakespeare. For Sales, the vice versa also holds true…

Month-end, the most looked forward to day in Sales, for reasons different to different people, and for different reasons for different months for same set of people. The bottom line is simple ” HIT HIGH OR HIT HIGHER”. No third option exists.

The volume target has already been achieved, but what about the focus product achievement? Don’t you think we can push a little further. Also, with predictions not so nice for coming months, it will help us build some buffer.

We are way off the volume target and everyone knows, it is a lost battle. But the brave soldiers go down fighting, and not surrender meekly. We will fight till the last minute and till last bill, unless the system declares date change. Some enterprsing lot have also mastered the art of back dated billing. Also, with peak season coming up, we will get the boost, but only if the deficit for the month is not too huge.

Month-end, the day when most innovative ideas come into market. The day, when negotiations are at their best. The day, where everyone waits for the other one to blink. It becomes war of nerves, and the party blinking first is the loser.

I recall a nice story narrated by one of my friends. The subordinates came to his cabin lamenting as to how the stock problem was causing problems in billing. The running SKUs were out of stock. A quick report summary showed, that there was 450 kl material still in depot. He shot back “ Sell this 450 kl and then we discuss, what next? Company manufactures all products for sale, and not just certain SKUs.”  We may find it funny, but the message was driven.. Sales reached a crescendo that month-end.

And what about the distributor, who had a family marriage, and hence wants benefits of scheme concluded on 23rd as well. But there was a genuine reason, argues the subordinate. It is a stupid and age old reason, retorts the senior. Both are smiling within themselves, waiting for other to blink. Few minutes or hours later, the subordinate returns with a bigger order, and shows it enthusiastically. But he is not still picking up slow moving SKUs. Ask him to bill Rs. 2 lakh of that, and we may consider. The veteran subordinate could hardly suppress a smile as he already had Rs. 5 lakh more order in his shirt pocket. Sounds interesting, does it not?

But he does not stock Coke, reasons one.That does not mean, he has bought over Pepsi is the reply. So, time for another negoatiation.

Towards the evening, calls are more frequent. What about my long lost money is how it generally starts. Forget it says the other.. But we are interested in working together, reasons first person. And so are we, the second one replies. So, lets chart out a mutual beneficial curve. The deal is done.

There is one number whose call are the most unwanted one for the day. One, who can do nothing, and he knows it. Still he will try to come across as God, who has seen it all, and done it all. Guess, some more billing is on the way, when you were just about to call him saying its done for the day.

“By the way, before you leave for the day, please send me the plans and proposals for the next month”.

And the journey begins again…

Sales: Not for the weak hearted.

Wannabe Sales professionals- Read it at your own risk.

So, what did you think, burning the midnight oil in the campus for the next day Branding case study was all about? And what about the 4Ps of marketing, which Kotler and our profs tried so hard to push down our throat. Sales and distribution management was always a favorite subject and for many, solving a case study successfully was enough to give them an orgasm.  Cometh placements, and figures were rattled to such a great depth, that sometimes one would have the entire Board to shame. Location was never a constraint, and getting the hands dirty seemed to be the in-thing during the interviews.  After all, when you are eyeing a plum Marketing profile, why be so eager to disclose it at first opportunity. A fat cheque also swayed the emotions and preferences, and the GD was always a Mini Mahabharat( As Sales people, you need to show you are aggressive)

Cometh the day of joining, and seems half the battle is won. But, the posting envelope dents the spirit of half, the other quarter start cribbing, and the victorious ones( Who have got Metros/hometowns/ fiance’s locations) try their best to look concerned. But one who said Looks can be deceptive was never more correct.

A new term” Management Trainee” seems to be the flavor. His Job Description can be summed up in just one line- “ DO THE TASK WHICH NO ONE ELSE IS READY TO DO, OR ONE WHICH THREE TRAINEES HAVE ALREADY TRIED ( IN VAIN) AND THATS HOW GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY” . I personally know of a friend, who was given a task to work with influencers, and after three months, he was still trying to define the word” INFLUENCER”  and whose boss was perpetually busy in some key decision making processes.

Comes the confirmation, and you think this is the moment, and man, I am all out to show what the real gem of ideas do I have. Three m0nth ends and 1 quarter end later, all this euphoria vaporises, and the reasons are best known to you. Some bosses say, This is how this has been done and it has worked, so why change it know. Others appreciate your thinking prowess, and then tell you why this can not work. Others are blunt to point and tell you 10 reasons why it can not work, while another kind of species give you the go ahead with minute changes( As aptly told by a senior member, this 5% change takes away 95% of your ideas).

So, what did you think you would be doing? Defnitely not the following things-

1) Writing letters of appreciation and recommendation letters for son/nephew of your premium distributor/ dealer, as he has applied for a travel management diploma in Algreia, and some good reco will help.

2) Booking flight tickets at 9 pm in the night for your dealer( as he has to go to embassy next day for visa process of an upcoming international incentive tour, and at 8: 59 pm, you have been told there is some problem with his visa.

3) Filling in the same data for god saken number of times, because some one ( read your boss) is too busy to cull it out from system, and needs it fast and urgent.

4) Attending endless number of marriages, funerals, booze and god forsaken parties( just to ensure you are CONNECTED to the market and HAVE A PULSE of the same).

5) As to how within 5 minutes, you are supposed to change the entire USP of a product, and how this has become slightly obsolete and how differently it can be pitched as more suited to curren needs and demands.

6) Trying your level best to convey How the other person is fully right, but yet completely wrong. ( Solve this puzzle).

7) Saying no to your kids and spouse for a movie and going for the same movie, same show with your favorite dealer/distributor.

8) Your same town relationship looks like LAC( Love across Country) given the frequency with which you meet your beloved.

But trust me, it all goes in a whiff, you leave it all behind, the cheer is back to your face, when one solid deal proplels you ahead of everyone else. When one good month end suddenly sees figures in red turning to golden…  You need to see the faces what a HIGH really means.

May be Sales people are eternally hopeful..May be they are hopeful to the extent of foolishness, but then thats why Sales is IS NOT FOR WEAK HEARTED.

 

In Sales, there is no right answer, weigh your options and decide..

I owe these lines to one of the best professors I have ever come across and dedicate this article to him. Whenever, there was a case presentation in his class( in all his class, there used to be one case presentation), he would counter your arguments. And then when some one from the class would put the other side, he would puncture that as well. And then when you looked upto him for solutions, he would say, in each of these options, these are the pros and these are the cons. And then in the last lecture, he uttered these golden words “In Sales, there is no right awnser, weigh your options and decide..”

At those times, I could not realize the words. But today, with two years in sales, they look to me as opening lines of Bible or Gita for sales people. Few examples to share with you all..

• Two of your biggest distributors are supposed to travel in same car. Whose place would you send it first?
• There is shortage of particular SKU. Two telephones buzz and they order for the same( Apparently, it was the same customer, who asked for it from both the shops). Whom to bill it?
• Its year end, and you are just short of the target. There is an order, wherein the distributor is just asking for little frugal benefits( Please note, this demand is not unethical). What would you do? You go that extra mile, and he may make it a norm( MAY is a key word here). You don’t, and for some one, entire year’s hardwork goes down the drain.

I know, many of you can just laugh off these instances as a one off case, but friends that is what sales is all about..These one off cases only constitute the business for you. Rarely a day passes, when you don’t face one of these dilemmas( My sales colleagues can vouch for the same). And if you think this was all, read below( And trust me, these are not acts of fiction)

• One of the distributors was upset, because your boss met him at a company function, and did not recognize him. Now he has decided he will never attend any company function. Moreover, at today’s launch, he has to be present, else it gives a wrong signal to market.  PLEASE HELP(YOURSELF)
• Or even better, the waiter brought him the starters only when he had served others. He knew very well, that this was an organized effort to demean his stature( For God’ s sake, some one tell him that there are other works for people as well)

 Some where, I had read the word Plastic smile. Some times, you are sick of it, and just want to tell the concerned person, that friend, enough of ego massage, time for some action. And some times, you need to do the same as well, and at other times, you do the same too. Now, the basis of the decision is not geometry( where sum of three angles has to be 180), it is not philosophy( Every one gets the fruit of his Karma), its pure probablity( wherein you never get correct all the time).

Welcome to sales, and I repeat “In Sales, there is no right answer, weigh your options and decide..”

Conversion marketing: The new fad or future road map

Hi all, came to know of this term only yesterday. Thought would share with you. Conversion marketing can be defined as use of marketing communications to convert potential customers to actual customers.

Trying to expain the same in very simple words, a study of Johns Hopkins school of medicines shows startling results. As per the study, one one person out of nine people actually change their lifestyles or better it even after going through the life and death experience.

The lesson for marketers is clear. If even in life and death experiences, the high degree of awareness does not result into real action based on that, it would be fool hardy to expect wonders from the usual methods employed for awareness.

Even today, the danglers in the exclusive brand outlets or company outlets are a common phenomenon. The front line people have no clue ecept for as it has come from marketing/H.O., it has to be put up. Now, these Visual merchandising elements are supposed to reinforce the brand into customers’ minds. May be result in better brand recall, or better mind share among customers. But, a simple question stumps all….

You are standing at a multi brand outlet to buy apparels. Now, just because a particular brand has a dangler or visual merchandise put up, do you think the customer will be attracted to it. Think of similar scenarios, you must have come across. More often than the answer would in negative.

When we talk about the moment of truth, it strikes the customer, when in one hand, he is holding your product, and in the other, that of competition. Now, what factors can a marketer control? Most of the times, it is price and price alone. But that does not ensure that the prodcut going into the shopping cart is your brand and not that of competition.

The need of the hour is to shift focus from consumer awareness and move  more and more towards consumer involvement, so that the marketers has many more variables to play with. This is also more and more stores are talking of experience and experiential marketing. Still in nascent stage, however, CONVERSION MARKETING holds much future promise and would be something to watch out for in comingg days..

Viral marketing: The flow uninterrupted

Technically, viral marketing refers to a Marketing strategy which  facilitates and encourages individuals to pass forward a marketing message creating the potential for exponential growth in message’s ifluence and exposure. Though not authentic, the history of this term and its coining is attributed to Jeffery Rayport, in December 1996 article for The Virus of Marketing. The term was further popularized by Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson in 1997 to describe Hotmail’s e-mail practice of appending advertising for itself in outgoing mail from their users.

In the beginning, all the start ups have a viral marketing strategy in their scheme of things, especially as far as B2C marketing is considered. However, not many are able to carry it forward effectively. For some, it clicks and for others, it just fizzles out. The success here primarily depends on the passage percentage i.e how many people pass forward what they come across. Here, a key observation to be kept in mind is that one satisfied customer shares his/her happiness with 3 people, where as an unsatisfied customer shares the same with 10 people.

The few key ( surprisingly simple) principles of viral marketing are:

•   Give away products or services free of cost
•   Provides for effortless transfers forward
•   Scalability should be smooth and easy
•   Play on common motivations and behaviors
•   Utilize existing communication network
•   Make most of others’ resources ( e.g. putting your ads on sites which don’t cost you a fortune)

Thinking of the most successful viral campaigns, Hotmail stands out as a clear winner, but closely following it is the million dollar homepage case. For some more examples, you may look into http://danzarrella.com/examples-of-viral-marketing-campaigns.html.

But then why does everyone not jump into this bandwagon, or more importantly, why is not everyone successful in these endeavors. It is supposed to be the big bang, but many a times ends in whimper. But what are the few things, that work so good for some, but others just falter. A concise list of the same can be mentioned as:

• The name and positioning of entire effort (IT DOES MATTER)
• The word SPAM will sound the death knell for you
• Whom to target- You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time
• How do you go about? You need to be innovative, and same medicine can not cure all
• However, never compromise on your ethics, else the hard word of ages will go down the drain in a fraction of second.

Please feel free to contact if you have any queries about the same.

Guerilla marketing: hit where it matters most..

Simply put, guerilla marketing is Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. Coined by Jay Conrad Levinson, guerilla marketing is all about innovation, and maximizing your returns by using minimum resources. Just like guerilla warfare is different from traditional warfare, guerilla marketing is not about marching your marketing dollars against competition, but taking a snipe and making maximum impact. Its about creativity, innovation, and devising one’s own unconventional methods of marketing.

In guerilla marketing, size does matter, albeit in the opposite way. Here, it is advantage smaaler players, as they are much closer to their customers, more agile and responsive to the needs and wants of the customers. Also, it has to be based more on human psychology and try to connect to the consumers. Like any business, here also, the measure of success has to be the bottom line, and not just the sales.  Also, the effort should be on getting more and more referrals, as it means more business without further spends. Also, at the initial jucture, the customer should look forward to cooperation and not competition with other companies, and also make maximum use of technology to achieve one’s goal.

Looking around for examples, you may look at options like HIGH IN THE AIR or DOWN ON THE GROUND, or may be even ON THE LEVEL. We go for inflattibles in the first case, some paitning or drawing in the second case, while a small kiosk kind of thing in the third. For better pictorial relevance, you may refer to http://weburbanist.com/2007/06/06/15-coolest-craziest-and-most-innovative-guerilla-marketing-campaigns/.

With more and more people taking the enterpreneurial route, many of whom don’t have the financial muscle to take on the biggies, but are quite convinced about the idea, guerilla marketing is going to be a hit, as that would be the natural way forward.

Experiential marketing simplified

Remember your visits to sweet shops.. Please taste and then buy the sweets. Test drive a car and then decide to buy it or not.. Put on the perfume, and then decide that you like the fragrance or not.. These have been the in thing for quite some time. With the growth story of organized retail in india hitting the headlines daily, there is some food for thought. Even today, the organized retail sale is some 5 odd percentage of the entire retail sale in the country. Clearly, the opportunities are huge and everyone tries to get a pie out of the same.. And in doing so, everyone is getting as innovative as possible.

Talking of experiential marketing, we may define the same as a type of marketing that attempts to evoke a strong emotional response, often by use of sensory techniques, to create an affinity between a product and a potential buyer. In other words, it is about making connections with customers who look forward to more than merchandise..

Talking about its usefulness, not only is it a great way to break through the media clutter, it also capitalizes strongly on the latest researches showing that about 70% of the purchase decisions are made in store, and about 55% of the customers feeling that they have all the material possessions they require, and so look forward to something extra.

BASIC DO’s and DON’Ts

DO’s

• Know what the audience is interested in
• Play to your strength
• Test, test, test
• Educate the sales force
• Never restrict the thought horizons
• Be innovative to ensure you have repeat customers
• Be consistent

DON’Ts

• Never blindly follow the competition
• Indecisive about what goals to achieve
• Consider it as another form of advertizement
• Carry on for some time and let it die

Some examples worth observing are American Girls’ Place, Nike London store, Best buy in West and Bose and Godrej Interio back home in India.

All said, the battle has just begun and it will definitely heat up in times to come.

Any queries, please mail at destinyvoyager@gmail.com .

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Blue and Red Ocean Strategy

Fundamentally, blue ocean strategy deals with value creation, while red ocean strategy deals with contesting in competitive market and winning over the competitors. So, blue ocean strategy is about creating new markets, while red ocean strategy is about present markets. Looking at the things in a slightly different perspective, the productivity can be increased by increasing revenue or by cost cutting. Blue ocean strategy typically deals with the former one, while red ocean strategy looks at both of them.

An interesting survey to look at is about the launch of 108 companies. Out of them, 86 followed red ocean strategy, while the rest followed blue ocean strategy. But, blue ocean strategy companies accounted for 38 % of the revenues and 61% of the profits.

Further, we can look at the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) as:
1) Blue ocean Strategy (BOS) does not compete in the open market. Instead, it creates an uncontested market space.
2) BOS does not indulge in competition. Instead, it has nothing to do with it.
3) BOS has nothing to do with the existing demand. Instead, it creates new demands.
4) BOS does not make the cost/volume trade-off.
5) The cornerstone of BOS is innovation.

Red Ocean Strategy (ROS) in turn follows just the opposite pattern.
So, it is a tough choice between the two, and it may appear to be a high risk- high gain proposition vis-à-vis just going round the tried and tested path.

posted by pentamorph at 3:00 AM 1 comments

Friday, November 04, 2005

Products v/s Services: Do the fundamentals remain the same

Looking superficially, products and services seem to be belonging to different set all together. The concept of inseparability, perishabilty, personal touch seem to potray the two in different lights. But look a bit deeply, and all the myths get cleared. The physical appearance of different products vary greatly amongst themselves also and it has nothing much to do with products and services differentiation. Moreover, both services and products can be categorised as having different life cycles.

Peeping a bit further, this differentiation comes out to be more of marketing gimmick by concerned people rather than anything substantial. This just furthe adds to the set of differentiabilty criteria of the companies. Look at the airlines industry for example, it dies not see new inventions everyday. The competing firms have same fleets, they operate from same airport and have same ground infrastructure. But, then what should be their differentiability criterion. Here, the concept of services comes into picture as it can be suitably morphed by each of them to suit their own needs.

So, it just reaffirms our belief” All that glitters is not gold” and there is more to eyes than it seems.

Celebrity Endorsement: Boon or Bane

Celebrities are supposed to cast an enormous influence here on the consumers. Using celebrity for endorsement is a time tested strategy by the marketers to enhance the sales or to differentiate the product. Looking into the world scenario, we have the example of PEPSI & NIKE. Whereas on the Indian front, we have HLL using stars for LUX endorsement. VIMAL, THUMSUP, DINESH are just a few other names, not to forget KAPIL “PALMOLIVE” DEV.

So what makes the company adopt this strategy, given the amount of money involved, and still there is no guarantee of success. MG Parmeswaran, Executive Director of FCB Ulka says, “As advertising professionals, we recommend celebrity endorsements when the case is justified”. Again, according to Mohammed Khan, Chairman of Enterprise Nexus, “Using a celebrity by itself is not a bad idea provided it is done intelligently”. Yet there are a set of people having contrary view also. However, Adrian Mendonza, Executive VP and Creative Director of Rediffusion DY&R does not recommend celebrity endorsements because he thinks that to be really successful, a brand needs to have a strong identity of its own. The brand can’t afford to piggyback and hope for the miracles. Let’s look at the both sides of the coin. The supporters of the celebrity endorsement refer to the psychographic and demographic benefits apart from the mass appeal and associated benefits of the association. They further claim about the establishment of the credentials of the product and getting attention of the consumer in the age where an average person is bombarded by hundreds of the advertisements daily.
The causes of let down are also obvious:
1) Improper positioning and product-celebrity disconnect- The use of celebrity is not panacea. What is also needed is proper positioning and the product-celebrity connect. The mismatch can be fatal as you can’t expect a youth icon to promote the things meant for elderly crowd.
2) Clutter-flutter & mismatch of expectations: In the present world, the celebrity is failing in its very purpose of differentiating the product. Due to same person endorsing a number of brands, there is lot of confusion and this is further compounded by expectation mismatch as these products are keenly observed by the consumers.
3) Skepticism: The consumer can at times also think as to the things being out of his or her domain because of its being used by the celebrities. Again, sometimes the question of money also creeps up as to how much was the payment rather than associated benefits.

So, what to conclude. In fact, celebrity endorsement is a means, not an end. The use of celebrity must be preceded by a strong idea, without which it serves nothing apart from amount of expenditure gone waste.