Marketing should begin within

The twin challenges marketers face today – intense competition and a
volatile market – often leads them to deploy ineffective marketing
strategies. And, with the ubiquitous social networks forcing companies
to ensure transparency in all transactions, marketers have to re-think
their capabilities. Traditional marketing vehicles that bragged about
the company, ‘who we are, and what we do,’ are faced with the question
– ‘so what is in for us’ by customers. Of course, progressive
marketers have resorted to interactive and engaging tools. However,
most of such engagements were bereft of an overarching theme that
allowed sustainability. The engagement appeared to be a band-aid in
the wake of increasing discontentment or sudden spike in interest in a
particular brand.
Breaking away from this tradition was the ‘smarter planet’ campaign
from IBM. Unlike the rest who tried creating or raising awareness,
IBM’s campaign was built on the basis of a fundamental question, "If
IBM went away tomorrow, what would be the impact?" It wasn't simply
designed as a brand campaign for lead generation or thought
leadership. The smarter planet platform embodies the mission of IBM's
employees and articulates the company's mission and vision in a way
that resonates with and inspires its employees and customers. No
wonder experts say that the campaign is ‘belief-building’ for the
company. How many companies can we recall that actually stand for a
cause?
A quick look at the landscape in India will reveal that most companies
are innovative, work on cutting-edge technologies, or are best places
to work. With rampant attrition and free movement of talent across
companies and industries, the reality and perception dissonance
becomes very apparent. There is no distinction between large companies
and small ones – the nature of work and culture is more or less the
same. No wonder there are very few prominent Indian brands in the
global landscape. As they say, marketing should begin within the
company. If the thousands of employees don’t resonate what the company
stand for, can the others be convinced?

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Outcome of an Accident

My wife caught hold of the biker who drove over my leg. I crossed over and rushed with the kids before the pain intensified and rendered me stock-still. It is no use arguing with him, let’s hurry, I shouted on top of my voice. Displeased for having to let go the rash driver, she lumbered up to us. By that time I had started to hobble and she regained her self and focused on the job ahead – take me to a doctor and quickly.

A day later, most of the callers had the same question as my wife – why did you let the biker get away? While I did what was important (and good for me) at that moment, thinking about the incident that fractured my foot  reminded me of an African story. A King in Africa had a close friend that he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) by remarking, “This is good, Allah Almighty knows best” One day the King and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the King. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the King fired it and his thumb was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good! Allah Almighty knows best.” To which the King replied, “No, this is NOT good!” and ordered his soldiers to put his friend into jail.

About a year later, the King was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured the King and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the King was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So after untying the King, they chased him out of the village.

When the King reached his Palace, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right” the King said, “It was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.” “No,” his friend replied, “this is good…Allah Almighty knows best”

“What do you mean, ‘this is good’! How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?” The King’s friend replied: “Remember that the Almighty knows best and if I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you on that hunting trip.” Moral of the story is that one should not Judge Things or Events by its Immediate Outcome!

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CLV for PR Agencies

It is pretty common in public relations agencies to see top brass taking time out to set up meetings with ‘important’ clients:

 

a.     Internally to check the ‘health’ of the account, and

b.    Externally to fortify relationship and may be raise the bar with some ‘strategic ideas.’

 

It is also very common to see absolutely no action against any of the points discussed in such meetings – both internally and externally. More importantly, some of the standard ‘strategic ideas,’ shared globally with similar clients get ridiculed at a local level with the servicing team bearing the brunt of the client’s attack. While most agencies cling on to ‘important clients,’ it is important for the team to understand that retaining the right client over time would have a positive impact on the profitability and hence the retention strategy to be adopted should be different. This implies an understanding of ‘Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).’  

 

The exercise including the visit of ‘top brass’ is usually undertaken in the name of CLV’ and often goes horribly wrong with the leaders’ tactical and disconnected approach. Instead of targeting such clients for meetings, can’t the top brass who understand each customers CLV assign a team to ensure consistency in delivery of value-added services? At a time when customers focus on the approach of the ‘servicing team’ in solving specific challenges (not the brand and its reputation), it is disheartening when the team (top brass) attempts to hard sell the brand and its methodologies. The differentiator would be in increasingly empowering the servicing team to make decisions that would raise the bar for excellence. Most agencies don’t understand CLV and be it a global account or a regional one that tries to squeeze the most out of the team, the servicing team is the same, attempting to deliver the same. The outcome is simple – dissatisfaction – for clients and the team who service them.

 

Sans any understanding of CLV, most of the agencies don’t even bother about the larger marketing objective but force fit communication strategies to address an individual’s (client) prerogative. The result is obviously short-term gains. A clear understanding of CLV would imply prioritising communication initiatives even if it means deviating from the allocated budget a wee bit.   

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Focus on the business and not the recession

While the erudite exchange views about the global economic scenario and its impact, there is no doubt that individuals will have to focus on what one could do better to establish oneself in this rapidly changing economy. Today’s economic vows flashed by the media remind me of an anecdote from Shiv Khera’s book – You can Win.

 

It is about a man who sold hot dogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers . He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hot dogs. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more meat and got himself a bigger and a better stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from college, joined his father. Then something strange happened. The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?" The father replied, "No, but tell me about it." The son said, "The international situation is terrible. The domestic is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad time."

 

The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, and listened to the radio, he ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly. So the next day, the father cut down his order for the meat and buns, took down the sign and was no longer enthusiastic. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his hot dog stand. And his sales started coming down rapidly. The father said to his son, "Son, you were right. We are in the middle of a recession. I am glad you warned me ahead of time."

 

At a time when companies are seeking to address (unique requirements of) maximum number of people while meeting the highest possible standards, so as to expand business and market share, individuals working in these companies should not be blinded by the opinions doing the rounds- instead focus on raising the bar for excellence.     

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Narrow the focus, better the outcome

In a world filled with options, it is difficult to choose. From buying a television to viewing channels, mobile phones to choosing the service provider, social networks and the integration platform – life isn’t easy. For marketers, it is even worse. Intense competition globally, economic downturn and the rising number of social networks are diluting brand positioning initiatives. Take the example of Yahoo, AOL or for that matter Dell. What do they stand for compared to ‘let’s google,’ about Google  and (away from the technology space) - the ‘ultimate driving machine,’ about BMW?  Nothing much except a blank expression on the respondent’s face. The diminishing brand equity could be attributed to the lack of focused and consistent brand communication initiatives from the part of these companies. In the name of visibility and positioning, it is common to see marketers going all out targeting free and available promotional channels, communicating the company’s products, services and the ensuing value proposition – resulting in unfavourable outcomes.

 

Having had the privilege to attend some high profile ‘messaging workshops,’ where in business leaders dragged themselves in only because of the presence of their bosses, it can be assumed that brand communication is still not a priority for many CXOs. A day or two of intellectual rumpus in a 5-star set up, dissection and analysis of the workshop over calls and mails followed by unending PPT mayhem – that is what happens to brand communication. The attempt -  to create an overarching message followed by sub-messages – remains in paper.  

With companies growing in size, the number of marketers also increase and the need to go-to-market to ‘accomplish’ something for their respective businesses. It is very common to hear marketers say, ‘Hey, let’s maximize the impact of this service. Let’s run a campaign in all the social networks.’ What if the social networks were to be paid for the campaign? Will the target/priority change? Unlike the traditional medium, social networks call for an engagement program and the preference to such an exercise differ depending on the target audience. In the absence of a robust social media strategy, that ensures an engagement program, companies could land into trouble as witnessed by consulting major McKinsey.  In India, global FMCG giant P&G avoided negative publicity when film personality Farah Khan tweeted about a shortage of Pampers diapers in Mumbai. Within 24 hours, P&G sent her a month's supply of Pampers Active Baby diapers. Kainaz Gazder, marketing director at P&G India, says the response to Khan's tweet is a "testament of how we are leveraging this medium to address the needs of our consumers.”

Now, how many B2B marketers can ensure a response like that?

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What BPOs should learn from Apple and Blackberry

It is no secret that business process outsourcing firms are grappling with a need to identify service differentiators. While increasing footprints and client proximity was considered to be a differentiator when the industry witnessed rapid growth, verticalization became a buzz word when the number of BPO players increased and awareness about the potential of outsourcing amongst clients improved. With a mature and promising market (read US), most of the BPO leaders were focused on generating ‘competitive’ differentiators so as to increase the company’s top line. Verticalization emerged as one such differentiator. However, with the steady flow of business comes the risk of ‘reverse salient,’ to which many leaders seemed to have turned a blind eye. In his seminal book, ‘Networks of power: Electrification in western society,’ Thomas P. Hughes introduces the concept in the analysis of technological systems, whereby the ‘reverse salient’ refers to a component of the system that, due to its insufficient development, prevents the technological system in its entirety in achieving its targeted development. BPO leaders who managed their companies out of the recent and one of the worst economic crisis clearly understand that the determinants for generating differentiators have radically changed. These leaders know that today’s inexorable shift in macroeconomics; disruptive technologies, business practices etc are potential ‘reverse salient’ and could transform their business prospects. Today, these factors form an integral part of a leader’s strategy in determining differentiators. 

 

Importance of domain/vertical knowledge for service provider  

 

Mike Lazaridis might not have imagined that the device he co-founded would one day achieve a cult status. His company’s smart phone – Blackberry – was primarily used by business executives on the go. It was a common sight to see dapper executives at airports, hotels and offices in praying positions - picking out e-mails. For many, the Blackberry remained an aspiration brand. However, the surge in smart phone market witnessed a burgeoning number of Blackberry users beyond the business executives. The phone maker was quick to add social media capabilities and other functionalities to extend its share while other brands saw their share eroding. The company was able to successfully address the mass market in India by first choosing a niche and dominating it. Blackberry isn’t the only company to adopt this strategy. Business history says Apple’s Macintosh computer found its initial success this way. The company used to target in-house graphics departments to do desktop publishing, then to marketing executives for business presentations. Later, the product's capability was extended to take on the professional pre-press and publishing market. Apple also leveraged its traditional strength in the education market to gain a strong franchise in the consumer market. Geoffrey Moore, author of several technology marketing books calls this the ‘bowling alley,’ strategy. According to him, “each vertical market is a pin to be knocked down. Companies should stick with this serial vertical market strategy while they gain momentum and their technology matures enough to tackle the horizontal market.”

 

What is the lesson for BPOs?

As many BPOs have already seen, verticalization ensures favourable business outcomes. An increasing number of BPOs are focusing on niche areas like health insurance, mortgage processing etc – demonstrating deep domain knowledge and thereby enabling clients to not only contain costs but focus on their core business. The question is - are these companies doing enough to successfully roll through these niches or ‘bowling alleys’ and enter a period of hyper growth?

 

 

Vertical centers of excellence as Innovation hubs

 

With competition in the BPO industry getting intense, it has become imperative for the companies to ensure unique experience around the services offered. Working with several customers from the same vertical, it is but natural for most BPOs to assimilate best practices and offer the same as insights to clients in need. Does deep domain knowledge mean everything?

 

A global IT company, which established an innovation center in India recruited domain specialists to assimilate best practices of the company across the globe and spanning its vertical focus. The objective was to extend its clients ‘solution accelerators,’ which would enable its clients to launch services faster and bring down costs substantially. Imagine a small utility company in one of the emerging countries with limited IT budget benefiting from the solution accelerator?  Or, for that matter a start up healthcare company benefiting through the implementation of industry best practices? Better still, what if clients could participate in customizing their proposed solution? The client can leverage the domain specialists, test the readymade solution or suggest tweaking it up to its requirement - all at the IT Company’s innovation center.

 

BPOs in India might not be able to replicate the same. What they can however do is to build an ecosystem consisting of industry specialists from industry bodies, academic institutes, partners etc. The objective here is two pronged. While the ecosystem will enable the BPO to create a ‘global standard’ for processes outsourced from a specific vertical, it also helps the company build industry recognized specialists who can complement client’s resources. At a time when globalization is forcing organizations to increase their footprint, specialists who can ensure standardization at warp speed will be in demand as they would substantially bring down process implementation and speed up time to market.

 

Horizontal services should be a natural outcome

 

Blackberry knew what would entice people to their device – a collaboration tool called e-mail. When the market expanded, the company extended the collaboration tools to include social media. Take the example of Apple. The company could focus on bringing innovative devices like iPhones and iPads to the market because of the thousands of application makers that supported the company. What is a standalone device worth?

 

A BPO is like a device. A BPO focused on verticals is like a device with push mail capability. The future is where a BPO evolves to extend services like the devices from Apple. Future is where BPOs are able to extend ‘standardized’ services that help organizations in rapidly integrating new acquisitions, mobilizing new contracts, and transforming business processes.

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In the name of transformation

Transformation seems to be a buzzword these days. First, it was aimed at overcoming the recession, then it was focused towards agility. However, in most organizations, it is tantamount to reorganizing people irrespective of the outcome on people – what happens to their career or what value the process adds to them makes no business sense for the undertakers. The implications are manifold – tilting towards unfavourable business outcomes versus the constructive intent with which it was conceptualized and carried out. Irrespective of the outcome, the management would easily transition to another period of conceptualizing and executing yet another transformation.What can employees do?

a.    Focus on value-addition: Not that employees should not otherwise focus on value addition. The process of transformation witnesses large scale skepticism resulting in de-motivation and thereby lack of productivity. It is important to remain focused on the task at hand and finding avenues for adding more value. For instance, can an offshore marketing support center hitherto focused on production activities aid the organization’s growth?   

b.    Operational efficiency and innovation: While this is a given in many organization, what is not is innovation. The employee unrest created during a transformation exercise could lead to operational inefficiency. This is especially true when organizations increase spending per employee in the name of motivation. Employees should focus on doing more with less at the same time factoring in innovation aspects. Example, IBM India is able to establish a code factory with domain specialists extending the company’s customers solution accelerators that would speed up application deployment.

c.    Expand the network:  No doubt, the transformational ability of the professionals is what would make a difference and not necessarily the brand equity of the company in which they work. This is a fact that is resonating across industries and geographies, across government agencies and academic institutes as the need for people to move up the innovation value chain increasingly becomes vital. Transformation is perhaps the best phase when employees can showcase their insights into the market beyond India. The social networks in fact gives an opportunity to unleash potential customer engagement programs. For instance, the application development team in India can initiate a crowdsourcing program so as to receive and incorporate customer’s feedback.

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Marketing re-defined

The presentation came to an end – finally - and it felt like sunshine coming out of it. “We just have 24 slides and we will make it fast,” he had mentioned when starting up. That was like yesterday. “So, is that it?” Mark got up, asking. Mark was the Vice President, Marketing and had come to finalize an agency for the company in India. Later, his question to the agency – is that it – triggered a discussion about the expectations of an agency and the changing mindset within the company.

 

The foremost target on any technology marketers mind these days seem to be lead generation. And, most prefer events and direct mailers - creative and often complex - to highlight their company’s various offering. There is of course this continued effort to strengthen existing customer relationships but then again mostly accomplished through focused events or mailers. What are the other most (ab)used tools?Yes -  striking an association with the customer’s personal life is increasingly gaining ground as a tactic. Greeting cards, flowers, cakes, champagne – marketers seem to be transforming the target CXOs office into a party hall. Unfortunately, the focus is on bombarding the customer with information that the marketer thinks appropriate and not necessarily what the customer would prefer. Time – marketers took a step back to evaluate the return on their investment. Well, nothing new there.

 

After a round of mails confirmed there was indeed a disconnect between marketing and the customers, it was time for me to gauge analysts’ findings. According to Forrester’s recent B2B Social Technographics survey, when customers were asked, “which are the most important vendor action factors when selecting the best vendor for a technology purchase?” By far, the No. 1 response was “how well the vendor can supplement our knowledge on the business process/function its product/technology supports.” Well, it is evident – there is no significant gap between the parties but possible differences. And, we all know the broader implications of these differences. So, what should marketers focus on? How about initiatives aimed at customer engagement? Well, sounds no different, right?

 

Customer engagement is today not restricted to a task to be pursued by a department but it ought to be ‘the culture.’ Marketing will have to transition its center of gravity from one part of the organization to cover the entire organization – empowering individuals at the point of action to ‘market’ the company’s services. Some of the leading organizations are deploying the technique of interactive marketing to realize substantial benefits under marketing practices. How does it work? An enthusiastic marketer says, “My passion is for figuring out what is at the heart of a brand, how consumers connect with it, and how to connect with them — understanding what those consumers have in common and where their needs are different, whether they are in Milan, Minneapolis, or Mumbai.” Now think of those IT account executives working in collaboration with IT members in the client’s organization. Can they be empowered to carry out some marketing initiatives so as to make inroads into the account? It’s certainly up to the marketers.

 

According to Elisa Steele, exec VP-CMO at Yahoo: "There is no such thing in my mind as an interactive-marketing department. ... So marketing practices, I call them, whether it's brand or communications or consumer or b-to-b, we're organized functionally, and every one of those has to be awesome at interactive."

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Lessons from the Family

Growing up in a joint family, I was witness to most of the decisions being taken by my grandmother. The decision would follow muted and often derisive discussions, frowning, frustrated and nonchalant family members running helter-skelter as if doors existed everywhere. The upside was that one clearly knew - there would be only one decision maker, how to influence that person and the ramifications, especially of being in the unfavourable side of the decision. No doubt, the joint family ecosystem increased the level of tolerance and tenacity as dependency to garner prominence was fairly high and involved intellectual subterfuge and guile. The continuous application of such an exercise eventually becomes an integral part of the person’s life that it is employed wherever he or she goes.

 

As I see it, growing up in a joint family is akin to working in a large organization. Decisions are taken by a leader which creates ripples within the organizational rank. Like in a joint family, individuals network and gossip in the corridors discussing the merits and demerits of the decision albeit any expectations of exercising a change.  And, my experience working in several organizations suggest that people who grew up in a joint family form a majority in the business landscape. It is hence not surprising to see organizations (even in this age) with a linear and inflexible approach to management. After all, it is a process that most leaders running organizations today have been following since childhood. 

 

Do we see or hear Indian organizations with multiple leaders? Tata, Birla, Wipro, TCS, L&T, HCC, or political parties like Congress and CPM – most have one face, one decision maker. At a time when organizations are relying on more and more of young talent, shouldn’t they be changing their management thinking? According to Sangeeth Varghese, author and leadership expert, more forward-looking organizations are moving away from the traditional closed forms towards an Open Source Leader model, where people are nurtured across layers by opening unto them the power and authority associated with leadership. If organizations and leaders do not keep up with this evolution, they will be left in the lurch. But if they manage to keep pace, they will live another day, to tell the tale of their success.

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Going by the buzz…

Agility is high on every marketers mind. Be it an FMCG company or an IT services company – the one who gets to the market faster with the right solution to the right customer wins. Gone are the days when marketers would spend time researching markets or analyzing the ‘technology life cycle’ to launch their offerings. As futurologist Alvin Toffler predicted, this is the age for ‘mass customization’ or mass production of highly customized products. With customers making their presence felt regardless of time or location – thanks to digital nativity – marketing (communication) seem to have acquired a new meaning.  An increasing number of companies are focusing on established groups, forums across social networks to activate promotional campaigns. The returns are quite promising. Hundreds of groups with thousands of followers are active on these networks. Take for instance the group that go by the name ‘bikers’ on facebook. The one that appears first on the list has over a lakh followers. What does it imply for companies? It enables them create opportunities for cocreation. According to an article in McKinsey, by distributing innovation through the value chain, companies may reduce their costs and usher new products to market faster by eliminating the bottlenecks that come with total control.

It doesn’t take much effort to analyze success of companies that are leveraging social networks. Frito-lay’s engaged their customers in preparing different flavours for the company’s potato chips. A dedicated portal www.yourlaysflavour.com ensures continuous innovation of the product and the company engages customers using various social networks. It’s quite enchanting how the brand tries to establish a strong relationship with its customers and attempts to cocreate. Anybody interested in noodles? Well, there is some hot discussion about shrimp noodles underway in the group - noodles. And then there are very interesting and specific conversations revolving around ‘where to hang out.’ Take for instance a conversation on St. Patrick’s Day celebrations which started with the question, “if you’re attending a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Where will you be raising your glass of green beer?”  

Be it a car manufacturer or an IT company, the social networking buzz is forcing them to listen (to) and engage with their stakeholders. An increasing number of companies, keen on faster innovations to market, are relying on two aspects – people and the way they communicate.

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Giving away leadership

Had Sachin opted to retain captaincy despite his dismal records as a Captain, he wouldn’t have been in the team – pressed a colleague during our coffee break. India would have been the No.1, argued the other who was obviously a die-hard fan of the maestro. A deliberate decision or not, the move seemed to have done a lot of good for Sachin as he amassed centuries in all forms of the game. Not many would go back in time to discuss his failure - as the records he managed to pile up would overshadow anything unfavourable. Is leadership all about giving away power? If so, how many would be prepared to do so? One of the most significant acts of leadership in the history of US was the resignation of George Washington as commander-in-chief in 1783. In the words of historian Gordon S. Wood, "This self-conscious and unconditional withdrawal from power and politics was a great moral action, full of significance for an enlightened and republicanized world, and the results were monumental."

Not many leaders in the corporate world seem to realize the power of giving away leadership. Corporate corridors are abuzz with stories about micro managers and the way they stifle growth of others. And, this is only bound to increase. With more well-qualified people competing for each step on the organizational ladder all the time, rivalry is intense and only getting more so. Why would anybody allow the other a walkover? It is important for leaders to understand that in order to grow, they will need to ensure growth of others. Smart organizations have clear performance metrics in place for leaders – reflecting how they have empowered their team to ensure growth. Organizations like IBM, Unilever have gone on record about how they are lowering the organizations center of gravity in markets where they have presence. The regional team is empowered to take decisions to ensure agility and flexibility – vital for garnering market share and more importantly, identifying opportunity share. So, it works today when leaders release decision-making power and put it into the hands of people actually doing the work.

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Short Stories are back

Every organization has a story. While IBM harps on the world becoming instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, Infosys highlights how it is well positioned to help customers in an increasingly flat world. Some narrate a complex one, others make it simple. Gone are the days when organizations thrived on intellectualizing everything. Presentations, documents, software codes, designs etc have been known to be intellectualized to a level where it was certain that the audience will be baffled or the creators bamboozled. Times are fast changing and today the strategy of ‘diffusing complexity’ doesn’t work. Obviously, as competition increased and when the need to grow business became a top priority – simplifying also topped the strategy list.

Why are organizations relying on stories? Social psychologist and Marketer, Jennifer Aaker has the answer. “Stories serve as glue to unify communities. Stories spread from employee to employee, from consumer to consumer, and, in some cases, from employee to consumer or consumer to employee. Stories are much more memorable than statistics or simple anecdotes and are a mechanism that allows communities to grow. Strong stories can be told and retold. They become infectious.” Remember the story about how Microsoft was founded? Apple’s turnaround? Infosys? Well, every brand has a story – some puts you to sleep while others invigorate you from ‘corporate hibernation.’ Stories change with market. While there is a continuous resolve to make it increasingly relevant (brand association) to a broad segment, marketers are also working towards simplifying their narration. For instance, how does one make it relevant in social media?  

“We have exactly 10 minutes, I’d like you to be to the point and fast,” is a dialogue that is commonly heard these days. Be it for a strategy presentation or an interview, everyone seem to be revisiting the past and following the words of the illustrious. As French author and aviator, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, said, "It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Many organizations emerged from the down turn reflected upon their imperfections and restructured themselves for future growth. And, what do they want to do? Simplify. For example, the Bangalore based Wipro Technologies recently announced reorganization of the company to make it simple. Leo Apothekar, the new CEO of HP says that the first thing he wants in 4-5 years is for people to be able to articulate what HP is all about in 30 seconds. In essence, as the business environment is getting complex, and as organizations are becoming ever more agile so as to accelerate growth, there is a need to make stories short. As Leonardo Da Vinci said, "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

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Time to defocus

Most often, the story about growth – be it an individual’s or of an organization – is laced with points pertaining to focus. What you focus is what you get – management thinkers would say. A quick look at what is happening around us would reveal that growth is probably a direct result of continued focus on raising the bar. Not necessarily a result of one’s focus on growth. Sprinter Usain Bolt said, “My aim is to win championships and continue to stay on top of the world,” when asked about his aim. Being the world record holder, one would expect him to be succinct  - I want to stay number one. He did not but added that “the guys at the top are great athletes and training hard to get better all the time." Have we ever heard batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar saying his focus is on staying in the team? Or accumulating centuries? He would always say that his focus is on ‘hitting (middling) the ball well.’

Many of the Indian IT pure plays would invariably communicate their intention to be like IBM, Accenture etc or better still brag about ‘beating them (MNCs) in their own game.’ No doubt the Indian companies are doing well in the intensely competitive market. The question is what should be their focus? Beating the MNCs or winning more deals and hence recording growth? The stakeholders would certainly want these companies to stay focused on winning more deals. No wonder some of these companies are posting sluggish growth, and restructuring with the hope of reviving growth.

One company that appears to be differentiating themselves in this regard and hence posting record growth q-o-q is Cognizant. According to the company’s CEO, “the two key measures and most important operating metrics when I look at the business are customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. Scale is a natural outcome of that and our growth rate has been a natural outcome of the fact that we have a differentiated model that allows us to keep our customers very happy on one side and employees happy on the other side. That results in industry leading growth, but we don't chase growth for the sake of growth.”

 

The lesson here is simple. Be it an individual or an organization – don’t focus on growth, focus on the value add that can be extended and the result will be growth.

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End of Marketing Communication

The euphoria of social networking and the rise of social media is forcing organizations to rethink their communication strategy. Whether the business is automobiles, consumer products or IT services, the challenge to ensure transparency and engage customers as well as staff is compelling organizations to decouple communication, hitherto tethered to a specific department. The empowered customers of today is forcing business leaders to adopt a business model that is centered around trust. And, leaders know that trust is not established through communication but engendered through a relationship. A bank needs to empower its employees to forge relationship with its customers through their daily interactions, a software company needs to strike a chord with its employees and partners – all along ensuring that growth is a participative process. Can this be managed by few executives in a department far removed from the point of action? Unlike a traditional establishment that thrived on process-centric functions, today’s organizations are battling real-time challenges – primarily triggered by media fragmentation and the power of networking. Every day is a battle – to build trust, retain customers or employees and ensure competitive advantage.

Every employee becomes an ambassador – marketing, communicating, and protecting the organization’s business. An employee working at the quality assurance department in an FMCG company was baffled to witness blatant contravention of industry standards by her employer, which pricked her conscience. She cut through social networks to flash the news, which obviously tarnished the image of the company, resulting in unfavourable business outcomes. Who was to be blamed? If a global FMCG major that boasts of the best marketers and communication professionals couldn’t insulate itself from such a risk, can anyone else be sure?  Communication professionals will have to probably don a different role – that of a trainer. Instead of framing communication guidelines, nurture every employee to be a true ambassador of the organization.

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An eye-opener

There was something about her that was appealing. The captivating smile, energy and enthusiasm with which she carried out tasks – everyone in the room could feel the positive energy around her. Every person with whom she interacted seemed to have felt special as they walked into the hall and turned to give her a pleasant, approving glance. When she walked briskly towards us, I couldn’t help think that people like her put in that extra effort to be happy and spread happiness because they know with their experience - the world can change in a split second. I recalled what I had read that morning from Sensei Josei Toda, “those who experience indescribable hardships and go on to surmount them are true victors.” After a near fatal accident rendered her handicapped - with no left arm and left leg – it was apparently a deliberate attempt to live above the ‘handicapped’ mentality, I was informed.

It will definitely be challenging for her to cover up the prosthetic leg but not her enthusiasm, I thought. A handicapped person challenging the world and having fun at it. More importantly, when I looked around and saw that majority of those gathered were languid and perturbed being at an event supporting a social cause, it occurred to me that she was a handicapped person amongst an abnormal lot. With all the luxuries that life can offer, all of us – normals - act handicapped all the time.

Stories Win Business

Craig Pipe was confused by the surfeit of mobile phones in the smart phones category. Everything looked more or less the same and offered similar features and functionalities. He had been at the store now for more than hour and wanted to buy the best instrument for his girlfriend’s birthday falling the next day. He decided to call his friends for their opinion and within minutes received feedback through calls, text messages, and more importantly links to customer reviews. It took Alex an extra hour but when he walked out of the store, he was contented about the purchase.

There is no doubt that youngsters like Craig increasingly rely on their friends and their network to finalize a purchase decision.

What is important to note is that this trend is not confined to consumer products but even in corporate decision making. For example, when it comes to availing IT services, most decision makers prefer to cross check with existing customers rather than rely on the vendor’s brand name and team’s capabilities. Thanks to the advancement in collaborative and social communication channels, peer judgments are effectively leveraged and decisions are made swiftly. In the IT services landscape where organizations contemplate substantial investments towards business critical projects, they don’t want to go wrong in the partner they choose. An increasing number of organizations are known to evaluate the track record of IT services providers (demonstrated success) and seek references before finalizing the deal. In an intensely competitive landscape where competitive differentiators between IT service providers are diminishing, client references or endorsements could potentially make a difference between winning or losing the deal. A compelling story narrated by a client is the best marketing weapon.

Take the example of the leader in global IT services – IBM. The company’s ‘Smarter Planet’ campaign has been creating waves across the world – educating and compelling audience to take action towards o making many aspects of our world 'smarter': roadways, health care, power grids, food production – all aimed at a better way of living. According to the company, a smarter planet will require a profound shift in management and governance toward far more collaborative approaches. The company has very clearly articulated its vision for a smarter planet. Better still, it has ensured that the vision is substantiated by actions, which has been endorsed by clients. Can anyone claim that ‘smarter planet’ is a hollow and unproductive campaign?

Finally, as Geoffrey Moore, the Silicon Valley based high technology consultant and author of Crossing the Chasm – considered to be a tech marketers bible – says that "the notion that part of what defines a high-tech market is the tendency of its members to reference each other when making buying decisions-- is absolutely key to successful high-tech marketing."

Are companies really employee-centric?

HCL leader Vineet Nayyar questioned in HBR blog as to who would be the catalyst to change in an organization – employees or their leaders? The company has been in the news for the substantial improvement it has made – thanks to the Employees First, Customers Second initiative undertaken by the company. According to the website, ‘the initiative places the needs of employees before the needs of customers. This seemingly counterintuitive strategy has provoked a sea-change at the company, and, believe it or not, greater customer loyalty, better engagements and higher revenues.’ The company has placed the employees first but for what? The organization’s gain. How long would employees support such an initiative? Every knowledge worker is continuously questioning his organization about the value it is providing him or her. What is in it for me has become a standard question?

When we undertake an employee-centric change management initiative, aren't we deviating from the core objective of empowering employees? Here, change is initiated from the interest of the organization - to power HCL into the big league, for example. From a career perspective, employees might or might not benefit from an initiative like this as the value they derive as an individual is questionable. This initiative, from an employees perspective, is yet another motivational programme. If an organization wishes to accelerate, the focus should be on improving employees' performance (very obvious) - individually. Like how a coach works with an athlete or any sportsman. The focus is not on Olympics or CWG but continuous improvement. How can he better his forehand, how can he improve his speed from 10 seconds to 9.5 seconds? Likewise, can't organizations focus on individual performance to ensure mutual benefits and then collective gain?

Greet a soldier today

Captain Dinesh Yadav’s return home awoke the whole colony, when in the middle of the night - crackers burst, music blared and residents seemed to increase their decibel levels to best the ongoing cacophony. Dinesh is a 20 something, dapper soldier serving in one of the country’s most sensitive areas – Kashmir. Obviously, any soldier returning home from such an area warrants a hero’s welcome. Senior Yadav – now touching 80 – had tears running down his cheeks when he tightly embraced the young soldier. He had good reason, I thought.

The senior Yadav had sat me down, two days earlier, sharing his perspectives with me on corporate services and ‘risk management.’ Corporate service personnel have a cushy life, he said, stretching himself on the sofa. What could be the worst thing – losing a job, ending up with debts? Yes, I nodded, with my eyes transfixed at a conspicuous photograph of Dharmesh Yadav, who was killed 15 years ago at the valley. Dharmesh was a born soldier, and laid down his life protecting hundreds of others, said the old man. His voice extremely proud yet poignant. There is absolutely no guarantee for life once you decide to become a soldier, he continued lighting an incense stick near his son’s photograph, yet no one really cares about soldiers. Our conversation later veered towards what corporate entities could learn from soldiers, especially on risk management.

However, the conversation and more importantly the circumstances had sent me into some kind of an introspection about the value of life. Mr.Yadav, I thought had a very strong point. At a time when corporate India is pampering its employees- offering cash and kind - to stay put in one job, thousands of soldiers are trying their best to effectively deploy their risk-management strategy in a do or die situation. While we throng malls and multiplexes in search for continuous entertainment, soldiers are fighting it out to let us sustain our entertainment quotient. Despite a luxuriant life, we are still continuously seeking incentives for motivation to carry out personal as well as professional tasks. Leaving the old man’s house, I asked him what he does to motivate himself and other soldiers. Shake hands with them and let them know their job is crucial for the nation – he said.

I am now looking for soldiers…

Lesson from the MD

The conference was just four hours away and the approval for the press release had not come. It had gone through at least 10 iterations – majority of them undertaken by the communication, marketing and the legal team based in US. Why the delay then? The MD based in India is yet to go through it, said our client counterpart. One of my senior team members was on the threshold of losing his temper over the client who was repeatedly checking about ‘all the other things,’ which he knew were in place. As time passed, we knew there wasn’t anything anybody could do but just wait for the MD to approve. Sitting amidst team members, who were vociferous about the MD’s ‘attitude’ and the company’s slothful culture, there was no room for airing anything positive.

An hour later, two foreigners emerged out of the business center followed by the head of marketing in India. No sign of the MD yet. As if to increase the tension in the air, the marketing head wanted to know if we had everything in order. All I could hear was someone gnawing their teeth. Ten minutes later, the MD emerged out of the business center - in a wheel chair, heavily bandaged and unmistakably in enormous pain. The blood stains were still fresh on his forehead and feet – the white bandage and the numbers on the wheel chair indicated he was coming directly from the hospital. As he approached us, he congratulated us for getting the ‘messaging’ bang on. He apologized and asked the person who was pushing the wheel chair to handover a green folder. “Thought, I’ll get the printed copies myself as we are getting delayed,” he said while moving on to the conference hall. No one from our team spoke for what seemed eternity.

Once the conference was over, one of the members went to the MD and helped him move around his wheelchair so that he could interact with the press. Why did you make it for the conference, asked an inquisitive journalist. Why shouldn’t I? Am perfectly fit to make an announcement – so why not? A start-up in India, and part of a diversified group, he was the innovator behind a game-changing product that was being launched. When the last journalist left the venue, he called our team and thanked each and everyone. His parting words still remains fresh in my memory. “You guys have one of the toughest jobs. How do you write something that is in synch with others thoughts?”

That event taught me couple of lessons. One is to increase my tolerance levels, two to be kind and three – everyone has a way of writing, what is important is to capture the idea, the thought.

Shadowing those in power

Discussing colleagues at workplace, my wife made a passing mention that her colleague was trying to google their CEO’s hobbies. For what? I exclaimed. The justification went on for 5-10 minutes but did not actually make sense. Her colleague had his own reasons, I thought. The next day in office, a colleague was digging into LinkedIn to extract details about a client. Well, it is important when you are planning to do business together, I thought. However, there seems to be more to this practice of ‘finding out more.’ According to psychologist Susan Fiske, “People pay attention to those who control their outcomes. In an effort to predict and possibly influence what is going to happen to them, people gather information about those with power." That is the ground reality.

In an earlier company that I worked, there was a deliberate and collaborative effort towards understanding clients. It was imposed on every client facing executives to find out – what does the client like the most, when is his/her birthday etc. Was there any result, any benefit to anyone? Absolutely no. Social capital or the ability to network should be an outcome of something larger. Smart executives in the same company pushed their knowledge with the client to get his buy-in and ultimately built a stronger relationship. The idea holds true in every professional relationship – an agency/client or a leader/follower. How much can one stretch his/her social capital to make a difference?

This ‘finding out more’ practice is mostly done for an immediate requirement – a project, a lead. Happen to read what Dr.Ivan Misner, who is supposedly a networking guru had to say about investing in networking. According to him, "You should always ask new contacts to tell you about a business challenge they are confronting. That way, you might know someone who can help, and that's the start of a relationship." Everyone has a way of accomplishing what they want in life – some leverage their networking skills while others rely on their intellectual capital.