Brand, Real Estate Developers and NASSCOM

What a real estate developer wants?

1. Deals – Land, Redevelopment, Joint Venture, Joint Development
2. Money – Institutional/Bank Debt, Public Equity, Private Debt, Private Equity
3. Customers – Buy, Leases

What is the single most important thing which will bring all the three to a developer? Read More

Panacea for Recession, Turnaround & Brand Building

Initiatives for a business turnaround should not begin when the company is already in the hospital bed. We are sick not only when we visit doctors, but sickness becomes unbearable and then we visit doctors. Not on medication doesn’t mean we are healthy.

We go to a gymnasium to prevent health problem and maintain the health. It is not a compulsion, but a good practice. Good hygiene is a good practice be it individual or an enterprise. Likewise, a business turnaround can very well start when the business is still making money.

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At last ...

At last there is a realisation in industry that BRAND is about ROMANCING the Customer and not just LOGO and Advertising. The origin of this blog was for this purpose. 

For many years BRAND builders have always ignored Customer Experience while for CUSTOMERs it was always like that. & this was a mismatch. 

Common sense says : how customers are concerned with the brand if they are not experienced? 

But still all creativity is expended in advertising and so called superficial brand building exercise.

Theme of upcoming brand summit by Paul Writer is Lovable Brands; Romancing the Customer. 

Unless brands are touching and making customer experience memorable , its not branding exercise at all. Earlier companies realise this better resources can be allocated. 

It would be apt to mention what Seth Godin has blogged earlier this week: 

" Most important marketing decision the CMO makes...

Is the goal to get people to notice what we make?

or

Are we setting out to make something people choose to talk about?

If you don't know your boss's answer to this, find out. If you do, act accordingly.

Hint: getting people to talk (or care) about your average stuff for average people is a lot more difficult than it ever was before "

My entire blogbook WOW ! & Weird is devoted on this very theme. 

Happy to see our BRAND Builder community is going to discuss on this in this summit. Happy days for CUSTOMERs , AT LAST.

You are EXPOSED !!!

Your company may be working in SILOs but customers see through the company as one entity or brand. This is the reason companies are at greater risk of being exposed. 
Many enterprises may think that only front-end people and front-end outlets are being exposed in front of Customers. 

Customer experiences your enterprise in following ways during their journey. 

Every-time they touch your enterprise you are exposed. 

Touch Points	Exposes (Indicative not conclusive list)
Advertising / Sales Website	Branding, Communication , Product/Service Conceiving Capability
Word Of Mouth	How you have dealt with your previous & existing customers, customer policies posts sales , product & service qualities
Product/Service Display/Demo	Manufacturing , Engineering , Service Capability
Front end people	Training , HR Policies
Back-end Processes	How your business process are designed & aligned to customer needs- like delivery, billing, packaging, queue management, admission process.
Outlet/Website for Transactions	Design & display capability , ease & convenience capability , safety policy, people policy
Company Policies	Return, exchange , store location policy
Product/Service Usage	Manufacturing , Engineering , Service Capability
After Sales Responsiveness	Customer Policy, Company Culture

Whatever the enterprise does at the back-end invariably touches the customer.  

When Mr Zubin Mehta will perform in Kashmir on 7th Sep, in front of the audience, he is aware that they are in front of their audience and their preparation will be in tune with that. There is however no difference be it audience or customer but difference lies with symphony orchestra conductor and business enterprise conductors ie CXOs. 

One is aware and others are not aware that they are in-front of the customers and are exposed to them whatever /where-ever they do. 

Become aware that your enterprise is staging a show in front of your customers & prepare accordingly. Remember author duo - Pine & Gilmore - Work is a theater, every business a stage. 

Brand is WHAT it does not how it looks and from where it comes

Ajit Pawar and Nitin Gadkari - the way they have responded in public during last few months shows how a brand can be ruined by its behavior.

Yes everyone of us are BRAND. We build our personal brands by our conduct. Not only the way we speak but what we speak, what we do , people we influence makes us brand.

In business sense its Customer Experience company creates that makes them BRAND and not advertisement , stationery, and logos.

Nana Patekar was on one of the TV show last week and he aptly said " importance of good looking Heros is just for 5 minutes, then public evaluates his Heroism by what he does on screen."

Same rule applies in the real world. One may be from big and rich family, holding big post and look handsome but WHAT he does with that will make him HERO i.e. Brand. 

Brand Communication Vs Brand Execution

Mr. Narendra Modi is a very good Marketer. He is marketing his state so vigorously, that perhaps no other CM can match his passion and vigor. No two views here.  Opposition also agrees and says so.

Issue is what about SUBSTANCE ? Whether successful marketing is possible without matching investment in product and service ?

Marketing that follows good product and service development will only succeed. Howsoever aggressive marketing may be , it will fail miserably if the product and service being marketed is lousy. Therefore good marketing can not make lousy product successful. At the same time bad marketing can fail good products.

Bottom line is both product and marketing has to be excellent. Product can fail without the smart marketing but smart marketing have to  fail  without smart products/services.

“I rather die of bad marketing than a bad product!”

Most companies are smart marketer but not enough is done to make product or service smart that can give wow !!! customer experience.  Examples of product and service failure due to weak marketing is rare whereas example of failure of smart marketing campaigns due to weak product and service is more often.

Modi is smart marketer but that is because he was substance to offer to the voters. He cant be a successful marketer unless he has invested in his offings to the voters. Most political parties are just good campaigners but nothing to be shown on ground  That is a problem and that is the difference.

Bollywood is the best example where companies have become smart marketeer without investing  adequate in product.

So next time when you are deciding on marketing campaign just re check whether your product and services deserve this kind of marketing &  if the answer is NO , invest and work more on product and services than marketing communication. Make brand promise you wish to communicate through marketing campaign actually executable while using your offerings.

Does your product LIVE your brand promise  marketed by your marketer ??

Kingfisher Air - Attacking the Root Cause or Root of the Brand ???

Our Dear Dr Mallya is now asking their people not to treat their CUSTOMER as Guest as they have a severe cash problem and it is not a good policy now.

He mean to say that its their treating Customer as Guest policy is one of the causes of their problem. How unfortunate ??

He is attacking the fundamental of the business basics. He must know that if any one will bail out or invest in his cash strapped company , the only reason would be their policy of treating customer as their guests.  Brand he has built which people loves today is only because of their CUSTOMER policy. 

Even CUSTOMERS have paid too steep price to Kingfisher Air just because they threat them as their Guests. 

Its not their CUSTOMER policy but everything else is lousy. Only good they have done is to raise the bar of customer experience.

I am sure he will not attack the root of his BRAND and  attack the right causes of the problems.

Only way to handle - Return , Refund , Cancellation & Customer EXIT !!!

We remember LAST incidence. LAST incidence influences all future decisions. We observe how companies are behaving during unpleasant customer action i.e. discontinue, refund, return, exchange, exit, cancel, don't want etc etc. 

Unfortunately @ MOST companies , processes r written & culture is developed such that it can not face such incidences GRACEFULLY.  

For CUSTOMER its a brand experience, for companies and point of sale its a lost sales &  customer gone. They think customer experience happens only when the customer is consuming our product and services. 

However if BRAND wants to become known for their superior customer experience it is NOW at the occurance of unpleasant incidence HOW it behaves is what matters the most.  

Most retailers follow fix time for return which is mostly inconvenient, no cash refund, so many T & C. Once we become Ex Customer, we are treated differently. 

Zappos.com follows - 365-day return policy with free return shipping.

BRAND has longer life than people handling returns and whose incentives may be impacted with returns. Who will develop such Culture ?? It starts @ the TOP. 

GRACEFUL , Pleasant, WILLING to let go though expect to SERVE in FUTURE , Facilitating Smooth Exit, attitude ( MOST PROBABLY ) will win back the customers. Not only win back but will make repeat and most referring customer. 

4 ways to Brand " U " - Have daily Brand Scorecard

Most of us are unBRANDED commodity !!!

My last post on 12 ways to WOW!!!!  ( http://aanekant.blogspot.com/2011/07/12-ways-to-wow-for-individuals.html ) was well received by readers. 


That made me think about our WOW !!! scorecard. 


In-fact if we decide to WOW !!!! daily someone and keep increasing that scorecard day after day imagine what can happen to :


1) Our own personal image  - U become a BRAND that wows!!


2) Our work outcome - Excellent (mostly)


3) People dependent on us - Feel Confidence abt dealing with us


4) People around us - Happy 


5) Our Self confidence - Steep Boost


WOWing !!!! through my act, conduct & work not only change I as an individual but everything around me i.e society as a whole. 


This also reminds me of great Tom Peter's WOW !!!! mission. 


1 - Astonish me
2 - Build Something Great
3 - Make it Immortal
4 - Reward Excellent Failure , Punish mediocre successes
 
I am first responsible to brand  { I } and then every other brand I represent.


Evaluate everything  U do on the following parameters:


1 - WOW!!
2 - Beauty
3 - Impact 
4 - (will make) Rave Fans


When most of us is going to spend sustained periods of our career in some form of self employment - imagine how this WOW !!! thing is going to impact yr career. 


Make it a point to WOW !!!! someone daily. Improve yr score from one to two to three and then everything u do. Result will be instant. Its all about value I put to BRAND { I }. ( Most of us are unbranded commodity, your self brand building starts NOW. )

Why Customer Comes LAST ???

Yes , believe it of no.

Unless an enterprise is prepared to the fullest customer will not come and if at all she comes it will be a disaster for d company or d brand. 

Making of a Movie - Script, dialogue, costume, set, light , camera & then ACTION

Release of Movie - Post production , dubbing, publicity, promos , press release, music release & then AUDIENCE

Event - Hall, parking space, chairs, carpet, musicians, singers, welcome drink , exit gift , host & then GUEST

All precedence has to be the best,  has to be attuned to the BRAND value and Company Culture to attract best & most of the customers. In the above examples which of the elements in the link , taking us to the final entrant,  one can afford to have WEAK??? Any thing WEAK will spoil the final outcome and impact the response from the recipient. Offerings will be as great as its weakest link in the making of it. 

- Manufacturing Capacity/Service Design & Delivery - Share Holders/Lenders (capital Structure) - Modern Machinery - Product  Patent and  Design - Design of Customer Experience  to WOW !!! Customers - Reliable and Quality Raw Material Suppliers - Dependable and Motivated Employees - Robust Business Processes - Attractive and User Friendly Product Packing - Inviting Ad Campaigns - Sensible & Smart Marketing and Selling Approach - Ambiance & Location of Retail Outlets - Soft Skill and Product/Service Training of Front line People  & then comes CUSTOMERS (for life, rave fans and brand promoters).

If one needs CUSTOMERS - one needs to be fully focussed on what it takes to bring customers !!! Focusing on customers means focusing on all the links that lead us to customers. Skipping any links or lowering the quality/focus of any links will not work good for the BRAND.  Anything weak in between will lead to bitter customer experience and will impact customer acquisition & retention (remarkably) . There is no short cut !!!!!. 

When U want to put CUSTOMER First , its putting him last is the only way. 

Lasith Malinga - Brand in Action

Why Lasith Malinga is so POPULAR in India ?

- His unique hair style

- His accurate bowling

- His unprecedented bowling Style

- His smile when batsman hits his ball for a boundary or a six 

- His smile even when he or someone else drops the catch in his bowling

- His smile when umpire turns down his very close appeal

  ( I have never seen any of d above characteristics in any of the bowlers till date)

- All d above put together 

What are the similar UNIQUE characteristics of Your Personal Brand and Brand U represent?? (After all we all are building BRAND 16 (Removed 8 hrs of sleeping)  X 7 by what we do & experience we create for the recipient).

Brand Building in Action

Customer Xperience = (Internal Change and Innovation) = Negligible Interest among Entrepreneurs  (Unless ofcourse Richard Branson or Tony Hsieh is the CEO) 

Brand Building = { External Cosmetic Show (rarely connects with internal state of affairs) } = Highest Interest among all Entrepreneurs

In fact  Customer Xperience = Brand Building in Action

Therefore to remain relevant and facinated among class of entrepreneurs I declare I am no longer Customer Xperience Champion but reposition as Champaigner - Brand in Action. 

Life and Brand is all abt Positioning , after-all (!!!)

One of the ways to Win Brand Advocates

U r not MRP Controlled , U r not in Comparable Services, no one can check or make out how much U can charge and still U charge very reasonable, two things happen:

1) Win Customer for Life

2) Brand Advocate for Free

Happened with me at Garage in Borivli, Mumbai.

Brand Building Sans Customer Experience

Brand Building Sans Customer Experience - My Article in Management Magazine 

"The Smart Manager"

 

http://thesmartmanager.com/old/doc_content.aspx?docid=662