People to Profit Roadmap

Customer Reviews are a new currency which is solely dependent on customer experience an enterprise is creating. But customer experience depends on what? Well, first and foremost it is the job of CEO and then it is taken over by the people. People working for the organisation  are the brand ambassadors.

Every employee over and above their JD, does the brand building for the enterprise she is working for. The Brand building includes brand destroying. People are the only living being working for the organisation. Rest all are created by the people as it can’t happen automatically. Continue reading...

The new currency & the new gold reserve in the Sharing Economy

A new survey reveals:

Customer experience will overtake the product and pricing as a key brand differentiator. ( I am not saying so to promote my book on Customer Experience in times of social media “The Bread is moving”. Check the source of the survey here.)

Many enterprises are either not yet aware about the customer experience or they have other priorities than working on to create a customer experience focused organisation.

But a few statistics will awake the decision makers and people responsible for P & L A/C. Read more...

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.

Are your products - Neighbors’ ENVY, Owners’ PRIDE ?

Ratan Tata recently acknowledged that positioning Nano as a cheap car was a mistake. It was international branding Guru Jack Trout , who 2 weeks back opined that positioning Nano as a cheap car was a mistake. 

Mr. Tata accepting this is a welcome step. Most entrepreneurs won’t accept their mistake and would try to justify their decision any how.  

Larger points are ;

- Even if price is your competitive advantage, competitive on price won’t work always and in some cases like this will spoil the brand. 

- Why to focus on price when product feature & experience can out weight price considerations

-  Irrespective of category of product or services, owners, users should feel proud of enraging with brands. In the case of NANO it was missing. 

Even in the case of low cost airlines, differentiation should happen on services, punctuality & feeling of getting associated with brands.  

Mostly companies forget this FEELING part. Owing NANO car means owner can’t afford costly car & using cheap car. This is a negative feeling for owners and will deter many others because of these negative feelings. 

Like the brand ONIDA has taught us years ago, neighbors’ ENVY, owners’ PRIDE should be the positioning for every brand. NANO is missing on both these counts. 

Focus and position on customer experience & how you make them feel & people will find out pricing of their own. 

When companies miss out on experience part or have no clue about it , they focus on price.

What is your view on positioning of affordable housing projects? 

Additional readings;  

Envy people about your CUSTOMERS. People who come to you for PRICE will leave u for PRICE

9 ways to check whether you are in Obsolete Business

To continue from my previous blog Are you in the business of selling obsolete products & services?  , Usually obsolete products and services are not in demand or enjoy lesser demand. 

Look at erstwhile cinema houses and multi-screen multiplexes , look at Udipi South Indian hotels & fast food/pizza/burger chains, look at housing societies built 10/15 years back and present day housing societies,  look everywhere hospitals, retailing , banking - everything has changed and is changing. Everything is moving from being product & services to experience. 

It is the need of today. This shift happens with every new generation of consumers. With new generation of consumers comes new generation of entrepreneurs. They break the old way of thinking and create blue ocean for themselves. 

Therefore issue is to check whether you are in the business of selling obsolete products & services. Here obsolete doesn't means typewriter vs computer. Here it means old way of thinking about business. 

Yes , 

1) If CUSTOMER is not at the center of all your thinking and action , you are in obsolete business.

2) If EMPLOYEES are not considered most important asset of the business , you are in obsolete business.

3) If CRM is the only thing that is happening as far as customer services is concerned ,  you are in obsolete business.

4) If OFFLINE is the only mode of your doing business ,  you are in obsolete business.

5) If SOCIAL MEDIA and CONTENT MARKETING is not a part of your marketing plan, you are in obsolete business.

6) If your enterprise is not measuring customer experience and employee happiness along with ROI and ROCE, you are in obsolete business.

7) If your enterprise is only thinking about single bottom-line and not about social and environmental impact of your business, you are in obsolete business.

8) If your branding and advertising is not matching with actual customer experience,  

you are in obsolete business.

9) If your board is not comprising of professionals from diverse fields & Corporate Governance is only limited to compliance , you are in obsolete business.

If you escape all the above IFs , YES, you can congratulate your self , your business & its products & services are NOT obsolete. 

Even if your are selling TEA and not using any advance technology to produce  , all the above pointers will keep you out of OBSOLATION. 

Brand Minus Customer Experience

Nothing !!!! Yes it is nothing. 

Everything that a customer feels, thinks, sees is all CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE (CX). 

M of McDonald represents fun, food, taste, ambiance, service excellence, smiling & helpful employees. M reminds us of all these. Therefore M is not a logo or McDonald is not a brand , but it is all about what M & McDonald represents. 

Whenever next-time you think of designing your logo or planning a branding exercise, if the same is not commensurate with the experience your business is offering to the customer. It will not be a branding exercise. It will be a waste or It will be all negative experiences it can recall.

The 1st step is designing Customer Experience. Branding will follow from Customer Experience. 

Have you designed your CX & walked your Customer Journey to know the brand your entrepreneurial efforts are building  ?