5 Ways to Immunise Your Business from Global Meltdown

Yes, bad news r more of contagious and glorified most of the time. People have habit of glorifying things. However all of us , in governments and institutions are always working to improve the situation & therefore situation may appear to be grave but not as it made out to be:

What MY business should do to remain on tract during these crisis: Some thoughts:

1) Focus on Sales Recovery & Working Capital Management - Cash is Oxygen.

2) Focus on CUSTOMER, Customer Service, Customer Expectations, Customer's own Problems, Meet Customers Often. Customer is Revenue.

3) Do not over trade with low margins , instead roam around , develop new products and new markets, meet vendors and other business associates. They are Blue Ocean enablers.  

4) Invest in technology to quicken the business processes, invest in people to make them more skillful and capable. This will help immensely when situation improves.

5) Believe it or not, use social media to become known, address customer concerns, become known as leaders by creating useful industry related content. This is social currency.

Nothing to worry in our own world. Newspapers and opinions of the so called experts are making us nervous.  Fact is,  no one knows anything. There are always contrarian views for everything. Lead off line of this blog says " there can be multiple views that are true on the same matter at the same time". 

Therefore focus on the above 5 agenda and leave opinion makers, economists  and stock markets aside. Majja-ni Life  { Life is Happy & Beautiful, don't worry be happy & make others happy by our actions & words }.

6 things to KNOW about YOUR CUSTOMER (KYC)

 KYC = Know Your Customer - What a powerful business success phrase lost in its abbreviation. Yes, KYC has remained just identity and residential proof collection activities in Banks and in all other industries if at all they are implementing it.

Knowing customer is the MOST important success key for any business.  

Do we know our customers?? If yes then we will know what are his needs,what is he doing to fulfill it,  whether our offerings are matching his need and behavior,  whether he can afford it, whether he likes it , whether he recommends the same?? Yes knowing CUSTOMER is one of d most critical activities of any business.

Today when we are celebrating birthday of one of the greatest leaders of world's MK Gandhi, his view of the customer is worth knowing.

 "A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.”

What one need to know about our CUSTOMERS:

1) Why he selects us to do business with?

2) Whether we fulfills his need as per his expectations?

3) Whether are there any sacrifices he has to do to avail our services? (i.e. expectations minus actual experience with our offerings)

4) Whether can we do something which can exceed his expectations when he visits next?

What & How it could be?

5) Whether & HOW can we pleasantly surprise him in the next encounter with our brand?

6) How can we make his life easier , more pleasant and less painful? 

KYC is not equal to address proof and photo ID. Its MUSH MUCH more & deeper than that.  However we only stop at stage 1. What a powerful business management phrase, missed its target completely!!!!

People who come to you for PRICE will leave u for PRICE

Yes. Obvious & TRUE.

Price is the ONLY differentiation your company ofter to the customers?  Think Twice about your business strategy. Today cut throat competition forces many businesses to merely compete on price. However this strategy may get u immediate business but will not take you long way in business. 

Thin margin to get business is riskier than  more margin but less business. Mere volume is without adequate profitability is company on steroids. High on workout and low on proteins. As with high workout muscles break down in our body & without adequate protein it cant be built , similarly with high turnover without adequate margin , business breaks down. Yes unsustainable activities without capability to invest for future sustainable activities like research and innovation or talent attraction and retention.

Secondly most critical are the differential factors that will decide the business volume other than price. What value you can design within your product. We buy branded products by paying premium. What differentiation brand offers ?? Comfort and confidence that product is of reasonable quality, customer service would be good if not outstanding, complaint would be handled professionally and with care, reasonable exchange policy and service centers.   

Therefore when Price  has become a major deciding factor, offering a WOW !!!! factors in your product and service design is very critical to become & remain competitive. Compete on WOW factors, there is not many players there.  Brands like Apple , Virgin , Starbucks, Amazon   { In India unfortunately service excellence and WOW factors are missing from product and service design ( pl share brands which matches best in the world brands in customer experience & service excellence ) } rare yet or hence sustainable. Customer will stay with these brands irrespective of price of their offerings. 

Next time when you get the deal merely on the basis of price, its an ALARM, think inward and check your business strategy and product and service design.  It requires IMMEDIATE attention { & action too} .

9 (old) + Three (new) Early Warning Sings of a Troubled Company

Gems stated in 1 to 9 below I read about a decade ago.

1. The One Man Show - Does the company allow key person to grow in their jobs and make key decisions?
2. No Succession - Is someone being groomed to replace the president?
3. High Profile / Low Tech - How does company's hardware compare with that of its chief competition?
4. The Giant Customer Trap - Would the company survive if it lost biggest customer?
5. Operating on Old News - Does the company have an accurate financial snapshot of its operations on a monthly or fortnightly basis?
6. Touring Without Road Map - Does the company have a written business plan & its still valid?
7. Banking Blues - Does the company communicate with lenders regularly?
8. Hazardous Growth -Expanding too quickly on a non sustainable basis ?
9. The Change Factor - Whether company and how much company has changed during last 12 months?

This was the fact about a decade back. However MOST of these may still hold true, rapid change in economies , technology and entrepreneurial landscape,  we can safely add a few more.   

x) No focus on CUSTOMER. - Business Plan/Strategy defines everything else but  Customer Experience company propose to offer.

y) Not engaging customers on social media (SM) platforms by providing great insights on the products and services being offered.  Using SM to address customer concerns and complaints {quickly}.

z) Inability to attract Great Talent. Yes war is of TALENT. People run the business. Rest all can be improved upon if people are right. This also applies to having diversified & some what weird board members.

As we advance in the TIME we need lesser reasons to fail { even survive and succeed }. Test Check TODAY. Its all early warning signs. Be alarmed NOW or be surprised and shocked, later. 

Only Sales , no after Sales , forget RETURN or Refund

Zappos.com return policy is exciting - 365 days return & free both ways shipping. Neither shipping charges within the US nor shipping charges on goods u return. 

Customer HAPPINESS is the FINAL agenda not getting money from customer any how & then let the customer go to hell, we will not listen.

Justdial.com , brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. Their sales people sales the plan for 1 year and indicate that in case intermittent termination just write to us and we will do the needful. (Mis-sell to fulfill their targets)

However actual picture is quite different. They will hardly respond to your complaints, neither they cancel or stop EMIs if the customer is not happy. They want to complete the contract period any how irrespective of customer happiness or satisfaction. 

Wording they use: "However, as per the contract signed by you, we will not be able to hamper the tenure of the contract before the stated contract period; however we will always provide services to you for enhancing your business profoundly. Hence we will be unable to discontinue the ECS."

 

{ I visited the net to find customer stories with Just Dial and found the link http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/just-dial-a30775.html }

They are ready to whatever but not refund of money of discontinue of ECS. Pity. Hope Mr. Amitabh Bachchan or rather some customer champions could have been used to change the company culture instead of promoting uncultured (i.e. no customer centric) brand.

I fail to understand why companies want to earn at the cost of customer unhappiness?? When a person  becomes a customer , there are certain expectations. No one will waste his or companies' time to buy and then return or discontinue without a reason. Unfortunately most companies became less interested in customer once the goods and services are sold and even least interested when customer have a complaint or want refund on return of goods.

Companies invest huge amount on brand ambassadors but hardly any time or investments on actual brand experience creation or culture change.   

However SOCIAL MEDIA will change this mindset of the companies. Companies MUST learn this  proactively or else brand value is at stake (Huge and Quick).

Awaken to the Realities of your Balance Sheet

Earlier I wrote about Importance of Profit Vis a Vis Cash-flow. Yes Cash-flow is necessary but not sufficient. However Cash-flow is infact NECESSARY. 

I recently came in touch with a company with an EPS of Rs.100 plus. Yes they have earned huge profit on their equity but they have defaulted on loan repayment consistently for last 6 months. 

Reason: Profit Earned but not en-cashed. Investors usually goes by EPS and PE etc ratios for deciding about investments. How erroneous it cud be???

On the other side entrepreneurs mostly do not feel the realities of the business performance as long as cash flow is flowing in. Test Check - Just remove potential bad debts , dead stock & dead investments from the Net-worth and see the result. Is the Net-worth is  still positive , thank GOD. I mean it. Most entrepreneurs ignore these facts or even do not know this realities as long as they have cash to take care of their own needs. 

Therefore Profit & Cash-flow both MUST go hand in hand and must be closely watched by the entrepreneurs to remain in business for longer. Any one missing or ignored will KILL the business sooner than expected. 


Weak Cashflow will KILL quicker , weak Profit in the long run. 

Awaken to the realities of your Balance Sheet { Today }.

How to Guide for Real Estate Companies

This week I am releasing my first WHITE PAPER on How to Create WOW !!!!! Customer Experience in Real Estate Industry. 

Its about :

 

1)   What is Customer Experience?

2)   Why Real Estate?

3)   Deterrents to WOW !!!

4)   Compulsions to WOW !!!

5)   Advantage of the Initiatives

6)   How to Action these initiatives  

The same can be found at How to Guide for Real Estate Companies to Create WOW!!!! Customer Experience.

Njoy and share your feedback.

Vacancy for Anna Hajare for Corporate Cleansing. Any One?

Based on the principles of Swami Vivekanand "Yuva" Programme on CNN IBN last Sunday was highly inspiring. It shows how people from different walks of life { educated & can get high paying corporate jobs } devote their life for the betterment of the needy. Be it poor, women or children. Scope for doing good is immense & these people r actually doing it.  

Movement by Mr. Anna Hajare and its team Dr Kiran Bedi and Mr Arvind Kejriwal is another chapter of people involved in mass movement of general public good. Selfless is the key word. Dr Bedi's dynamic public life is known to everyone. Mr. Kejriwal is IIT Grad and did his IRS also. He could have enjoyed like most our corrupt bureaucrats life of power and money. However he refused to be part of rotten system and choose to become change agent. Many may not be aware that he was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006, for activating India's Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to the people. 

All of us are in some or many points in life encounter a situation where we need to indulge in corrupt practice either for getting things done or getting out of the turn favour. As a professional we also get tempted to fudge our company accounts, evade taxes, declare wrong statements with authorities, claim wrong tax benefits, sign audit report which are not true and fair and on top of this claim to be a smart breeds of all.  Ability and capacity to do wrong has become our key strength.

We have lost capacity to think that someone without any selfish motive can do some good work for others. Our business models even in social space have become questionable.No mission and vision statement talks abt way of doing business. I have verified Vision Statements of some of the top Indian corporates. Ethics and values find place in hardly few of these statements.    

Corruption at high places are two way game.  One demanding and one offering. Indian money at Swiss Bank are of these people. Anna's team is taking care of the first one. We need someone to take care of 2nd side. {corporates shy away in publicly supporting anti corruption movement courtesy: they are either part of it or afraid to become victim of govt's witch hunt like Kejriwal ,Dr Bedi and Bhushans. No courage left as personal stakes are high. }


Next movement should be about Ethical Corporate and business behaviors. Annual report MUST have statement by none other than CMD that company has not indulged in corrupt and unethical practices in achieving these results. It must be applicable to all companies across the board at one go unlike IFRS and XRBL where implementation  is stage wise.  

Who will take up the role of Mr. Anna Hajare for corporate and business cleansing? { Even ICAI has failed miserably in controlling ethical behaviors of their members. However its about personal values and integrity towards the self conscious and institute can not manage the same beyond a point. }

Michhami Dukkadam

As human beings, we know that we are not perfect therefore we do from time to time say things that hurt people's feelings.

It is sometimes hard in the circumstances to either seek reconciliation or ask for forgiveness, as we do not consider ourselves to be in the wrong.  It's our dreaded pride that gets in the way and can thus influence our judgment.

So the greatest essence of this auspicious occasion is to do some soul searching and show our greatness in asking gracefully for forgiveness for any hurt, however large or small, that we might have inflicted on others either consciously or unconsciously.

So on this auspicious occasion of Samvatsari, we beg your forgiveness for all the pain we might have inflicted on you by words, deeds or thoughts during the entire year.

Anna Movement & Lessons for All Institutions (incl Business Enterprises)

Governance is a MAJOR cause of CONCERN across the world and across the institutions. Be it Parliament, Political Parties, NGOs , Companies, Cooperative Societies, and even housing society s'.

Over the period of time all these institutions forget for whose benefits are they suppose to work. Management of this institutions becomes self focused and start working in their self interest. Leaving aside the real expected beneficiary of their existence as per their governing CHARTER. 

Therefore it is very essential to have ANNA in every such institutions to make them aware about their role (On a continues basis)  and keep them on track. 

We need truly Independent Directors not only on the board of listed companies but also on the board of all other Public Institutions and Govt Funded NGOs. Today the way SEBI guideline n Independent Directions are being practiced is nothing more than a FARCE. Hardly a handful of companies have implemented this in spirit. 

Like our political Class who have lost face with people they represent , business enterprises have lost face with their CUSTOMERs, for/because of whom they exist. URGENT and extreme steps are required to bring customers in focus.  

Anna have awakened not only people and politicians of the country , it also MUST awaken all across the institutions about their Governance Standards.  Its in the interest of these institutions as competition will drive U out of business when focus is lost and governance is at its nadir. 

Appoint one true ANNA on your board and listen to him also.  Yes its in the interest of every enterprise. Why do we have only 1 company known for their governance and hence for performance also? Its time for others to raise their bar on governance and customer focus.