8 Reasons for YOU to BLOG

Reasons can be many 8 or 18 or even 80.

Blogging is about: 

- expressing the self , 

- expression in what yo believe in, 

- expression of your point of view, 

- sharing your world and work experience, 

- it improves your writing i.e. communication skills ,

- it improves your subject knowledge you are writing about ,

- it makes you known for your area of interest and expertise ,

- if you have something to say and share with the world, you need to blog ,

Yes in the world we are in today BLOGs are huge opportunity to create our own platform  and our own audience. Opportunity like this was only available to a select few,  few years ago. Its a great equalizer. 

Select your subject, blogging platform, blogging schedule , blog promotional strategy on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn ,Twitter, Pinterest and write your first Blog. 

Content is King and Blogging by you creates content for brand YOU.  

Question is : Why do you think you are not blogging yet?

Are you acting in CSR drama?

Before you spend single penny on so called CSR, please check your  happiness scorecard of  employees, customers and community you operate in , tax evasion  & other corrupt practices your company is  indulging in.  

SR of C starts from with-in and goes with-out after taking care of everyone within. Most companies neither  take care of  their employees plight and life nor sincere in paying their Govt levies and rampant indulgences in corruption for getting benefits.  

This kind of companies doing CSR is neither SR nor desired by the society.

Purpose of any CSR initiatives  is to bring happiness and cheers for the under privileged. Now this objectives can not be achieved by money generated out of unhappy & stressed employees, anti social business practices of tax evasion and corruption.  

First and foremost SR of any corporate is be socially awaken towards people , community and environment impacted by the enterprise. Abide by the laws of the land and then  and only then indulge in so called CSR.  

We do not want a situation where in a thief robs people and donate to temple and by that means justify robbing.   

Don't indulge in corruption, pay your taxes right, keep your people happy, keep your customers happy, keep your community happy and pollution free and if then if something is left  including desire then look for CSR opportunities not before. All CSR initiatives must be judged on this count only. 

CSR Drama Vs Unhappy Employees

Yesterday got news of one more premature death (heart attack) at the age of sub 30.  That reminded me of my 2011 blog We all are dying in EMI - Courtesy Job Related Stress . The deceased was working in forex dealing room. Probably one of the most stressful jobs. 

Forget the nature of job, all jobs have become stressful , huge demand on human being at work place. Why? Cuz Finance professionals have taken over the performance matrix. Only and only finance matrix is considered to evaluate the success of the entity.   At the cost of mass stress and unhappiness , handful of the shareholders are enjoying fruits of success. Our models and matrix have become unsustainable. Forget environment and community, people working for the organisation are facing biggest threat. 

This CSR drama must end and actual CSR must start from within. Within the organisation. Making their people & customer happy is the real CSR for every business. What is the fun of CSR when there is tax evasion , poor quality , mis-sell & pathetic people policies? 

Zapposs of the world and happiness officer like  Alexander Kjerulf of the world MUST spread like avalanche in the business world. We must have happiness matrix given equal if not more importance to finance matrix to measure success of the enterprise. 

We are talking about sustainable business practice, starting point is - happy employees & happy customers and not just shareholders.

Means of Mass Irritation

To better customer experience BAN all out bound call centers. Your brand experience is getting diluted by mindless calls. 

I know some reputed brands having lousy call center policy which irritates. Irritates recipient of your calls. Outbound call centers irritates more than it can sell.

Sometimes irrelevant things not given attention drowns the entire experience. Don’t leave anything to chance and out of your customer experience design spectrum.

Bottom line : Your customer experience is as good as your weakest link in the chain/touch-points.

Icing on the Cake is fine but not at the cost of Cake

Customer Experience is not just about DELIGHT.

Reduction in complaints is also better customer experience.

Delighting while failing in the basics will not work. Customer wants solution to the problem quickly and in simplest possible way. Making it extremely simple and quicker is also great customer experience.

Need, ease and delight is the order companies must follow to travel experience journey.

Icing on the Cake is fine but not at the cost of Cake.

Homework for TODAY and Everyday

Need : Recheck whether your offerings are fulfilling the NEED of the customer TODAY. (yesterday was different)

Ease: Remove all obstacles from the way which creates difficulty, takes longer time, requires greater effort for customers to reach you for whatever the reason. EASE of doing business with suppliers is critical for all customers. (for all B to X  businesses)

Delight: & yes, DELIGHT on top will make the day not only for customers but also for suppliers. (Who doesn’t like repeat business, word of mouth referral opportunity, free of cost brand building?)

Home work for the day – Check the above reality TODAY and everyday as TODAY’s need, ease and delight for your customers may not be the same tomorrow.

Who is building your BRAND?

Customer Experience is EXTREMELY important in the times of Social Media.

Last week we celebrated our marriage anniversary. My wife had read an article in the newspaper about one restaurant known for mouth watering food , visits of celebrities there and all new varieties of food.

Plan was finalized.

Just on the day I was looking to get clue of the location on the internet and that provoked me to just check the review of the restaurant.

& to my shock and surprise, most reviews were against the restaurant. Not only food quality reviewed by the customers was pathetic even hygiene was not up to the mark , few customers stated.

Rather than me telling my wife, I ask her to read reviews. Her mind changed immediately and our plan also changed for the day. May be we were saved from pathetic experience on the important day.

Point is:

- Companies MUST focus on creating better experience and then leave it to the customers to spread the word. Yes companies can play a role in facilitation in that.

- Paid media , paid/unpaid reviews or high claim advertisement will not work.

- Create awareness about the brand and let customers speak .

Generation NOW is highly connected with the help of Mobile Internet. Words spread fast, faster than one can imagine. Traditional advertising and marketing models and mindset will quickly give way to CUSTOMER Speak.

Role of Brand building has moved from creative AD agencies to CEO , Customer Experience Designers & Social Media Champions.

Customer experience is the end result of everything organisation does. No one can hide in the name of BACK OFFICE. Every action in the organisation impacts customer experience.

We all r on alert mode in experience economy. SO CALLED adverting agencies and brand champions  will find it difficult to get the desired results. ROI of such initiatives will diminish , diminish quickly.

Who is building your brand? Your Customers or Ad Agencies/Paid Media ?

We the (reactive) People:

We the (reactive) People: 

1) Cigarette Smoking  is Injurious to health & can cause Cancer.

2) Going to Gym and doing Exercise is good and must for Fitness, else disease and medicine dependent life 

3) Right eating is important for healthy life , else obesity , dependency, diseases 

4) Customer Experience is the sustainable competitive advantage else low margin, redundant business , possibility to go out of business  

Two things r common in all the above 4 statements.

First – Everyone know this.   Second - Hardly many takes action to get the benefits of the knowledge

Why:  Why we don’t ACT even if we know what is right and dangers of doing wrong ? 

Love for Status-Quo & Procrastination. Unless we forced to ACT even when the action is for the survival, we don’t ACT. All of us like to Re-Act to the situation. Most do not like to Pro-Act.

When we are diagnosed with cancer , we leave cigarette immediately.

When we are diagnosed with some diseases or become obsess we go to gym and eat right food.

When we are about to go out of business , all options are over , margins are shrinking , competitor/innovation has taken over our market share – we react and focus of better customer experience creation.

Stephen Covey of The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People will tell you that the very first habit is to be proactive. Covey explained that to be proactive “means more than merely taking initiative.  It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives.  Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”

Be it business or personal level, we refuse to be PROACTIVE. Circumstances will force us to ACT.

Customer Experience is the most important thing every business CEOs and Entrepreneurs agrees/understands but where is the FORCE? Where is the compulsion ? Waiting for PRO to turn RE, is too costly , yes very costly and sometime FATAL.

Diagnosis Test for Status of Customer Experience : 

- Our company has customer experience statement

- Our business Process Team work Closely with Customer Experience Team

- Our advertising/marketing messages matches with experience our product/service offers to our customers. We make it sure.

-  Our people know the impact they create on the customer experience

- Our top management participates in customer issues/complaints/initiatives

- Our distribution channels are trained on company’s customer policy

- We measure customer experience our company creates.

If  answer to the most of the above statements are NO,  your company is already suffering Customer Experience leakages &  call for action is loud and clear.

Do you think your company is proactive in the matter of customer experience initiatives?

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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 ??

Are you a SHAKER or Looking for One ??

Unless you shake up the bottle, you will get diluted version of the medicine. Unless you share up the institutions /companies, you get diluted performance. 

Therefore shaking up MUST be a part of regular activity if medicine or institutions have to perform at its finest potential. 

Our Institutions and companies for that matter perform below the potential merely due to non shaking up regularly. Mr Arvind Kejriwal & Team Anna have shaken up our democracy. People are now more forthcoming , speaking up and participating in democratic process and issues concerning them. 

Even at companies new CEO can bring life if he is enthusiastic and have capability to see things in different light. Status-Quo is the biggest challenge everywhere. Status Quo is nothing but unshaken condition. 

Look at the leaders who shook up the things. 

Public Life: 

Arvind Kejriwal , Narendra Modi , Nitish Kumar , Rajiv Gandhi , TN Seshan, CAG Vinod Rai , Manmohan Singh of 1991 , Ex BMC Commissioner Subodh Kumar........

 

Corporate: 

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Narayana Murthy (IT), Kishor Biyani (Retail), Dhirubhai Ambani 

(Capital Market and Business)...... 

There are many institutions and companies that are looking for someone who really can shake them up and enable them to realise and/or  regain its true potential. 

Shekhar Suman Show Movers and Shakers might have lived its life, but we need Movers/Shakers everywhere, or else we all r likely to go sleep. 

Are you a Shaker or waiting for one?  

To become Shaker: 

- Ask Why as often 

- Ask Why Not more often

- Challenge Established Practice for betterment (better Speed, lower cost, higher reach, more revenue, happier people )

- Change Responsibility in Organisation

- Re-imagine world around You (every year). Execute what you can influence.

Name some of the Movers & Shakers known to you? How they Shook the world around them.