Office:Office – Going digital

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/digital-marketing-online-marketing-1527799/

That’s the latest keyword in the Indian marketing circles. It’s almost touted as a panacea to all problems that currently exist in getting customers to be loyal. Listed below are the top 5 reasons why companies feel they should adopt digital.

1. All it needs is a website and a twitter account – Isn’t that what Amazon started with when they came to India?, asked one CXO with more ‘experience’ than hair on Jeff Bezos’ head. ‘Look at them now’, he said. Well. Yes. They have a bigger website and more followers on twitter? Erm. They have multiple twitter handles if one has to be accurate. But then, what?

2.  If Amazon can do it, so can we – Do what precisely? Sell online, when even face to face meetings with customers doesn’t get them to buy our service/ product? ‘If Amazon is a dukaan, we are no less. Agarwal nahi hai to kya hua, hum bhi bania hai!”, said one South Indian CXO who had lived most of his life in Delhi. Ok, so we will display our products online and put out brochures? Then what? “we will wait for customers to buy, what else?” said the new recruit, who has no clue of any of our services. While, this was being discussed, word got around to the finance team that orders would be accepted only via online purchase route, resulting in a cry of objection. New payment method means, new procedures, new training and firing of the Babu who had spent 20 years just collecting cheques from customer offices.

3. We can fire our salesforce and court customers in their inbox – “Says who?”, popped up the Sales Head. “Please note your databases don’t have any customer contacts. We knew a day would come when you would think of making us redundant. And do you know how many of our customers even use email?” Oh! Then you can send the mails out to these customers yourself, pleads the CXO. “And diminish our position from sales to data entry,” challenges the sales Head. This is when the marketing head pops up saying , ”the sales team can keep its customers to itself, considering how rarely they buy our products/ services. We will get you new customers. Savvy. Sophisticated and with loose purse strings. Inbox kya, we will flood their postbox too and stalk them on SMS, and mobile App.”

4. It relies on Analytics, not hearsay – Oh! Says the sales head puzzled. But then quickly recovering asks, “what will it tell you? How much revenue we got? Those numbers are managed by my team and you are all getting regular updates.” No, laughs the marketing team. Details like who is targeted, how many pieces of communication goes out to him/her, what is the response, what more can be done, etc can all be tracked if we go digital, says the newbie who is fresh out of B-School and sharing this gyaan.

5. It will listen, not question – Clearly a jab at the sales team, the CXO makes it a point to bring up the last disagreement between teams. “No such nuisance with digital. You feed information, the system does its job quietly. No opposition.” “But”, says the sales head. Before he can continue, he is cut short by the CXO, “See you started again! Is Amazon hearing so many ifs and buts? No! that is why they are selling so much.”

6 months after going digital, this is the conversation in the board room.

Sales Head – Are you folks happy now? You’ve cut my team size by half and made the other half send emails to unknown people who never bought anything.

Marketing Head – Yes, and they are passing comments on Twitter. I don’t know how to respond. You guys shouldn’t have the sent the mails. Even your email IDs are boring. Why would I want to buy from Magan Lal? Couldn’t you at least change the ID to Meghan L?

Finance Head – How long will this continue? We spent a lot on training and Mr. Babu was forced into retirement early. That has not gone down well with the Founder. He feels we have thrown money and projected that we are lavish and are now attracting criticism. We run the risk of The Bania Unlimited Bank cutting our credit.

Sales Head – Arrey, how can I answer that question? I didn’t want to go digital. These folks (pointing to everyone else in the team) were keen.

Marketing head – We were short changed by the IT folks who said they would give us good candidates for analytics. They gave us interns who knew how to use Microsoft Excel. These chaps gave us a whole bunch of permutations and combinations without really telling us anything concrete.

(The IT team is not present to defend themselves)

CXO – What does Amazon do once they have the website and twitter account?

For a more serious piece on whether digital marketing is customer centric, read this.

The Insider Reports: Management Lessons from Harry Potter

The first time I laid hands on Harry Potter (the book, of course) was in 2002 near the Pune Railway station. A man was selling pirated copies of the first 3 books for Rs 120. With nothing better to do, I bought it. The set of books came with me to Chennai , remained locked in my bookshelf for 2 years and then followed me back to Pune (where I went for post graduate studies). I read the three books in quick succession and soon after bought all successive books legitimately from the bookstore.

Now, after 10 years, I continue to re-read the series, discovering a new perspective each time.  This time my husband Vikram pipped me to the idea. We have jointly written an article on Management lessons from Harry Potter and Silicon India, a management and technology site, has published it.

You can read the blog at http://blogs.siliconindia.com/DrVikramVenkateswaran/Management_Lessons_from_Harry_Potter_by_Dr_Vikram__Archana_Venkat-bid-2L4x9G6046983519.html

In case the link does not work, please see below the article.

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Harry Potter is one of the best loved books by children and many adults alike. Some attribute it to J.K Rowling's vivid imagination, unraveling mysteries more complex in every progressing book. Others say it was good marketing fuelled by the reach of the online medium. For me the most compelling reason for being a Harry Potter fan is discovering something new every time I re-read the series. This time it is the parallels I can draw between the worlds of Death Eaters & Charms and business management.

Imagine Order of the Phoenix (OoP) to be a company. It would be one where the visionary (Dumbledore himself) sets clear goals and like minded employees are inspired to join. Irrespective of age, race or skill levels, recruits are hired by their commitment to the vision (in this case – a world in which wizards\witches and Muggles (Non magic people) live in harmony) and trained to become capable for doing their job.

The competitor to the Order of the Phoenix is Deatheaters Inc, led by Lord Voldemort. Employees are coerced to join and are afraid to leave. Predictably most are picked based on their race (or blood status) and are more or less of the same age with similar skills. Not very different from the real world, where companies often prefer to choose candidates from pedigreed backgrounds (IITs, IIMs, Ivy league universities or prominent family backgrounds) having more or less the same kind of skills and interests ("standards" is the word used by most recruiters).  Consequently there is little emphasis on training and skills up gradation and most of the work that matters is done by the owner, Voldemort, himself. In most promoter driven firms in India, this is the case.

While Deatheater's Inc works as a centralized business unit to ensure that all decisions are ultimately take by Voldemort, OoP believes in delegation and empowerment. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the last book where Ron and Hermione destroy a horcrux (and so does Neville) when Harry is otherwise expected to do the job. The element of surprise catches Voldemort unawares. The OoP also incubates a smaller organization consisting mostly of students from Hogwarts called Dumbledore's Army (DA). It is DA that acts as a game changer when push comes to shove towards the end.

When Molly Weasley, a house wife rarely projected as having a taste for violence, disarms and kills the powerful Bellatrix Lestrange, it shows how an empowered individual is more committed than a merely talented one. Another classic example of is the time after Harry's birth when Voldemort had to go into hiding. Deatheaters Inc totally collapsed and was operating in shadows and was revived only by the resurgence of Lord Voldemort, while OoP remained active and helped protect Harry till he comes of age and helping him defeat Lord Voldemort.

From the marketing perspective, OoP again did a far better job than DI. Their communication was crisp and concise. Their articulation of the vision that OoP saw for the world was simplified and all inclusive. They used Harry Potter as a brand ambassador and this helped them gain followers among the younger witches and wizards. DI on the other hand projected such an image of exclusivity that favoured older wizards and witches of pure blood status who in many ways had lost touch with reality. The inclusion of Muggle born magicians in OoP also helped in extending cooperation with the real world, whereas DI could not take advantage of such an association.

Even when the OoP was on the back foot after the death of Dumbledore they operated through other marketing channels like the underground radio station and 'The Quibber'. In other words OoP recognized the need that the prospects had to feel safe in a post Dumbledore world and they were able to find channels to articulate this vision.

Finally, it was a coaching nature of the CEO Dumbledore that really helped OoP achieves its aims. Everybody knew their part and was empowered to do their jobs. So long as the final goals were achieved, it did not matter who was responsible for the victories. DI's vision was to kill Harry Potter. However, Voldemort complicated this vision by ensuring that only he was to kill Harry. This resulted in wastage of time as Harry, though often caught by many death eaters at different times, could still not be killed by them.

An example in the corporate world is the leadership style of JRD Tata, who got the most competent people to run his companies. These managers were empowered to do what was best to fulfill the Tatas' vision for India.

 Many would argue that in the fictional world things are perfect. Good has to triumph over evil. Whereas in the real world, people like Voldemort do succeed. Is that so? No. A look at the history of business around the world will show, how overly centralized companies or those heavily dependent on one person for execution (promoter, CEO) have largely failed (or are failing). Little wonder then that most people prefer to join companies such as TATA's Google, Facebook, 3M, GE, Intel and Asian Paints which have remained on the Top 10 employer listings.

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Office-Office: Follow up

By now you have figured out that a marketing job in any organization is the one with least clarity - in terms of the tasks expected to be accomplished. While an internet search will outline an extensive (and impressive sounding) set of expectations, you will seldom see "follow up"figuring in that list.

But doesn't everyone follow up on some thing or the other? True. If a check is expected to be credited along with your salary, you will (and should) follow up on it. If your promotion letter is expected in the mail, you better follow up. But would you follow up on a check that would help register two of your colleagues for a nondescript event? Or send "gentle reminders" the 50^th time to a colleague who is yet to revert on some client information? I suppose you get the difference.

A marketer most certainly ends up doing the second category of follow up. At any point in time, over two-thirds of the to-do list is filled with follow up activity. It is not enough that you successfully executed a trade event, you now have to follow up with the sales guys for qualifying leads and closing deals. If that sounds bad, how would you react to following up on the payment to the vendor who helped you set up that stage at the event?

The worst degree of follow up happens before a major event such as a client dinner. On D-2 days realization dawns that only 5 people have confirmed their attendance. What do you do? You call every single person on the list of invitees and tell them how valuable they are to your firm. The more blah, the better. Creativity, a pleasant voice and patience (to dial those long confusing numbers) are vital skills common to the secretary and the marketer. The secretary may be excused for low IQ, but a marketer is never spared as long as the follow up is pending.

The net result of following up is an ever expanding to-do list and a nagging boss who often asks "Only follow ups? When will you do real work?". At times like these, while one might feel like retorting with "Oh yeah? I can see how you outsourced your follow up issues to me!", it is best to make your point by reminding them with "What is the status of that activity I was following up with you on last Friday?"

Office-Office: Ghostwriting

I was surprised when a close friend asked if I had stopped writing. No fiery articles from you any more, he remarked. Defending myself, I pointed out how my piece had appeared last week only in a leading financial daily. "Where?", he asked. That is when reality struck.

The piece was published and I did receive accolades for it from the boss, however, it did not appear with my byline. It had the Super Boss's name. Welcome to corporate India's legacy of ghostwriting.

We (actually "they") do not believe in speechwriters, only ghostwriters. Ghosts technically don't exist and consequently neither do their opinions. So old farts, who don't know the difference between a comma and a full stop, can lecture ghosts on getting the punctuation right and feel powerful. As to the point of view in the article/presentation, every ghost comes with a rich (and supposedly colorful) past and is expected to delve into that experience and create a point of view. God help if that too doesn't make sense to the old farts!

Mortal speechwriters on the other hand, will ask for a formal designation, authority and scope of work even before stepping into office. The point of view created by them, albeit unoriginal, will be backed by so many studies/ reference material, that the old farts feel positively afraid to even raise a finger. A ghostwriter is immune to criticism and will easily work on version 20.20, while preparing mentally for version 20.40 of the document. A speechwriter will not budge beyond version 2.0.

Ghosts create endearing articles, speechwriters create crafty propaganda. Ghosts create heros, speechwriters create "strong" personalities (read Villains).

Lastly, ghosts can conveniently be banished, if found unsuitable. Speechwriters, on the other hand, might form unions, demand more than basic wages and come at you hammer and tongs for lack of work-life balance. They might even ask for institutionalizing stress relief breaks (smoke time).

If a ghost screams foul and threatens to leave, he is shown the direction to the marketing department and given a fancy designation like "Marketing Manager" or "Communications Advisor", minus any reportees or role change. And yes, when you finish one year with the company, do not expect any cake cutting/ hands clapping or congratulatory notes from the HR. Remember, ghosts do not exist.

Office- Office: The Great Indian Offsite

We love most things that come prefixed with "The Great Indian" starting with the rope trick (at least those who have seen it), followed by weddings, pomp and show of the popular kind (read Indian Idols and many other idles) and ending with the cricket team. The one exception is perhaps the Offsite.

Any company that employs more than 1,000 people is looking for ways to squander away some portion of the capital gains. Or that is the impression the employee gets when hit with the word Offsite.

"The vaguer, the better" is the universally accepted formula for developing an offsite agenda. The venue is a pseudo-exotic location (the much visited Goas, Pondicherrys, Keralas, and Uttaranchals should ring a bell) with a free blowing booze permit. The journey to reach the venue, touted as an "experience to foster bonding", is often by bus or train – hardly the sort of break your bones deserve after the daily criss-crossing of potholed and traffic filled roads leading from your home to office. Most people end up sleeping on each other's shoulders or sharing the plastic bag for a good post meal throw up. Perhaps that is also sharing at an unconscious level.

The horrors at the venue are usually proportionate to the budget allocated per person. Of course, even chartered accountants can mess up budgeting so it is usually left to a foundling in the Marketing department. Not to be outdone, the HR department usually grabs the running of the hourly program at the offsite. This is what it looks like:

- Drama (attempts at generating a few laughs – either on a stage or through a game)

- Booze (to relax after the drama)

- Grief (effect of the clarity after booze gets into your system)

- More drama (Revelations pertaining to performance – of any kind you may imagine)

- More booze (To help digest the various scenes enacting around you)

- Much more grief (As the real entertainment kicks, either the bar shuts down citing new permit rules or HR decides to join in)

- Boozing till you are hauled up back into the bus with your belongings (Yes 36 hours has passed and you also cheered "Hic! Hic! Hurray")

It is therefore no surprise that the ladies in white, the ageing superstars, the social butterflies and those who prefer Earl Grey usually do not show up for the Offsite. The budget is not conducive to help them bond with the rest. The average employee is average at everything – bonding and boozing included – and most likely to snore before any superlatives kick in. So who truly benefits? My bet is the HR. Hic!