Dhaka Diaries /12thOct/2018
Being
a sales and marketing profession for more than fifteen years, have got numerous
opportunities to be part of a new product launches. The new product would always
aspire serving gaps in the existing market or create an entirely different offering
for consumers.
Some new traits would be defined in the product to meet the gap
in a better way the it is being addressed currently. What’s is the space the
new product would occupy in the customers minds and what is the price the
customer is willing to pay. Then come
the overall strategy around what’s the communication going to be, where to play
and how to win. The capabilities you need to develop to win in the chosen way.
Marketing
genius has developed so many tools to help you build the strategy for the
launch and set the objectives. From GE Mckinsey matrix that understands the
industry attractiveness versus the business strength to Porters 5 forces
analysis to understand the profit potential of the market. FMCG giant Procter
and Gamble would us a Customer value analysis to see what attributes constitute
channel value and what attributes constitute consumer value.
Such
a robust structure and well-set process exist in the market to define your
products and strategy. You also have all the analysis of what might go wrong and
have some sort of plan to mitigate the risk as well. So, with such precision in
planning, does it imply all brand launches and marketing campaigns are a sure
shot success. Well some are a great success no doubt about that, but many of
them vanishes without making impact. One would always ask why such a plan fails,
when every detail is being taken care at conceptualization, planning and final
execution. Just guessing to myself what
would be rate of success in such campaigns, my gut feel not more than 25 to
30%.
Let’s
imagine a scenario I go to the best marketing consultant in the world and tell them,
“I have a products which I want to launch and make a huge success out of it. I
am not sure what the specific offering
of the product would be , it would come in the market some 25 years later ,
cants say now what people would like in the product , what’s exact market
requirement the products would serve , not sure whether the market will exist for that
products , whether it would be a generic me-to product or create its own niche
. What is the reply the market consultants expected to give us? Have we gone mad, how can they design something
when they don’t know what the product is? Still if we force them to go
ahead on the project with the limited information, what would be the possible
success rate of the product? Even with a
full-blown strategy the success rate is less than 25%, what is the expected
success rate with all these vital information missing?
Let’s
change the topic for some time now. A baby is born in a family, a very happy
occasion indeed for the family. It is said that every individual is different,
each one has a unique set of 46 chromosomes that defines the genetic material
or genome of the organism. So, the board understanding is every child is
technically different. Now 25 years from now, this child must get launched in
the market and perform. The delivery expectation is very nicely set with the
parents very early in life and in very easy terms. The expectation is very
often woven around one’s own aspiration and sometime influence of surrounding. You must be like Bannerjee Babur Chele – topper
at Jadavpur University, or you must
be better than Guptaji’s son just launch few years before you and cleared the
CBSE medical entrance, or be like Tripathi’s grandson, just cleared the UPSC
with rank below 100 and now Deputy Collector! or be like the Iyer’s sons now in
Silicon Valley. And some parents with little bit of understanding of road map
and seeing early traits in child would say be “Sangwan ke chore ki tarah CDS
clear kar aur Major lag ja“
Such
amazing matrices set out even when the product is yet to take any sort of shape.
No wrong in assuming a corollary that
parents have the responsibility to do everything for the child, just like the
marketing consultant and product would do to launch a product. But are they equipped enough to handle this
humongous task? Let’s do a test by asking some basic questions, do the parents
to a 5-year-old child know:
- How will the job market be in 20 years from now?
- What are the skill which would be more in demand with the changing world?
- What are his child inherent qualities which can be groomed to make a success story out of that?
- What are the set of skills child is excited to acquire and can be developed to make a living?
Few
parents may have an emphatic “YES” but many would not be so fortunate. So, the parents
who are not having an iota of what the possible answer can be, how can they assist
the child to have a future which is going to come 20 to 25 years later. So, is
it the right approach to put the expectation baggage in the child without
understanding what it would take to deliver that?
Let’s
go back to our life. For me and for many of my age, we started building our
career without having any clue of what’s the future is going to be. Our life
has been like a river, which has taken its course as it has come. If we study
the length of a river, basically it has three definite courses -the upper course,
middle course and lower course with specific characteristics of each. In the
upper course or the mountainous course, like the river we have managed to pass
through steep slopes, we have the ability to dig the river bed very deep and pull-down
heave boulders and pebbles. At times face tough situation like travelling
through hard rocks, and many times rapid and waterfalls come our way. We have
cleared them all to be here, where we are today. Did we go to the best school
on our town? Did we clear the entrance to manage a seat in the best degree and
University we aspired for? Probable 10 to 15% would have managed, but a clear
majority has been like a river taking the course as it comes. Even after our graduation
how many of us researched the companies we would chose to work for; and even if
we did that how many could make it to those companies. Forget about the companies,
leave aside the top crème de la crème students, we had no clue in placement
which sector we will land into. And many would not know even two hours before
the placement,” ki sala in hain ki out hain”.
But despite all these unpreparedness through the life we develop “Expectation”.
Expectation from
family, who had no clue of what product they are launching. Just like the
marketing consultant designing a strategy for a product they have not seen or
understood. We all know what the success rate for the product is.
Expectation from
the organisation who never bothered to understand you, understand the skill you
possess. Did they offer you the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
Can you say there is someone at work who encourages your development?
Most of us have
begun our life mostly without having any answer to many of the important
question that are “Must Know “to have great career. But look what you have done
to your life, like a river you have made your way against all the challenges in
life. Made use of the best available opportunities in life.
I would say
without an iota of doubt that where you are and whatever you are doing in your
careers, YOU already are an Achiever “.
You faced all
the challenges and uncertainties of life to be where you are today. You are
taking the best care of your families, managing the best of relationship with
people around and delivering with honesty and integrity. Your contribution to
the society and organisation is highly valued.
Families play a
very vital part in our lives, and many a times we start to choose our job, profession,
marriage and cities to please them. We start benchmarking ourselves with
successful people arounds us and feel dejected at our state. It’s good to get
inspired and motivated with good success stories, but never compare the results.
Don’t forget its “Ok to be Ordinary in life “
I
leave with a small piece of advice. Though you are an achiever till now, may be
without knowing many of the basic information in life you have been successful.
But Next time you may not be, what brought you here, may not take you further.
Ask
the pertinent question to yourself:
- What are the skills I need to enhance to be successful not only today but 5 years from now?
- How do I develop skills that differentiates me from the thousands of people like me doing the same job?
- Am I doing today what I can do best every day?
- Most important “Do I belong here “
Get
the right answers and take the right moves now
I
wish all you “Achiever “a happy and
fulfilling life
Regards
Robin
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