Moving Towards Marketing 3.0.....From 4 Ps to CCDVTP.....A Customer Value Driven Approach!!

A Radical Change In Marketing

4Ps: These Ps are silos within the company, where is the customer in it!!

So let`s take a more customer-centric approach…

C - Create – Product Management

Companies used to do it indoors but now they co-create 

Open Innovation -Find the best ideas anywhere they can come from

C – Communicate – Brand Management

Communicate Excitement & Differentiation

Brand Building/Packaging of What u are all about?

The Brand is a Promise. The Brand Inspires Everything U do. The way u act, when u reach customers. In a new direction- a new formula, it’s about emotional connect now --- Mind Share to Heart Share to Spirit Share. A share of something a little more than narrow to your own interest. Companies want to be civic, caring and appreciated for shaping and nurturing the world- CSR.

D- Deliver – Customer Management

It’s not about Dealing with the Data management anymore. U have to move close to the customers and need to know them truly. Get their help in co-creation of Products & Advertisements

So basically a company has to manage 3 businesses and they all are changing.

V – Value

T – To a Target Market

P – For a Purpose - Profit In Short Run & Brand Building In Long Run

Ref: Kotler

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Marketing Teaser!! Moving Towards Marketing 3.0

Marketing`s Change In Focus

1.    Where is your Company now?

2.    Where do you want to be?

3.    Why?

4.    What Steps would you take?

 

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The most effective selling skill model in history: SPIN Selling

SPIN Selling

Stop Fumbling & Start Making Sales

SPIN Selling, a great model, was the brainchild of Neil Rackham who also authored a book of the same name in 1988.
SPIN Selling is based on extensive research by Rackham and his company, Huthwaite. They examined large, complicated sales scenarios. After analysing more than 35,000 sales calls they were able to put to rest a variety of traditional myths about closing sales.The original survey showed that in successful sales calls it's the buyer who does most of the talking, which means that the salespeople are asking questions.
Asking questions means that the salesperson is building Rapport with the buyer, building sales rapport with the buyer allows the buyer to feel more comfortable talking.

SPIN Selling proposes there are four types of questions, thus SPIN stands for :

• Situation ( questions )
  
• Problem ( questions )
  
• Implication ( questions )
  
• Need-payoff ( questions )                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

When you SPIN sell, you still follow the basics of a regular meeting, ie, after some preliminary small talk and finding out how much time your prospective client has for the meeting, you then establish that you have to ask them some questions. Then go on to part 2 -- the lengthy investigation phase -- this is where the spinning happens.  

A quick review -- First, here are the four basic phases of an ordinary sales meeting -- a simple sales agenda:

1. Preliminaries -- Warming up events at the start of the call
   How are you? Nice Weather? Is that a picture of your daughter? Did you catch that fish? Keep these questions and this phase short. One or two, and don't let them go on.
2. Investigation -- Finding out facts, information, and needs.
   How much do you see your company growing next year? How do you keep track of how much work your managers are accomplishing? What is your current work order s ystem? Lots of time is spent in this phase. It is here were you try different SPIN^® strategies (more on that below.)
3. Demonstrating Capability -- Showing you can solve their problem
   resist going to this phase until the prospect has stated an Explicit need that your demo solves such as, "I'm starting to think that a centralized CRM tracking system could help me keep track of my managers and vendors."
4. Obtaining Commitment -- Getting an agreement to proceed to a further stage of the sale.
   First check that you've covered all of the prospect's key concerns. Then summarize your benefits. Finally, propose the next appropriate level of commitment.

During part 2 above, is where you spin. You ask four types of questions during this phase: Situation, Problem, Implication, and Needs (the acronym of SPIN.) You ask the questions in that order. Most of your questions will be implication questions. Here is a summary of the questions.

Situation Questions
Facts about the background of the customer and what the customer is doing. Do your research before the meeting to find answers to these sorts of questions. Situation questions bore the prospect. You may have to ask a few of them to find out stuff -- place them well to lead you down the SPIN but use them sparingly.

Example situation questions
Tell me about your company?
How many customers do you have?
What type of software do you run here?
Which offices have DSL?

Problem Questions
Questions about the customer's difficulties or dissatisfactions. Problem questions give good results in small sales, however, they don't help us much here. H ere are some examples also use them sparingly.

Example problem questions
Is it frustrating to lose sales to CitiView Painting Supply?
How easy is it to use Yardi?
How do you keep track of all your customer's phone calls between two offices?
When someone goes on vacation, what happens to the properties that he or she manages


Implication Questions
Questions about the consequences or effects of a customer's problems. This is the crucial line of questioning. Practice this skill often. Successful calls contain many of these "implication" questions. The goal of using these questions is to persuade the customer to EXPLICITLY state a need that you can solve. Like Socrates's, you ask many of these questions to get someone to realize that they have a problem. Every business can be improved one way or another. Ideally, you ask these questions to get a customer to admit a costly problem. The ultimate goal is to increase the customer's perception of the value of our solutions. Implication questions are so important that it's often helpful to break down the problems of a specific customer,

More example implication questions

What happens when your managers neglect the property owners needs?
Do you lose customers when people complain?
Do you think it hurts your sales efforts if you're getting bad referrals from your customers?
How much money do you lose when you lose a customer?
How much does it cost you to get a new customer?
What's the lifetime value of your customers and how much will you make when you double it?
Would you make when each of your managers were handling two more properties?
How much does it cost you when three managers are only working at 6o% of your other managers?
How long does it take you to find out who did what every day?
How many more properties can you manage if all your administrative assistants handled 30% of your incoming issues?
Did you have to hire someone to set up JenArk?
How long do you spend going through old email to find old communications?
How do you tell when you're charging a HOA enough?
Will you customers start to insist upon better service now that others are using it?
Will property owners seek and demand better reports?
Do customers get pissed at the service?
Do you get a lot of legal issues in property management?
How much time is wasted with dissatisfied customers?

Need Payoff Questions
Questions about the value, usefulness, or utility that the customer perceives in a solution. Like Implication Questions, Need-payoff Questions are strongly linked to success in our type of sale. (Only ask these questions AFTER the customer has confess to a need or else it TOTALLY fails because the customer can deny the existence of the need which you claim to solve.) You could use the questions below or even simply say the part in italics.

Example Need Payoff Questions
How would it help if your offices were connected to a centralized database?
Why is it important to get all your employees accounting for their work?
Would it be useful if your homeowners made most of their requests without bothering anyone?
Is there any other way that this could help you?
Do you see the value in knowing which vendors do the most work?

After investigation and getting the customer to admit to some explicit need -- not something vague -- then explain how our service solves the need. Demonstrating our Capacity in that way, after the need is expressed. for the most success. Finally attempt to address all of the prospective client's concerns, and ask them if they have any more concerns. Summarize the benefits of your service. Propose the next appropriate level of commitment.
They also found that there is little difference in the success of calls based on the number of times a sales person asked open as opposed to closed questions. That doesn't matter. What matters more is: To what end is the question being asked.

The research uncovered the following facts :
The first students trained in the "SPIN" model showed an average of 17% improvement in sales results.

---

This is not surprising, I well remember the quote, (but not the author), that says:
People do not buy from salespeople because they understand their products but because they felt the salesperson understood their problems.

---

The more Situation Questions asked in a sales call the less likely it was to succeed.
Most salespeople asked more Situation Questions.
The more senior the buyer, the less they like answering factual questions.
( I have some issue with this because I feel that the buyers reaction may also depend on the level of sales rapport developed between the seller and the buyer ).
This implies that successful sellers ask fewer Situation Questions because they do their homework. Good selling = Good planning.
To quote "SPIN Selling" "…effective planning takes you more than half way to effective execution"
More experienced salespeople tended to ask more problem questions and to ask them sooner.
Top salespeople tended to introduce solutions, products or services very late in the discussion.
They held back and discussed the effects of the problem before talking about solutions.
Problem Questions require planning. SPIN Selling suggests working backwards from the problems your products solves for a buyer to generate these questions.

It is better to uncover several problems before asking implication questions. It can be dangerous to focus on one problem as it invites the buyer to raise another area where you solution does not fare so well. (Don't put all your eggs in the one basket)
Implication Questions are the most powerful sales questions and the skill in using them doesn't automatically improve with experience.
There are no perfect solutions in a complex sale.
There is no evidence to establish a link between open questions and sales success.
People buy when the pain of the problem is greater than the cost of the solution.
Opening benefit statements work in smaller sales but much less so than in bigger sales. SPIN Selling strategy would contend that the purpose of the opening is to gain the buyers agreement to ask questions (this is establishing sales rapport) , to establish a buyer-centered purpose (most important) and communicate who you are and why you are there.
Larger, complex sales are different. Rackham believes that the key is to obtain the right commitment. He defines success versus failure by evaluating the level of commitment. An action that moves you closer to a sale, is termed an Advance and constitutes a successful outcome. A buyer's request for a proposal is not an Advance unless the buyer also agrees to take some action. The outcome of a call that does not reach agreement on action that moves the sale forward is termed a Continuation and considered unsuccessful.
Top sellers reach their goals by consistently planning and conducting calls that move the sale forward in steps. "SPIN Selling" rationale suggests that you start by brainstorming to identify the widest variety of Advances that would move you towards a sale. Really skilled sellers then select those ingenious small actions that the buyer is likely to agree to. They also generate alternative actions to propose as needed for the actual sales visit.
"SPIN Selling" suggests you develop a questioning mindset stating it's "more important to understand than to persuade". This is similar to the 5th habit from "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People" (by Steven Covey) which says "Seek first to understand then to be understood".
There are safe and dangerous areas ( and times ) to use various question types. ( Once again, the effect of bad timing can be dramatically reduced if you have good sales rapport with your prospect.


It states in "SPIN Selling" that "Asking good questions doesn't come easily for most people"
Furthermore Rackham and Huthwaite contend there are four stages to a sale as also mentioned above : 

Opening
Investigating
Demonstrating Capability
Obtaining Commitment
And their research shows that the Investigating stage is the most crucial in large, complex sales.
This technique proposes in relation to Demonstrating Capability that you need to sell Benefits rather than Features and Advantages.
In the SPIN model a Benefit shows how a product or service meets an Explicit Need expressed by the buyer. Moreover, the author contends that If you try to sell using Advantages it leads to objections which slow down the sales process.
In my opinion the concepts of "SPIN Selling" are sound and represent a logical and teachable way to move towards a large and complex sale.
The whole focus of this technique is on logical objective planning, investigation of the prospects needs and selling the Benefits of your offering ( Benefits which are based on the prospects needs ).

The problem I have with the model is that not all sales are based on logic and objectivity.
At the opening of any sales call you need to develop Rapport with the buyer. Developing Rapport is not a conscious thing. The best sales rapport, is built at an unconscious level.

Likewise, SPIN Selling is based on asking questions and there is a very large difference in the effectiveness of a question depending on how it is phrased.
I believe the results generated by the rational, objective approach of the SPIN Selling model could be enhanced by the application of various subconscious selling techniques.

I hope you have enjoyed this summary of the SPIN Selling Model.

Ref:
1. Eric Wolfram: How To Sell -- SPIN Selling<sup>®
2. http://www.sellingandpersuasiontechniques.com 
3. Experience from Training on SPIN & Practicing the Art from Last 3-4 Years</sup> 

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Rocking Indians Contnd...Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

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Financial Inclusion or Exclusion...We are differnt and so our concerns are!! Foreign Banks or The Co-Operatives?? Whic one a better solution!!

Finding the Next Amul Success Story in Banking

While safety and security are the key determinants of someone keeping money with an institution, co-operative banks and post offices appear better placed to perform an inclusive function than any other institution.

An article by ET...

    Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan is singing from the same hymn book as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when it comes to financial inclusion. But for those who have heard Indira Gandhi’s Garibi Hatao slogan and seen the bank nationalisation in 1969, it may just be old wine in new bottle.
Life has come full circle for Indian politicians and policy-makers. This time round they are not for nationalising more banks, or forcing the existing ones to increase their lending to the poor.
Some of the mantras of Rajan include bank licences, larger role for foreign banks, specialised banks and freedom for banks to open branches anywhere. A lot of these are aimed at taking financial services to those millions who remain untouched by the nation’s revolution in banking in the last four decades of bank nationalisation, and two decades of aggressive private sector banking.
Building On Strengths All these require new investments, creation of infrastructure, hiring of people and new capital. But capital goes to places where it could make profits and not to rural India where it could end up being charity. Policy-makers are fond of reinventing the wheel. Can Rajan be different?
When there are nearly 96,000 co-operative banks spread over thousands of villages and post offices located in 2.38 lakh panchayats, is there a need for a fresh set of institutions to harness the savings of people in rural India? This may be the turn of financial services to have its own Amul, the milk co-operative that has delivered prosperity to millions of rural folk, and proved that it could still be a business model.
“The co-operative banks have good distribution in the interiors,” says Aditya Puri, chief executive at HDFC Bank. “I think these are institutions with a lot of strength. They have some weaknesses. If we can build on their strengths we will reach the interiors of the country faster.” Co-operative banks have catered to more people than private ones which for the first time came into vogue more than 100 years ago influenced by the co-operative movement in the West. In India, they came into existence mostly through local community initiatives.
Over time these institutions degenerated into fiefdoms of local politicians who abused and misused the structure exploiting the ignorance of people. These were compounded by a poor regulatory structure where both the RBI and state governments have jurisdictions. The case of Madhavpura Co-operative Bank is still fresh in mind where stock broker Ketan Parekh borrowed from it to fund stock positions worth hundreds of crores.
“These banks have come to grief because of their poor governance, poor lending practices, and the bad loans they are saddled with, and not because of providing a very important deposit facility to the poor people,” says Prakash Bakshi, former chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). “They are providing a human service for financial inclusion as the poor don’t just need loans. They also need a safer place to keep their deposits.”
Working Out the Details But the idea of getting co-operative banks converted into full-fledged banks does not seem to have escaped Rajan. On the very first day of taking charge he spoke about “the possibility of converting large urban co-operative banks into commercial banks.” “We will pursue these creative ideas of the RBI staff and come up with a detailed roadmap of the necessary reforms and regulations for freeing entry and making the licensing process more frequent.”
A 13-member committee under its board member and former ICICI Bank executive director Nachiket Mor, along with Vikram Pandit, former Citigroup head and Axis Bank chief Shikha Sharma will work out the details.
“Co-operative banks are now more aware about their need to be financially sound for their survival,” says Shrinivas Joshi, managing director, Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank. “As for urban co-operative banks, with the appointment of two independent directors on the board, the balance sheets are more transparent now. ’’ It is not clear how much the committee could work or provide a framework to make co-operative banks relevant. The question is: will the framework involve a focus on technology, or will it be a new push towards micro finance which showed promise, but floundered when private capital led to its eventual collapse by abusing the system?
Co-operative banks could be converted with some tight regulations that would help mobilise savings, and at the same time, make them safe. “These could be structured as investment banks,” says Bakshi of Nabard. “Take the money and put it in CRR and SLR and your deposits are safe. These troubled banks can be converted into savings banks. They can be prohibited from lending, but continue to accept small deposits.” But the view of the rural India from Nariman Point and Manhattan could mostly be unrealistic. The needs of the population are best understood by those on the ground, but could be delivered better by those with understanding of finance. “These are people who will not dare to go to a newgeneration bank,” says Bakshi.
Safety & Security For the rural folk whose income is meagre, the importance of safety precedes any other criteria. What better than a government department such as the post office which reaches 150,000 villages and will also be trusted! The most comforting factor could well be that they see the postman and post master every day and that they are government employees, unlike business correspondents who are perceived to be risky.
The success of post office as a savings vehicle is best illustrated in Japan which is the world’s biggest owner of retail savings at more than $3 trillion in savings and insurance policies. Of course, the institution is being reformed for better performance time and again. But that cannot be an argument to stall the India Post efforts to run a bank just because its best years are supposedly behind it.
India Post, which has sought to open an account, already provides savings facilities, with many rural Indians preferring it to over even banks. It has deposits worth . 3.7 lakh crore.
While a direct comparison with Japan Post Holdings may be a bit far-fetched, India Post may have to put in place the infrastructure if it has to be half as successful as its Japan counterpart. “The issue will be how will it leverage its resources,’’ asks Saurabh Tripathi, partner and director at consulting firm Boston Consulting Group. “It is a huge institutional challenge. But if done well (execution of its business model), then they can play a big role in financial inclusion.” The excitement about telephone companies delivering financial inclusion is waning given that there is distrust between banks and the firms which provide last mile connectivity. While businesses such as telecom, or retailers such as Hindustan Unilever, or Britannia playing the role of a financial intermediary may sound feasible, practical issues could stall them. While safety and security are the primary determinants of someone keeping money with an institution, co-operative banks and post offices appear better placed to perform the inclusive function than any other institution. “It is political interference,” says HDFC Bank’s Puri. “Once they can solve that, it will be better. Their managements are fine. They have a good business. They have some issues in terms of ownership and corporate governance. And I think they can be fixed.”

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Its not Korean Samsung Challenging Apple Supremacy !! Its not Dutch Phillips lighting the World!! Its much more & deep....Indians at the Helm

TAKING THE BIG LEAP

Indians Now Electrifying the Electronics Industry

From Apple to Samsung, Indian talent gains in stature in area dominated by Japanese & Americans

ET Article By WRITANKAR MUKHERJEE & SHRAMANA GANGULY

    Indian professionals are growing in stature for their global leadership quality, and the latest industry chasing them seems consumer electronics, a segment dominated by the Japanese, Koreans and Americans. From P ra nav Mistr y, who helped Samsung deliver a smart watch ahead of rival Apple, to Murali Sivaraman, who led Philips’ acquisitions in India and China, many Indians are taking their place in the headquarters of electronics multinationals.Even a conservative Japanese company like Panasonic has started training Indian managers to take up leadership roles in the Middle East and Africa, according to its India president Daizo Ito. Call it the growing importance of India for these companies — for instance, India is the fourthlargest marketfor Sony—or the maturity of Indian talent, the country is emerging as a recruitment hub for the electronics industry, though the pace is not as fast as in the FMCG industry where tens of Indians don global hats. ET profiles four Indians who have risen to key roles in electronics MNCs.

Pranav Mistry Director of Research, Samsung Electronics Pranav Mistry’s Gujarati-laced English may have gone viral in YouTube, but his Galaxy Gear smart watch launched last month has won rave reviews and is doing good business for the Korean fi rm. “New wearable technologies, be it Samsung Galaxy Gear or Google Glass, would make the world an exciting place,” says Mistry, 32, who hails from the small town of Palanpur in Gujarat. A computer scientist with master in media arts and sciences from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and master of design from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay, Mistry now heads Samsung Think Tank Team. He has also worked with Microsoft, Google and NASA. Today he works on augmented reality, display technologies, futuristic television, mobiles, and robotics for Samsung. Mistry tells ET he is looking for an evolution that exists beyond the digital world. “The idea is not about creating computing device. It is about connecting with the physical world,” he says. “I want to work on impactful projects. My projects could be on food or poverty (eradication through technology).”

Murali Sivaraman Global CEO, Domestic Appliances Business, Koninklijke Philips NV One of the fi rst Indians to become global CEO in the consumer electronics business, Murali Sivaraman has been handling the largest consumer lifestyle business by sales of the Dutch major for over two years. He is based in Shanghai. A chartered accountant and an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad and an AMP from Harvard Business School, Sivaraman has led development of Philips’ newer appliances like a biryani maker, soup maker, noodle and pasta maker, and its acquisitions in India and China. Sivaraman had earlier built ICI’s paint business in China as its MD after which was promoted as the president of Canada operations. Before taking up a global role in Philips, Sivaraman was MD and CEO of its India operations, turning around the brand as a youthful one. Today, India ranks among the top five markets for Philips’ domestic appliances business. Sivaraman plans to convert the nation as a product development hub. “The aspiration and need for better living cuts across markets. It is here Philips wants to create its niche,” he says. His next target: grow the Philips brand in Japan and the US.

Dipesh Shah Global VP (R&D), Samsung Electronics Here is yet another Gujarati key to Samsung’s success story as the world’s largest consumer electronics maker. Dipesh Shah is the man behind the user-friendly interface of Samsung’s smartphones. An engineer with Samsung’s R&D team in India, Shah took up a global role in the organisation recently. He leads the charge for newer telecom projects like 4G, multimedia applications and web browsers. The alumnus of Visvesvaraya Technological University and IIM-Bangalore today shuffl es between US, Korea and Bangalore on his projects. Shah is confident Indian engineers would move up in the consumer electronics field due to inherent strengths. “Indians can adapt to the needs of the consumers and deliver more with less computing resources, which are critical assets,” he says. Shah is involved in globalisation of Indian technical talent at Samsung, ensuring Indian engineers work with the global team.

Rajeev Chopra (from December) Global business head (consumer luminaries), Philips

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‘Harvard CEOs’ Get Together to Groom Future Leaders in India : What can we do and expect as IIM Alums!!

‘Harvard CEOs’ Get Together to Groom Future Leaders in India

CLUB CLASS: Alumni begin mentoring entrepreneurs and leaders across industries, government and voluntary sectors

Article BY RICA BHATTACHARYY, ET

    A group of alumni CEOs from the Harvard Business School (HBS) have set the ball rolling for building an interindustry leadership pipeline in India. In a first-ever initiative by HBS anywhere in the world, about 110 CEOs in India, engaged with the institute’s dean Nitin Nohria in Boston over tele-presence to discuss issues related to leadership in the current business context and the role the HBS alumni in India could play in creating a more inclusive growth model in the country.
The programme was a curtain-raiser for a series of upcoming interactions to mentor young entrepreneurs and groom leaders by getting top leaders across industries, government and non-government sectors on a forum.
“It is the first time any HBS Club is having an event of this sort. It helps us establish the theme for HBS in India, which is, providing leadership across industries,” said Adil Zainulbhai, chairman, McKinsey India. The event will help start a series of interactions with the purpose of building India – from mentoring young entrepreneurs to grooming leaders in areas ranging from business to politics and the social sector, added Zainulbhai, who is also the president of HBS Club of India. The captains of Indian industry, who participated in the engagement, ‘Connected Leaders Dialogue’ included Zainulbhai, Nadir Godrej, managing director of Godrej Industries and chairman, Godrej Agrovet, Sanjivnayan Bajaj, MD, Bajaj FinServ, Ganesh Natarajan, CEO, Zensar Technologies and Suneeta Reddy, joint MD, Apollo Hospitals, among others.
“We hope to get many involved in making a difference in India, and to get new ideas on how we should do so in a systematic way, especially in a turbulent economy. We have a unique resource in the form of the HBS alumni group
    to make a positive difference in the country,” said Zainulbhai.
Apart from Nohria, Linda Hill, professor of business administration and faculty chair of leadership initiative at HBS, was part of the leadership dialogue.
Hill, who has studied Indian CEOs like Vineet Nayar of HCL Technologies during the 2008 downturn, will be conducting a workshop on ‘Maximising your leadership potential’ in India in December.
The CEOs, representing different industry sectors in India , discussed the concerns in the Indian economy, context of leadership, sectoral leadership models and what the country can do to take it forward.
Dean Nohria spoke to Indian business leaders on where the business world is heading and how India will contribute, what leadership styles become necessary to sustain a place in this growth renaissance, the advantage of being an HBS alumni and what they can bring to this change. The Club will also focus on how India can contribute to leadership and various leadership styles.
HBS alumni in the country comprise approximately 1,000 people encompassing MBAs and executive education alumni. This event was also unique as it demonstrated that learning and dialogue can be facilitated across multiple locations.
“HBS has similar classrooms in Shanghai and Boston. The CLD event heralds interesting possibilities of inter-connectedness between these classrooms and thus on the structure and shape of education and continuous learning in the coming years,” said an HBS spokesperson.
This opens up a plethora of scalable learning and engagement opportunities between communities of global leaders who are otherwise separated by time and space, he said.
“The future will be built because of communication, feedback and engagement and the willingness of more than 100 CEOs to give two hours of their time underscores this,” said Natarajan. The programme could be a pilot for similar engagements by HBS alumni network in other parts of the world, he said.
rica.bhattacharyya@timesgroup.com 

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