Transformation all around me

Had some experiences around me which were truly transforming. Trying to narrate em and take learning from em.

Experience #1
I had to travel to bhubhaneswar on work today, and hence packed for the journey. I somehow have got used to Meru cabs for the sheer simplicity and convenience they promise to deliver. I called up Meru call center on Monday evening to book a can for Tuesday morning. To my surprise there was a hold time of 8 min. I put speaker phone on, while still busy with my packing, only to be welcomed by a male voice on Meru call center saying sorry we are booked from 7 in the morning till 12 in the noon. What it means is all 1400 cabs in Mumbai, or at least majority of em are on roads. What makes me feel then this is something short of a transformation, where you have to wait for cabs to.

Experience #2
Failing to get a cab, I took a auto to airport. This was a amazing experience, which began with the quality of ride ,and ended with a quick question from the auto driver. He asked how much it costs going to Kolkata by flight. I looked at him truly amazed, why is this guy asking me this question. Without hesitation my auto driver responds, I plan to get my family to Mumbai, and if it is 5,000 rupees, it is o.k., I think I can afford it. I don’t know whether he was flaunting or not, but I think it was a transformational experience altogether. Whoever says India is under recession.

Experience # 3
While on airport, I witnessed a flurry of scribes waiting to get soundbites on Jet airways pilot strike. It was a experience to be @ Mumbai airport at that time. Chaos is a small word to describe it, and as usual no clarity to consumers. We all @ airport felt like caught between a crossfire between India & Pakistan, and media playing George bush. No clarity on flight timings, no clarity on announcements, its your transformational experience to witness fight between two demons.

Experience #4

I met one of the lesser developed tourism board in India. Amazed to see the resources these guys have and waste they do on managing them. If you ever plan to meet a secretary level bureaucrat, be ready to go through a experience of a lifetime. First is a gate pass to secretariat. Person at the counter is simply writing name in completely non readable writing, which is being duplicated by another human being just to release a gate pass. Then you enter the secretariat, only to realize that the papers you entered your name on ,will soon be shunted to these corridors in paper files biting dust. At least you should be happy you got a pass, so what if your gate pass entries will bite dust one fine day in these corridors. We were here with a vision to transform the government client.

Experiment # 5

Long day @work, meeting with all key clients in ministry, time to catch up with some old colleagues.Got another perspective on OOH media. He predicts, telecom industry will cease to exist as single largest media spender on OOH by 2011.

So true a observation. Imagine any market having at least 10-13 players, each grappling for space on best of the medium in OOH. Clear supply demand equation which is progressively moving towards from a low supply and high demand to a low demand, high supply equation. Imagine what would you do in a market where you have 8 key junctions and 14 telecom players. Initial transformation to one upmanship of spends ,and then zero spends.

As I write this entry on my blog, I am sure I have many more transformational experiences in store for tomorrow, and how I look forward to them

Social Networks or Job seeking portals

I must have received 5 requests in recent past asking for recommendations from people I have met once, and worst never worked together. The question is why are people seeking recommendations so vigorously. Same thing gets repeated on FB.

If we were just focusing on Linked in & FB- well read this from Bnet

“Today Linked In year-on-year growth is up nearly 200 percent in the United States and it now has more than 35 million members—many of whom were formerly employed within the hard-hit financial sector. And it’s just one of the many sites to which recession-struck managers are flocking: Xing (based in Germany), with its 7 million members and special Lehman Brothers alumni section, and Meet the Boss (based in the United Kingdom), which restricts membership to C-level financial types, are also experiencing burgeoning membership levels.”

What is triggering this trend. The economy, insecurity of young professional , or something else. Next question where will it lead us to, a new generation linkedin, or FB with strong moderation to separate frivolous job seekers, from serious professional networking.

Big or Bad

I have come across three distinct cases in last 30 days which make me think that being Big often translates to being Bad (Sadly though).

In “Go kiss the world” subroto Bagchi makes a valid comment – How big can you get before you get bad. There is a extremely thin line differentiating big from bad, and it is wise to take cognizance of this line, before the world starts terming you bad.

My first experience is of a electronics retail store “CROMA”. My father in law recently bought a Samsung DVD player from CROMA, Malad. He received home delivery of DVD player and waited for a day for the demo. Demo team from CROMA came on promised day not to find A/V cord inside the packed DVD player box, and went back without Demo.

After complaining to CROMA over phone, I personally went to pick up A/V cord and thought matter would resolve. Yesterday when I went to my father in laws house to check how is the experience, I was surprised to find that the piece delivered is not working properly. I checked the DVD player, and found it to have visible scratch marks, and handling abuses which are likely to happen with a used/demo piece. My belief that this was a demo piece was reinforced when I found a Casino Royale DVD inside a packed piece.

By now I was sure I have been fooled by CROMA to pay for a new piece and receive a used/demo piece. The fact that no A/V cord being found in a new consignment and a DVD inside the tray only reinforced my belief.

My tryst with bad experience didn’t end here. When I called up customer service no 022-61406363, at 18″00 hrs yesterday evening, and narrated my story, I was told that someone will call me back in 1 hr. This 1 hr. did not happen till I called up customer service again @ 11:33 hrs today.

I never thought that Tata brand would stoop to such levels and would try to play with customer faith. Not to mention my recent purchases of a Nikon D60 SLR from CROMA Phoenix Mill, and my other purchases of a PSP etc from CROMA Malad, I am beginning to seriously doubt the quality factor in all CROMA deals.

If I have to go through such a plight for claiming what is rightfully due to me, I am seriously doubting “we help you buy” positioning of CROMA.

I am happy to see CROMA emerge as a BIG retail, but please don’t cross the fine line to turn BAD. Along with growing BIG comes tremendous responsibility of being good to your customers, I think as an service organization it is your first port of call, don’t ignore it.

My second experience is of VODAFONE. A subscriber who i am loyal to for last 8 years. Without getting into detailing of ARPU which Orange/Hutch/Vodafone has got from me as a customer, I am surprised as to how callous they have been to customer sensitivities.

I have a enterprise blackberry service from VODAFONE and my belief of being 24 x 7 in touch with my job, makes me a heavy user of blackberry services. I am not receiving any bills (soft/hard) copy for last two months. Complaints after complaint have yielded no results, and anonymous attendants from call center confirm that they will send the bill today vide email.

One fine day they decide to disconnect your services, and do not acknowledge the fact that they have failed on their duty to send bill copy to me. No mention of countless problems like call drops, poor coverage etc, the service provider believes that they have grown big, and can discount such small issues of being bad to few customers. A very disturbing trend.

Last example is of the city where I live. Mumbai has all the elements to make it big. Respected corporates, professional people, and countless opportunities. All things that make it big, also make it bad. Look at the infrastructure. Roads sink, traffic hurts, housing nonexistent, quality of life – Bad.

Why a city which has grown to be big, has turned to be bad. Why we fail to detect the line which we should not cross and resist the lure of being big, but maintain being good. There are many other examples, each reinforcing my belief – why we have to choose between Big or Bad.

Are there examples which justify organizations/cities being good and Big together.

Rules of winning in business

We had an interesting debate over a coffee,on what makes makes an organization win new businesses. There were diverse thoughts from things like compelling product differentiation, excellent strategy, impressive scale, good networking, and competitive, or even less commercials.

Phew !

This is specially relevant to service oriented setups e.g. media agencies.

While there is no disagreement that each of these factors play critical role in winning, important debate in my mind is which is a game changer. In light of existing transparency on media rates, and equal access to information, how different can one be on the commercial aspect. To my belief, if marketers were to do some due diligence they will easily be able to do first round of screening basis past market data, and testimonials.

Strategy and product differentiation will be a good winning plank, provided one is able to convincingly prove a clear co relation between product and its deliverable to marketers bottom line. Given the constraints and uncontrollable variables it is often impossible to draw a direct correlation between product supremacy & deliverable to marketers objectives.

So how do you communicate your organizations inclination to win this business. I guess single largest factor which is instrumental in winning new business is the relationship you share with your prospect. I borrow this quote from one of my colleagues that ” you don’t win businesses on the day of pitch, you only loose it”. This is so true in any new business situation. If I don’t know my customer, how good my chances of wining this business – zero.

It also underlines the fact that new business is all about relationships. Relationship which comforts a client about the strength, scale, experience, pedigree of your partner. You prime them about being interested in a relationship, and client needs to see that loud and clear.

I strongly believe in the fact that win on the basis of merits, however build a strong relationship ahead of pitch to be able to clearly articulate your merits in an environment client understand the best.

helpgaurav.com – painful & heartwarming

I was waiting for my turn at my dentist yesterday when I came across a notice on society board of his building. It had a website address http://www.helpgaurav.com which was seeking financial help for Gaurav.

While waiting for my turn , I browsed through this website (I strongly recommend anyone reading this blog to do so) What I saw was painful and heartwarming .

I was pained to look at how life sometimes treats talented young people. Gaurav is suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer. I have lost a close friend of mine to cancer, and hence was particularly pained at how life can be cruel at times.

What was heartwarming is the fact that how well Gaurav and his family have used Internet for reaching out to people, and seeking financial help. While it may sound like a “one of many chain mails seeking financial help”, one has to go through the website ,and respect the efforts, his friends have put in to update people about his health, and upload pictures.

While I pray and hope that gaurav emerges as a winner in this battle of life and death, I am happy to learn how,if used properly and with genuine intentions a simple “reach out” message can help.

Happy to see changing thoughts

It is heartening to see how good movies can be instrumental in changing thoughts. A case in point is the recent movie called ” Mee shivajiraje bhosale boltoye”. It is a marathi movie and carries a strong message for those both maharashtrians as well as non maharashtrians.

While on one hand it teaches maharashtrians to be more aware about their capabilities and stop cursing the outsiders, it teaches non maharashtraians about the rich heritage and respect which this state carries.

Good lessons learnt on self esteem, pride, false pride, and spirit of enterprise. Go watch

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