Ahmedabad is a one-mall city

I just happened to visit the Gulmohar Mall. Saw quite a few branded shops closed. Enquired about the phenomenon with a service executive at one of the shops I entered.

He informed me that after the opening of Alpha One (another significantly bigger mall) footfalls have really really gone down. Saturdays and Sundays are when some crowds gather.

Some time back, I was talking to a Mississippi patron who has a retail shop at Iscon Mall. She said the same thing. Gets corroborated by the fact that a lot of shops have closed down there as well.

I have always found the air-conditioned malls unsuited in the Indian context. For Ahmedabad in particular, I have always wondered if there's a number of people that can help survive even 3 malls. It turns out, only 1 can survive. To me, even that's suspect. Let's see.

Indeed, if we debate the definition of 'mall', Ahmedabad has many which have tuition classes and offices and dental clinics and orthopedic hospitals. In that sense then malls can survive.

Add to this, the quintessential habit of finding a 'deal' makes online shopping quite attractive for people from Ahmedabad. So something like Flipkart et al offers a far bigger mall for Ahmedabadis to get hold of stuff (after checking them physically in the brick and mortar shops).

Long live the malls. 

New Duck

I have imagined something. New Duck. Now that I mention it, can you imagine the New Duck? How does it look?

Now that we are both aware of the New Duck and we both imagine the New Duck, what are the chances that the New Duck that resides in both our heads is the same?

Sure, both imagine with the same name New Duck but what are the chances that we are imagining the same New Duck?

Between two individuals who want to interact with each other, words are what are used to convey and understand imaginations, emotions, expectations, manners, behavior et al. And now you see how difficult it is to be specific?

Being specific is a skill. And it is difficult. Just plain difficult. Being able to make imagination understandable through words is a mighty skill. If anyone has mastered it, hire that person without a moment's delay.

This is a part of the reason why business plans/advices/consultation seem ridiculous. It might not be a matter of bad intention on the part of the evaluator. And it might not either be a matter of bad business plan either.

If New Duck is a product, do enough to produce a prototype like object. New Duck will be far better understandable.

Elements of persuasion

I find the following in the case of a book. I am talking about stuff found on the physical book.

1. Title
2. Author's Name
3. Visual on the Jacket
4. Appreciation/Endorsement Blurbs
5. Award/Number of Copies Sold/Motion Picture Adaptation
6. Story Idea
7. Storyline
8. Price
9. Thickness of the Book
10. Publishing House
11. Material/Binding Quality
12. Mini-reviews inside on the first few pages
13. Manner of Indexing
14. Titles filling up the Index
15. Author's Pic
16. Author's Bio

Platform, website, presence

As more people on the web have come to know of Mississippi Earrings, we face these questions more frequently now:

• Are your products available on the net?
• Do you have an online shop?
• Are you selling online?
• Why don't you sell online?
• Why don't you set up an online platform?
• Do you have a website?
• What's the name of your website?

All questions look apparently the same. But if one were to get very specific about the meanings of each of the words in these questions, one would have to make very very deliberate and different choices than the answers that some questions lead one into.

Like for example, for the first question, I would have to answer, "Yes, designs are available on the net."

For the second, third and fourth questions, "No, we don't have an online shop. But we try to sell through the online medium and we do makes sales through the online medium."

Fifth question. Online platform to sell? More important is online presence so that friends and others remember us when they are buying jewelry. Platform is infrastructure, not an aid to memory unfortunately.

Sixth, yes we have a blog. Website still doesn't fit into our scheme of things. Can you see the website out there standing tall, a landmark, among the nondescript buildings? :)

Seventh, what's the name of our earrings?

Battology

That was the word of the day.

battology: wearisome repetition of words in speaking or writing.

That's how the classroom turns out to be. That's how the meetings also turn out to be. That's what advertising also turns out to be. That's what regretting also turns out to be.

Interestingly, that's what determination could also turn out to be.

Perhaps, the challenge for all of us is to repeat but not turn the repetition into battology.

CEO or CDO?

If ever the annals of 'words that obscure understanding' is written, then this word/term will surely feature: CEO. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.

Ever wondered why work isn't satisfying? Even the kind of work that you really love? Even the kind of work that you really love in an organization/team that you really love?

The term that really hides behind the term CEO is CDO. CHIEF DECISIVE OFFICER. The guy who decides has to deliver. So has to move his ass and kick others' ass. It is the moving and kicking of asses that really gave birth to EXECUTIVE, that really made EXECUTIVE substitute DECISIVE.

But the cost of that substitution has been humungous. Satisfaction out of work.

For the organization it served good political purposes. For really, if it comes to the pin on the point, there can only be one decision and one decision-maker. And the person decision-maker has to take responsibility of all that gets executed for the decision taken. It takes balls to take responsibility. Metaphorical balls. Most fail to muster that. So meeting rooms and committees and such. On occasions when someone with balls shows up, things really change.

Try being the CDO. You'll fail. You'll succeed. You'll meddle. You'll learn. You'll get better. Every single time, a substantial leap.

Should you build a bazaar?

I just saw this ad on the front page of today's TOI. Buildabazaar.com is a platform to open your online shop. It's a venture of the now quite famous e-commerce portal infibeam.com.

Opening an online shop sounds easy. Sounds glamorous too (doesn't it?). And why not? E-com ventures are a talk of the town. Lotsa ads appearing on television. And for a long time, ever since I did my stint at flora2000.com (now goldboxx.in), I felt the same.

We've been trying to set up Mississippi online. And it has been one mighty task. This, I say, in spite of the innumerable e-commerce sites which have come up in the recent years.

My context is setting up a small e-commerce enterprise. If one tries to set up an independent e-commerce site, unless one knows coding for the web, one needs to collaborate with some amazing coders. 'Amazing' needs qualification. Coders who really try to understand your ambitions, your products and the audience for your products. Difficult to meet such guys. More difficult considering the money one has in the pocket when starting a small enterprise.

Suppose you don't set up an independent site. Then? You oughta have amazing writing skills, great visual merchandising skills (especially photography and graphical skills). But you would say one can outsource all that. Then the guy who takes such an outsourced work should have a good understanding of the same things I discussed in the last paragraph. I am not sure writing beautifully (don't confuse it with using flowering words) about products is an easy task. Nor am I sure about visual merchandising.

Is that all? Even if using an already existing platform, getting used to using it efficiently takes a good time. Software is machine. It takes time to become adept at using the machine.

Lastly, you need an amazing ability of sitting-in-front-of-the-screen. For once, I don't possess that. And while I spend a good time on the laptop, I just find it extremely difficult to stay focussed on just one application/website/piece of software.

So build a bazaar? Actually, build a bazaar in literal terms is 'build a shop'. Bazaar means you have an audience. I'm afraid here that isn't the case. Even if infibeam.com has its audience and displays your products to that audience, for your shop to work, you need to be able to garner good attention.

And while you need all the skills mentioned above, you need exceptional skills to garner attention and convert it into 'trust' for your shop. That takes some doing.

My recommendation, garner attention and build trust, first. If need be, build skills to garner attention and to build trust. And then build a shop.

Inadvertent disrespect, is it?

Early morning I called up Justdial to get in touch with some guys who offer injection-moulding services. Out of the few results I received via SMS, I picked one which was nearest to my place and dialed the number.

After an exchange of hellos and explaining how I got his number, I asked, "Do you offer injection-moulding services?"

Guy says, "Yes."

I try to explain to my requirement, "I want to get a box made in transparent plastic material..."

He doesn't let me complete. Blurts out, "Time nahi hai!"

Taken aback, I respond, "Kya matlab time nahi hai?!"

"Matlab ki spare capacity nahi hai."

"Oh, ok!" I hang up.

One of the most amazing things about entrepreneurship is bearing and negotiating your way through numerous such conversations as you are trying to set things up.

Politeness isn't just being nice on the face (and talking whatever behind the back). Politeness is a face of the respect one holds deep within for just being human and for appreciating humanness. Business or no business is at best a consequence, to which politeness, along with many other factors, contributes.

Two Spoons and Your Favorite Dessert

So your favorite dessert is placed on the table right in front of your eyes.

And there are two spoons alongside to have your fill.

Of course, you'll not use both the spoons unless you are in a certain mood :). Which one will you pick?

Have a look at this conversation:

 

In the above when I say 'nothing of strategy', I don't actually mean 'nothing'. Every move is a strategy, good or bad. In the instance quoted above, I reckon it's a weak capture of strategy. It is possible that the strategy itself is weak.

For one moment, let me equate a tagline with a spoon. A spoon, among many different spoons, which my friend's customers would want to use to have their fill. What kind of spoon is this friend asking us for? And therefore, how effective his marketing communication efforts might turn out to be?

No small matters these.

The catch-22 of taking initiative

Entrepreneurs and owners of organizations often complaint that people around them, especially employees, lack initiative and don't do much for the organization and leave the organization without any compunctions.

If these people could really take initiative, would they be employees? Besides, what does a typical small/medium sized entrepreneurial set-up give its employees? A person who has sought employment in such a set-up is anyway very much insecure in many respects. And if entrepreneurship is a result of initiative, it would again fall on the entrepreneur to take initiative and lead and somehow instil a sense of security among the employees.

There's a belief among entrepreneurs that since they've taken risk, they deserve the huge rewards that might follow. Since they came up with the idea, the rewards are theirs. That nobody has a right to those rewards but he. And therefore, he builds and accumulates his wealth. If so, then how does the entrepreneur instil a sense of security among employees? By protecting his own wealth? Or by helping the employees partake of his wealth in some form (without losing the wealth really)?

If the answer to the last question is affirmative, then the entrepreneur has to take the lead in sacrificing his 'I deserve all the rewards' sentiment and share, until such time that employees' sense of personal well-being is taken care of and they feel gratitude towards the employer. Then is the time for the entrepreneur to accumulate and amass.

It's easier said. It's a tight rope. So much depends on a shared dream and general camaraderie.

Discounts! Hurry!

And people hurry. Chance to save money on good stuff. They like a lot of stuff. Buy a lot of stuff. But after buying, they've to use. Usage depends on habits. And changing habits is tough, no? For example, just because I have a lot of shirts doesn't quite mean that I am going to change shirts any more often than I do now.

So if discounts tempted me into buying more and if the rate of usage stays the same, a thing would serve me for a longer time. And since these days even perfectly 'good quality' products are also available on sale, they are likely to serve longer. To that extent my next purchases are pushed further in future.

This conclusion might not hold of course if my rate of discarding increases. But then, even that is a matter of habit. I suppose, Indians yet haven't cultivated that disposition of disposing things off any time sooner than they used to in earlier times.

Since the purchases are pushed further in future and brands continue to products on the expanded assembly lines, the likely result would be offer more discounts to lure the customers again.

In the shorter run, customers find value in buying quantities (coz of discounts), but since rate of usage changes rather slowly, there is a great likelihood that a lot of stuff goes waste or becomes outdated. A little common sense would bring them back to buying normal quantities, with or without discounts.

Brands' problems persist.

Discounts! Wow!

A couple of days back, I tweeted, "These days, people shop only when Discount is available. Discount has become the biggest brand." Some people seem to agree. In which case, there are huge implications.

I am quite intrigued by discounts. My interpretation of brands that go on discounts is this. Either the total supply in the category exceeds the demand. Or the particular brand's supply exceeds its demand in the market. Standard economics.

These are the possible layers of outcomes resulting from discounting. Layer-3 follows Layer-2 follows Layer-1.

All marketing happens to create perceptions which lead to the desired outcome, right? When discounts become a recurring and a quite-awaited feature of the brand, what can one say about the perceptions getting created?

If one looks at Layer-3, one theoretical possibility is "Image is intact" for both, brands making net loss as a result of the discounts and brands making net profit even after the discounts. Is there a hope that when a good number of sales happen and people really start liking the brand, they would start paying the 'normal' prices and forget the discounted prices? But is that a possibility in real? My judgment is that brand image takes a dip and people might not be willing to pay 'normal' prices once accustomed to paying at certain levels of prices.

Discounts are a downward spiral. What happens if the "image is hurt"? Since people would resist walking in, offer more discounts? And then?

If companies make a good Net Profit even after discounts then why discount at all? Reduce the prices across the board, so that customers are willing to walk in at any time of the year, if they like the brand.

I don't have hard numbers to substantiate the hypotheses or judgments in this post. Some numbers would help understand the phenomena better.

How much should customer service guys be paid?

Why not the same as paid to sales or marketing guys? I am talking about the guys on the shop-floor. The guys who carry 'Help' tags on their chest.

Marketing guys makes promises. The manner of making the promise or the promise itself captures the prospects' attention. But who fulfills those promises?

Let's say Mississippi Earrings advertises. So it makes a promise, implicit or explicit. When that advertisement pulls in prospects at the retail shop, who fulfills or tries to fulfill the promise? The person on the shop-floor. If this person behaves obnoxiously, all's gone.

It applies to hospitals too. After gathering attention, who fulfills a big part of the promise? Doctors? Ward-boys, nurses, helpers?

In an educational institute, who fulfills the promise? The ad that captures attention? Or the teachers in the class?

At Pantaloons? Ad or the shop-floor exec?

On most occasions, I see a massive difference between a typical marketing person and a shop-floor exec. Someone might say, "But there's a difference in quality/skills." True! In fact, people hired as shop-floor execs aren't necessarily the greatest talkers or thinkers or problem-solvers. And these are the people who fulfill a big part of the promise. So why hire people with such poor skills? (Standard argument, shortage of quality manpower!)

Having chatted with prospects online and stayed on the shop-floor at Mississippi, I reckon,  delivery on the promises carries equal weightage, if not more.

Assuming that similar guys are put in charge of marketing and customer service, who would get more? Why is there such a discrepancy between remunerations?

Guess, in the entire sequence of conducting business, capturing attention of prospects is the first activity. Then follows all other things. So, 'first' wins. But we've seen the tall claims and, so often, we've experienced the delivery against those claims.

Too eager to sell?

Since the assembly line were set up quite a few years back and the greatest efficiency is when the assembly line keeps churning out stuff 24 hours a day, marketing men are also expected to work with greatest efficiency. As a result of which whatever gets loaded onto them to sell, they try conjuring up ideas to sell all that.

So an idea which was terrific and which initially helped sell a certain amount of stuff now comes under increasing pressure to sell more. So another idea gets added to the earlier genius-like idea, so that the two ideas combined start selling more.

Efficiency. Churn out more and more and more. Load. And explode. Either bend their backs or expand their tummies. Obesity and back problems are some of the most common problems among corporates, are they?

Social media has its origins in the desire to express and converse and create. Conversations flow in innumerable directions. Not just selling. Some brand marketers want to ring in the same message in response to every conversation and perhaps expect that every conversation converts into a sale. Sure, selling is their task. But selling is just one of the many conversations that can happen. You can't fill social media with just that kind of conversation. If you do, you become boring.

Stop. Repeat. Stop. Repeat.

Hitting the right spot on the first occasion is always desirable. But most of the things that we do, the simplest tasks, are a function of repetition. Brushing teeth, cycling, breathing while running, pushing up and so on...

How do we get the position of an entrepreneurial brand just right exactly on the day of the launch? Before the launch, do many such launches.

Anding & Butting

Earth is a big planet. And it has water. And it has vegetation. And it has fish. And it has humans. And it has volcanoes. And it has storms. And... And...

But it isn't the universe.

I read. And I write. And I workout. And I watch movies. And I listen to music. And I play drums. And I FB. And I want...

But there are only 24 hours. But I have only so much money.

There's no end to Anding. But there's always a significant But. For good, may be for bad. And it is that significant But that will force choices. And those choices and living with those choices will make or break us. Make or break brands. Make or break great stories.

Where's your Butt?

Sharad Pawars of business

I guess, if more politicians were accessible or if politicians were accessible more frequently, they would have very similar experiences.

If customers could find the top men of businesses, perhaps a lot of them would share the fate. In a country like ours, an unheard or unattended complaint is nothing but a slap which missed the target. If only marketers could appreciate this desperation and rage among consumers, and try to address that instead of releasing one 'beautiful' ad after another, instead of bothering about simply meeting targets and showing amazing numbers on the ppt, instead of worrying about shareholders' wealth every quarter.

How to treat your business?

That's an odd sort of question. I've been reading all through out my life that business is regarded as an  entity separate/distinct from its owner, even though the latter 'owns' it.

A part of many exercises geared towards defining brand identity, experts resort to personification of the brand. They attach 'values' to brands as if they are humans.

So the question: as an owner how would you treat your business if you perceive it to be your best friend?

You would be yourself.

You would go out of your way to help him if need be.

You would not mind waking up at odd hours to be with him.

You would not mind sacrificing for him.

You would make him feel great in your company.

You would think twice before you hurt him.

You would not even remotely think of exploiting him.

You would give time to listen to him.

You would wish him the best, no matter what state you are in.

You would help him with your time, money and heart.

So, how do you treat your business?

Talking is work

And I've been a late-latif in that.

If there is any good chance of convincing (for closing a sale) then that comes out of talking. As a grown-up :) I've been an extremely reluctant talker so far, probably coz I was reprimanded in school and at home for talking a lot during my childhood.

But I realize that once you've created a product, the only task that remains is talking and talking really well. Talking so well that the other person connects with you deeply and genuinely.

And the chances we get to talk are invaluable. I wonder what are we making out of it.

Who takes the decisions?

You learn by taking decisions.

You learn by solving problems.

On most occasions, decisions solve problems.

Who takes the decisions? Who is learning?