How to lose a customer.

As marketeers, we need to understand consumer behavior better and treat the consumer's interest with patience, especially online. Today a consumer who shows interest by clicking on an ad is immediately taken to a microsite that attempts to capture his contact details in excruciating & unnecessary depth. This is the first put-off point. Not all customers are happy sharing personal details. The customer is further harried by an irritating OTP mechanism that tries to verify his details are accurate. If he hasn't lost all interest by then, a pop-up window asks to chat, once again seeking information. All this for a customer who perhaps just wanted a quick summary of what's on offer. But the consumer's ordeal is far from over. S/He is then hounded by call-center and sales people who keep asking and repeating the very same questions! After a fortnight of hounding all contact stops! The consumer is forgotten, no updates are sent to him, nothing to remind him, to keep his interest perked. He's simply forgotten. This process is ABSOLUTELY HARMFUL to the brand-consumer relationship. Marketeers must review this process immediately. DO NOT leave this to your digital agencies who're thoughtlessly slapping an ancient template onto your precious and costly consumer-engagement process.

Heroes and Leaders

Interesting analogy between Indian mythological characters and leadership styles: 1. The right-action driven leader -The Rama leader: Never takes a decision that is unethical or could cause harm or damage. Even if it means enduring losses. Values societal good over everything else. 2. The objectively-clear coach. The Krishna leader: Extremely clear on purpose and objective and ruthless in its pursuit. Marked by a team of extremely diverse and talented CEO's who head verticals, all of which are market leaders. 3. The flawed-great. The Ravana leader: Builder of conglomerates that are fundamentally anti-life. Everything else about them is as remarkable as the Rama leader, however the biggest problem is their denial that what they produce is harmful to Earth, nature and life. 4. The Negative loyalist. The Duryodhana leader: They create the greatest challenger brands. This leader inspires tremendous personal loyalty. Such companies often resort to fraudulent means to win and get caught. A pity for the companies could have been great if not driven by the negative trait. 5. The invisibles. The Bhishma Leader. Rarely heard or seen. Often unknown. These leaders build great companies under the shadows of big names and then quietly fade into oblivion.