Consumercy

The Contextual Consumer

If you are busy painting for the customers who might walk in, you are'nt dry ready for the 'contextual consumers' who will walk in. howzzat? well, "simply because everything's contextual", says Consumercy.

"Client flu. meeting called off. no alternate assignment. friend called. 3pm. shopping and all. me free. bike, no car. took off early from office. overcast sky. still drove. began to rain..cats & dogs. started getting drenched. frantic search for shelter. all shops & streethouses closed (afternoon nap time). small tea stall with large tarpoline shed. drove under. waited.and waited. Many riders came in. Finally, began the queue for tea and hot crullers. dug in, me too!"

Had the chap planned for his regular customers who walk in at 5pm business hours, he would have missed the huge business he got at 3. All his customers at 3 were "contextual customers". All were there at that time not by plan, not by design, but by a string of contextual happenings.

Next time on, each of the riders under that tarpoline at 3(and their pals), would not hesitate to take a ride on an overcast day, because there's the man selling tea somewhere enroute, thoughtful enough to have plenty a shelter to provide.

Point: 1.Everything is contextual. In one way or the other. One event can lead to the other and the roll-over can translate to a sale. The question is are you there where and when it happens?

2. The tea guy was not 'selling tea and crullers'. He was providing shelter to rain-struck bikers. The thoughtfulness translated to sales. In a string of contextual events, is your service/fare a "final context in itself", to facilitate 'consumer docking' ?

And sometimes it's the happy customer you oughta be careful of!

There's this acquaintance of mine who probably forgot that he purchased his jerkin with me a while back. Good threads indeed. Maybe he remembered, but getting caught lying (by me) was a trade-off he was willing to take for not having anyone else wearing the same jacket. And so he told the other guy," Purchased it on one of my trips. Don't exactly remember where."

The shop sold one jacket less right there. And similarily perhaps many more.

In the scram to own something unique, consumers can sometimes prevaricate. You can't blame them for liking your stuff too much to not let anyone else have it! So what do you do?

Point: 1.Try to make exclusive items. Just one of a kind and no more. Consumers shall pay for it. Designers like Zara are a good example at that.

2. Referrals. Get consumers to be a part of it. And to do so, offer a gift that is exclusive in itself. Could be an inexpensive imitation, handicraft, memento...but none like it.

3. Create a fraternity programme around your product. But naturally it's in the interest of existing consumers to rope in more consumers to make the fraternity and therefore themselves prominent! The example that immediately hits the mind is Nike's Lance Armstrong- Live Strong Band

Sometimes the wall can be the happy consumer himself. The idea is not to go around him. But to take him in.

The Neon Light Theory

Two highway inns. Both with neon signs. The difference however is that one keeps it on at all times while the other flashes it 'off and on' every two seconds. Interestingly, while i skipped 'observing' the former, i read the latter.

The second motel got the attention and spent half on power consumption!

Point: To get consumer attention use the off-to-on theory. Before an important announcement, gig, launch let there be lull. The lull provides time to the consumer to regain steady state before you excite him again with your offering. Don't barge him with too many products, adverts, offers, announcements, songs/jingles that he cannot comprehend the true nature of the pitch that you intend to deliver. Space and time your fares such that each is recognizable and adressable.

Use blinkers while changing lanes and read this example, old but relevant.

get one a name

Your name getting mentioned is a nice feeling. Mentioned in propriety is rare and exceptional. What's interesting then is, how less emphasis is laid on this facet. In meetings, seminars, referrals, conversations, sales, group discussions, people almost tend to shy away from addressing anyone directly!

A few of my peers and superiors (and maybe yours) are of the belief that calling someone by name in a collective session is..well..improper. I say, addressing someone by name invidualizes the addressee, immediately marks him out. Others hear the name. He is suddenly known. He regains his identity previously misplaced amid the group. He seems a part of the direct conversation.

Everyone cherishes their name. That's the first thing they scribble when handed a pen and paper. That's the one thing that garners immediate stimuli. That's the one thing that carves a specific identity.

Point: Prior or in course of a session try to get names. Then, try to name out each attendee at least once. While throwing a query. Answering one. While citing an example. Give a person due respect. Do it by naming him. Do it by naming him correct. It shows he is taken note of. It shows he is recognized; Prospect, client, customer or peer.

DON'T please shy away. Trust me it's always proper.

Also: Thanks to Don (the IDEA GUY) for a smug name mention

just doing the so called job

"Were you happy with the pizza,Sir" asked the Pizza Corner customer relationship exec over the phone. "The Pizza was fine. But took almost an hour to be delivered"."Sorry Sir, but we don't 'penalize' our delivery boys". !..no make that !!!!...(conversation continues)...."And it would be great to have mustard sauce sachets with the delivery"..."sorry sir, we don't provide that"......

The question is, Why the hell did she call me up???? 92% of the customer care execs (or some such big chunk) around the globe are just making calls because it's their job..they get paid for it. And the norm demands it.

Perhaps they are not to be blamed at all. Each 'goodfornothing' CC interaction speaks of the organization turning human factor into miming cultists. And perhaps speaks of it's appraisal system resting on several such procedural calls and other routine'ry performed to the detail.

Point: The customer is the one step shop for ideas pertaining to consultancy, marketing, advertising, branding, you name it. Instead of paying loads to "accredited" professionals to do the same, appraise your CC execs based on how many customer's ideas they get in.

Marketeers say, 'satisfying every consumer is impossible'. Bullshit. For every mustard sauce delivery request processed, thousands of mustard loving consumers get satiated at one go! For every 'unpenalized' delivery boy, the system stays the same to irk thousands more.

Put a chair. Sit across 1 customer. Ask him what all will 'absolutely' quell him. The minutest of descriptions. 10 customers later you would have sufficed 10 million.

Also: Put the name and if possible the photograph of the consumers who suggested the changes, on your website or message-board . Let all else see & know that they are a part of the organization rehab procedure.

Let your CC-Execs know that they are out there fulfilling and facilitating a greater role than just bleating bromidic verses,than just doing their so called jobs.

air travail and another thought

Oh, yes almost skipped this one on my prior post on wishful thoughts. Last trip on Continental, I suddenly got a li'l itchy, the flight just having taken off. Could've been the seat-cover, the pillow, the food, the beverage, the toilet handle, the ear-plug. whatever. Such mischances don't just bother. What bothers is the lack of remedial measures.

The airlines hadn't stocked on anti-allergens. The question is, on the flight everyone is travelling and which traveller might not need an anti-allergen...and even if he didn't need it, wouldn't appreciate being supplied with it...just in case.

I see a huge chance to make a dent..graciously, in the minds of the consumer. An XYZ anti-allergen pharma co. signs a deal with the airline. Anti-allergen is provided to each passenger in the travel kit. Even if he does'nt use it, he sees the pharma brand again and again over his travels.

The airline gets tagged as being 'thoughtful'. The drug gets a recall value. The consumer travels minus dermal eruptions.

(little thoughts) i would like to see...

Product makers and marketeers lack instinct. And the senses to comprehend them. Now 'am into the business of getting paid making tons of presentations, proposals and reports, as consultants are. Whether one  likes it or not, one hasta do it on microsoft word or powerpoint. Whether microsoft likes it or not, I have clients not just in USA.

So I have 10 billion people who would like to read 'dispatch' as 'despatch'. And many more such words. And I'am bloody tired of MS spell check throwing up red underlines every time I type a word the un-American or the un-specified way! Everytime I toggle between Indo-American-British-Singapore-French english i need to keep on switching editors even though i know what i'am typing. Why not make it intelligent enough to accept words as correct in either languages rather than manually specify it or having to set it as default?

Talking of mindless marketing, why not have 'sniff-pads' pasted on each perfume-deo canister or bottle for people to get their sniff not having to tamper with the seal or empty up 'tester-samples', or put up with fake-smile reps.

Favorite marketing jag is the " 'footfalls'-turning-to-sales" maxim. hyuk-hyuk.

No, not company or product logos please. The wearer does'nt wanna look like your brand hawker. Captions, quips, graffitis that echo your brand ethos and so does the wearer's are welcome. Have' em on your t-shirts, bags, mugs, shopping bags etc and let the watched and the watcher be enticed to uncover your brand.

Point.Try to emulate the consumer's instinct, his first reaction to your offering. Don't let it drown in too many brains, storms, meetings and plans. What does your own consumer's instinct say.Good? take it up. Don't think 'for' them.Think 'like' them.

Permalink to a previous wishlist.

be spruced up or be suitable

You alter yourself to suit the suit. Natty dressing not just stilts everyone's expectations of you, but yours from yourself. Decked in Armani, you can't bargain, scratch your crotch or eat mustard oozing hot-dogs.

Clothes leave an impression. That can't be helped. Good or bad, is well your call. I personally have a set of 'on-shopping' clothing. Worn out jeans, spoiler cuff shirts, t-shirts, hipsters, sneakers, casio pro-trek, et'al.  Leaves a sad impression. And mind you, that's swell.

If you are moderately sane, moderately loaded and moderately narcissistic you don't want 'em sales gals and guys to be flocking you, trying to make the costliest pitches to you, diverting you to Abercrombies and Versace's,  gazexamining you hair to heel.

But for the store camera's extra-timing you, you can enjoy un-intrusive shopping. Suits me.

Point. Clothes are essential. As a seller or a consumer. As a consumer, one who likes being serviced or one who loathes prodding. Conducive-clothing helps, depending on which part you are out to play.

from the outside, looking in

33 brokers, 7 localities, over a hundred streets and definitely a couple of hundred miles later i'am yet shelterless. I'am out house hunting and it's over two weeks. Started with a moderate budget which is now inflated to the point  my cousins would envy. Only if I could get a house i could love to show-off.

I'am at a point, which perhaps many of us as consumers have visited. One wherein, we are out to purchase a 'love-at-first-sight-product'. We are willing to spend. And there indeed are a lot of products available to  siphon you out of that cash.... but none worth it.

The problem is a demand-supply heuristic that plays against the consumer. Necessities(as a house in my case), ought to be procured. Demand far outweighs the supply. And while prices are high, the supplier can slip by providing a kitchen with an attached bathroom. Ergonomics, architecture, quality is passable.

From the consumer's perspective, for everything purchasable there exists something better for a marginally higher price which another consumer is willing to pay. So you raise your bar..marginally. Few bars later you choke yourself. And you still don't have a house you love!

House owners stay in beautiful houses. What they however construct for tenants is not a house but a shelter to satiate nature's various calls. The same lopsidedness is vehement in most product and service streams. Ultimately, I as a consumer 'am frustrated. Come to think, all I wanted was to pay good for what's good.

One needs to ask oneself, whether the product he delivers on the fringe is the same he would love to possess/use as a consumer. An elementary self-check as this, is enough to bridge the manufacturer(marketeer)-consumer divide. Done this, where's the need for Kotler'ish marketing brouhaha and the works!

Can consumers be good marketeers? or shall they too cease to see the other man's perspective when they are that? can abiding citizens be good politicians, or just being a politician warps one to be the loathsome being that he is. Can one ever know for sure? After all, prior MBA's these very same people were suffering consumers ranting on supply-demand heuristics, marketing muck and thereof.

On High Collar Business Schooling

Interesting how MBA's from distant lands think alike on certain matters. Me, more like from here, and well Seth from far far away.

A write-up that got published the year before last and Seth's recent post.

Nonetheless, ideas become verdicts when they gather census.

Or, simply click below to read the stuff.

Download Learning_By_Degrees.pdf