The Hindu Business Line : Horse sense can only come by walking the markets

Success does not come merely with hard work; you’d need to determine the supporting and final goals, says Satish Mehta in Marketing to Win ( www.pearsoned.co.in).

“For a marketing man, the final goal would be to increase the total demand by, say, 20 per cent and the supporting goals would be to enlarge the distribution network by 50 per cent, penetration level by 15 per cent, retail inventories by 5 per cent and impact of rev up advertising and promotions by 25 per cent,” he explains. To him, these goals, both final and subsidiary, are like guiding beacons. “In the next step, I would flesh out the plan with the details of actual activities, events, advertising and promotional materials and, last but not the least, assemble human resources and their clearly marked-out responsibilities,” adds Mehta. Do not go ahead with any project on the basis of the swim or sink principle, he cautions. “Such an attitude manifests a lazy mind and leads to taking uncalculated risks.” Instead, collect all the available information about a particular project and then develop several scenarios of different risk levels, the author instructs. “To wannabe marketers, Mehta’s counsel may sound olfactory: “Sniff the market and develop a feel for its emerging trends.” The knowledge of marketing theory, its strategy and tactics is very useful in many ways, he concedes, “but this kind of horse sense can only come by walking the markets, as a practice.”

Powerful puffs of wisdom from the ex-ITC marketing director.

Focus on vital behaviours

Influencer
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

The common thread running through most of the triumphs and tragedies of our lives is our ability to exert influence, says a new book titled Influencer ( www.tatamcgrawhill.com). “Fo r instance, every time we tried to exert influence over others with a few well-chosen words and nothing happened, we’d stop talking and try something new,” bemoan the authors, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler. “Instead of owing up to our responsibility of becoming effective agents of change and then going about the task of improving our influence repertoire (much like an athlete running laps or a chess player learning moves), we grumble, threaten, ridicule, and, more often than not, find ways to cope.”

We can become powerful influencers, avers the book on ‘the power to change anything.’ The panacea lies in simply expanding our self-image by seeing ourselves as influencers and also learning the strategies that influence masters have been implementing. Influence geniuses focus on behaviours, informs a chapter on ‘vital behaviours’.

Even the most pervasive problems will often yield to changes in a handful of high-leverage behaviours, the authors guide. “Find these, and you’ve found the beginning of influence.”

For instance, use praise instead of punishment. “Top performers reward positive performance far more frequently than their counterparts…” Another vital behaviour is to alternate between teaching and questioning, or otherwise testing, to make immediate corrections. “Poor performers drone on for a long time and then let the students struggle, often leaving students to repeat the same errors.”

Positively influential read.

D. Murali

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com