Deserve Before You Desire

The grass isn't always greener on the other side!! Move from one job to
another, but only for the right reasons.

It's yet another day at office. As I logged on to the marketing and
advertising sites for the latest updates, as usual, I found the headlines
dominated by 'who's moving from one company to another after a short stint', and I wondered, why are so many people leaving one job for another? Is it pass now to work with just one company for a sufficiently long period?

Whenever I ask this question to people who leave a company, the answers I
get are: "Oh, I am getting a 200% hike in salary"; "Well, I am jumping 3
levels in my designation"; "Well, they are going to send me abroad in 6 months".

Then, I look around at all the people who are considered successful today
and who have reached the top- be it a media agency, an advertising agency
or a company. I find that most of these people are the ones who have stuck
to the company, ground their heels and worked their way to the top. And, as I look around for people who changed their jobs constantly, I find they have stagnated at some level, in obscurity!

In this absolutely ruthless, dynamic and competitive environment, there are
still no short-cuts to success or to making money. The only thing that
continues to pay, as earlier, is loyalty and hard work. Yes, it pays!

Sometimes, immediately, sometimes after a lot of time. But, it does pay. Does this mean that one should stick to an organization and wait for that golden moment? Of course not. After a long stint, there always comes a time for moving in most organizations, but it is important to move for the right reasons, rather than superficial ones, like money, designation or an overseas trip. Remember, no company recruits for charity.

More often than not, when you are offered an unseemly hike in salary or designation that is disproportionate to what that company offers it current employees, there is always an unseen bait attached. The result? You will, in the long-term, have reached exactl y the same levels or maybe lower levels than what you would have in your current company.

A lot of people leave an organization because they are "unhappy". What is this so-called-unhappiness? I have been working for donkey's years and there has never been a day when I am not unhappy about something in my work environment-boss, rude colleague, fussy clients etc.

Unhappiness in a workplace, to a large extent, is transient. If you look hard enough, there is always something to be unhappy about. But, more importantly, do I come to work to be "happy" in the truest sense? If I think hard, the answer is "No".

Happiness is something you find with family, friends, may be a close circle of colleagues who have become friends.

What you come to work for is to earn, build a reputation, satisfy your ambitions, be appreciated for your work ethics, face challenges and get the job done.

So, the next time you are tempted to move, ask yourself why are you moving and what are you moving into?

Some questions are: * Am I ready and capable of handling the new responsibility? If yes, what could be the possible reasons my current company has not offered me the same responsibility?

* Who are the people who currently handle this responsibility in the current and new company? Am I as good as the best among them?

* As the new job offer has a different profile, why have I not given the current company the option to offer me this profile?

* Why is the new company offering me the job? Do they want me for my skills, or is there an ulterior motive?

An honest answer to these will eventually decide where you go in your career- to the top of the pile in the long term (at the cost of short-term blips) or to become another average employee who gets lost with time in the wilderness?

[Contributed by Dr. Gopalkrishnan, Chairman TATA Sons]

Consumer Intimacy

16th Market Research Works seminar provided excellent insights on how effectively market research can be used to identify consumer needs, developing marketing mix & building customer loyalty by innovating on existing research models & theories. Seminar, organized by Market Research Society of India delved deeply into different marketing problems & situations with case studies presented by many of its speakers during different sessions.

-- Session 1 – Identifying Consumer Needs --

Exploring emerging niches in traditional landscape- The paper helps in understanding & comparing the purchase dynamics of decision-making in home delivery format other than the regular retail environment. In recent times, the retail landscape has seen growth of modern trade hence we see increased spending to improve in shop visibility making physical shopping space cornerstone of strategy to reach consumers which indeed is a departure from what is happening globally where consumers are trusting and using virtual shopping place more.

Understanding Consumer Needs- Jewellary as a category is well entrenched in Indian market but diamonds have very low acquisition rates primarily due the perception that they are extremely desirable but expensive & out of reach. Hence, a market research was performed for DTC so as to identify key triggers, which will convert desirability into acquisition also to segment the market & identify need gap so as to help drive the category growth. It was learnt that diamond jewellary purchase is not a rational purchase hence a need to understand unexpressed needs for which existing research models are ineffective & hence implicit research used.

How cultural notions of safety and risk influence attitudes to Financial products- Indian decision-making is highly unpredictable & finding answers to these contradictions will propel transformational growth. This research tries to understand the psychological triggers to safety seeking & risk taking behavior. Outcome of research will be helpful not only in financial category but also other business wherein propositions are managing risk or marketing safety.

-- Session 2 – Developing Market Mix --

Ad pre test with a difference- Ad pre testing is controversial area of Market Research particularly when the campaign is in conceptual stage. In this particular case, research was designed to replicate the manner in which Hoodibaba campaign would be broken to public in reality for client Bajaj Caliber. There was creative use of stimulus & analysis that placed high emphasis on body language & tonal excitement levels apart from verbal articulations. This resulted in giving extremely accurate estimate of how public would receive the campaign.

Greeting Card Design Evaluation- Research in Greeting card category is a unique challenge, primarily due to very low brand impact, product involvement restricted to purchase situation, heavy clutter & occasion specific nature. Due to all these considerations a mock shop was setup and total analysis was made on various objective & subjective parameters as well as pick up & final conversion were also recorded, which ultimately helped the client in increasing its range of cards as well as become the number 2 player in category.

Developing a Mix– Communication- ‘Boost’ was a highly advertised brand with well-defined positioning. For its re-launch positioning was not to change and hence within the current brand canvas communication had to be developed which had enhanced impact & stronger viewer connect. Thus a key challenge here was dimensionalizing emotional spaces so as to capture discontinuous emotions, which can be key to any communication. Thus study used metaphors to recreate children’s emotional world of sports. This helped in encapsulating insights into how different emotions are actually experienced by the consumer.

-- Session 3 – Cutting Edge Research --

Guiding Pricing decisions for Repertoire Markets- In case of Repertoire markets, where consumers necessarily don’t buy single product or brand regular pricing techniques seem inadequate hence a model was developed by extensive research for 3 product categories & research also helped in establishing the efficacy of the proposed pricing model in measuring the price sensitivity.
Cultural understanding of South India- Southern India happens to be huge market for most of the brand in India, but advertising always have had a dismal performance down south, primarily because the advertising fraternity worked on the premise that citizens who pledge single identity must also be consumer with single insight, which is not the case. Hence to understand this culture a different kind of methodology was undertaken wherein experts on culture, literature, cinema, media, communication & marketing were interviewed & also the kind of media South Indians consumed was analyzed. Above research revealed insights into the psyche of South Indian consumer wherein it was understood that they are extra cautious, risk averse, resistant to quick change, paid extra attention to details & also they are very sensitive to concept of caste.

Trance– Forming Research- All researches, however scientifically modeled are distant from the real consumer as there as aspects of his life which, either he is unwilling to share & some aspect he is unable to share as they are either repressed or forgotten. This paper delved into the modalities of using hypnosis as a tool to create conducive setting for consumers to express their innermost thoughts thereby revealing their sub-conscious motives, drivers & influences. This research was extremely useful in terms of quality of information & in process of eliciting this information.

-- Session 4– Reaching Out --

Are News consumers Culture Vultures?- Star News wanted to launch a Bengali news channel & wanted it to be positioned distinctly. For this purpose understanding & identifying cultural links was critical. A 2-phased research was conceptualized wherein cultural nuance were studied & validated by the viewer interviews. In the process it was revealed that viewers were not getting what they wanted to see and hence suggestions of content, tonality & look & feel of channel were suggested to Star News.

-- Session 5– Building Customer loyalty --

How customized Equity model helped launch a successful variant- Brand Equity Model (BEM) was effectively customized for cigarette category, which measured strengths & weaknesses of brands. Research revealed competition’s pull amongst brand ‘A’ smokers was high due to taste & strength difference. Thus the declining sales of brand ‘A’ were improved after suggestions of changing the product perceptions by changing look & feel of brand were incorporated.

Consumer Intimacy– How does research help- EBAY India wanted to segment sellers & also understand inflection points for successful sellers so as to tailor their marketing activities to the stage at which seller is. For this 2-pronged approach was adopted, which included analysis of transactional data, primary research. Analysis of transactional data revealed segments based upon product usage & selling behavior. These segments were then researched thru primary research to understand their attitudes & motives, which helped in customizing the marketing plan.

Research to provide cues for enhancing Sales performance- Motorola’s C131 offered with telecom service was under performing in comparison to Nokia’s 2280. Research was undertaken to understand triggers & barriers of purchase & role played by retailer in the whole process. To get complete picture modular approach was adopted, as it was critical to understand consumer & retailer segment. Analysis revealed TG bought mobiles for 2 reasons Functional & Status. Also analysis of purchase process revealed C131 buyers looked for cheapest mobile & N2280 buyers had a budget of 3–3.5 K. Thus it was suggested that C131 establishes some differentiating parameters for itself by increasing the price differential. The suggestion implemented, sales increased 3–4 times.

Relationship Enrichment- Understanding Woman and Man

Dr. John Gray

* Differences between Men and Women are universal. Women all over world complain that “He doesn’t understand”. “He doesn’t listen”. “Only time he touches me is when he wants sex”. And men all over world complain that “She doesn’t want to have enough of sex.” (Unless the woman is around 37 years. At this magical age women want more of sex than ever before.)

* Women like affection from men much more than sex. They want to be hugged.

* Men like to be logical. Women like to share and talk even if there is no point in their sharing and talking. Men need to have an objective. They need to see the point in doing something. They can’t share for the sake of sharing.

* Men tend to do one thing at a time. Women do many things at a time. Men have a tunnel vision. 95% of their attention is focused on just one thing and 5% on checking of the environment. Women are just opposite. They are continuously taking in everything that there is in environment whether it is useful or not.

* One day, my wife asking me to get some milk while coming home from work. I forgot. She considerately puts it down to my thinking of work. She asks me again. Again I forgot. She takes it personally. It’s not that the milk was forgotten but that she was forgotten. Women behave in this manner.

* Men have their own caves on which the sign states “Please do not disturb.” Men like to retreat into their own world where they feel they are in control. Women also have caves but the sign on their caves is “I need to talk”. When a man asks a woman what’s wrong and she says “Nothing” it really means “Nothing, unless you care to listen and give me an opportunity to talk.”

* 90% of women go into therapy because they want to be listened to. They want to be asked questions. They want to feel special. Men hate to be questioned. If men want to talk they’ll talk. If they don’t want to talk they won’t. When a man is locked in his cave, the woman thinks that something is wrong with him and goes in and asks questions. This is a wrong move for the woman to make. Men hate to be interrogated.

* When a woman touches a man she may want to be cuddled. But for a man anywhere he is touched leads to Rome and he thinks therefore that it has to lead to sex.

* Men want to forget the problems of the day. Women want to remember. A man will say “Forget it, it’s no big deal.” For a woman she will not rest till the problem is talked about. Her response to the man, who wants to just forget about it and not make a big deal out of it, will be “How can you be so insensitive.”

* Men should never tell a woman how she should feel. In fact if she is unhappy, the man needs to be unhappy with her for a while instead of offering advice.

* If the man is at a loss for saying anything when the woman is feeling bad then instead of offering advice he could build her up a bit by saying “I know how much you work during day to make kids and myself feel happy. It must be very exhausting.” Her unconscious response would be “He understands.” The woman craves for understanding.

* Women make noises to get attention. Men make noises to signal “Please leave me alone.”

* To cope with stress, sometimes, women while speaking tend to speak in long sentences and then pause. Men think that the pause is a signal for saying something. Wrong. For woman the pause is just a semi-colon. Men need to restrain themselves in giving advice.

* When a woman is upset and a man tries to give a solution, 99% of the time her response will be “Yes….but”. When she is relaxed then give the solution. After she has been given the opportunity to talk about it.

* If a man tries to walk in a woman’s shoes, she will be more willing to understand his point of view. Men tend to expect women to agree with their point of view because they feel it is obviously the best point of view.

* Men are efficiency oriented. Must do it the easiest and fastest way. Women, on the other hand, feel that taking the shortest path between 2 points is boring. Women like variation. This is especially true in bedroom. Men go by same formula every time while women want variation. Men like uniforms and the same uniform. Men look good in a tuxedo or a suit and that’s it. Every time the same tuxedo or suit. Women like to change their dress; sometimes thrice or even more times in a day.

* When my book ‘Men are from Mars, Women from Venus’ was on the bestseller list for 6 years in a row, I realized how narrowly focused in life I had become. I only gloated about my book being no.1 on bestseller list. I were missing the little things of life where my wife and children were concerned. Women are able to see the little things in life and be happy.

* The more narrow the focus of a man the more stressed he is bound to get. He can’t notice anything else other than what he is focusing on at that moment. Women deal with lots of problems at the same time and the way they cope is to talk about them.

* Men use their brain sequentially viz. one part at a time. Where women are concerned it is usually the whole brain at once.

* Women lower stress through talking and sharing. The collectiveness and togetherness which they share is part of their feminity. Men lower their stress by being alone. Women’s attitude is that if we can’t do anything about it then let’s talk about it and suffer together. Men’s focus is on solving the problem. And if they can’t solve the problem then they make the problem disappear by forgetting about it.

* Men always want to be right.

* Women, unknowingly sabotage their success. They put themselves down because they want support. Women bond by putting themselves down. For example if one is late for a particular function in the office, the woman will say what an imbecile she is by not catching the right train or missing the connection because of some stupid mistake she made and so on. And other women who are also late will do the same.

* Or if a woman is having a problem with computer, she will call the so called expert from computer department and tell him that she doesn’t know anything about computers and that she is very happy that he has come to her rescue and thereby push the guy way up there. But when he suggests a solution which she tends to disagree with, she doesn’t know how to tell him because if she does it, it makes him come crashing down and he reacts by saying that she has wasted his time. In this case one needs to resort to face saving devices like ‘whatever you have suggested will I am sure help me to figure it out (even if you see no utility in suggestion).

* As women more and more enter into the workplace their need to being listened to and understood is not being met. The workplace is efficiency oriented. They are becoming more and more isolated. They have to raise their children alone. Unseen and unheard. And this is causing them to go more and more into depression. Man focuses on work no matter what the problems are that are being experienced at home.

* Man is efficiency oriented. He needs to feel needed. He needs problems to be solved. If there are no job opportunities or there is no effort called for to do something then the man feels depressed.

* When women feel nurtured they feel happy. They are happy with the small things of life. Man likes to measure himself against the goal he has set for himself. Men behave like squirrels. They focus on one thing, dash towards it and once they reach there then they turn their focus on another thing and make a dash there and so on and so forth.

* Men see news on TV especially after coming home, because the problems they hear about and see make their problems seem that much smaller.

* The truth is I deserve to be the way I am. I need not be bothered to be perfect in order to be loved. Once one lives in an atmosphere of perfect trust the more authentic one becomes, and the more authentic one becomes the more irresistible one becomes. The closer we are to who we truly are the more people will love us. There will always be people who do not love us.

* Forgiveness is the key. If someone hurts then one needn’t hurt back. As Gandhi said, An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

* Women give more. Men want to get more.

* Women want flowers to be purchased by men. And they should be cut-flowers. So that the flowers die and therefore the men have to go out and purchase them again and again. They do not want the romance to go out of relationship. Men, on other hand feel that if they have done it once there is no necessity to do it again and again. But women want things and messages to be repeated again and again.

* Women sometimes give hints viz. On Sunday, they will mention that they are getting their hair cut on Thursday. This is to be taken as a warning signal. The hair cut must be noticed. If a woman has to ask how she looks after she has had a hair cut then there is no value placed on the man’s comment. It has to be noticed without being asked. Women put in much more effort in looking good. Men put in more effort in their work.

* Man wants to be appreciated. Woman wants to be listened to and noticed. Men stress more on what they do while women stress more on their being.

* Men think that by being flexible they are Mr. Agreeable and that is appreciated by women. Really speaking women want men to take charge and suggest something which they agree on. Mr. Agreeable is boring. Ideal metaphor is to have a man with a plan and a woman with a smile.

* Sometimes, woman feels that she does everything according to what the man wants. At this point it is necessary for the woman to say “I’ll do it this time your way but next time we’ll do what I want.”

* Women are always keeping score in a relationship viz. When a woman does anything for a man she always gives herself a point. Men keep score in business. Men need to keep score in a relationship too. They need to do something for woman so that they too score points from woman’s point of view.

* At work, man’s perspective is not to unnecessarily interfere. A man feels that if he doesn’t ask then he is giving total freedom to the woman. But a woman who is a subordinate wants to be asked about her work because silence is taken to mean ‘non-involvement’.

* Women like small stuff. Chit-Chat. Occasionally ask some personal questions. Magic words are ‘What else?’

* To free a man, woman needs to say ‘You don’t need to say or do anything and you don’t need to feel bad.’

* Listening creates healing.

* Women by nature give. But when they find that they are not getting anything in return they need to give to themselves. Men have no problem in giving to themselves. Men don’t give enough to others.

* Men prefer women managers while they learn the job. After learning the job they prefer a male manager.

* Men sprint faster. Women win the long distance.

* In men testosterone lowers stress. In women, oxytocin lowers stress. Affection, considerateness, being noticed is what produces oxytocin in women. Therefore men need to learn new skills to produce oxytocin in women. Foreplay is more important for a woman than a man. A woman needs 20-30 minutes of stimulation. A man needs just 2-3 minutes.

* Women want sensitive men but the danger is that if men become too sensitive then women don’t like it. They want men to be considerate but not to be too sensitive just like them..

* Don’t try to fix or change your partner.

* When husband and wife are business partners then there needs to be clear rules. There needs to be a clear demarcated time when no business is talked about.

* Duty is important but being authentic is more important.

* Women can be compared metaphorically to the moon. When moon is full, women crave for sex. When it is half-full, a woman can have it not have it, it doesn't matter, and when it is a new moon she couldn’t care less.

* There are different types of sex viz. Healthy, home cooked sex, Ferrari, junk food sex, and Gourmet sex. Once a month one could have Gourmet sex which means bringing in romance by going out for a dinner and coming home to an atmosphere which slowly climaxes. Whenever he wants sex, and it is a quickie then give it to him. Provided on other occasions there is good, regular homemade sex. In order to arrive at a meaningful understanding one could have 3 candles signifying the 3 types of sex. Either partner finds it very difficult to know the real mood of the other. Depending on which candle is lit and by whom one can behave accordingly. The candle becomes the sign of the mood.