Diwali!! :-)

Flowers in the Garden await the Light to bring life,
Bees & Birds alike await the Light to bring joy,
How beautiful is this arrangement,
Nature calls light & light Obliges,
Of the many miracles this is the one that everyone shares equally.

To cherish & to share the celebration of light,
To bring prosperity and light of knowledge,
For those who are a little less fortunate,
For those who are blessed,
Let there be blessing like the light, Miracle that everyone shares equally.

May all your wishes and prayers come true this Diwali. Let there be Light all over

Marketing Vs Sales Or Is it?

Marketing Drives Sales and Sales Create the need for Marketing.

An effective marketing campaign leads to a good sale and a good sale results into an excellent Marketing success. I am sure all of us have heard this before. I threw this into a discussion forum on LinkedIn. I throughly enjoyed the response it was truly amaging to learn from so many learned people out there. In this post I am just trying to sum up some of the thoughts from our discussion though I am sure that there will be many more additions to it and I wont want to miss out on any. (I am just so excited to see the response from the people I could not stop myself)

"Imagine a battlefield. Marketing is your Air force i.e. it does carpet bombing but in a targeted location and Sales is your Infantry...you cannot claim to have captured the location until your infantry goes in and secures the location on-the-ground. " - Manish D Marketing Manager Nokia.

I like what Manish had to say simply because it makes me feel like a martyr saving my company, I save 100s of jobs in my company by my performance and even that of the Marketing guys..hahaha...But no really this is cool isnt it??

Jacob Rene Gabriel, AVP Yes Bank says and I quote

1. "Grab attention.
2. Hold Interest.
3. Create desire.
4. Elicit action.
   Of the steps mentioned above...marketings job is the first three.the fourth step is sales. "
   

I think this is what we always do whether we are selling or not. In our day to day chores as well. But yes functionally as the two departments this is exactly what i would like to see.

"A great marketing campaign drives business to the door, however, if you don't have a sales bulldog to meet that lead, the marketing is worthless." says Seth Dudley, VP Business Development Senior Living Residences.

"There is no competition, or one or the other. The business strategy must determine which is the best approach to both get new clients and satisfy existing ones. " - Mike Driver, Corporate Change CRM.

Steve Smith, a Small Business Expert elaborates this in the most beautiful manner one can ask for. Steve if you read this blog ever, I truly truly loved your view..

"All too often, the set-up and objectives of the marketing department and the sales force are diametrically opposed. Marketing is usually tasked with developing the market's potential with new products, advertising, promotions, etc. while the sales force is supposed to develop the client relationship and convince them to buy what marketing has developed. That traditional relationship has some big holes in it. While marketing is focused on a particular demographic, consumer base or trade channel, sales is focused on individual clients within those designated channels. Frequently, it's a matter of understanding who the customer really is. As an example, many consumer goods companies will have their marketing teams focus their efforts on the end purchasing consumer- makes a lot of sense. The sales team, however, is focused on the retailers or distributors that make their product available to the consumer. What works 'for' the consumer doesn't always work 'with' the retailer. If you've ever called on Walmart, you now that many manufacturers will have completely different marketing teams and plans for Walmart as they have for the rest of the market. And if Walmart is a big enough customer to that manufacturer, there may not be a marketing plan for the rest of the market.

All this means that sales and marketing should be strategically align. Sales is in position to gain the customer's business because they have their finger on the pulse of that customer's decision making process. This is something marketing rarely can accomplish. Marketing on the other hand, has to develop products or services that sales can actually sell becuase they mean something to the client being served. Without this kind of working relationship, many companies begin entertaining the notion of trading the players as a means of improving the alignment. In the few situations I have been involved in, the solution was to create a liason positon between sales and marketing. This position works with internal marketing but spoke from a sales perspective. This way, you end up with a marketing team that has a real world understanding of what sales needs to advance the company's market share position or generate new streams of revenue. Not an easy task, but one that plugs the biggest hole between sales and marketing- no communication about what's working."

"Marketing is where the rubber meets the sky and sales is where the rubber meets the road." - Becky Guillory, Principal at Kris and Company.

My two cents from all of this an Ideal world is where there are no challenges and real world is where we all live and breathe to set and see new challenges. We are talking about Sales and Marketing which are like sisters but often fail to behave like one. From an Owner to an Individual Contributor, from a Supply to a demand, everything has a scope to better than what it is. Atleast I like to believe so and I am sure many would like to agree.

Marketing Vs Sales!! LinkedIn Discussion

72 hrs & Gone!!

What started a year ago came to a grinding halt. On 15th my Grand Father who was suffering from Blood Cancer breath his last on 16th October, 08 at a hospital in Faridabad close to New Delhi.

Some where deep down I had a feeling that he wont make it. I could have never shared this feeling with anyone but I was hoping and praying that my thoughts were rubbish. On Thursday, 16th October, 08 I was in office working through the day when my Mom asked me to book the first possible flight and come. It was a rude realisation of the fact that life does not give you time to prepare. I know this for a fact as this is not the first experience with life leaving a beloved. Last time it was a friend this time it was a saint of a man, my grandpa, we all called him "Babuji". Everytime you sit close to him he would be pampering you with sweet talk, soothing hands, he could not stop himself from loving his grand children. I am blessed with the fact that I was the oldest Grandson and so enjoyed undivided attention from my grandpa for most part of my childhood.

I was sitting at the Airport waiting for my turn to board the flight and my heart pounding with emotions and pain. I get the news of him passing away and I am stranded alone in a crowded airport crying. The eyes and noise around me was unbearable. I wanted to burst out but just could not. I was hours away from him and yet could not make it. I feel sad and disheartened.

I reach Delhi let in the night and after returning home meet people like me heart shattered and sad but trying their best not to show any emotion and give strength to each other. The following morning had a lot of things. The cremation was to be performed in Brindavan, the place of Lord Krishna, on the banks of the river Yamuna. We all reached there and I saw him in front of him after waiting for almost 72 hrs and I could not stop it felt like a hard blow with a hammer on my heart. His quite and sweet face looked at peace and in a deep sleep. I was hoping he would wake up and hug me anytime but he didnt. His body was cold and stiff.

I have been in that man's arm and walked holding his hands for God alone knows how many scary paths today I have to carry him on my shoulder the last time for the longest journey and unlike him I cant even make sure that the roads are safe and nice for me to walk. I have to leave him and come and start picking up things from where i left. He would be alone I still have a lot of people. I dont know what to say and how it feels. Tears are certainly no comfort yet I feel like crying ..........

I would always miss him ........babuji..........

Quote of the Day

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

George Orwell (1903 - 1950)

Have You Ever Been An Exception

Have you ever been an Exception??

Before I get into the topic I thought let me search for the word Exception in the dictionary. Here is how it has been explained on dictionary.com

1. The act of excepting or the fact of being excepted.
2. Something excepted; an instance or case not conforming to the general rule.
3. An adverse criticism, esp. on a particular point; opposition of opinion; objection; demurral: a statement liable to exception.
4. In Law. a. An objection, as to a ruling of the court in the course of a trial. b. A notation that an objection is preserved for purposes of appeal: saving an exception1.

We all live in societies where there are set best practices and rules. Every time there is been a deviation from the norms there has been an imbalance and a lot of turbulence during that time. From Galileo to Gandhi exception have always made life for the people living by the rules very difficult. While they were greats with unimaginable determination and believe in what they said and did, there are many such small instances in our life when even a small exception is treated with utmost severity. To highlight my thought let me take some examples.

If you are from a society where everyone in the neighbor hood is a Vegetarian and you are the only one who is a non-Vegetarian you owe a lot of explanation or hiding or face moral guilt forced on you by people who dont eat. There is very little acceptance though on the face of it we show that its ok its his choice the very fact that one has to explain his act shows how intolerable we are to an exception. In any and every exception one has to be prepared for a set of explanations if he wishes to continue living with the same set of people. There are always choices.

It is so easy to live without anyone challenging your decision, rules and belief but when someone challenges that very decision and belief you feel weak and helpless. Here by "your" I mean society. How does the society deal with that it bitches about the exception, punishes it and even emotionally drains the person responsible for it. Well you might say nothing is fair and people are not run by logic but by rules, rules of the society. After all it is this very society that keeps things together and going whenever there has been storm. There is tremendous amount of energy behind the force and if you have to be an exception you really have to be very sure and strong to face it. It will not be easy, society before you or you before the society.

Have you ever been an exception??

It would be very enriching and nice to learn even about the smallest exception that you have made whether it was for your own selfish needs or whether it was as great as being a Gandhi. How does one deal with breaking away and setting an example or taking a risk....