5 Word MBA: For Sustainable Business Growth

Most businesses are founded by some expert/s in a particular area who have a product or service idea that they feel will have enough demand in the market to convert it into a growing and sustainable business.

Though they may be experts in their own areas, where many fail is to actually get enough customers on a sustainable basis. Here is a short article that describes 5 words business owners need to be aware of to drive sustainable growth in their businesses ... a 5 Word MBA!

Let us now look at each of these individually ...

“The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.” ―?Mahatma Gandhi

Most of our purchases, and those of our clients are driven by a greed for something - some tangible or intangible value that is sought from the purchase - like - pleasure, happiness, convenience, new capability, additional abilities, better, faster, cheaper, confidence - something that the makes the buyers feel good about themselves.

The value or benefit could be real or even perceived.

Examples could be as wide as an investor buying a mid-cap or micro-cap mutual fund scheme with the hope that this will lead to wealth creation in the long term, or a youngster buying a particular cola brand with the expectation of feeling brave and/or conveying a macho image by drinking that particular cola.

Some great positioning mesages in the Indian market where the product is sold by positioning it on GREED of sorts are as follows:

Thums Up: "Taste The Thunder" tag line along with the associated advertisement videos and images create a self image of an energetic go-getter in the minds of the consumer.

Mountain Dew: "Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai" (beyond fear lies victory). The tagline and the associated promos create the self image of being fearless and gutsy in overcoming challenges and obstacles.

Kit Kat: "Have a Break - Have a Kit Kat". The positioning here is of deriving relaxation by eating a Kit Kat during a well deserved break.

What GREED in your target customer segments is your communication addressing to motivate them to buy your product or service?

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”― Plato.

Fear is believed to be a stronger motivator than greed. There is a story about a rabbit being chased by a fox early in the morning. When the fox was tired and gave up the chase, it asked the rabbit from a distance, how it could out-run the fox though it was so small. The rabbit replied - "My friend, you are running for your breakfast while I am running for my life".

Leaving aside the humor, we often make many decisions out of fear of losing something, like independence, self respect, social image/status, financial security, health, wealth, relationships, peace of mind, being sidelined or left out, fear of losing face, fear of failure, etc. Some of the fears are real while some are perceived.

For instance, most of insurance selling happens on the basis of fear of threat to life, health, assets, etc., while the purchase of many "status showcase items" is driven by the fear of losing social status. There is also the FOMO - Fear of Missing Out.

Fear is an emotion marketing professionals evoke to persuade people to buy a product, pay for a service, donate to a cause, or otherwise be persuaded. The?"Fear Appeal" persuades people to feel that they are assuming a risk if they do or do not purchase a certain product.

Mothers buy specific health drinks out of fear that their children will not grow properly if they miss some vital nutrients that these health drinks offer.

Families buy expensive floor cleaning fluids, water purifiers, air purifiers, vacuum cleaners, hand sanitizers and insect repellents due to fear of ill-health from infections.

Targeting fear, brands build long-term relationships. For instance, brands use extended warranties to remain in touch with the customers, help future repurchases, build a loyal customer base, strengthen brand image — sometimes, it is a win-win situation for both customers and the brand.

What fear/s is your communication leveraging amongst your target customer segments to motivate them to buy your product or service?

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change" - Albert Einstein

The world around us is changing at an unprecedented pace and so are the expectations of our customers, suppliers, financers, investors, employees and other stake-holders. Many "change drivers" in our business environment may be at work simultaneously. It is important for business leaders to be sensitive to these change drivers and to the changes they are likely to bring about in the expectations of all the entities connected with your business in some way.

For example, in recessionary times, there is the tendency to prolong the life of big-ticket items, especially where the replacement is discretionary. At such times AMCs (annual maintenance contracts), repair and rejig (upgrade) services are in big demand as against periods of high economic growth when the replacement cycles may be shorter in many nig-ticket items as against recessionary times. The overall emotion in the markets is that of FEAR and business that address this emotion credibly stand to gain significantly.

There may also be subtle, not so drastic changes in progress due to the innate nature of your market - fashions change - often rapidly when triggered by a hit movie or web-series, technology evolves, regulations change - and these small triggers would be changing the demand, supply, opportunities and risks scenario/s continuously.

The earlier you are able to identify significant change drivers and the direction of change they are evolving or triggering, the better prepared your business will be not just to adapt to the changes but to actually fluorish from the change.

Those who dont keep an eye on these changes and their ears to the ground are often wiped out quickly from the markets like the dinosaurs.

Maintain constant connect with your customers, suppliers, investors, financers, employees and other stake-holders and entities that have a significant impact on your business, through various direct and subtle, non-intrusive touch points. Like a Sunflower, learn to track brightness and turn in its direction.

"Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell" - Seth Godin

When everyone is saying the same thing, the one that says the same thing differently, in a more appealing and convincing way tends to get all the attention.

It is important as a business leader to find ways to be creative at each of your touchpoints to give your customers (and other stakeholders) a differentiated experience that they will value and remember you for.

For example, all colas and aerated drinks are servevd COLD ... but only ONE brand comes to mind when someone says ... "Thanda Matlab" ... a particular cola company was creative enough to attach their brand image to COLD so that when anytime, anyone wants to have a cold drink on a hot summer afternoon, their brand is likely to flash first on the buyer's mind when they reach out for something cool ... Thanda.

In the context of your customers, the creativity could be in the way your product or service is designed, distributed, displayed, priced, communicated or even sold to the customer. Some companies even use creativity in their after sales service to strongly differentiate themselves from competition.

How are you leveraging any or all of the relevant pre-at-and post-sale touch points with your customers?

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change" - Charles Darwin

We have thus far seen how the strong basic emotions of Greed and Fear control most of the purchase decisions of our customers. We have also seen the importance of being Sensitive to the changing business environment to enable proactivity to stay ahead of the competitive game. Next we understood the importance of creativity at all touch-points, physical and virtual in occupying a favorable position in the minds of our customers by establishing a strong differentiation.

It is now time to bring out the importance of Responsiveness to survive in the intense competitive environment and grow exponentially. A good understanding of the earlier four parameters prepares us for this fifth and as important part of the competitive mix.

Most customers and stakeholders expect promptness in the way a company responds to their needs and the mean time to respond and the mean time to resolve are the measures by which they compare one brand against the other.

Since the speed and quality of response makes all the difference, it is important to review responsiveness at all touchpoints to address opportunities and challenges promptly. In most cases, when talking about responsiveness, people tend to think only about challenges and complaints and miss out the importance to respond promptly to opportunities too.

How responsive is your organization at all the touchpoints to address challenges and opportunities promptly?

Summary

If you are a business leader, you need to keep in mind FIVE keywords for the success and growth of your business. What they teach you (and don't) at the business schools is important and useful without any doubt. However if you have not had the opportunity to attend a business school and are unlikely to do so in the near future, paying attention to these five keywords and acting on them can help you build a sustainable business growth. Which is why I call them a 5 Word MBA for Sustainable Business Growth.

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For help in putting together a growth strategy based on this 5-Word Model, or for a structured and systematic growth mentoring, do reach out to us on https://www.businessmastermind.in/vmp

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