Build A Start-Up That Will Last..

Let’s begin with this story…..

Long ago a someone from a middle-class family started a business of selling rice and did well enough to succeeded.

Seeing his success, another man from the same village slipped into the same business of selling rice. This man used to open the shop daily and sit there till the evening, waiting for the customer and would come back after 7.00 pm. This almost continued for 2/3 months, he could sell very little. Still he religiously continued the act, but in vain.

When asked by his close partners and relatives about the business, he would tell that don’t doubt his skills and knowledge?

This business is not like any other business in the globe, market itself is down, many rice sellers are sitting idle. This person was not aware about the changed scenario and was unaware about the purpose of putting a shop or enterprise.

What is the purpose of putting a shop or enterprise?

We people ought to know about this.

The purpose of putting a shop or enterprise is to create and keep customers. Similarly, when we most of us think of ourselves and interlink our professional qualification, our skills, our capability with our work - in the terms of second rice seller; even if we believe that we have 100% knowledge and skill to do certain job, Mind it that it will not bring growth in our career and will not help the organization to grow in business.

Why?

Read on..

Yes, in the same village a third shop started the business of selling rice.

Now, there were three rice shops in parallel.

One was old – (family traditions) being old, they had created a credible brand.

The Second – shop keeper was good, having 100% skill and 100% knowledge of business, even materials were in stock for sale, but no customer.

Now, in between them a third shop popped-up.

What do you think happens?

Is this shop going perform any magic or miracles?

Yes, it did!

Here is the key, this is the key that controls our future, our promotion, our greatness in life. This is the key which enable us reach our destination.

[If we don’t change ourselves, we will become obsolete. This is a warning for every one of us wherever we work in which ever area or profession] we need to become more accountable, we need to care for those who work with us, we need to collaborate with all stake holders, and keep them happy so they in turn will keep our customers happy and delight them with supreme services.

In this situation, without becoming jealous or even feel threatened, what would one need to be a layer in this scenario?

One would need a completely new skill set and tools. More importantly one would need a growth mind set – a new way of thinking. Mantra is “Keep your aspirations high, set BHAG goals Big Hairy Audacious Goals,” and work committed towards its attainment. 

Back to the story - NOW the third shop keeper wants to make something different in his market performance. He creates a “passion within himself (passion means - those things that naturally energize, exercise, motivate & inspire you to serve) that always drove him as a guiding principle. He believes that, ‘’a rising tide lifts all boats.. or.. in a tornado, even a turkey can fly..’’ By keeping this phrase in mind, he deeply thought about the changing scenario and imagined market performance. He knew imagination is much more important than knowledge. Initially, he started off with capturing data from each house of the entire area which was;

a) How many members were there in each household? (Census/Demographics)

b) The quantity of rice, they cooked in any given day

c) The size of the rice jar in each house to hold the stock.

While he captured this data, he met every customer at their place, generated knowledge about their need and their requirement and made a strong retain strategy.

Then he offered

(1) Free home delivery of rice.

(2) A good service —-to replenish the house hold’s rice jar automatically at regular intervals.

Customer becomes so happy because they got rice at their house with regular intervals, without spending extra money and efforts (here customer saved travelling expenses and time, they got quality, quantity with less price).

Everyone in the village agreed his offer and he captured full business in one night. He became the King overnight. He became the Business Leader. Till not so long, the first rice seller (family traditions) was the Business Leader. Today his business passed not history. Obsolete from the business. Today, only few may reach him. The New Business Leader replaced many in a short span of time. He used - Three tactical elements of Value Generating Relationship strategy which are;

(a) To seek direct contacts with the customers.

(b) To build a data base

(c) To develop a customer-oriented service.

Now, he captured complete business of the entire area. The new level of his marketing performance completely threatened to other two shops. The old shop who believed that they are the market leaders became the member of the market overnight. This new changes in the market place forced them to   believe that “Customer was Supreme.’’

Whoever gives value to the price can stay in the market.

Today, wherever you work – you need to understand:

What does customer want?

Customer wants;

(a) Relationship,

(b) Accessibility,

(c) Promptness,

(d) Follow-up,

(e) Responsiveness,

(f) Promises kept,

(g) No Surprises,

(h) Knowledgeable people,

(j)  Information shared

(k) Doing it right first time. 

Now this is the sort of strategy big time eCommerce merchants would look for partnering with and become an important of business stake holder.

How we are people with entrepreneurship outlook going to create a difference in what they do and make so that they become difference makers.