Till last year India’s digital fraternity used to attend ad:tech a global digital marketing event away from India. It is a place for the digital marketing professionals to get a sense of what is happening and how technology is changing and the way brands are positioning themselves with an increasing digital mass audience, but this changed with the 1st edition in New Delhi last April. The event is a brand in itself with a decade of keeping abreast of the changes happening in the technology side of business and marketing and has been in the forefront leading the challenge in the internet and digital industry.

At the inaugural Indian edition, we saw some of the best technology in practice being displayed and some of the innovations showcased on internet and mobile and digital as a whole. India with its ever increasing internet population which at presently an estimated 120 Million active users and fast growing into the largest medium to which advertisers can target their marketing communication. The challenge it proposes is the interactivity and the closeness, in social media front has been a steep learning curve. Brands will have to go social and be in the midst of the mind space with more time spent on the Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. The content has become the king and for brands the first time it has given them an opportunity to own the content as media itself.

The event also brought into light how technologists are turning creative directors with creative and engaging mobile applications and augmented reality making its presence in the traditional domain. A great amount of exposure and learning is in store at ad:tech New Delhi where the best of technology brands and marketing case studies are shared with the audience. Thus making it possible for others in the digital space to embrace the technical knowhow and exploit it to engage with the consumer, be it on social, search or mobile.

It’s a new era where marketing meets technology is the buzzword and ad:tech is poised to take it to the next level in India. Mobile with its penetration and mass reach will also be a challenge for brands to engage effectively. The smart phones which are growing fast with the prices going south and features being loaded by the minute will soon become the most important medium. Mobile applications fondly called apps are changing the way people use their phones from being a simple communication device to an engaging branding console. Getting to make the best use of the technology and the latest in location based services which is making a lot of advancement in making a connect to the user at a particular location making him glocally available for brands to communicate.

So the game is on the most empowered consumer today because of his being connected and  internet being available on multiple platforms the desktop, his laptop, the mobile and the all new internet powered TV. Following him wherever he goes and that too without being seen as intrusive, a marketing miracle which will be a success to replicate.

So, while the reach of the digital has removed the concept of “distance” with a keystroke or a touch, it’s never been more important to physically connect with friends, colleagues, business associates, trade journalists and the growing base of marketing experts that have come to represent ad:tech’s expanding network.

With such a background, ad:tech New Delhi’s 2nd edition in February 2012 will be a platform for all stakeholders to get updated, share, network and do business.

R Senthilkumar

There is a beautiful saying which is quite often related to Mahatma Gandhi, ‘Your greatness lies in your simplicity.’ Probably this best sums up the way the author Prakash Iyer presents his wonderful book ‘The Habit of Winning.’

India is a land traditionally bound by story telling right from the Ramayana days. We are fond of stories and never ever get tired listening to it and reading them galore, but the foot note of those stories and learning’s are lost, but in here the author makes for an excellent story teller laced with simplicity, one on one narration and takes you to the place of happening and makes you revisit them in front of your eyes. Every story is based on real life situations of managers, of corporate heads, of sports persons from different parts of the world. Talking of sports, it automatically serves to draw a parallel of what life is all about.

We are taken through some of the best stories which will lift your spirits, make you come out of your slumber and more so get your act together. The best part all the heroes in the book are close to you and me and we know them by their name except a few.

The author narrates the stories personally to the reader and that makes it the best reading experience. As I found you need not be reading through from page 1 to the end, but even if you open any page you are bound to find the flow of wisdom, his care for his reader intact at every paragraph, every sentence and most important part of this book is it doesn’t make you rush. You take your time to read and digest it in your own pace. You will love it that way because there are moments you can easily look back and relate. Something like having ‘a to do’ list.

The stories bring to life the traits of some of the accomplished leaders, known for their conviction, self-belief, perseverance and many other positives to make you take that first step to achieve what you thought was impossible. There are stories of Sachin to Sidhu to Micheal Phelps, all great in their own right and we would discover what it took them to be the great people are those traits of small measure in their own way making it happen for them. It would find us the most elusive success.

There is one story of the Goal Keeper during a penalty shoot out. Though it has been found scientifically that a goal keeper would do better without diving in either direction, he is compelled to ‘do the diving’ to fulfill what is called as ‘atleast he tried’ syndrome. A pointer that we also take some things in life just to fulfill the societal obligations; may be we need a rethink.

Some stories relate to change in strategy and some relate to a full overhaul, we need to think over before we practice them and should be read in relevant context of personal life and corporate career.

The most adorable part of these stories is that its works across the ladder in a corporate and across age group in a family there’s a story for everyone.  Possibly it’s never too late to start even now.

Lot of instances from everyday life and especially those from sports are a delightful read and inspire the mind and fills you with a positive spirit as much as flying a kite.

I would have liked a to do list in the end of the book so that for those of us who think they need a bit of direction, or may be the author thought it fit to make the reader take the initiative.

In a way a nice read and its doesn’t sound like an advice and that’s one aspect every reader will easily like it. One thing comes out fair and square, there is no substitute to hard work and couple that with sheer positives, what you get is a sheer winner and as the adage goes ‘Winning is a habit and unfortunately failure too is.’

Life – It’s a mind game to be won, even before you are on the field, and sometimes the worst situations are the best platform to showcase yourself, believe in yourself and break the mental barrier as a sprinter Roger did crossing a mile under the 4 min mark, while the whole world thought it was impossible to do it.

Once the mental barrier is broken, the body gives in way a little easily, otherwise it would be very tough even to take the first step. Quite often we get carried by mental convictions even before we have tried or sometimes you just don’t have the last minute of patience after all the hard work that we put it in.

There are also some advices in a practical outlook like don’t ever try to befriend a scorpion lest it should sting, no fault here on the scorpion because it’s its character to do exactly that.

This book would make for a nice gift to anyone who you care about and a really a special way to say you really care and this book fits it exactly. A very nice little offering and as they say good things comes in small packages!

R Senthilkumar

PS: Thank you Blogadda.com for this wonderful opportunity to review a nice book as I start this voyage of discovery of reading and writing reviews!

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Another talk, really cool one on how kids can change the world…and its infectious by any standard.

Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life’s most valuable lesson: “I can.” Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

Cool stuff again….

In the series that I had been following, today the mailbox had a newlwtter fron TED.com

Educating the poor is more than just a numbers game, says Shukla Bose. She tells the story of her groundbreaking Parikrma Humanity Foundation, which brings hope to India’s slums by looking past the daunting statistics and focusing on treating each child as an individual.

Really great stuff, we can possibly be doing this!!!

Senthilkumar Rajappan

PS: the English speaking children ( all the videos) would give us real scare of our achievement if we think we have any!?

A very classic and researched set of variables and three professors make this Top 200 CEOs a wonderful study.

This is the first global ranking of CEOs based on company performance during their time in office. Created by three INSEAD professors, the ranking is based on a global data set of some 2,000 CEOs of 48 nationalities and from companies in 33 countries.

I tried for Indians and there were two, Mukesh Ambani at 5 and K. Kamath of ICICI at 150.

The best thing is that it is spread over various categories and IT is also there. Please check the article here.

Senthilkumar Rajappan

Finished a book Zapp! the lightning of empowerment – an old book by William C Byham and Jeff Cox. Absolutely interesting read and a great illustrative piece I should say on the way to empower employees in an organisation.

A great narrative style made it such an easy read and we could easily find the analogies to our day to day working conditions. A must read for people who are looking to empower their people – employees and make the organisation a great one.

It does have a cover tag – How to improve quality, productivity, and employee satisfaction.

You will enjoy it for sure…

R Senthilkumar

Neil Rackham, author of bestsellers such as SPIN Selling, Major Account Sales Strategy and Rethinking the Sales Force, and one of the leading minds in professional, consultative selling over the past 20 years, shares his five keys for building a world class sales force:

1) Salespeople must become value creators Too many salespeople are “talking brochures”, trying to show customers how their products or services are better than competitors. This is traditional value communication selling and it no longer works. Salespeople today must move from value communication to value creation. The salesperson must add as much value as the product. This calls for creativity and problem solving. Selling is no longer about persuasion. In the past, the product generated all the value. Each company made a unique product. The job of the salesperson was to explain to the customer the product’s value. In other words, salespeople were value communicators. Today there are many competing products and they are not unique. So the product has not enough value for the customer to prefer it to a competitor. The job of the salesperson changes under these circumstances. Salespeople today must be value creators. They must be experts and they must be creative problem solvers.

2) Fewer accounts means more sales Salespeople love to have lots of opportunities. A salesperson who has ten customers to chase feels much safer than if they had only five. As a result, many salespeople are half chasing twice as many opportunities. They don’t sell deeply enough, they don’t plan adequately and they lose business to competitors who put more resources into the best opportunities. I often find that I can get a dramatic improvement in results by taking away 20 – 30% of a salesperson’s prospects. Salespeople hate this and they argue against it – but it works. In complex sales the best metrics are about effectiveness, not efficiency.

3) Sales supervisors are the key to success : I have played a part in the reorganization and performance improvement of over 100 large sales forces. It’s my experience that whether change succeeds – and whether results significantly improve – depends much more on sales supervisors than on salespeople. When I’m working to improve the performance of a sales force, I give most attention to building competent sales supervision. Secondly, Create a “high performance culture.” This means that you recruit only the best. When salespeople join your company, you tell them, “Only the top performers will stay. After a year, you must prove that you should stay – we don’t prove that you should go.” And get rid of poor performers quickly. Research shows that the number one reason why a salesperson doesn’t improve is that there is another person in the same team who is doing worse. Money is an important motivator but it is not everything. Money attracts and keeps high performers. It encourages people to sell harder. But paying people more doesn’t make them more smart.

4) Coaching brings results Every world-class sales force I’ve worked with puts great emphasis on coaching. They don’t just give lip service to coaching; they create systems and processes to make coaching happen. Yet few sales managers understand important coaching concepts, such as how skills coaching is different from strategy coaching. The best way to improve sales results is to make effective coaching happen. A great sales team starts with a manager who is a great coach. Next, the salespeople must have shared values. For example, they must care about their customers. They must be truthful and they must understand their products. Salespeople are very competitive and they are not good at helping each other. To create a “dream team” their manager must encourage cooperation and caring. The salespeople must learn to help each other.

5) Integrate sales and marketing I’ve been working closely with Philip Kotler, the marketing guru, to find ways to help sales and marketing work better together. When we published some of our thinking recently in Harvard Business Review, we were flooded with emails from CEO’s, Sales VP’s and Marketing VP’s from all over the world. So we know it’s an important topic and exciting new ideas are being tried out.

Would you like Neil Rackham’s help in building your world class sales force? If so, please contact Kavita Mistry at Knowledge Capital at (93200 48060. Neil is coming to India first time in February 18-19, 2010. We would be happy to work with you.

PS: This was an invite I thought this will be very useful and posted it here.

Continued…

Crises teach you to focus on fundamentals, dont let anything else sway you.

Dont spend future profits

The Business Today issue on the Lessons learnt in the downturn was so full of valuable advice for businessmen and entrepreneurs alike…

Am starting with Azim Premji…

The time to build frugality is when there is no need to

Winning is about leveraging adversity to build a winning culture

Sometimes articles like these make me wonder if at all an IIM A alumnus is worth the piece they have written. The most intriguing part is that IIM alumnus getting into entrepreneurship is a big news.

I have a different opinion here. The whole lot of those who come out of IIMs or the B-Schools should be worhty of being an entrepreneur. If not I think we have something wrong about that in the DNA of these institutions. I am sometimes appalled into believing only through the news items that one alumni of IIM A is getting into online sabsi mundy. The point is that it is already being done by some non IIM people and they are doing the best with the realtime knowledge. But for some reason this is being made into a news item.

Quite often than not, we are bullied into believing that placements are the end off all the MBA programmes. In some of the discussions we had with academic circles as well as the industrial circles they dont want people just be another persona dn keep slogging. They need individual to contribute and have an outlook which keeps the company moving in the right direction.

Imagine for a second if all those out of those respected B-Schools were to be entrepreenuers the whole situation would have changed for us Indians. I come from Coimbatore where entrepreneurship is an inbuilt factor for those people in and around the city. The government has done very little compared to the other cities in the state.  It has been a phenomenal effort on the part of  the citizens here to be that proactive and make it happen be it textiles, foundry, pumps or castings…whatever be the product.

I was just thinking more than 80% are not MBA actually and am wondering if they had done MBAs they would they be more risk averse? Definitely it would be the other way around.

As MBAs we tend to think too much into what we call as risk management and mitigation. Doing this almost shelves the idea of entrepreneurship. The agriculturist in this country of monsoon vagaries is the best form of entrepreneurship and most importantly the ways of sainthood doing their duty and waiting for the raint o shower. They are risk averse to the core and they are willing to risk it. Will our MBA programmes teach risk averseness to be a part of the intrinsic value they carry around.

As an entrepreneur I believe you make an impact on the society around you in small terms but definitely in real terms.

It is another story that entrepreneurship is not regarded as a profession by the minds and intellects who think its a disregarded idea for one to be an entrepreneur. He is not celebrated as much as a professional drawing a salary which are quite settled as far as his family is concerned and also his wife’s /bride’s family is concerned.

I remember in one of those documentaries on Coimbatore and its entrepreneurship there was something called as jealousy factor among brother in laws. How interesting  that such a thing heralded the industrial nature for this hometown of mine.

In conclusion I think the B-Schools need to reorient the whole idea of making placement the be-all and end all of a MBA…

R Senthilkumar