Reverse Marketing

Reverse Marketing

(60 Sec Brand Accelerators)

Copyright 2014 by (Neeti Brand Accelerators)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means without written permission from the author.
2

Reverse Marketing

Contents
Introduction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Reverse Marketing
The new 80/20 rule
Life is too short
How to be creative?
Multi-tasking is it for you ?
Boiling an egg on electric guitar
The magic of 15 %
Perfect is paralysis
Life is a number game
Reverse engineering will lead to reverse marketing

6
13
15
17
19
21
22
24
25
27

11.Why do customers buy from you ?

30

12. How did Modi create a super brand in 9 months

32

13. How to build brand awareness of your business

34

14. 10 hot tips on branding for small business

36

15. Good marketing in bad times

38

16. 6-ways to brand a commodity

40

17. What does it take to be a brand building CEO ?

42

18. New biz mood- are you ready ?

44

19. Do you need to raise your prices ?

45

20. How to avoid hiring morons

47

21. Surprise is a awe-inspiring emotion

49

22. Riding the tiger-Selling apartments to the rich

50

23. Trust in God but lock your car

53

24. Branding with fear

55

25. Do you need a scorecard ?

57

26. Are you ready for the ultimate risk ?

58

27. My wish-list 2015

61

About the Author

64

Reverse Marketing

Introduction
Who said life is fair?
Twenty years ago, this wisdom was given to me by my boss, when I had
expressed my dissatisfaction at getting a low annual increment. His
explanation was,that he had to give better increments to people, who were
more crucial to the organization-at that particular point of time. My
increment, had nothing to do with my performance.
Thats what every traditional marketeer is feeling right now. For years, you
were selling garments, shoes, beauty products, mobiles, electronic items,
household gadgets profitably from your shop. Suddenly, you find that your
sales are going down. Whats going on?
Flipkart runs a billion dollar sale and mops up Rs 600 crores in a day.
Amazon, Snapdeal and a dozen others are offering drop-dead discounts and
consumers are loving it. They never had it so good. Consumer loyalty is
history.
All customer groups are divided into two neat segments. Customers who
want deals and more deals (75%), and customers who look for brands (25 %).
As a seller, you need to decidewhere you fit in.Even if you are an e-tailer,
the same rule is applicable.
Old marketing says that you need to identify your customer, find what he
wants and sell the product to him. You are allowed to use all the dirty tricks
to make the sale.You are always seeking the customer. Day in and Day out.
Reverse marketing is just the opposite.
Here-the customer seeks the brand. The company does not tell the customer
that their product is better than the competition.But, it creates an image of
being an awesome company-in terms of social responsibility (Tatas); in terms
of innovation (Apple); in terms of touching peoples' lives (Airtel, Google).

Reverse Marketing

Customers would like to deal with companies with great reputation.

Consumers do not buy products, they buy companies. Companies they can
admire and love.
This is crux of reverse marketing. This is the future,where you need to be
creative, innovative and smart to attract the customer,without ever trying to
sell her anything.
There are other articles in this book,which will make you think, that the
world is changing faster than you can think.
I hope you enjoy this reading.If you do not enjoy the first ten pages, press
the delete button-this book is no good for you.
I also wish to thank everybody who gave me valuable advice on how to
write an E-book. Without their help, I would have completed this book in
half the time.
Hemant M Mishrra

Reverse Marketing

1.
Reverse Marketing
Old marketing is dead.
Reverse marketing is the future.
Is consumer loyalty dead?
E-commerce in India has turned all marketing concepts on its head.
You have two options.
a. Get into discount war and pray that your money lasts, till this madness
continues. Make sure, that you are able to get funding done by some
global fund managers. Flipkart is your role model.
b. Find a way, so customers look for your products.
Customers must want your product at any cost.
Owning your product should boost their ego.
Apple prides itself for making products with great design. Steve Jobs had
said that he wanted to make the keys of his computers so appealing, that
people would want to lick them. It is not surprising that people wait for
even twelve hours for stores to open in the morning, whenever a new apple
product is launched.
I-Phone 6 sold 69 million units during the Christmas quarter, beating all
estimates and records.
This new concept is called reverse marketing.
Reverse marketing is the concept of marketing, in which the customer
seeks the firm rather than marketers seeking the customer.
For the company,who wants to be a reverse marketeer, the most popular and
effective method is to provide valuable information to your target

Reverse Marketing

customer, which she is looking for.Depending on your product category,you

can provide free information about health,beauty, how to make more money,
how to find cheapest hotels etc. As a company, you can set up hospitals,
build toilets and create social awareness about relevant subjects.
But, not even once, have you said - Buy my product.
Some years back, during peak summer, my air-conditioner stopped
working.As usual,customer care people did not respond.I called the local
mechanic,who came, checked the machine and fixed it in less than a
minute.There was a small problem with the wiring. When I offered him
money, he refused. Instead, he told me about the new technology in airconditioners, and sent me articles in my mail. Well, I was blown. Since then,
I have purchased six air-conditioners from him and recommended him to
everybody I know.
Jaago re by Tata Tea was launched in 2007, and it has helped the brand
immensely due to its innovation, reach and impact. It involved NGOs,
Colleges and offices to spread socially relevant messages like the fight against
corruption. Due to this outreach, the brand could fight the competitors like
HUL and garner a healthy market share.
Similarly, Standard Chartered Bank started the Mumbai Marathon, which
has become the largest fund-raising platform in India. The image of the bank
has transformed from a common commercial bank to a socially caring bank.
Its business has improved as a result.Not even once did they advertise that
they are a great bank to do business with.
Aviva India had come up with a series of batting video tutorials featuring
SachinTendulkar. Sachin was caught in candid moments and different
avatars giving lessons on Parenting, Cricket and coaching his master shots.
He taught batting essentials like Stance and Straight Drivein YouTube
video tutorials.
Accentures Path to Success campaign was a great way to find and engage
potential talent in the industry. The quiz based format tested the aptitude of
the users, while keeping them engaged in an interesting gameplay.
7

Reverse Marketing

HSBC has become the first carbon neutral bank. Coca Cola cares about the
environment and believes in recycling the packaging ( I must admit, that
they do great advertising too). Green marketing is the new buzzword for
todays companies, as it creates a perception that the company is socially
responsible.
Why are these companies doing these activities ?
Customers increasingly distrust organizations. They want to associate with
good,honest and caring companies.I have come across many young
people ,who want to join companies like Tatas, even at a lower salary.
Lack of credibility and trust is going to affect brands. Unless, organizations
engage with customers apart from regular marketing, it will be difficult for
customers to develop trust.
Every buying decision takes place, after the initial trust level has been
established. Trust makes buying decision easier.
Brand is trust. Period.
How do you start the reverse marketing process?

Reverse marketing is where the customer becomes the marketer.

As a company, you have to build so much trust and goodwill, that your
customers start promoting your brands. Your customers become your brand
ambassador.
Social media is an example of reverse marketing. Customers are marketing to
other customers and to organizations. If your company has done something
worthwhile, it will be shared by social media members.
Search, by a potential client, is an example of reverse marketing. A typical
search is an advertisement. A search for cheap smart phone asks
organizations to respond to your specific request for a good value phone. The
more clever the organization, the more specific their response will be.
8

Reverse Marketing

Testimonials and product reviews are a great example of reverse marketing.

The best reviews are authentic. They are by real people writing about things
they really care about, or by experts whose integrity is unquestionable.It
builds confidence before the buying process starts.Research has shown that,
more than 80 % of on-line buyers look at reviews and testimonials, before
buying a product.
How can you implement a Reverse Marketing campaign?
Though there are many different ways to use reverse marketing
strategies, every method follows the same principles:
1) Know what is important to your customer.
2) Give the customer a reason to come to you.
3) Offer the customer something of value, before attempting to close a
sale.
.
Who can use Reverse Marketing?
A business that sells goods or services can use reverse marketing to improve
the company's brand or image, rather than just raising awareness about
products.

You dont sell the products; you sell the philosophy behind your existence.
For example, the Tata Tea campaign consisted of ads that featured many of
the company's products, but the message of the ads was about the principles
of the company itself. By redirecting attention away from goods and toward
the message, any company using reverse marketing techniques can create
customer loyalty , regardless of what its products are.
Service providers use reverse marketing to avoid what is known as coercive
marketing. Coercive marketing tells customers that they should want a
service, like getting an insurance policy, for a particular reason. The
Insurance Company might use coercive advertising materials to suggest that
people who don't take insurance may suffer in future. They market fear of
not taking insurance.

Reverse Marketing

Using a reverse marketing strategy, an insurance company like Aviva India

uses ads to tell customers that, they are already leading a good life and the
company would like them to learn new and interesting things to make their
life more beautiful. This message is intended to create a positive, confidenceboosting association between the insurance company and the customer,
which increases the likelihood that the customer will choose to opt for the
insurance on his or her own.
Reverse marketing is also very useful for companies that can offer valuable
information to customers free of charge, as a way to establish the company as
an authority. People trust businesses that make them feel informed about
their purchasing decisions.
I wanted to buy insurance for my car, and Policy Bazaar helped me get
comparative quotes and gave me useful advice for free. I did not buy the
insurance from them, but I developed a positive feel about the company for
the future. A bookstore, for instance, could offer anyone who visits the store
a free newsletter that includes book reviews and recommendations.
How to Make a Reverse Marketing Plan
The first step of any reverse marketing plan should be an honest assessment
of the company's current image, the customers it wants to attract, and what
those customers value. This is vital to creating marketing materials that will
connect with customers in a meaningful way.
Understanding what your potential customers would find most meaningful
in life shows that the company cares. There is a pharma company, Swati
Spentose, in Mumbai, who has started a foundation for Rare and neglected
diseases to assist people who suffer from neglected diseases like Kidney
Inflammation, Bone Disorder, Urological Disorders and Alzheimers. This
company wants to genuinely help patients, and this is the perfect example,
where a small but growing company can initiate the reverse marketing
process in true sense by showing concern and care for such patients.
Reverse marketing is about giving control to the customer. It is about being
highly responsive to customer requirement. It is about being loyal and caring
10

Reverse Marketing

to the customer. It is about listening first and speaking later. It is about being
useful to the customer through continuous engagement.

In reverse marketing, the marketers needs to behave as if they are the

customers of the customer.
Building value is the central theme of reverse marketing.

11

Reverse Marketing

12

Reverse Marketing

2.
The New 80/20 Rule
Vilfredo Pareto, the Italian economist, discovered the 80/20 principal in
1897, which is now referred to as Paretos principle.
He discovered that 80 % of the output from any activity results from 20 % of
the inputs; 80 % of the consequences result from 20 % of the causes and 80
% of the result comes from 20 % of the efforts.
20 % of the customers contribute to 80 % of growth; 20 % of services
account for 80 % of turnover: 20 % of employees account for 80 % of
productivity; the opinion of 20 % defines the society; the output of 20 % of
the population defines the economy of our country.
Perry Marshall, Google and social media expert, has given an innovative
interpretation to this concept in his incredible new book, 80/20 Sales and
Marketing.
Heres how Perry Marshall has taken the Pareto Principle to the next level.
He found that the Pareto Principle is exponential! Let me explain. We
already know that 20% of your customers represent 80% of your revenues.
What Marshall found is that, within that initial 20%, the 80/20 rule also
exists. Meaning that the top 20% of the top 20% of your customers (or the
top 4% overall) represent 64% of your sales.
Imagine, your top 4% represents 64% of your sale.
Hence,this 80/20 rule has acquired a new meaning in todays business.
Most of the organizations and particularly sales Managers are obsessed with
working with under-producers and non-performers to improve their
productivity. Regular training programmes are conducted and HR policies
are changed every quarter to create an environment,which is expected to
motivate employees.

13

Reverse Marketing

At the same time, top performers go unattended and their performance is

taken for granted. The easiest way to lose your top performers is to ignore
them in favor of trivial many.
The new 80/20 % thinking is the secret of achieving more with less.
Focus on strong performers and make them stronger. Start celebrating
exceptional productivity, instead of raising average performance. Reward
excellence in a few stars instead of wanting to raise the average productivity
in many.
Dont waste too much effort on 80 %, which will yield very little in return.
Transform your thinking. Revamp your outlook. Allocate your resources
from unproductive trivial many to productive few stars. Your
effectiveness will depend on how you manage and control this 20 %.

Focus on the top 20 % and 80 % of everything in your life will be taken care
of.

14

Reverse Marketing

3.
Life is too short
I must confess this is not my original story. I have picked this from the
brilliant book Predatory Thinking by Dave Trott. It was too good not to
share.

Jane Juska was a retired school teacher.

One day she placed a small classified ad in the New York Review of Books.
It said, Before I turn 67,next March, I would like to have a lot of sex with a
man I like. If you want to talk, Trollope works for me
She got lots of responses.
There are several clever and exciting things about what she did.
The medium she chose, for a start.
Not the back pages of any of the mags youd normally find Man-seekingwomen or women-seeking-men ads.
It was placed in the New York Review of the books
She was retired English teacher.
She loved books and reading
She wanted sex, yes, but only with intelligent men who also loved literature.
So she let the search for intelligence dictate her media choice.
Not just the search for sex.
As a result, she stood out in the media much more than she would have
elsewhere.
And that made her small classified ad unusual and daring.
Of course, what was really daring was deciding to do it in the first place.
Jane Juskka war born in 1933.
She grew up in a world without the pill, television, mobile phones, rock and
roll and social media.
15

Reverse Marketing

Women didnt talk about things like sex.

She decided that it was now or never.
And she did something to change that future.
The moral of the story.
Life is too short.And you got only one life.
When you kick the bucket, will you regret that you have not done
something you always wanted to do?
You always wanted to travel to various countries.
You wanted to learn Italian cooking.
You wanted to learn how to play piano.
You wanted to learn a new language.
You want to jump from a plane at 30,000 ft.?
You always hated your job, but were scared to start on your own.
Whats stopping you?
Do you think somebody will give you permission?
Do you thing if Jane Juska would have asked for permission to put this kind
of ad, anybody would permit her?

You need to disrupt life.

To get the ultimate prize for being alive.
It is now or never.

16

Reverse Marketing

4.
How to be Creative?
Do you think you are creative?
Creativity helps build brands. It is a big myth that only advertising guys,
artists and writers can be creative. Everybody can be creative, as ideas just do
not happen on their own. It is not a random process;you have to look for
them.
How can you develop creative thinking, if you think you are as creative as an
electric pole?
1) Stop re-inventing the wheel- You dont have to be original to be a creative
person. You can build on existing ideas. Roller deo was designed on the basis
of roller ballpoint pen.Can you extend an existing idea or thought to come
up with new application?
2) Try new and different things- Your brain is a smart fellow, butit will not
throw good creative ideas, if there is a boring sameness to your routine and
behavior. You need to challenge your brain by constantly doing new thingsand your brain will respond by giving new and fresh ideas.
So change your behavior. Go to a toy- shop and watch children buying toys;
visit a museum or zoo and spend some time in these places. Go to a new
restaurant, where you have never gone before and order a new Japanese dish;
join a dance class, try to listen to completely new singers, or go for movies
which you will not see on a normal day. Try watching Charlie Chaplin
movies back to back and try to die laughing; change the layout of your office;
find a new way to boil an egg. Be nice to your mother in law. Be curious
about everything.
Slowly, you will see the change. You will start thinking differently. You will
find life more meaningful and exciting.
3) Become offline during weekends -Do you really believe that if you dont
check your e-mails on weekends, your company will shut down on Monday?
17

Reverse Marketing

Try to be in the physical world during weekends-no laptops, no checking

mails, and no mobiles.
You will notice that you are getting brilliant ideas while taking a shower, or
while cooking or when just doing nothing. And guard your weekend like a
Jew.
Volkswagen and a few other firms have instituted this policy of turning the
Blackberry servers off after a certain hour at night and on the weekends, so
theres no email coming into their employees inboxes. Its a civic and social
good and for an employer it should be a corporate good too. Let people
disconnect from corporate demands on weekends.
4) Make Brainstorming a habit - This is a common technique in both
academic and professional settings, but it can also be a powerful tool for
developing your creativity. Start by suspending your judgment and selfcriticism, then start writing down related ideas and possible solutions. The
goal is to generate as many ideas as possible in a relatively short span of time.
Next, focus on clarifying and refining your ideas in order to arrive at the best
possible choice. Make this a regular affair with your co-workers and friends.

It is said that creativity is an art of concealing the source.

This is not true anymore.
You can develop your brain to become more creative.

18

Reverse Marketing

5.
Multi-tasking - Is it for you?
Multi-tasking is the success mantra. Women can multi-task nine activities at
one time, whereas men can multi-task only seven activities. People are
proud that they can conduct meetings, read mails on their Blackberry, read
reports, take couple of important calls,bark orders-all at the same time.
Big myth, big lie.
There are five reasons, you should not multi-task:
a) It slows you down-If you try to multi-task between critical activities, you
lose the rhythm of the initial task and there is always a start-up time
required for any new activity. And once you want to come back to the
original activity, you need to start all over again.
b) Loss in productivity-Experts estimate that switching between tasks can
cause a 40% loss in productivity. It can also cause you to introduce errors
into whatever youre working on, especially if one or more of your activities
involve a lot of critical thinking.
A 2010 French study found that the human brain could handle two
complicated tasks without too much trouble, because it has two lobes that
can divide responsibility equally between the two. Add a third task, however,
and it can overwhelm the frontal cortex and increase the number of mistakes
you make.
c) Creativity is affected- if you are working on more than one task, you
cannot focus. And if you cannot focus, you are unlikely to come up with
great ideas. Your ability to be creative is severely restricted due to multitasking.
d) You miss on this beautiful lifeWell, you are never able to appreciate your
surroundings, because you are always on your mobile. You will miss out on
all the fun of meeting new people, things happening around you, children
laughing on the street corner. I go to a gym for my daily workouts, and I see
19

Reverse Marketing

young boys and girls always on their mobile phones, completely oblivious to
whatever is happening around them.
e) It is dangerous- Texting or talking on a cell phone, even with a hands-free
device, is as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol, yet that
doesnt stop most people from doing it.
Research also shows that people who use mobile devices while walking are
less likely to look before crossing a road. And in one study, one in five
teenagers who went to the emergency room after being hit by a car,
admitted they were using a smartphone at the time of the accident.
I am convinced that multi-tasking can destroy your potential, and you will
deliver second-rate results only. And it the shortest route to losing your selfesteem and confidence.

Limit your multi-tasking to watching TV and eating popcorn at the same

time.

20

Reverse Marketing

6.
Boiling an Egg on an Electric Guitar
My CEO friend works twelve hours a day-every day. Sometimes, he works
on Sundays too.He is also very proud, that he has built his business from
scratch. He is comfortably successful. But he has no time to visit his
customers.
The CEO of Starbucks Coffee, Howard Schultz, visits 27 Starbucks stores
every week. He wants to feel the product himself and watch his customers
response to his product. The CEO of Hilton Hotels comes to office only to
read customer complaints.
If you have not spoken to your best customers on the phone during the last
one month or met them face-to face during the last three months, you are in
trouble. The thumb rule is that as a CEO or Head of an organization, you
need to be out of your office at least 50 hours a month meeting customers.
You need to respect todays customer.If you make customers unhappy in the
physical world, they might each tell five friends or business associates. If you
make customers unhappy online, they can each tell 5,000.
Todays customer talks to his peer group, researches heavily on the internet,
and posts complaints on social media, if he is unhappy with the product or
service. He is more impatient and he can switch brand loyalty any time due
to the incredible options available to him.
This changes everything business owners thought they knew about customer
relationships.
Make a habit to go out and meet your customers twice a week, to begin with.
It is five times more expensive to get a new customer than retaining an
existing one.As a CEO, retaining and taking care of your existing customers
is the single most important activity you can do to grow your business.

Expecting your brand to grow without meeting your customers is like trying
to boil an egg on an electric guitar.
21

Reverse Marketing

7.
The Magic Of 15%
When a newspaper loses 15 % of its readers and 15 % of its advertisers, it
goes out of business. People still want to read it, but its gone.
When a company increases its sale by 15 %, it doubles its profit. Any sale
above break-even volume guarantees huge profit margins. It is tempting to
go for new products, new consumer segments and new markets to grow your
business.But these are expansive alternatives. Only 15 % additional sale from
your existing customers can do the trick for you.
In sports, the winner gets 200 % more prize money than the runners up. But
he is not 200 % better than the next guy, he is just marginally better. He may
win a race by a few seconds only.
There is an interesting story about two Japanese tourists being chased by a
tiger in a jungle. Suddenly, one guy stopped and started wearing his running
shoes. The other guy was baffled and said, Whats the point? The tiger can
outrun us in no time. The other guy replied, I just have to run faster than
you. The moral of the story- being marginally better than your nearest
competitor can bring you disproportionate rewards.
So, try to get this 15 % additional sale from existing customers and existing
markets. It will save you a lot of money and sleepless nights.
There are some time-tested rules to get more sales from your existing
customers:
1. 80/20 rule: Your 20 % key customers will get you 80 % of your sales.
Are you doing anything special to take care of this segment? If not, why not?
2. All action is the market: How much time do you spend in the market?
Most CEOs do not visit their customers regularly. If you are not spending 25
% of your time meeting customers, you are heading for trouble.
22

Reverse Marketing

3. Training: The easiest (and the most tempting) way to reduce costs is to
stop all training. But a well-trained sales person can get you 30 % additional
sales. To me, this is the cheapest way to increase sales.
4. Build your brand: A good brand can be priced 15-20 % higher. A good
brand can outsell its competitor 4:1. Allocate at least 5 % of your estimated
sales revenue for brand building. But do you need branding? Whether you
are a corner paan-wala shop or Airtel, you need branding!
5. Small stuff is important: Do you know that 55 % of your inventory may
be of slow moving products? If you can reduce your purchase bills by 10 %,
your ROI will increase by 15 %? If you re-negotiate with new vendors,you
can cut down your transportation costs down by 5-10 %?
Of course,I am repeating. You must try to get 15 % additional sales from
your existing customers and markets, before venturing to get new customers
and new market. It will cost you 5 times more to acquire a new customer
than retaining your existing customer.

There is a saying that one bird in hand is better than two in the bush.
So, it makes sense to nourish the bird in hand.

23

Reverse Marketing

8.
Perfect is Paralysis
Fail to plan and plan to fail- very boring and uninspiring thought. I know of
a gentleman who is planning to launch his product for last 3 years, because
he is obsessed with planning to perfection.There is a serious danger that you
can get paralyze in planning.
Perfect is paralysis.
Trying to scale the zenith of perfection has become the plague of our time,
and psychologists have recently coined the phrase 'perfection infection'
10 signs to tell if you are a perfectionist!
1.
2.

You can't stop thinking about a mistake you made.

You are intensely competitive and hate losing, even Monopoly or
Scrabble.
3. You have to do things perfectly, or not at all.
4. You demand perfection from other people.
5. You won't ask for help, as this can be seen as a flaw or weakness.
6. You will persist at a task long after other people have quit.
7. You are a fault-finder and go out of your way to correct other people
when they are wrong.
8. You consider people with cluttered desks or houses as lazy and
undisciplined.
9. You are very self-conscious about making mistakes in front of other
people.
10. You noticed the error in the title of this list (meant to be!) and it really
annoyed you (Sorry, but we had to check!).
At a certain point of time, we need to walk away and leap into the real world.
Nobody has bought anything looking at fancy diagrams and bar
charts.Trying to improve is a work in progress.Nobody has ever launched a
perfect product,be it be Nike or Apple or McDonalds.

24

Reverse Marketing

Even if your product does not pass 100 % muster, go ahead and launch the
product and keep on improving. Lets focus our complete attention to
implementation and speed.
Do not spend next hundred years in trying to launch a zero defect, perfect
product.
Miriam Adderholdt, author of Perfectionism: What's Bad About Being Too
Good? , explains: "There's a difference between excellence and perfection.
Excellence involves enjoying what you're doing, feeling good about what
you've learned, and developing confidence. Perfection involves feeling bad
about a 98 and always finding mistakes, no matter how well you're doing."

If you think you are 70 % ready-Jump. !

Mariam Adderholdts Book

25

Reverse Marketing

9.
Life is a number game
The actor Warren Beatty had affairs with many of the most beautiful women
in the world.
He was once asked in an interview, What is the secret of your success with
women ?
He said, I ask every women I meet if she ll sleep with me.
The interviewer was aghast, Does that work?
Beatty said, Well, I get slapped a lot, but I get laid a lot, too
This is a great lesson in life too.
If you dont ask, you dont get.
Only crying baby gets the milk.
As the famous line goes Love every girl you meet, even if the return is 5 %,
it is a good investment.
Life is also a number game.
It is simple calculation-more number of doors you knock; more number of
people will buy from you.
What about quality of doors?
Yes, quality will always matter.
But, numbers will dictate where you will reach.
You need to work backwards.
Suppose, you need 1000 customers to buy from you to reach your target.
And your conversion rate is 5 %.
So, you need to meet 20,000 customers.
This formula will work in any situation.
If you are selling in retail or door-to-door.
Selling engineering goods or consumer goods.
Using E-mails or tele marketing.

Selling will always remain a contact game.

Take care of your numbers, rest will follow.
26

Reverse Marketing

10.
Reverse Engineering leads to Reverse Marketing
(This is a guest column written by Srinivas Eranki, who is a Director & CEO

with GMM Netservices Pvt Ltd, Mumbai.Srini straddled across seven major
sectors (without repeating any) during work life and launched a start-up in
education delivery. He remains young enough to swim across seven
oceans!!!")

We live in instant karma days. Gone were the times when product used to be
conceived, debated, tested, communicated and distributed before one started
counting nickels. Service Organizations? What was that? Oh, you did have a
few basic service companies like hotels; airlines (a few) etc., People pretty
much did their stuff themselves.
Blasted computers got to us more than Ebola, Dengue etc. could. Customer
knows everything happening everywhere and wants it now !!! Companies
gone beyond walking, running. they routinely participate in Olympics to
survive current quarter.
Where is the time to do market research, product development,
communication plans, distribution strategy and so on?
This took me back to college days. We had to submit massive designs as a
part of course work and time was always in short supply. Reverse
engineering was a method where our seniors work was in front of us and we
reconstructed bit by bit, so that machine looked like the one before. And this
worked beautifully.
Extrapolating to todays frenetic market place, the best way to get customers
to you and not other way round is to reverse engineer marketing strategy.
Reverse the mind-set. Start by sale, and work backwards till you get to make
the product or service.
Marketers will laugh at this brilliant idea. When with best of devices, they
are unable to convince the customer, how does one sell in the air? Precisely

27

Reverse Marketing

my point. When my daughter in Mumbai clicks her fashion garment from a

Delhi brand using a flipkart or amazon, no one knows if that product exists.
For all you know, may be the tailor in Karol Bagh started stitching once click
is flashed on the screen !
The point is, marketing days are over and reverse marketing days are in.
Companies must strive to get the footfalls in and imagine what they might be
looking for and provide it in jiffy. Needless to say there has to be a
humungous production, logistics operations behind the android smart phone,
but who cares !

Customer is truly the king. Serve or get the head chopped off. Choice is clear.
Welcome to reverse engineering of marketing !!!

28

Reverse Marketing

29

Reverse Marketing

11.
Why do your customers buy from you?
Can you honestly tell why your customers would like to buy from you, but
not from your competitors?
You know that it is not because of great quality, which you make. It is not
because of low price, because that can hold ground at best till tomorrow
evening .
Or is it because of superior packaging, attractive marketing communication,
your sales delivery systems or your promotions?
Surprisingly, it is none of the above in todays context. The truth is that
customers buy your product because they like you. They like you because
you are solving their problems better than others. You are able to develop
some relationship with your customer and that has made their buying
decision easier.
The single most important reason why customers buy from companies is that
they provide great customer service. Nothing can drive away customers like
promises not kept, rude or untrained staff and not taking customer
complaints seriously.
Here is my list of five companies, who provide great customer service and it
is not surprising that they are leaders in their category.
1) Google-With their mantra of "Focus on the user and all else will follow,"
Google goes to borderline insane lengths to test how even the smallest
decisions impact user experience. For example, when faced with a choice
between two shades of blue for a Google toolbar, the company tested 41
shades to see what tested best, reports the New York Times. Fans can expect
that level of attention to detail in all Google products.
2) FedEx-Despite the recently leaked video of a FedEx driver throwing
packages, the air freight company has long held a reputation for delivering

30

Reverse Marketing

goods ranging from typical packages to a 320-pound sea turtle on time

without damage. Over 40 percent of those who interacted with the brand
last year ranked FedEx customer service as "excellent."
3) Amazon-The company has long been a pioneer in e-customer service by
offering policies like automatic refunds when service standards aren't abided
by, free shipping on orders, and price guarantees on pre-ordered items.
When a wrong parcel reached me, they were quick to refund my money
with an apology.
4) Samsung- After repeated consumer surveys called Samsung "the worst
customer service ever," the electronics retailer made a serious investment in
improving its reputation. During the last year, the company has wooed
customers back by launching a worldwide customer service campaign and
offering a free app that provides online support, trouble shooting guides, and
how-to videos you can take anywhere. I have always been happy with their
post sales customer service.
5) Marriott International- Is filled with buzz about suite attendants who
leave personalized notes and door attendants, who provide local homeless
people with transportation to the nearest shelter. Details count at Marriott
and so does rewarding repeat customers. The hotel chain has taken home
numerous accolades for its loyalty program across countries.

The future belongs to brands who can engage with customers on a regular
basis, be it a consumer brand or B2B brand.
Do you have a solid plan to engage with your customers?

31

Reverse Marketing

12.
How did Modi create a Super brand in 9 months?
Lessons from one of the best branding blitzkriegs ever seen.
Grudgingly, I must admit, that I am a shameless admirer of NarendraModis
branding campaign. And it has nothing to do with my political leanings.
During the nine months before the general elections,BJP under
NarendraModi had created an awesome brand building campaign, which is
bound to change the way elections will be fought in future.
Because of the complex nature of the Indian voter, and the vast and diverse
population of India, I rate this campaign even better than Barack Obamas
Presidential election campaign in 2012.
As a marketeer, we can learn a lot from this campaign.
1) Get the best team possible and give them specific responsibilitywhether it is Amit Shah for UP campaign or B.G Mahesh (poster boy
of dotcom boom) or Arvind Gupta, head of information cell or
electing key people for TV debates, these selected people have just
bulldozed the opposition.
2) Nothing can beat the ground activity- a highly energetic Narendra
Modi covered 300,000 km to reach Indian voters across India (Rahul
Gandhi covered only 118,000 km). As a CEO, how many days are you
visiting your customers?
3) Personal touch makes it awesome-The total electorate in 2014 was 814
million. Modi had directly interacted with 234 million people,
whereas Rahul Gandhi had interacted with only 13.3 million. Dont
even guess who was winning this race.
4) React to competitors move quickly- Modis backroom boys covered
everything which was being said by opposition on a daily basis and
counter argument was prepared for every rally.
32

Reverse Marketing

Every speech was broken down in neat compartments-speak about

development agenda, discuss local issues, and have enough time to hit
back at opposition point-by-point.
5) Are you seen everywhere? - During these 9 months, Modi attended
5,187 events; 11 million people attended his 38 mega rallies; 15
million people attended his 196 Bharat Vijay rallies. Even his Chai pe
Charcha which was conducted at 4,000 locations, was attended by 5
million people (although it was not considered successful). This is an
awesome organizational capability.
6) Use of technology as never seen before-In a recently conducted study,
digital presence of different political parties was as follows: BJP- 64 %,
Congress- 26 %; AAP- 4 % and other parties like AIADMK, SP, BSP,
CPM, TMCetc less than 1.0 %
7) This jaw-dropping digital campaign run by Modis BJP had these
salient features:
Facebook likes - 13.0 million.
Twitter followers - 3.9 million (Rahul Gandhi did not have a
Twitter account)
YouTube video downloads - 13.0 million.
Caller tune downloads - 1,00,000.
3D hologram rallies in 1350 locations reaching 14.0 million
people.
SMS, Whatsapp texts sent and voice calls made to 130 million
people.
8) Super management of time-During the campaign period, every
meeting or rally was managed by the minute. It was understoodthat a
small delay in one meeting will cause delay in all subsequent meetings
and will derail the whole carefully planned schedule of the day.

As expected, Narendra Modi and BJP won the elections.If Narendra Modi
can run and manage an election campaign so meticulously, will he be able to
run the country as well?
I am biased and have goose pimples already.
33

Reverse Marketing

13.
How to Build Brand Awareness of your Business?
So, you are no Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Airtel or Reliance. You really do not
have a huge amount to build brand awareness for your business. What
are the options you have?
The answer is that you need to look at internet marketing seriously.
Internet marketing is exploding in India and these staggering numbers
will blow your mind. If you dont embrace digital media to drive your
marketing today, tomorrow may be too late.
Give me a few seconds and I can show you how using the Internet can
change your business.

34

Reverse Marketing

35

Reverse Marketing

14.
10 hot tips on Branding for Small Business
During an economic downturn small business gets hit faster. Generally, the
most meaningful response to any such crisis is to stop all marketing expenses.
This could be a big mistake.
Here are some ideas on branding for small businesses, which can help you
grow your brand even during the low phase.
1. Branding is not a buzzword. It is a way of life. Your corner barber shop
needs it and Airtel also needs it. Either you believe in it, or you believe in
planned death.
2. It is a myth that only big companies can indulge in brand building
exercise. Big companies have become big, because they did a lot of brand
building when they were small.
3. Every small action, which sends a positive signal to the outside universe,
is branding. Every negative signal you send out has to be compensated by
at least ten positive signals. This math is simple.
4. People confuse marketing with branding.
In our view, marketing is actively promoting a product or service. Its a
push tactic. Its pushing out a message to get sales results: Buy our

product because its better than theirs

Marketing is about good packaging, logos, slogans and cute advertising. It
is about different ways to seduce your customer.
Whereas, branding is about answering some simple questions:

Who are you?

Why are you here?
Why are you unique?
How can you make a dramatic difference?

36

Reverse Marketing

Branding is about pull strategy. It is about making buying decision easier

for your customer. It is about customer searching the brand instead of
company searching the customer.
5. Branding is also about your stationary, your visiting cards, your internal
memos, your logo, letters going out of your office with no spelling errors
and a lot of smiling faces.
6. Traditional advertising has stopped working (TV, press radio, outdoor etc.)
you have to find new ways to reach your customers. Think of modern
retail, multiplexes, Google advertising, social networking sites, fan clubs,
loyalty programs, in-film advertising, e-mail, mobile marketing and the
list grows.
7. Todays customers get bored easily. Give them a good story. Great
marketing is all about great stories told to them in different ways.
8. PR (public relations) is the most underrated branding tool. Advertising
will create awareness, PR will sell the product. In a small business, CEO is
the key PR person. Sell your company through social communities,
business forums, and networking. One Owner-CEO of a small company
admitted that he spends almost two hours a day only networking. Golden
rule-network and network more.
9. Small companies do not need big research. Big companies use research as
a safety net. As Peter Van Stock, CEO of Jones Soda says Focus groups
are like toilet papers. They are only used to cover your ass.
In case you need to know some basic insights, just talk to your ten best
customers.
10. And finally, a word about marketing ethics. When you were small, you
behaved because mother was watching you. Now everybody is watching
you. Dont do anything which will make you uncomfortable if it comes
on the front page of tomorrow's Times Of India.

Branding is ultimately about trust and credibility. It is about passion...what

you care about.It is about whats inside you ,whats inside your company.
37

Reverse Marketing

15.
Good Marketing in Bad Times
When economy is good, every product appears to be a brand. Sales are up
and everybody is mighty pleased with themselves. Even weak brands do well.
This is the time marketing is completely ignored. You are just interested in
sales and more sales.
But when economy is down, sales are sliding and you feel that the ground is
shifting below your feet,suddenly everybody rediscovers marketing. All
CEOs and top executives get involved in the marketing process. They believe
that marketing will somehow save them. And this is the time they take
stupid decisions! They want to show that they are taking some positive
actions.
They conclude that their strategy is right, but their execution was faulty. So
their most meaningful response is to fire lower level managers responsible
for execution.
Secondly, they launch couple of new products to get additional sales. It
brings addition burden on already thin resources, as they require budgets to
promote new products.
Thirdly, they start listening to bean counters (accountants, who are
responsible for more corporate failures than anybody else) who advise them
to go on a drastic cost cutting exercise. So no training; no expenditure on
marketing; no research; and no increments!Thus finance guys, who have no
clue what the customer wants, and who have never visited even one
customer in last five years, dictate strategy in a downturn.
My advice during bad times is as follows;
a) Narrow your focus on key brands during downturn. Do not launch new
products or expand brand portfolio, unless you are a market leader in the
category.
38

Reverse Marketing

Take the example of smart phones- Samsung focused on Galaxy range while
Apple focused on one product launch at a time. On the other
hand,Blackberry had 15 models and Nokia lost the plot by not focusing on
anything which consumers could adore.
Both these brands lost heavily to Samsung and Apple.
b) Dont Over-analyse :Marketing will always be creative, intuitive and
sometimes illogical. Dont try to over analyze the strategic route. Keep it
simple and dont discontinue your marketing efforts. Nobody will buy your
product because of tons of excel sheets and bar charts.
c) Get Feedback :In times of low growth, leaders do not feel good about
themselves. They do not like feedback. They have enough excuses for not
taking feedback.This is a huge mistake-feedback will give you clarity and
sense of purpose. It also creates faith in management. Moral of the story-if
you are in a hole, dont dig deeper.
d) Dont stop marketing :During bad times,do not stop your marketing
efforts. It is much cheaper to spend on marketing and get desired results, as
most of your competitors would not be spending money during the down
turn.

The holy truth is that the bad time is a good time to build your brand and
gear yourself for the growth in good times.

39

Reverse Marketing

16.
6 ways to Brand a Commodity
Amuleek Singh Bijral, MBA from Harvard University and former employee
of EMC Corporation, opened Chai Point in Bangalore in 2010, where he
was serving humble tea in glasses. Since then, he has opened 22 Chai
Points in Bangalore and 3 outlets in Delhi. Similarly, Tapri in Raipur
provides tea in a casual atmosphere. Young entrepreneurs are finding
innovative ways to brand a commodity like humble Chai.
How can you brand a commodity, which is at the bottom of the branding
ladder?
Commodity products are largely undifferentiated products that offer little or
no perceived difference between competitive offerings.
6 ways to Brand a commodity:
1. Choose the most compelling and unique point of differentiation to create
a strong position for your brand-consumer must perceive it differently
like Taj Mahal Tea, Ashirwad Chakki fresh atta or Himalaya mineral
water.
Creating a differentiation in a commodity brand is always difficult. You
really cannot make a wildly different product, as most of the ingredients
may be same and huge value addition is difficult to achieve.
You need to create differentiation through name, logo, packaging, and
finally communication story. You need to tell a great story to create
impact, as done by Himalaya Mineral water, which created a great story
about the product being sourced from the Himalayas.
2. Packaging is the key- visual appeal is critical. Consumers will prefer a
branded commodity, only if there is visual appeal in packaging. Products
like Captain Cook salt, Parachute hair oil; Red Label tea have redefined
visual appeal.
40

Reverse Marketing

3. Pricing is strategic -consumers will be willing to pay a price premium of

15-25 % for a branded commodity, if you are able to create differentiation
and thus value. You can still increase the price, if more value additions
are given. Tea bags charge a different premium than the regular branded
tea.
4. Promotions will make a difference - Relevant promotions will drive the
sales. When Nimbooz by PepsiCo was launched, company sampled the
product through modern food outlets and the brand took off. Promotions
increase trials, trials increase usage, usage creates brands.
5. Provide the Experience -you can charge more than 10x for a commodity
product if you deliver a great experience. Barista, Caf Coffee Day and
KFC deliver a beautiful experience through their outlets, where young
people can meet in a friendly ambience.
6. Brand transformation - when the brand is willing to go the extra mile,
magic starts happening. Starbucks is an example, where the brand
identifies different groups of customers, customizes the offer and delivers
the product in a magical surrounding. KFC has transformed a simple
chicken into a desirable food experience.
This is the highest form of branding.
Commodity branding is a challenge that presents unique opportunities for
creative marketing. When marketing and selling commodities, you must
resist the urge to cut prices. Instead, seek ways to protect your price by
offering more value, finding unique ways to differentiate yourself, and
creating successful brands that foster price in-elasticity.

Commodity branding is about being different and innovative and earning

trust of your customer.
It is about providing a magical experience.

41

Reverse Marketing

17.
What Does it Take to be a Brand Building CEO?
(This is a guest column written by Ravi Ganti, who is a Director with
Aquarius Business Solutions PvtLtd,Mumbai. He would like to introduce
himself as a laid back, lazy and boring guy who lists the Mahabharat,
Hercule Poirot and Eliyahu Goldratt as his constant inspirations. This article
first appeared on a social media platform)
Almost all of us are aware of who calls the shots at Microsoft, Apple, Virgin
Group, Kingfisher and Pepsi. But most, if not all, would be hard pressed to
name the CEOs of Siemens, IBM, Coca Cola, Samsung, Canon, Toyota,
Maruti,
Ghari Detergent, even TCS. These brands are no smaller than the marquee
names that make up the first list, but in their case the person has not become
bigger than the brand! Maybe there is a lesson in there somewhere!
Let us see if we can decipher some of the attributes that go into the making
of a Brand Building CEO.
1. Brand above Self. The CEOs and the executive leadership of long
lasting brands recognize that their career success is a result of the
brands success and not the other way round. The leaders in such
organizations go out of the way to subsume their identity within that
of the organization.
2. Chest Thumping Pride in their product / brand / organization. This is
invariably seen in the repeated reference to the brand / organization
greatness on most occasions during internal interactions.
3. Shared Glory. The leaders continuously emphasize the contributions
of the team over that of any individual.
4. Ear to the Ground Brand building leaders tend to spend at least 3-4
days a month with customers, and similar amount of time with their
42

Reverse Marketing

operations and development people. This keeps them in sync with

changing preferences as well as emerging techniques and technologies.
5. Customer Satisfaction Leads to Stakeholder Satisfaction Brand
builders know that if you have satisfied customers, you are more likely
to generate better returns and thus lead to happier stakeholders. Such
leaders invariably tend to be process driven rather than numbers
driven.
6. Integrity Probably the most important and least emphasized of all
attributes, personal integrity and ethical behavior contribute more to a
brands long term success than any other.

Steve Jobs with Jim Gianopulos, CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment

43

Reverse Marketing

18.
New Biz Mood - Are you ready?
The new Biz mood is different.
Till a few months ago, companies were talking about cost cutting and
operational efficiencies. Nobody was talking about long-term growth.
With the new government coming in with Modi at the helm, sentiments are
changing dramatically. You can feel a new sense of buoyancy and urgency
among companies.
All large consultancy firms like KPMG, PWC, Deloitte and E&Y have
confirmed that trend is reversing. They are making strong pitches for M&As,
raising finance, planning IPOs and restarting stalled projects.
Sri Rajan, MD, Bain & Company told TOI, More of our clients are engaging
in early discussions on growth while so far there was a significant emphasis
on operational & cost efficiencies and performance improvement
What happens to small Business? By and large, business works on sentiments.
In past, small companies were not taking any risks as policy paralysis,
delayed clearances and corruption scandals were creating an atmosphere of
fear and uncertainty. Now everybody can see that mood is changing and
there is general bullishness in the air.
My advice - pull out your stalled projects and frozen new product launches.
Get the best advisers and consultants. Current business optimism and
environment will support you to the tune of 30 %. Remember, excel sheets
and bar charts dont take you anywhere, real action does.

So, this is the BIG opportunity.

Be nimble and flexible, and focus on available cracks in the market.
Just, chase growth with everything youve got.
You will not be disappointed.

44

Reverse Marketing

19
Do you need to raise your prices?
This is the truth. If you are in business or selling something, you will need to
raise your prices during the life cycle of your product.
And you got one dozen reasons to raise the prices. There is recession; cost of
goods has gone up; labor has gone up or competition has increased prices.
What can you do? Damn it.
But, your customers wont like it. Some will reduce their purchases; some
will desert you for your competitor. And there is a good chance that most of
them will hate it.
How can you get the increase you want without incurring the wrath of
existing customers?
Whatever the reason, there's a right way and a wrong way to raise your
prices.
There are some basic fundamental rules to accomplish your goal without
losing or upsetting your clientele:
The most common way to raise prices is to just do it across the board and
then send a sincere letter to your customers like "over the past five years,
we have worked hard to hold our prices steady. We're proud of the fact
that we'll be able to contain our price increase to a very modest 5%..."
Most of your existing customers will understand.
Never increase your prices, when your sales are going down. Instead of
recovering your loss, your left over sale may also hit a roadblock.
But, How about charging extra for special privileges? Access to a
customer help-line that skips the on hold queue or upgrades in shipping
or turnaround time. Today, one of the most valuable assets for most
people is time. If you can save them time, they often will gladly pay extra.
45

Reverse Marketing

The best time to increase prices is when economy is doing well, and there is
positive vibes due to some change - Like BJP forming the government at the
center leading to positive sentiments, or your customer having a good year.
No matter how you handle a price increase, one element is critical. Be
upfront and demonstrate value. Your clients don't begrudge you making a
profit. They just want to get a value for their money. Price increases can be
a win/win if you think them through and handle them correctly.

Here's some heartening news. Research suggests that people like you better,
if you're more expensive.

46

Reverse Marketing

20.
How to avoid hiring morons?
Customers come first- wrong.
Tomorrows business reality is that only two things will drive successinnovation and people. If you have good and happy employees-your
customers will be taken care of.
Good employees build better brands.
The biggest challenge for small business is in hiring good people and
retaining them. It is also true that God likes morons, because he made so
many of them.
The real trick is to avoid hiring morons at any cost. Here are 5 sure shot
ways:
1. Dont look at candidates CV - If you ignore my advice, and still look at it,
you will realize that an average candidate is almost qualified to replace
Ratan Tata (After all, candidate himself has crafted the CV). Try to find
some unusual things in his career, some breaks, something which makes
him stand apart.
2. Go for the attitude, not the skills -You can teach skills to a giraffe, but a
great positive attitude can make a huge difference. Once I hired a
drummer from a cabaret joint as a salesman in Delhi, and he broke all the
sales records in his territory.
3. Hire better candidates than yourself.
Research shows that:
A-class Managers hire A+ candidates,
B-Class Managers hire C Class candidates,
C-Class managers hire D Class candidates.

47

Reverse Marketing

The net result is that A Class managers make their company a company of
giants, which can lead to sustained growth and long term success. On the
other hand, B and C Class managers, who are insecure, make their company
a company of dwarfs, and will soon drive their companies to dust.
Moral of the story- Have the courage to hire people better than you are. You
shall never regret it.
4. Hire a well-rounded personality- Give 50 % weightage to candidates
extra-curricular activities. Find about his hobbies; his interest in sports,
music or any other passion. Does he read books? What kind of friends
does he have? Does he have a sense of humour?
A well-rounded candidate will be 3 times more productive than a
University topper, who could be a bozo.
5. Take a womans opinion-My final litmus test. If I think that I can call the
candidate to come over and have dinner with my family, I hire him.
Women also have this uncanny ability to judge people. If possible, I
would always include a woman in the interview panel.
I believe that women have a sixth sense in judging people-I always take their
opinion.

This way, I normally avoid hiring morons.

48

Reverse Marketing

21.
Surprise is an awe-inspiring emotion
Who doesnt like to be surprised?
Walt Disney has a year long theme, The Year of a Million Dreams, Disney
has added a brilliant twist to the age-old favorite. Theyve added surprise.
Heres their twist. Imagine walking through one of the Walt Disney World
Theme Parks when a Cast Member taps you on the shoulder to offer you a
dream come true. Right now, over a million extra-special dreams, some
thought impossible, are being randomly awarded to people just like you.
Surprise your customers and they will never forget you. Give them
unexpected gifts, vacation holidays, free tickets to music concerts or cricket
matches. Try to give them extended credit, when they least expect it.
Test this theory at home. Send a large bouquet of flowers to your wife today
with an I love you note when you are in office. Either you will have a
great weekend or she will talk to your family doctor.
Surprise is the ultimate Wow factor. This is a great marketing tool, which
is not used often.

Surprise is an awe-inspiring emotion. It demands to be shared. How could

you add one of Disneys favourite elements - surprise - to your marketing
mix?

49

Reverse Marketing

22.
Riding the tiger-Selling apartments to the rich
(This is a guest column written by Anu Burman, who is a Partner in the
Capricorn Group, a boutique real estate developer in Kolkata. He claims to
be a student of human nature, who likes to educate upper crust of Kolkata in
the fine art of buying luxury properties. He is also a (semi) professional
Indian classical music exponent, and a radio artiste. He claims to be an
aesthete and believes in living life king size. He lives in Kolkata and has two
married children )

The Rich are a breed apart. Since 1% of them own almost 50% of the worlds
wealth, it is quite understandable that they are different.
By and large they are knowledgeable. Hard working. Difficult to fool. Fussy.
And extremely miserly. All in all, a pain in the backside of anyone who
wants to sell anything to them. But they do have their Achilles heels. We
will come to that shortly.
I have been constructing residential buildings and selling apartments, mainly
to the upper crust of society for the past twenty five years. Believe me,
selling to the rich is an arduous and thankless task, and the prospect of
dealing with them does not bring a smile to my face.
So how have I sold apartments in Kolkata to this lot? How do I prepare
myself for the pitch? What do I bring to the table which will convert a
prospect to a buyer ?
Lets do a bit of armchair analysis first.
The rich are basically of two types-either they belong to Old Money or
New Money. Old Money were born and brought up in affluence. They are
familiar and comfortable with the power, comforts and privileges which
money can provide.
New Money have not had a privileged childhood. They have not gone to
elite schools. They have commuted in buses and autos when young. They
have struggled and fought their way up the social ladder.
50

Reverse Marketing

Very different, both of them, but they have one thing in common: Oversized egos. And a passion for acquiring anything which they perceive as
being exclusive.
Can we use their egos and their passions to our advantage?
Yes we can!
Step 1: Study the target. Is he Old or New money? What are his interests? his
hobbies? His art collection? His educational background?
Step 2: Once you have the answers to these questions, you can start the ego
pampering exercise.
If the target is Old Money, appeal to his good taste and sensibilities. Sir,
only a person of your taste can understand the subtle design parameters
which have been incorporated in this building/apartment. Yes. It is a trifle
expensive, but then we have to pay that little more for a good product, dont
we? After all, how many people can understand these subtle nuances.
For a New Money prospect, you would need to pamper his achievements:
Sir, only a self made and dynamic person such as you will understand the
true worth of this apartment. See the Italian marble worth Rs.800 per square
foot. See the gold plated bathroom fittings.
The other tool as mentioned earlier and which I have used successfully is the
creation of exclusivity. This, however, has to be done extremely delicately.
I have tried to un-sell some products. Sorry Sir, this is a large flat. Would
you like to spend that much? Would you still like to have a look? or Sir,
the marble in this apartment is of the highest quality. No one else in Kolkata
has it, hence the price is premium. Would you still be interested?
Perceived exclusivity immediately creates interest. A lack of interest shown
by the seller almost always arouses desire to own the product among this
class of people.

51

Reverse Marketing

One thing that must be kept in mind is that the rich are even more miserly
than the middle class. The middle class, lacking in confidence, rarely resort
to extreme bargaining for high value products.
But not so the rich. Both New as well as Old Money will invariably give
ridiculous counter offers. It is a fact that though expensive goods are bought
by the rich, (since only they can afford to do so) they will not shy away from
bargaining even in a Mercedes showroom. So factor in the discount, which
you will ultimately need to give to a buyer when giving your initial quote.
Do your research on the person who is your potential buyer. Find out about
his likes and dislikes. Use this information to pamper his ego and create
interest in him.
But remember, you have to be extremely careful. Your pitch will need to be
balanced and should not seem contrived and artificial. You are not dealing
with a self opinionated idiot. If your pitch is not balanced, not only will you
lose a client, but your business may be hurt by the bad mouthing done by
your Rich Prospect. Remember, they can be a vengeful lot.

Dont forget- You are riding the tiger. Ride it smart. Ride it carefully.

52

Reverse Marketing

23.
Trust in God, but lock your car
Donald Trump says that you should hire the best person you can afford, but
don't trust them.
So what do you do? Trust your employees blindly, so they can rob you naked?
Or don't trust anybody, and you demoralize the whole organization. The
core issue is - can you keep your team motivated by creating an impression
that you trust them, and at the same time ensuring that these guys don't take
you to the cleaners the next day?
Remember, that trust and credibility is a very powerful human emotion, and
employees can give 30% better productivity, if they believe that they are
trusted.
You need to create a balance. Here are 5 ways you can safeguard your
interests without being surprised:
1) Read your Profit & Loss statement every month for at least one hourdon't let your finance guy give you the summary.
2) Check the expense statement of your key employees at random- they are
the truth serums. Be careful of the employees who routinely pad up their
expense statements. And never negotiate on integrity.
3) Check your overheads. Build a culture of not wasting money on small
matters. Switching off lights when not in use; taking color print outs and
photocopies only when absolutely necessary; saving money on travel by
advance planning are some of the things which can make a big difference
to your bottom line. If you are a CEO, this culture starts with you, and
everybody will respect you for this.
4) Give feedback on reports -Never give an impression that you are not
reading reports sent to you, even if you dont have the time. You need to
build a culture of accountability and discipline.
53

Reverse Marketing

One CEO used to get loads of office files home during weekends. When
asked, if he ever got time to go through them, he replied No, but my
employees dont know that I am not reading them
5) Talk to your key customers (top 20 %) every month to get the real
feedback. There is no better feedback to know about your performance
than to speak directly to your customers.Dont believe in second hand
feedback through your employees.
The most important thing is that as a principal driver of your business, you
should be the first person to know any bad news.

Moral of the story- a good leader can be defeated, but is never surprised.
Trust in God, but lock your car.

54

Reverse Marketing

24.
Branding with fear
All our clients want break-through ideas. They tell us that they have hired
us to give them out-of-the-box solutions.They want innovative thoughts,
which will shake the world.The key assumption is that any innovative idea
will not cost them anything to market their brand.
A client hired us to write some crucial piece of branding communication and
informed us that he wants something creative, dynamic and attentiongetting a compelling expression of the product's personality. The
competitive products were in media, and the only way to hit back was to
come up with a super innovative proposition.
As soon as we submit exactly that, however, we're met by a wave of
concerns,
"What if people think that we're too creative or too smart?
Are we looking like a respectable corporate house?"
"None of our competitors have used such advertising in past? Maybe we
should just do what our competitors do; would you mind studying their
websites and their past advertising?We just need to be a bit better than
them.
This is our first time;lets not take any risk,
Our response tends to be: You're the boss. But since, we pretty much spend
every day thinking about what makes branding effective and how a different
communication can light a fire under people, we urge you to reconsider.
Your competitor's site?- As dull as yesterdays newspaper?. They're trying to
be all things to all people; they are boring,uninspiring,plain information
giving web-sites.
Our customer is tired of listening to same boring language "highest quality",
"industry leader", "commitment to excellence", "years of experience",
"solutions-oriented", "synergy-driven", testimonials, along with some
55

Reverse Marketing

purchased images. We defy the average visitor to recall a single phrase from
such a sleep inducing marketing jargon.
The desire to appeal to the widest possible client base is understandable. But
branding yourself requires you to do at least two things:
1. Clearly differentiate yourself from the pack, and
2. Figure out who your ideal clients are and speak directly to them.
Shirking these tasks and retreating to the safe middle ground is what we call
"branding with fear." And though you may feel you're just playing it safe,
this kind of branding is actually toxic to the development of your brand.
As the old saying goes, standing in the middle of the road only means you'll
be hit by traffic in both directions.
"I'm convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing," Stephen King
says in his wonderful 2000 book On Writing. Clearly, he's talking about
timidity, the insecurity that makes us doubt ourselves and abandon our very
substance to feed some hollow myth about audience expectations.
But if you've had sufficient confidence to launch a marketing campaign, you
should be able to summon the self-assurance to brand yourself with equal
confidence,which will customers sit up and think about your proposition.
Should your marketing materials be direct and funny, edgy and irreverent?
Sure, if that's the tone your target audience responds to. Should they be
sensitive and passionate? Absolutely, if that will connect to your consumer.
Should they be touching a raw nerve or use modern day jargon?
Yes,yes.Anything that makes you different and awesome.
What calls out to the most discerning consumers? Authenticity. Originality.
Boldness. Even Audacity. Provide new thinking patterns.Have the courage
of your convictions and proceed accordingly.You will not fail.

In short, fear not. Create your own magic,not yawns!

56

Reverse Marketing

25.
Do you need a scorecard?
Everybody knows that execution is 99.0 % of the magic, if you need to
succeed. But, more than ninety percent of the organizations just dont get
it.They will spend a huge amount of time in designing strategic road maps
and believe that execution will somehow happen.
Of course, it never happens.
Narendra Modi was successful in his election campaign, because his team
knew the importance of timely execution. Even a ten minute delay in an
election rally could derail all subsequent programmes. Conversely, even a
weak strategy can win, if execution is bang on.
My recipe for successful execution is as follows:
1.

Written Goals: It sounds old fashioned, but written goals still work.
Your team will never get engaged, if clear-cut and measurable goals are
not given. If you cannot measure it, you cannot do it.

2.

Display Scorecard: Make a scorecard and display it where everybody

can see it. The goals need to be broken into daily/weekly achievement
goals. Make people accountable.

3.

Create an atmosphere of urgency. One of the organizations I know,

converted their head office into a virtual war zone control room with
army like decor and trophies in the rooms. The message was sent to the
team that it is a do-or-die situation. The company achieved its targets.

4.

Make stretch Goals Good employees respond to challenges. It should be

an everyday stretch.

5.

Celebrate every small win. Every celebration motivates team

members.So even if you achieve a small milestone, it is a cause for
celebration.

All you need is somebody to lead the charge. That person is YOU.
57

Reverse Marketing

26.
Are you ready for the ultimate risk?
This is my dream. I enter into an restaurant and before I begin to order, the
owner stops by to offer this simple promise:
"If the food is not good, you don't pay.
If the food is just good, you don't pay.
Only if it's great , you pay."
Food is great. And I am glad to tip the waiter more than I normally do. And
sure enough, it becomes my favorite restaurant.
Dream with me about how changed your world would be,if your satisfaction
was promised, loyalty assured, and money back guarantee was fulfilled . . .
always.
Every smartphone, every cup of coffee, every electronic gadget, every
advertising spend, every feature film, every medical procedure, every
automobile, every service guaranteed full satisfaction or you get full refund.
Now imagine, too, what it might be like to work for such a company.
If your products are lousy, you are running out of time. No one in your team
will have a job for long. But if you are true believer in making stunningly
good products (why does Apple come to my mind always?), the whole
team will walk the offices chin-up with pride. In the belief that you are
making a difference to somebodys life.
It sounds absurdly impractical, but just suppose this offer is extended by all
organizations to their customers. Some companies like Amway, E-bay and
Snapdeal are following this policy and laughing all the way to the bank.
It is also no secret, that product returns are never more than 2% under this
policy.
Isnt this the easiest way to accelerate your brand sales?
58

Reverse Marketing

Now, it takes true grit to take that first step. To debut an open-arms return
policy- a no-hassles, money back guarantee which is core to your identity.

Can you take this ultimate risk?

But if you take this risk, amazing things will happen:

1. You will be the first to know the truth

If you are a smart company, you will quickly correct things when your
customer is saying, Give my money back, I dont like your product, and
this is the reason so you can fix the problem before it becomes huge
and ugly.
And, your customers will love you for that.

2. Customers will open their wallets

Nobody likes to change his or her habits. When did you try a new pizza
joint or bought a TV online? Or purchased a brand you have never heard
of? Or ordered 6 dresses for your wife?
The offer of a full refund invites customers to tinker with new products,
they wouldn't otherwise consider.
Over time, youll attract a multiple of new buyers. Its up to you to satisfy
them.

3. Create an environment of trust

The average customer will not care if 75 % of the products cease to exist.
Because, they are not trusted or loved by the consumers. A return policy
creates an ecosystem of trust between consumer and the company.
The bottom line is- I want a financial firm that will return my fees, if Im
not satisfied with the results.The same logic applies to a doctor, a
marketing agency, a designer, a mechanic.
If you can't trust your own ability with a no-hassle return policy, why
should customer trust you?
I wont say that refund guarantees work in every situation. Youll have to
determine where they fit. And, sure, a tiny fraction of customers (1-2%) will
59

Reverse Marketing

abuse your trust, so you'll want a policy for repeat offenders. This is too
small a price to pay.

One final word - If you cant give guarantee for your product, you dont
have a product.

60

Reverse Marketing

27.
My Wish List-2015
Making resolutions for the New Year is a neat trap- you know you are going
to break most of them, and feel terrible about it for the rest of the year!
Instead, I suggest you make a wish list. It is like a buffet spread-you can eat
all or eat nothing-it depends on how hungry you are.
I have made a wish list which can provide the required magic to my life. It is
like a beautiful buffet spread on a Sunday afternoon.
Starters: (pick any 2)
1. I will try to get up early (you can accomplish 30 % more between 5 am
and 10 am)
2. I will exercise at least for 30 minutes 4 times a week (you have no choice
on this)
3. I will meditate /pray/ visualize positive things/do yoga for 30 minutes
every day.
Main course (pick any 6)
1. As soon as I step out of my door in the morning, I will behave as if I am
on national television. My behavior will be impeccable.
2. I will invest in best clothes I can afford, along with good shoes (It has
been proven, that better dressed people earn 15 % more, all things being
equal)
3. At work, I shall do only those things which will increase my sales or
reduce my costs. (Whatever you focus onexpands!)
4. Will outsource everything, which is not my core competence. (Wont
waste time on improving all of my weaknesses)
5. Will reduce my mobile bills by 30 %. (Mobile phones are the biggest
time waster in corporate India)
6. Will contact 3 customers every month, who have stopped doing business
with me.(It is three times easier to convert old customers, than acquiring
new once)
7. Will personally talk to 20 % of my top customers every month. (They
run my kitchen and contribute 80 % to my sales)
61

Reverse Marketing

8. I will not call my employees on weekends or when they are on vacations.

(They will respect me for that)
9. I will take at least one risky decision, which I was always scared to take.
(I dont want to die of boredom-do you?)
10. I will train my brain to think creatively every day. I will try to do
different things to exercise my brain muscles- try new style and color
of clothes; go to new restaurants; visit the zoo; listen to different music;
visit a toy shop to observe children buying toys; be nice to my motherin-law.
11. I will do five things everyday, which will take me closer to my goals.
(Make this as my screen saver)
12. I will not forget to market myself every day.
Desert (pick all)
1. I will take 2 vacations in a year.
2. I will devote at least one day (Sunday) for family only. No business calls,
no laptops! Does not matter how big my business/position is.
3. I will smile at everyone I meet. (Even to the liftman)
4. I will hug my spouse everyday in multiples of three.
5. I will watch one movie in a cinema hall every month (it is therapy for
the soul)
6. I will read at least 2 books in a year.
7. I will do one thing, which I was always fearful about.
8. I will call two old friends, whom I have not spoken for years,
9. I will do one thing, which makes me truly happy. Does not matter if my
wife or children get mad at me.
10. I have got only 52 weekends. I will not let anybody spoil them.

Let this year be the best year of your life.

Let the force be with you!
To an amazing New Year!
OK, my suggestion - Forget about vision statements. Just make a plan for the
next 100 days. And execute it. Period.
Planning for more than 100 days is pure astrology.

62

Reverse Marketing

63

Reverse Marketing

About The Author

HEMANT M MISHRRA

Hemant is the founder Director and principal Consultant of brand

consultancy firm Neeti Brand Accelerator , which operates from Mumbai,
India.

Hemant is an electrical engineer with MBA in marketing from XLRI,

Jamshedpur. He has also done advanced management course from Columbia
University, US.
64

Reverse Marketing

Neeti Brand Accelerator is a strategic brand consultancy firm, which can

provide end-to-end marketing solutions to increase sales and business
prospects of its clients.

Hemant has more than 33 years of experience in sales, marketing and

strategy development. Some of the key brands managed by Hemant during
last three decades have been - Thums up; Limca; Maaza Mango; Captain
Cook salt; Charak; Bajaj Almond Drop hair oil; Tiger Balm; Zandu; JetKing;
Nutricharge and many more.

Hemant has written various articles on business strategy and marketing. He

has been a visiting professor at S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Narsee
Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

Hemant lives in Mumbai with his wife and two daughters.

You may contact him at:

Mobile: +91 99200 18430
E-mail: hemant@neeti.biz
website: www.neeti.biz
Blog:

www.neeti.biz/blog/

65