Why CRM ?

CRM (Customer relationship management) is hot kake and every organization are trying to owe the customer with some or other type of strategies. Various techniques are used to owe the customers like

• Integrated solution
• Value for money
• Augmented values
• personalized service

CRM is so important that it has an indivual module in ERP software. why profit oriented companies are so bothered about the customer?

Customer relationship management is so important because of only one reason that is " aquiring new customer is four to five times costly than maintaining current customer". ultimately it the long term objective of companies to maximize the profit only.

Organization vs. Consumer buying behavior

As a marketer one must understand consumer behavior, despite the topic is so descriptive. We have to understand everything with the consumer’s point of view; else consumer will discard us out of the market. Understanding the individual consumers and finally deciding the plan for the entire target is really difficult, but what if the consumer is organization, where a team is purchasing the product.
Problem is that

· Decision is based upon the team of the people, not the individual so how to understand the behavior of the team.
· User of the product is manufacturer, approver of the product is marketing, influencer of the product is some other and finally the financer of the product is Finance department. So what is the chances that your product is gone hit the deck of the organization.

So what can be done is that we can have better design and quality to be liked by the user, persuade the marketing guys by convincing them about the outcome of the purchasing the same product, and finally making it sure that the product is within the range of the financial department or the product will bring the revenue I the long term. Else we should have some products with different price range, quality. I think there are good chances that deal will be done, what do you think?

Is ERP A boon for the industry?

ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) is the winning horse of the corporate world; every organization is trying to have it as an ingredient part. Everyone knows that it helps in integration of the all the process of the organization, very few are talking about the failure of ERP. Here are few of the things that one has to consider before implementing it in the organization.

· It requires the overhaul of the process according to it. Since it is predesigned and the manufacturer is not going to change but organization has to.
· It requires lots of hidden cost and the time for implementation. Actual cost is not as much as cost involved with the overhauling of the processes and training the employees.
· You have to keep on upgrading hardwires to make it compatible with the ERP package. A small organization having less revenue and the profit may find difficulty in upgrading employee and the hardware even maintain it is a big challenge.

So some tie it is difficult to introduce the ERP and the organization will be finished but one thing is even more relevant if you are not using it you will eliminated sooner or later. So think trice about making any decisions…..what you say?

Inventory management ----- At the verge of extinction

You think that INVENTORY MANAGEMENT IS the topic of the past then why the topic is so. I am saying it on the basic of the organization already implemented it, like Toyota and Dell do not have the warehouses rater they work on the principle of just in time inventory or customer pull. Days are gone when inventory of finished goods and raw material was an inseparable part of supply chain management.

There are some reasons while organizations want to almost delete the inventory at their premises.
· Inventory management requires huge investment in term of Warehouses and manpower.
· Suppliers are ready to provide raw material on daily basis and distributor can provide the requirement of commodity on daily basis.
· It is possible as some organization is already implementing it.
· It reduces the spoiling of raw material and finished good as … no need to produce the goods which may not be required by consumer.
· Price of the goods reduces as new price of the product
o New price = Old price – (cost of storage)

As an organization you should be able to take the risk otherwise will be eliminated…. as competitors will provide it at lower price provided other factors constant. Do you people agree?

FMCG ----- it’s all about availability (which depend upon distribution)

“Organization spends a lot in the Brand building activities but once established, they reap the benefits life time”. It was then now market is very competitive especially FMCG market, many established Brand are struggling to maintain the market share. So you are bound to compete, or ready to be eliminated from the market. Even the market of black cold drinks there is a lot of competition; only two big brands are present there. Distribution has critical role in the success of any FMCG organizations, because of

· Buyers have so many options available in this sector as so many established brands are available.
· There is not much risk involved while switching the FMCG products, so if one is not available people may switch to other.
· Earlier distribution (logistics, supply chain, dealers) was designed in such a way to reduce the cost of the product, but now a days it is to have edge over the competitors.

So as FMCG company, be competitive too have good distribution system or else you will be a company to be studied as case in MBA colleges. “Distribution system --- A big failure for company ABC”, perhaps you won’t like it. This is my perception or point of view perhaps you people may have different one.

Relations --- Problem for the researcher (In some cases)

I do not know why am I so much in relationship with relations, have already talked a lot in previous blog and again. Good relations results in excellent outcomes in almost all spheres of life but as a researcher it creates problems, as people are not ready to tell the truth because of one reason or other. Recently I have done a research on the distribution of the particular company, and found that people were reluctant to tell the truth because of fear of getting their relationship spoiled, especially with higher order members of the distribution channel.

· Sometimes retailers were suspicious that we are from distributor’s sides, and thought that anything against the distributor will be conveyed and they have to bear the consequences.
· Dealers and distributors were not willing to divulge anything against the company, fear of getting their license revoked.

As a researcher one may try their best to convince the confidentiality but it’s very difficult to change the perception of individuals. I am wondering to get a solution to deal with this limitation of the research, perhaps some of you may have ideas to deal with.

Relationship does matter even in distribution

Health, Relationship and Achievement are three most important things in the life of human being. Relationship does matter a lot in real life but it’s amazing to see it’s important in the marketing and distribution of the products. Here are few of the facts which will indicate its importance in distribution of the products especially in FMCG products.

· In my previous blog I mentioned that Dabur has problem with less production capacity of REAL JUICE. Demand of this product is more than supply, especially in the metros so every retailer tries their best to have it in their shop but few succeed. When I observed I realized that those who are having good interpersonal skill and hence relation with distributor are getting it easily, rest are complaining about the system i.e. company, distributor and themselves of being small scale.
· Now coming to the credit policies decided by the distributors. Frankly speaking most of distributor decides credit policies on the behavior of the individual retailers. For new retailers they provide the product after receiving the cash. With long term retailers they decide the policy upon the credential of the individuals.
· If one party is good they try to understand the problem of other if they have any. I know one of the distributors of Allahabad and was amazed to see that none of the retailer has any issue with the particular distributor. Even though he sometime fails to fulfill the demand of the individual but he is there to explain the reason.