Ashwin Merchant | 15 Jul, 2010
Difficult time always brings new opportunities for forward looking marketers, businessmen and entrepreneurs to optimize their market share take over competitors’ customers and add more value to current customers. The time is to chalk out a detailed marketing plan for developing existing business with an eye to future. Make your business a winner and not just a survivor. Invest your time and talent now for future and stay ahead for a long time. You may require adopting a new marketing strategy or market planning to be more cost effective using lucrative marketing techniques and tools.
Business Definition for Turnaround Management states that the implementation of a set of actions required saving an organization from business failure and returning it to operational normality and financial solvency. Turnaround management usually requires an investigation of the root causes of failure and long-term programs to revitalize the organization.
For successful business operations finance and marketing plays very important role. Finance is generally obtained from personal, family and friends support but days have gone that business can only be done with one’s own fund and one can really start looking out for funding and financing from banks and FIs, private equity and at a future date SME IPO. So, finance if is hurdle, there are ways and means to supplement this area. Now, another major business function is marketing. Today, business is marketing. Ignorance of marketing is a great risk and many SME owners, technocrats and factory persons are paying a huge price for not paying attention to changing need of customers and market, that’s marketing. Basic aptitude of SME promoters, owners for not investing into intangibles and professional services has ruined the organization a great deal in long time, now looked upon as looser who can not cope with the change phenomenon. The other SMEs from the same cluster, area and category/size who took timely action for growth have prospered and are in majority of cases not suffered by world recession and slow down. In fact, due to ready to serve global market, these SMEs have been benefited in comparison with their counterparts in countries worldwide. Quality controls, ISO certifications, trade fair participations, delegate visits, branding locally and internationally as individual products and / or company on its own or as a factor of cluster which have been aggressively promoted by government in last several years. The price benefits due to Dollar/Rupee exchange as well as successful backend management helped select SMEs in last couple of years. Though, they are few in numbers but their success clearly is lesson to others that how orientation to business development and marketing supported with a business plan can take companies miles ahead and virtually out of local competition. The global exposure also help to improve quality, design, packaging, pricing and service factors, which help them in local market – so such SMEs are helped both ways.
How
SMEs can work on mistakes in past and lead marketing today?
1.
Identify the changing need of your customer – market dynamics
2.
Target your competitors’ customers – do you know who and why they
are?
3.
Surprise with novel offers and terms – customer friendly business
terms?
4. Make
price a USP - if product not branded
5. Find
new market nationally and internationally - understand and reach
6. No
cost cutting but cost management – suffocating marketing, promotion
7. Make
all efforts to understand the core competency of your product - audit
8. Be
visible and be in the minds of your customers – marketing strategy
9 .Have
vision, courage and guards to do something new – policy decision
10. If
not new, do it differently – find alternate ways to remain in
market
11. Do
not make mistake to discount the quality – acceptance is key factor
12. Do
not forget your customer – always be in touch, relationship
marketing
13. Keep
tab ongoing basis on 3Cs –
customer, competition, change
We
recommend SMEs to have a systematic ROAD MAP worked out for 1year to
3 years and develop a business plan to achieve goal and objectives.
Some of the marketing strategy like niche marketing, database
marketing, cluster specific marketing, guerilla marketing techniques,
relationship marketing, integrated follow up marketing strategy are
key for success and not costly. Also, SMEs must invest in technology
in all fronts incl. shortage of skilled and semi skilled manpower,
quick turnover of sales and marketing staff, over dependency on a
person, and hiring professionals for undertaking tasks and functions
which are not the competency of SME owners and promoters. Doing all
things by oneself may save few costs, but growth is impossible and in
days like in past when come again survival will be a challenge. SMEs
must take all benefits of Government policies and schemes to grow
internally and externally. Time is now to change and re-define
business objectives, short term and long term goals, purpose of doing
business, re-think on
running an enterprise with the same, traditional way or incorporating
modern methods and systems of business development incl. marketing,
sales promotion, advertising, brand building and a lot more,
re-engineer
front-end as well as back-end operations with ‘outside in’
approach to look at a business model and scrap the old ‘inside out’
model and of course, change of basic attitude
towards role of marketing for customer development, retention and
growth. Marketing is an investment and not an expense is what in
fundamentally one should understand.
So,
SMEs, Please “Wake Up! –
No more you can afford to
ignore systematic marketing of your business,
Get Up! – start planning
and develop ROAD MAP for short term and long term objectives and get
Check Up!,
from professionals before you start applying”. As a professional we
advise SME owners to “Look
Out! For specialist who can
help you with your goals and objectives,
Watch Out! Competition from
local, national and global market,
Work Out! Smart strategies,
innovative, practical and economical marketing and business
development plan”. Innovation in products design, pricing strategy,
new market understanding, value creation and brand development are
key things to work out. Do
not delay. As such it’s late, now just do it.
Why you need to turnaround?
Indian
Economy
Global
Scenario
Increasing
competition – local, regional, zonal, national, international
Opportunity
for SMEs – from Government and in overseas market
Inherent
strength of owners, promoters to decide and implement quickly
Why many of your need to turnaround?
Outdated
business model
issues
of owners, promoters
Ignorance
of marketing and business development strategy
Suffocating
with finance and funding – awareness issue about Government
policies and schemes and not taking benefits of same
Jack
of All attitude, cost cutting, taking customers for granted
How
to manage for turnaround?
Re-Think
Re-Define
Re-Engineer
Key
areas to focus for TURNAROUND
1. Operations
2. Finance
3. Marketing
* This is a synopsis of talk given by Ashwin Merchant, Marketing Expert at CII, Nagpur, on turnaround time for MSMEs on July 14, 2010.
* The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his/ her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of SME Times.
