As mentioned at the end of my previous post, in this one I will share with you my recent observations and thoughts of the local business environment in Varna, Bulgaria.
From employment point of view, it's easy to notice that almost every marketing oriented job is related to or focused solely on sales. What does this mean? The local companies or the Business units of the international corporations are using mainly the 'push' strategies for their interaction with the customers. In the job offers we see usually a sentence like that - "following the process of market growth we seek to hire a motivated person for the position of trade representative / sales executive". Another thing to consider is the very low employees retention rate in these 2 areas. Why is that? Because sooner or later, every individual realizes that nowadays success is not driven primarily by sales but by buys! Then comes the slow but gradual process of motivation decrease and discomfort in presenting the products by interrupting the potential customers. This issue will be speed up by a higher exploitation level.
People become cleverer these days, especially with the wide range of choices and sources of information they have when purchasing. Everybody knows what is the salesmen' intent - to make you buy and then to receive his/her commission and that's all. This is the wrongly arranged reality.
The opposite to selling is buying which correctly gives the power in the hands of the consumers. They no longer just choose the quality but the brands! Marketplace isn't a physical space but a mental one - all the consumers are won or lost by their minds and perceptions. People no longer believe to the sales reps but to the recommendations from their peers and friends. Here comes the cure - the branding! Producing a good with superior quality is the important initial stage of success. Building it as a strong brand - perfectly, developing a completely new category - by popularization is the second phase. The third is to defend by advertising the brand once it reaches the maturity level. Attention should be earned, not bought or forced. The product category associated with the brand should be inside the media stories, not aside of them, especially at the building phase. This is a truth that is a huge pill to swallow for most of the companies. Why's that? Because it challenges and shakes completely their comfortable world-view!
What's the situation in my city? Almost all the businesses neglect their branding efforts and rely ultimately on sales. I know that it's hard to make a shift in the policies but somebody has to start. The one with the highest power and leadership skills within an organization. Be the first or the competition will be smarter and take and advantage. This could be vital, especially in time of a global crisis. Even tough I also apply for sales jobs, I look at them as an opportunity to shift the aggressive approach with more customer oriented and care-driven one. The case with the big companies presented on the local market is similar. Most of them have the marketing units in Sofia and just sales ones in the other cities. This may lead to a business myopia caused by a lack of focus on the local specifics. The sales force at least should provide valuable real time insights apart of executing it's persuasive function but nothing can replace the effect of the local marketing research, product and branding optimization.
Local sales force is usually the cheaper option compared to building a marketing and branding unit which requires longer period for ROI evaluation. Keeping the things short-term oriented will result in an unstoppable brand damage. The decision - focus mainly on branding and customer service to ensure that the awareness and interest stages of the buying funnel are adequately covered by a strong CRM team. No sales needed - if you know how to instill desire and action :)
From a customer perspective - imagine a world with no interruption from irrelevant salesmen but a careful consulting from a customer care reps only when you need it. World with no stupid and annoying ads but funny, useful and engaging brand experiences that can show us also nishes of undiscovered needs and products. Sounds nice, ah? I'll work for that!
Let me know what do you think ;)))
Cheers mates!
Victor Tomov
From employment point of view, it's easy to notice that almost every marketing oriented job is related to or focused solely on sales. What does this mean? The local companies or the Business units of the international corporations are using mainly the 'push' strategies for their interaction with the customers. In the job offers we see usually a sentence like that - "following the process of market growth we seek to hire a motivated person for the position of trade representative / sales executive". Another thing to consider is the very low employees retention rate in these 2 areas. Why is that? Because sooner or later, every individual realizes that nowadays success is not driven primarily by sales but by buys! Then comes the slow but gradual process of motivation decrease and discomfort in presenting the products by interrupting the potential customers. This issue will be speed up by a higher exploitation level.
People become cleverer these days, especially with the wide range of choices and sources of information they have when purchasing. Everybody knows what is the salesmen' intent - to make you buy and then to receive his/her commission and that's all. This is the wrongly arranged reality.
The opposite to selling is buying which correctly gives the power in the hands of the consumers. They no longer just choose the quality but the brands! Marketplace isn't a physical space but a mental one - all the consumers are won or lost by their minds and perceptions. People no longer believe to the sales reps but to the recommendations from their peers and friends. Here comes the cure - the branding! Producing a good with superior quality is the important initial stage of success. Building it as a strong brand - perfectly, developing a completely new category - by popularization is the second phase. The third is to defend by advertising the brand once it reaches the maturity level. Attention should be earned, not bought or forced. The product category associated with the brand should be inside the media stories, not aside of them, especially at the building phase. This is a truth that is a huge pill to swallow for most of the companies. Why's that? Because it challenges and shakes completely their comfortable world-view!
What's the situation in my city? Almost all the businesses neglect their branding efforts and rely ultimately on sales. I know that it's hard to make a shift in the policies but somebody has to start. The one with the highest power and leadership skills within an organization. Be the first or the competition will be smarter and take and advantage. This could be vital, especially in time of a global crisis. Even tough I also apply for sales jobs, I look at them as an opportunity to shift the aggressive approach with more customer oriented and care-driven one. The case with the big companies presented on the local market is similar. Most of them have the marketing units in Sofia and just sales ones in the other cities. This may lead to a business myopia caused by a lack of focus on the local specifics. The sales force at least should provide valuable real time insights apart of executing it's persuasive function but nothing can replace the effect of the local marketing research, product and branding optimization.
Local sales force is usually the cheaper option compared to building a marketing and branding unit which requires longer period for ROI evaluation. Keeping the things short-term oriented will result in an unstoppable brand damage. The decision - focus mainly on branding and customer service to ensure that the awareness and interest stages of the buying funnel are adequately covered by a strong CRM team. No sales needed - if you know how to instill desire and action :)
From a customer perspective - imagine a world with no interruption from irrelevant salesmen but a careful consulting from a customer care reps only when you need it. World with no stupid and annoying ads but funny, useful and engaging brand experiences that can show us also nishes of undiscovered needs and products. Sounds nice, ah? I'll work for that!
Let me know what do you think ;)))
Cheers mates!
Victor Tomov
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I like the article and its style.
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