Branding vs Sales - The case of the Local Business in Varna (Bulgaria)

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

The Global Financial Crisis Influence on the Employment

Hi there guys,

These days I look for a job and reflect on the recent employment issues that the Global financial crisis has raised. We all can hear and read a plenty of stories with employers (usually big companies) murmuring about cost cuts and staff optimization.

While the economic downturn affects all sectors, the singe most important factor for success and survival are the people within the organization. Thus, attracting the top talents and retaining them is crucial for all businesses. First comes the recruitment and selection processes. From negotiations perspective, the fight for power increase is absolutely vital! Most of the companies try to be clever and use the "empty cellar of mom Hubbard" technique while presenting the remuneration packages to the primary approved job candidates. At this point of the employment negotiations, the following alternatives are available for the career pursuers:
- accepting and believing what the corporate HR reps are telling and decreasing the salary expectations to fit in the "dedicated budget";
- stressing on their individual skills to differentiate among the other candidates and imposing more attention to the fact that quality comes along with its adequate price.

Which option do you think is more likely to be chosen by especially young applicants? I bet the answer will be the first one. Statistically, it will be correct and that's what the companies rely on, more intensively in times of crisis. But all of them perfectly know that the talents are the only thing that can bring them out of the bad situation and lead them to success in long term! It's all about perception and belief in the own qualities (unique mix of knowledge and skills). Lack of self-awareness and confidence is a sure way to exploitation.

What's the decision for the people that are still at the very beginning of their careers? Look at your past experiences - both educational and working. Reflect on them and appoint the milestones. They should be used to increase the belief in your abilities.
What if you are still students? Cool! Look for an NGO to join, especially one that can provide you with enough freedom to practice your knowledge, learn a lot and be successful. Voluntary active membership in such organizations could fill the experience gap that most of the employers set in ther job offers.

My personal story:
In October 2002, I joined AIESEC - the world's largest platform for young people to develop and discover their potential. Now, after working in every possible functional area, taking different responsibilities, I tend to present myself as a young professional and recent graduate with 4,5 years of management experience, with 2 internships realized abroad, strong values and principles and a network of good friends. AIESEC was the thing that made this huge difference in my life.

As a conclusion, believing in my own abilities, I won't let any future employer to exploit my potential by using the cheap tricks of the critical budget constrains related to new employees. Optimizing the business process should start from the staff management. More qualified the people are, less likely they should be fired or encouraged to leave. The only people that can be afraid are the badly educaated and low-qualified employees. They are the ones that could be replaced any time.

In the next post I'll get a bit more local in the business perspective.

Cheers,

Victor Tomov

Nutrition and Stress - the 2 Major Health Factors

In our intensive daily life there are 2 major health factors - the Stress and the Nutrition. As the former is usually out of our control, the situation is different with the latter. While everybody is exposed to a considerable amount of stress factors, nowadays, it becomes far more important to know and leverage the nutritional aspects of our life. Establishing control over the own diet that leads to better health condition isn't an easy process. It requires several elements (note that all of them are equally important):
- information and knowledge;
- technologies available;
- strong will, positive attitude and decisiveness towards all potential life-style changes;
- support and understanding from the closest friends and relatives.

Once all of the conditions set above are present, every individual will be able to make the necessary adjustments, learn what and how to consume the right food according to his/her personal specifics, and take over the control of the Nutrition factor. Fortunately, there are few helpful tools available to everyone in this regard. They provide very important information about all the foods and ingredients that our organism accepts, tolerates (accepts one a week) or rejects when consumed. With this insight in mind, help from specialist and individually gained knowledge, we can start and realize a crucial shift in our lives - to better nutritional habits and health.

The 2 most popular tools are: blood test and vega test. The first one is very expensive, though it gives the correct and most detailed results for all food kinds at once. The second one is far cheaper, requires triple testing and after a period of 18 months gives the correct results for approx. 200 food kinds.

My personal story:

After coming back from Slovakia, almost a year ago, my mom told me about the vega test that she did in april 2008. I got attracted about it and decided to undertake the first test almost immediately. We appointed the date and then the screening showed me the results. "Wow, what the heck!", I said, after seeing that I should not drink beer, eat pastry stuff, milk chocolate and some other widely popular foods. But then, I realized that this is a great possibility to introduce another major change in my life which seemed to be exciting and interesting in the end :) I started to follow strictly the test and the specialist's recommendations and for less than 2 months my weight became normal! I lost 14 kilos and got the primary shape I wanted. Then, it was very easy to continue, already adapted to the new reality. Together with my mom, we realized that our expenditure on food got optimized as we removed plenty of conservant-rich things. So, 4 months later, the time for the second test came. After giving to my organism a valuable break from the unhealthy (in my specific case) food, it responded more correctly in the screening. The results were unexpected - the beer became acceptable, as with the pastry (partially), milk chocolate and some other cool things I liked before. Now, I'm following the test prescriptions and can't wait for the third final one that will show me the real results I should follow for the rest of my life :)) These days, I eat a lot - only the food accpeted and tolerated by my body, don't gain extra weight, feel good and keep myself in a fit shape by exercising.

I think everyone of us can take the control of the Nutrition factor in his/her life. It's not that hard but the consequenses are great! Being healthy is not only a responsibility to yourself but to other people that love and rely on you as well. Realizing this is an important step towards a positive change.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box below, guys! :) If you like to learn more about the vega testing, don't hesitate to ask me for details.

See ya in the next post.

Victor Tomov