Telecommunication Authority of India (TRAI) has been quite aggressive in the recent past towards saving telecom subscribers from telemarketers.
A few weeks ago the department had mandated operators to provide a special tone when an international roaming customer is called. Objective is, the trained executive should refrain from engaging in the call when he hears the tone. I have posted a note on this subject, if interested please click here.
A couple of days ago another plan was brought to the table, something that will lead telemarketers fly a big kite. A web portal is going …

We all know the kind of monies that are being spent by marketers around the world without truly measuring the payback. Sure a few of the enterprises deployed some mechanisms to be able to manage marketing programmes with a technology backbone, essentially on automation. The following introduction will make sense to those organizations that
A) Understands how technology can play a role in marketing
B) Made some investments already in marketing automation
C) Looking forward to avenues that would aid them in strengthening their marketing organization.
Last night, a section of my neighborhood was …

Telecommunication Authority of India (TRAI) has instructed all the mobile operators to implement a solution that would intimate marketing contact centers if their potential customer is on international roaming and refrain from calling.
Interesting move, isn’t it?
While on international roaming all of us encounter the issue of not being able to see the Caller’s ID and end up picking up most of the calls. In a couple of trips, I had instructed important people to call me thrice in a row with one-ring to let me know its you calling. Despite have picked …

A few minutes ago I received a call from one of the top Direct Selling Agents for one of the leading Indian multinational banks. The executive said, I have been chosen to have a lifetime free Gold Credit Card, as he must be aware I wasn’t all that thrilled.
After listening to his brief pitch, I said I already own the product he is proposing. Listening to this, he promptly apologized and wanted to know if I have any other financial/banking needs and went on with the pitch. As a joke, I said …

I have done a few marketing audits with a couple of leading organizations in India. Amongst some interesting discoveries, one thing that always fascinates me is one-third of nation’s population is genderless as per the databases of these organizations, this statistics has been more or less consistent at various audits. 
Without worrying about this, marketing departments or these organizations are constantly proposing some product or the other without being gender biased. I must admit, it’s a whole new segment for all the marketers out there. Imagine fairness cream and special charge cards designed …

The dynamics of A-CRM AKA Analytical Marketing are going through a sea change. A whole lot of enterprises have started giving the due attention to leading Analytical CRM Solutions available in the market. However, it is a virgin territory to many organizations and they are quite vulnerable to fall for solutions with glossy skin and silky hair but with inadequate substance.
Enterprise that are giving serious thoughts to Analytical Marketing initiatives have to first rope in relevant teams, sit together, understand what are lacking in the existing process, elicit associated pain points and ensure …

Today, late in the evening I was watching Jerry Maguire for the third time along with one of my very good friends. Despite of watching the flick a couple of times before, for some reason I couldn’t find it gripping. Today, the situation was different; I got totally engrossed.
As Jerry is mentally reborn at the age of 35, he makes a set of resolutions – Some said and many unsaid. The first one begins by writing a Mission Statement/Memo to all his colleagues with items involving Honesty in Business, Less Clients, Uttermost Care and Maximum Value et al. The dialogue …

Telesales Channel is being heavily in use for marketing since the last few years. I am sure all of us would have received enough and more number of calls from Credit Card and Mobile phone operators and cursed out wits out for individual privacy abuse.
These days, customers’ privacy is being handled with uttermost care. Regulators have deployed rules/mechanisms to handle consumer privacy violations – it includes mandatory DND registrations on web pages, choosing an “No marketing communication” field in application forms etc. As a result, there is a considerable amount of effort that has …

I have this firm belief that organizations are just an extension of its founder/s. The success of an organization is essentially dependent on the founders’ clarity on purpose of existence, value system, business objectives, direction, short-term ‘n long-term goals and the organizations role in the society.
A CRM initiative has to follow the same trail i.e., the genesis has to come from the founder/s. IT should be based on Organization’s core characteristics and persona. A few solution providers in CRM business insist, there has to be a dedicated sponsor for a …

We all understand the role of Technology in Marketing for FMCG/Marketing is relatively lower than industries that deal with end-consumers/customers directly such as retail banking or telecommunication. Though a few Retail/FMCG organizations like L.L.Bean et al has CRM strategies in place, it is important to note they have direct-sales channels to interact with customers.
Having said that, it is important to note that it is incorrect to embrace the old philosophy of marketing automation in FMCG/Manufacturing industry is not viable. You might say “So How?”.. Please read up.
Though it is not possible …