Business Disorganisation, how to avoid it!

Ever since the industrial revolution and the upsurge of commerce and industry, business organisation and development took on a dramatic change from the primitive working practices of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, to high level, forward thinking entrepreneurial strategies, which led companies into the 20^th century.

However those same entrepreneurs who took businesses into the 20^th century are also, in part, responsible for the deterioration of these philosophies in the 21^st century.

Building a successful business from scratch is a huge accomplishment, especially if the business owner had very little education or no formal qualifications. Experience, determination and perseverance, as well as hope of a better future for the family and the economy were probably more of a driving force, than hanging up a qualification on an office wall.

Unfortunately, the factors that contributed to first generation business owners’ success are no longer applicable in today’s business environment.

Other factors, amongst others, that need to be considered are:

• The current economic situation and other macroeconomic factors
  

• Today, a strong reliance on family, friends, relatives, government officials, and other associates is mostly considered as nepotism and bribery

• Children entering the business and starting immediately in management and/or authoritative positions, not from the bottom up, causes rifts with qualified, non-family member, employees

• Family feuding amongst siblings who take over from original owners when they retire, divorce or pass on, could disagree on how and who should run departments or divisions

• Second and Third Generation relatives entering the business, bringing with them their own ideas and philosophies as to how the grandparent should have ran the business, and how Uncle A or Auntie B should have not listened to Auntie A and Uncle C and Brother A should not have said this or that with Cousin B and C!

Nowadays, such companies are suffering from the "Second and Third Generation Syndrome”, and “Business Disorganisation”. The original owners, who may themselves have been deprived of an education and academic achievements, ensured that their children got themselves a first-class education, so that they could enter the company in an important, top executive position, to enable the business to continue to flourish.

For businesses to continue to be successful, they have to be run by fully trained and qualified personnel, who are employed on the basis of doing the job the right way, rather than filling posts with people who oblige the owners to hire them, through some type of “hold” that they have.

Therefore, it is wise to consider that a combination of qualifications, know-how and a zest for purpose and passion for reaching goals will ensure continued growth and development rather than disorganisation.

Is the Customer "Always Right"?

Why would customers need to complain if :

• The service is good;

• The Sales people are courteous and knowledgable;

• The products are of good quality;

• The environment is welcoming and comfortable;

• The after sales service is even better than the pre-sale transaction?

Some of the above points are reasons that make customers feel satisfied and therefore contribute to the value they have received in any transaction made.

If a business doesn't provide any of the above, amongst other factors, then customers are not satisfied and complaints may arise.

"The Customer is Always Right", shouldn't necessarily apply if a business takes due care in ensuring that it provides good quality products and services, an excellent level of customer care, speedy and reliable service and after sales attention.

Therefore, all businesses should aim to limit their customer complaints to ZERO by implementing some form of quality managment.

If a business aims for this "semi" Total Quality Management model, then the only reason a customer would need to complain, would be to satisfy some other need that the customer has, which is not related to the buyer-seller relationship.

Whilst all sales people can be trained to deal with customer complaints concerning the goods and services of the business, they cannot be trained to deal with complaints arising from some other motivator or trigger that is instilled in the mind of the customer that is not related to the transaction.

They just need to ensure that they can tell the difference between the two!

Emotional Marketing

Previous generations grew up in a world that had gone through the Depression of the 1930’s, wars and economic crises, therefore as adults they became conscientious consumers. If my parents had their way, I would still be wearing clothes and shoes that were in fashion in the 1970’s and driving a 1980’s Japanese car.

Instead of poverty and hardship, the only depression we experience these days is the one that causes us stress, unhappiness and sadness. We even have a new form of remedy known as Shopping Therapy, now we buy things because they make us feel happy, look good, important, sexy or glamorous.

To put emotional marketing into practice, Marketers must have an acute understanding of human behaviour and physiological and psychological needs. Emotional Marketing can be used as part of the integrated marketing communication process to stimulate desire and invoke positive sentiments in consumers. Clever triggers, such as words, images, and other stimuli used in advertising should elicit the emotion that will persuade consumers to buy.

Success and importance also are attributes that everyone wants to have or feel. A TV commercial for a luxury car, emphasizing its features, horsepower and quality may not be as successful as the same product being advertised with subliminal visual messages such as a person in a business suit, driving the car to their luxurious home after a hard day’s work.

Self image is also another strong emotion. Why is it that thin, pretty women are used in advertisements for diet soft drinks? Aren’t overweight people the target market? But imagine an obese person being depicted in a commercial drinking diet cola; consumers would feel negative emotions instead of positive ones.

This emphasis on emotional marketing cannot work without an integrated marketing communication strategy. It is also important for sales staff to be adequately trained in the concept of emotional marketing. What’s the point of a company that manufactures exclusive clothing for women, advertising the quality and superiority of the product, when a sales assistant tells a customer that the skirt she is trying on makes her thighs or posterior look smaller than what they really are? The sale will automatically be lost because the customer will feel upset, as the real message she is getting is that her thighs and posterior are too big!

The essence of emotional marketing should create a positive sensation in the mind of the consumer that will encourage a purchase, instead of a negative emotion that will discourage consumers from buying.