1. Indian parents - adorable monsters
Its like they get control of our lives by taking care of us for all our lives you know, they will insist on providing for you higher education, who should you marry, g how you should behave, wether you can go out now, or is it too late, who should you meet, wether you can drink or not, what time you should get up and so on and on and on. But they will also keep on caring for you, providing for our food, shelter, education and all the frivolities. We are not expected to work and earn our own pocket money, while studying we should concentrate on studies and not worry about earning. I kept on telling my parents that i don't want either, i don't want you to pay my fees nor look for a groom for me, but they want to do both... their love doesn't understand that. It is so difficult to fight love.
2. The art of selling
Well, studying in a b-school, me and my friends tend to get into lots and lots of debates and fruitless arguments about marketing and selling, trying to prove ourself among a group of equally naive and removed-from-reality people. When i went to my home town this vacation, shopkeepers, salesmen who have surely never been in a proximity of a b-school and not know what IIM is in any case showed me what selling is.
Well, I went into a shop to get just a screw tightened in my specks, coming out the shopkeeper had sold me new glasses worth 2K, I could see what he is doing all along, What all he is playing on, how he is praising me and then praising the product, my mind kept on telling me 'see now he is doing this' 'see now he will do that' but in the end i had bought those glasses. Another similar thing happened in a shoe-shopowhen i cam out carrying 3 packets instead of intended one.
Take away -
- Alternately praise the customer and the product
- Understand the customer- first one sold me the specks by saying you can appreciate the brand and this stuff, other people cant, he guessed that i would fall for that,
- Make them feel special - always offer the 'discount' that is 'only for you madam' coz 'you are our special customer'
- Service - "come anytime and change madam' 'no problem we are sitting here only whole day', 'madam you should have tea madam'
- Doing a little more - People from a leading matrimony site, on which my parents registered me :| actually called and offered assistance in setting up the account and in general going about things, which adds to customer satisfaction.
3. Infosys -
It is the most talked about company in an MBA course, I cannot think of a subject where the Infosys name has not been cited. Some times critiqued most times admired but never never ignored. Talk about the Corporate governance of Infy, or its internal employee management practices in HR and CGCSR classes. look at the CSR initiatives and the whole session goes by just talking about Infy. Come to the finance classes and the you get astounded by the returns from Infy stocks. Or go to the Valuations and Real Options class and where you least expect it, Infy again is the subject of discussion, it values its human capital. So we learn to value it too. Talk about entrepreneurship or talk of marketing(or the lack of it) Infy is there. Truly there is something about this great company and there is so much to learn and gain from this Indian Software giant. I feel so good to be associated with it.
