by rameshkumarramachandran | May 5, 2020 | General
Everyone loves to be heard at home and in the office. While I don’t wish to discuss on the home front for obvious reasons, the one at Office needs attention. To grow, you need to take an effort to make your voice heard.
Throughout my career, I had to struggle to make my voice heard. Did that flash anything for you? I am sure an instance or two where you were unheard would have flashed for a moment. I can affirm that I was not alone.
So, what is this “To make your voice heard” all about?
It means you share meaningful ideas that help the team or the organization as a whole, solve a problem or propose new ideas, thereby promoting self-growth and organizational growth.
In my career spanning over two decades, I have seen many members of my team were hesitant to share ideas or thoughts or pass feedback, fearing backlash. They seem as though they don’t want to be heard. I wasn’t surprised though, as I had been through this during the initial days of my career.
Have you ever introspected your hesitation to speak out?
While I go downlisting my thoughts, I would advise you to take a look at yours as well.
The first thought that comes to my mind is the family upbringing, where I was not allowed to speak up when elders were around. I was trained to nod and agree with them whenever an event was planned, or a new solution was introduced to solve a family issue. I was always with a constant fear of being ridiculed and shamed by more experienced elders who took all the decisions.
Secondly, being an introvert during my teens and early adulthood could be a possible reason too. People who know me well now, wouldn’t agree If I called myself an introvert.
What did I do to overcome this struggle?
Here are a few tips to make your voice heard to grow from my experiences.
1. Don’t cringe, speak out, and come up with a solution.
When I came across a hurdle or inconvenience in the workplace, I never cringed away from complaining about any issue with my teammates or in a team meeting.
When I was with CSS(formerly Slashsupport), my PM Mr.Satish, educated me that employers prefer staff who had a strong acumen to solve problems. He trained me to communicate my ideas with a simple motto:
“Identify problems, but don’t stop there, propose an idea to solve the problem you have identified”.
Better, if you have an implementable practical new working model.
Trust me, your voice will be heard, and you will also build trust and credibility. I gained rewards early in my career, having shown such problem-solving traits.
2. Validate the solution
Don’t propose the solution based on your guts (it may or may not work). Any recommendations you share should be based on research, data analysis, focus group findings, and other reliable sources. Talk with managers across departments to identify how things get done in an organization. Work along with your peers and manager to validate the solution before it is presented to a larger audience. These efforts will help build your credibility.
3. Meetings are opportunities.
Inevitably, everyone has to attend meetings at work. What you may not realize is that meetings are a good place to build your credibility. Meetings are opportunities to ask questions. When you drive the conversation from the problem towards a solution, you will emerge as a leader. There will be always people who will be a heckler. Just ignore them and make sure your voice is heard
If you have ideas about improving efficiency at work, speak up during meetings. Organizations appreciate employee suggestions that improve productivity.
Proposed ideas may sound really uncomfortable for some people in the room or maybe even yourself. But, remember one thing -Your goal is to deliver results. So, get into the habit of finding opportunities to share your perspective. Making your voice heard is a skill. If you master it, you are ready to take leadership.
by rameshkumarramachandran | Apr 16, 2020 | General
Me being a fitness freak, as you all know, once in a blue moon, my sweet tooth pops out and longs to eat my favorite dessert “Kesari” – Semolina cake. So, I ventured into the kitchen to prepare it all by myself.
With all the right ingredients and following the procedure to the T, the dessert was ready and smelling great. For a moment, I was on cloud nine to celebrate the success thinking that I got the desired output.
However, I missed the taste by a mile. It was a disappointment. The outcome was not what I had expected.
While I ponder over this to find out what went wrong, take a look at your outcome vs output
Understanding Outcome and Output
An output is an end result of an activity. It doesn’t address the value or impact it creates for your customer. On the other hand, an outcome is an achievement that occurred because of the undertaken activity. Outcomes quantify performance and assess the success of the process.
A simple way to look at it is that outcomes are the results, and outputs are the activities that support the desired results. For example, ‘increased customer satisfaction’ is a typical business outcome. An output that can help achieve this might be a quick turnaround time.
Outcomes are what businesses want and need. It is both quantitative and qualitative. Not only do outcomes reflect results, but they also reflect the experience and perception between the organization and those it serves.
Move towards what matters most- Achieve outcome by delivering outputs
It is easy to report and validate output as it is quantitative. However, outcomes are challenging. To a large extent, it depends on the perception of the people who would receive this service. And, perceptions are not easy to measure but it is essential to do so.
I have seen an organization generate reports and the dashboard that looked glossy and green. However, when they delved deeper, the customer was not happy with the service.
I am certainly not suggesting that you no longer need to report on the achievement of outputs. Instead, organizations should identify the outcome. Then, review outputs to ensure that they bring in their desired business outcome.
Aim for 99% customer satisfaction by reducing turnaround time by 20 mins.
Great organizations manage the outcome. So, look at what you offer – Are you preparing a dessert that pleases by look and smell or delivers a tasty one that brings smiles in your family?
by rameshkumarramachandran | Apr 3, 2020 | Sales
The sales team needs battle cards. They are a staple in most B2B sales teams. And they serve one purpose: To help sales reps convince prospects to pick your product over the competition.
In a competitive world full of smart and hard-working people, what sets you apart from this competition stays forever in the minds of your customers and helps you grow in business. To prove a point to close a deal in business, the Sales has to come up with new ideas and tools and win the battle against competition. One such critical tool in the sales arsenal in this never-ending battle is the Battlecard.
What is a Sales Battlecard?
Battlecards are short, sales-ready documents that provide a deeper understanding of a specific
competitor’s marketing strategy, key sales messages, product information and tactical value propositions to use when selling against your competitors. It provides your sales team with a competitive displacement “cheat sheet”. They break down the necessary information effectively and efficiently.
Why does the sales team need battle cards?
Battlecard is the tool that’ll help you convince prospects to pick you over the competition. It arms you
with specific information that can help combat buyer’s objection. In simple terms, when sales reps have stats, figures, and other specific, substantive information to point to while combating potential
customers’ objections, it’s more likely that they’ll be able to close deals.
Who creates Battle Cards?
The onus is on the marketing team in your organization to create the Battlecards. However, it is not an
easy task to create this all alone without inputs from various stakeholders. Product Managers, Pre-sales, Business development, and to some extent, customer support should share responsibility with the Marketers to create such battle cards.
As an end-user, you are expected to share feedback with Marketing team constantly so as to keep
sharpening this battle card to enable the sales to face the battle with great confidence.
Final Thoughts
New competitors prop-up quite often and existing competitors change their products or offers. Your
battle cards will need to change as and when competition changes. So, you should be continually
sharing feedback on what’s working (and what isn’t) and updating your sales battle cards accordingly. It is a live document that should be evaluated regularly to ensure that it’s a relevant and useful tool for your sales team.
At the end of the day, the sales battle card needs to work.
Easily said than done. It is not an easy task to create a strong battle card. I have shared my thoughts on what, why, and who about the battle card. With respect to how to develop a battle card, I recommend this article by ForteConsultancy
by rameshkumarramachandran | Mar 18, 2020 | Sales
I had an interesting discussion with my friend on this topic – “Sell your customers what they need and not what you want” – the one that I shared a few weeks back on my blog. He chose to disagree with me on this by referring to the quote
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford
Customers know what they want, but don’t know how to articulate it.
In fact, customers would probably have told Ford exactly what they wanted — a faster mode of transportation. Customers might not have mentioned the need for a combustion engine, but that’s part of the art of understanding customers. They may not be aware of the options available to them but they often understand their problems.
Ask specific questions that allow you to gain insights into their business problem. Avoid feature-based questions, because customers aren’t thinking about technology features. They are worried to save costs and time in these tough times.
At the same time, avoid multiple-choice questions. Giving a customer too many choices often nets you poor feedback, but it’s also important to give them the opportunity to bring up something you haven’t anticipated.
While the quote might have been embellished over time or even misattributed to Ford, I think we need to stop using the phrase outside of its specific context. It doesn’t mean that the customer is wrong. It means we need to synthesize what they say and think more broadly about where it might take us.
by rameshkumarramachandran | Feb 22, 2020 | Sales
Don’t keep your customers waiting. In this article, I want to discuss whether Zero Wait Time is a reality or a myth?
At the gym
I am a fitness freak and prefer to do my workout at the gym in isolation. That’s when you will have all thoughts running from pillar to post in your brain. On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, I noticed a few prospects waiting at the gym to inquire about the Fitness Plans. The front desk, after all the busy morning schedule, had gone for lunch and there was no sign of return anytime sooner. After a long wait, the prospects walked into the gym to check the facilities. They looked satisfied with all those equipment at the gym and made their way to the reception, all again to wait for a few more minutes.
I didn’t even notice when they left. They found their way out before the Front desk arrived.
Do you think the prospects would have come on a later date to enroll themselves for the Fitness plans at the gym? I guess not.
The Thought
This episode made me think why not write a blog on ‘Why wait times are bad?’.
In this fast-paced world, wait times are excruciating. The queue at the billing counter in supermarkets/hypermarkets, waiting to be seated at a restaurant, a long and an impatient wait before food is served at your table, queue at the Saloon for a haircut or a massage, await at the ATM to withdraw or deposit your money, wait on the phone to talk to a Contact Center agent – the list is endless and there can be many more such examples where customers/consumers do not prefer to wait until their turn. I wouldn’t blame the customer here for his impatience, instead, the business is at stake of losing their customers for not providing a wholesome experience.
“Contact center surveys say that, while in 2014 customers were willing to wait for 13 minutes, in 2017, most customers wait less than 2 minutes. Now, more and more customers expect no hold time. If they don’t get a human, 34% of customers hang up and never call back”.
https://www.arise.com/resources/blog/arise-customer-service-frustration-series-phone-hold-times
Is Zero Wait Time a reality or a myth?
Banks have found ways to enhance the customer’s banking experience. Online banking, Mobile banking, Instant Money transfer, cashless pay, etc. – there has been a lot of innovations going on in the banking industry to improvise user experience. Virtual assistants have drastically reduced the wait time at banks and contact centers.
The leaders in business have to come up with innovative and efficient ways in order to enhance the customer experience. You tend to lose a customer if you have made him wait over and above his cut-off time and this time varies from business to business and from person to person. Hence, I would advise following a nearly-zero-wait time for all your customers so as to stay ahead of your competition and establish a long-lasting customer relationship.
How about sharing your thoughts on this?
