Managing your marketing needs

marketing presents a very important aspect on the road to transitioning.
Marketers are skilled in stimulating demand for a product. The current environment requires the creativity and passion of guerrilla marketers.
You can’t afford to produce a product for everyone, the zonke zonke type of marketing for the simple reason that not everyone likes the same soft drink, car or style.
You obviously need to segment your market. One writer once said you could not be a producer of all things that make up a breakfast table from the bacon, eggs, coffee, bread and marmalade.
One of my favourite educationists, Mr Mandewo, used to dissuade us from using the shotgun approach where we would scatter ideas in response to a need.
Rather one must pursue a rifle approach, which helps to focus on segments that you have the greatest chance of satisfying. Be thorough; and develop the appropriate information systems. You need to be aware that as incomes improve, buyers are more selective of who they buy from.
Consumers now respond to features, styles and other attributes of a product. In this regard producers must formulate information systems that provide more information about buyers’ preferences, behaviours and wants.
For example, the Coca-Cola Company is known for developing its product with such precision as to know the number of ice cubes people put in a glass.
Kleenex has calculated that the average person blows his or her nose 256 times a year.
In some countries, Hoover has learned the number of minutes that we spend each week vacuuming and how much dust is sucked up against the number of bags they supply at the point of purchase.
When seeking new markets one will also need to know the consumption patterns in other countries. For example, the Swiss are known for consuming the most chocolate, the Greeks eat the most cheese, the Irish drink the most tea, and the Austrians smoke the most cigarettes.
Customer needs
I remember at one point in our organisation we became serious about customer perception and we sent in mystery shoppers.
We were amazed at the amount of information we gathered through these. The treatment that customers are subjected to is atrocious.
Just make sure you have back-up if you want to pursue this one, you might be on your way to firing the whole department.
When engaging such an exercise pay attention to a number of issues such as the length of time it takes before a customer executive greets you, whether he or she acted like they wanted your business and whether the sales associate was knowledgeable about the products in stock.
My belief is that many employees today see work not as a source of satisfaction but as a required chore to earn money to be able to enjoy their leisure time.
I was amazed by the service I received at TM Westgate recently. Being the busy woman that I am, I realised I had forgotten water glasses by the till point way a month after I visited the shop.
I went along to the shop to claim them and to my surprise, they did have records of the transaction and I got my glasses.
I was pleasantly pleased and wish that all supermarkets would emulate this kind of customer service.
As a company you can also formulate a customer advisory panel made up of your top customers; these could either be the largest customers, the sophisticated customers or the most outspoken customers.
Discuss your service requirements, your customer requirements, the new technologies and their effects on your business.
When you are also changing to a marketing-oriented entity take care to understand people’s core beliefs and values.
In Zimbabwe, most of the population still believes in the institution of marriage and that people ought to get married.
Now if you are going to come in advertising products that are contrary to this belief, you might have problems in capturing your target market.
There has been talk recently on distributing condoms to schoolchildren and that many parents have roundly condemned the idea.
Pay attention to trends
Manufacturers will need to appreciate that if you attract and satisfy the needs of a teen buyer, there’s a good chance you will keep the person as a customer in future.
There is a very good chance that if I grew up consuming a type of milk, I am most likely going to buy it and give it to my children.
Just for argument’s sake if one day our Government adopts the one child per family policy like China, imagine the shift that would take place in schools, toy makers, clothing manufacturers, children’s foods, nursery schools and even relationships.
Remember that more ideas are being worked on, the time lag between new ideas and their successful implementation is decreasing rapidly and the time between introduction and peak production is shortening considerably.
Sometimes as a company, if you intend on entering blocked markets you will obviously need strong marketing intelligence.
This is the time you need very effective strategic social, economic and public relations skills to enter into the market.
You might recall the Pepsi-India ordeal. Initially Pepsi  worked with a local business group to gain government approval for its entry over the objections of domestic soft drink companies and anti-multinational legislators.
Pepsi also offered to help India export enough agricultural products to more than cover the cost of importing soft drink concentrate and promised economic development for some rural areas.
By winning the support of these and other interest groups, Pepsi was finally able to crack the Indian market.
Our successful brands like Econet might also have similar stories to tell when they enter other markets. Successful change is never easy.
What then must a manager do?
It is imperative as a manager that you assess your personal perspective of a change initiative.
The initiative may involve restructuring, mergers, innovation, or organisation turnaround.
Whatever form the change presents, begin with yourself. A change leader cannot lead without personal conviction.
Be prepared to support strategies that may not be to your immediate advantage.
Although managers must lead employees into change as a group, each member of the group must be treated as an individual.
View employees as a composite of individual customers requiring different approaches to achieve desired outcomes.
One approach will not fit all. Use this as a springboard for creativity. Focus on the informal leadership network among employees, and convince the leaders to join you in promoting the change.
Address rumours and fears by sharing verifiable information as quickly as it becomes available.
Recognise that uncertainty is a corollary of change, but misinformation and innuendo need not share this parallel. Communication is the key to creating an atmosphere of openness and trust. It is very change compatible.
Also, explain why change is necessary at every opportunity. Highlight ways change will improve the organisation, and encourage employees to seek opportunities for improvement on both organisational and personal levels.
Show them how this will help them gain transferable skills as they move through the change process.
Nelson Mandela once said: “One of the things I learnt when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself I could not change others.”
Till next week, remember . . . May God richly bless you.

Shelter Hamandishe-Chieza is a management consultant. She holds over a decade of management experience and is in the final stages of a Management of Business Administration degree with a reputable local university. She can be contacted at [email protected]