the accounting profits that are used . Economic profits also come to play . But the greatest measure of all is cash – I am not sure whether anyone has disputed that fact that cash still remains the king .
But key questions abound . How can businesses retain the cash inflows from profitable operations without taking care of the future ? Efforts to create the future have been entrusted to a leadership with vision . This leadership can benefit more from ensuring that the products are well nurtured . That bit of nurturing calls for customer intimacy .
And as for any relationship , communication and feedback on the health and continuous status check on common purpose and congruence on the vitals cannot be over emphasised . Can this be done from history ? No . This is from a discourse on expectations and sustained health-check . This is a triage-check on the vitals that define the customer relationship and engagement .
The triage-check therefore , must bring that information to the decision table really quickly to save a situation that is life defining to products and brands . This assures the health of the relationship . The brands and products are then offered the right treatment at the management decision table based on the pulse based data . Healthy brands will assure the company a future that supports service of real customer needs . This is the escalation in my view , where real market and customer driven data is used in marketing decisions .
Marketing management and strategic marketing tools have over time been based on market pulse rate checks . As marketing professionals , static data can easily be irrelevant as customers move and now more than ever almost all products can achieve some degree of customization . There is need for market data dashboards and metrics that should trigger action . No need for historical overhead variance analysis , if the data is real time and actions are spontaneous . New reporting frameworks can be deployed to achieve this .
In escalation , I see more of creativity coming into play . The space for creativity is on real time engagement . Breaking all traditional organization structures and hierarchy to reach customers and
The customers don ’ t really care , they should get what they want and need , how they need it , when and where they need it and it does not matter if the one executing that is the sales analyst , marketing executive or the CEO . In fact , the higher they get access to the organizational management level the merrier it is for them , and this is a sure score . New digital platforms have made this a reality .
create valuable engagement is a strategic marketing block . This must be embraced .
The customers don ’ t really care , they should get what they want and need , how they need it , when and where they need it and it does not matter if the one executing that is the sales analyst , marketing executive or the CEO . In fact , the higher they get access to the organizational management level the merrier it is for them , and this is a sure score . New digital platforms have made this a reality .
I know customers can whine . It is their right to whine . If they are not satisfied , we have no business of being in business . I also do , and sometimes enjoy being served by the top most person I can get in any organization . I feel cared for . This does not mean that we are undermining the guys below . It only means that an organization understands how to treat customers , seamlessly and truly a one-culture approach for service delivery is engrained .
The worst thing is for a customer representative to admit that they have to seek authority from above to execute a customer need . This begets bureaucracy and frustration . Customers do not buy this . They have a need and they pay for satisfaction . There may be regulatory demands , but hey , deal with that without subjecting your customers to pain in getting what they need . If you don ’ t , be sure that in such a shrinking market playground , somebody is going to do it and differentiate themselves .
Play by the flanks , push it to the lines . You must do it . The market place is so open and information exchange is on real time basis . So we must find our escalator , not in the old fashioned historical analytics , but by using real time interactive data and engagement . Marketing management should be guided by this .
To regain relevance and sustain great customer intimacy , we therefore can pursue some common themes that give the marketing managers an edge and challenge them to mine more market and customer driven data for decision making .
The motivation must always be in winning in the market place through real customer and consumer conversion rates , creating discontinuities from the past and use of irrelevant historical data , and having in place seamless and open customer service systems designed to delight .
We should seek systems that embed this type of reporting structures in our companies . We can achieve alignment on common customer issues without having to standardize on what customer needs are . I think something close to market pulse reporting will be a great escalator . Competitor gap reporting not just to justify the position the products and brands hold ( or be it for self-gratification ).
Let us test the usefulness of past data and embark on relevance driven data for market and marketing engagement . Let us get to this escalator .
Michael Nzule is the Finance & Strategy Director of Mitchell Cotts Freight Kenya Limited . He holds an MBA in Accounting with specialization in Marketing from the University of Nairobi . He ’ s a member of the Instictute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya ( ICPAK ). This is an abridged version of the key note address delivered at the 1st 2018 Mombasa Quiznite . Views expressed in here-in are personal . You can commune with him via mail at : Mikemaithyanz @ gmail . com .