Steps to follow

If you would like to implement or improve upon certain points/areas mentioned in my posts, I designed a very simple process you could follow. Here it is.

Step 1: Recognize an area requiring improvement

Is it an internal issue concerning organizational environment or an external issue concerning customer service and satisfaction? Recognize an area where you are experiencing difficulties.

Step 2: Identify the route of a problem and where it should be started to heal

Where does the cause locate? Should you start working on a problem from the sales perspective or may be from the brand identity perspective? Go as deep as you need to.

Step 3: Evaluate a scope of a problem

How big is the problem? Does it cover only one sphere of your activities or multiple? Know the limits.

Step 4: Stop and think carefully

Are you sure this is exactly what you need to work on? Go back and review your problem analysis. Don’t be afraid to go deeper.

Step 5: Ask yourself a question

Having identified and narrowed the problem, ask yourself: Why do I have this problem? Is it a problem after all? Now, feel the answer, don’t think about it. Just close your eyes, ask the question, and wait for an answer.

This is where an important part begins. Though sounds quite simple in theory, it can take time and patience to accomplish.

Step 6: Listen

With your eyes closed, listen to an answer. It will come to you, eventually. It might be helpful to imagine yourself floating in the sky or resting in a beautiful garden or on a peaceful sea shore. Just relax and listen.

Step 7: Write it down

After you got some clues, hints, signs, or an answer, write it down. This part is crucial as it allows you to deepen you understanding and clear the message through an attempt to put a subtle and freshly born idea/inkling into writing. You may notice that when you try to write down the message you got, new thoughts and ideas may come up. Don’t stop yourself and keep writing.

Step 8: Be grateful and thank yourself.

Whether you got just one word or a whole new idea, reward yourself, thank yourself. Never be angry with yourself for not being able to come up with anything. Remember, the answer will always come, eventually.

Step 9: Do not question your answer

You may think you got a ridiculous message at the first sight, but never eliminate it. Personally, I was surprised too many times as I found out that a weird message I got was actually exactly what I needed, I just did not realize it yet (my consideration and judgment were not flexible enough).

Step 10: Revisit your answers later on

It might be a good idea to give yourself a few hours rest from the particular problem you are working on. Take a fresh look at what you have written.

These are the simple guidelines you can use to become your own intuitive counselor. It may take some time and practice, but you will surely get your answer!

CRM or Company Relationship Management with its Customers

              Would you lie to your loved ones? Only if it was necessary? You and your customers are in a love relationship, which if threatened or jeopardized, may break and be lost forever. Would you lie to your customers? Only if it was necessary? Are you ready to face the consequences of your decision? Let’s explore possible implications.

              Marketing yesterday and marketing today are not the same. Marketing today and tomorrow won’t be the same either. What will it be then? Imagine yourself in the world where all the information is known and easily available, where people are looking for a faithful relationship with an enterprise of their choice – a relationship where both partners/sides are valued, respected, and nurtured – , and where marketing exist purely for the purpose of enhancing our lives. This is the world of a future with its own marketing and customer service. Moreover, marketing won’t be called marketing anymore or it would rather be better described as an enhancement tool. Therefore, the marketing of tomorrow is all about enriching our lives, making them fuller, and not about tricking customers into thinking they are valued and are given the best.

              Most importantly people will be able to sense unethical or exploiting organizations that will make it impossible to use only up-down communication practices. Communications will be more concentrated/ localized within the group rather than spread out throw out the community; constant dialogue will be established between the two sides; and, surprisingly to some, the scale of business, marketing activities, and customer communication will be much smaller as compared to a present situation: tomorrow’s marketing foundation is going to be compact and tight-spirited. With this structure in place there will be no room for deception, around routes, or domination.

              What it finally comes down to is: Who can get closer? That is who can establish close, open-mined, deep, and valued relationship with its customers. The status of relationship will also change from company-client to group-associate relationship. This change is going to be significant for it is going affect how we run an organization and how we do marketing. It follows that the companies who currently have traditional hierarchy and still follow the 4Ps of marketing are going to face a bigger challenge in the future.

France: on its way HOME

Many intuitive specialists find it difficult to “read” or give any kind of irrational or spiritual-based advice to French people. The question is why and where does this resistance come from? Through my readings I stumbled on an unexpected answer: French people are deeply intuitive and sensitive towards this topic, they just do not want to acknowledge that to themselves or something keeping them from acknowledging that fact. What could that be?
First of all, knowledge. Most of the French are well-aware and are in a good possession of current economic, political, and cultural affairs of a country; they have a thorough knowledge of their history and are very keen on using this knowledge. So, if you do not have this knowledge of facts, thus you cannot express your rational and well-informed opinion. Therefore, irrational or unwarranted thoughts are not accepted as it means that you are not familiar or are profane towards your country, its history, and its future. Simply saying, irrational and intuitive speaking is a sign of personal ignorance and disrespect or disregard towards your country. Why would one accept being ignorant?
Secondly, peer pressure. As you can see from the first point, peer pressure is strong and well-present in a French society. We could also call it a society pressure or, more precisely, stratification pressure. If we look at a definition of social stratification, it “involves the classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions" (Wikipedia). You can see that I underlined two words: ideological dimensions, that is your vision, thoughts, the way you comprehend things. In France this part is very important. Unlike in Japan or even US, where you do not have visible/clear division or social structure, in France this is still very present: you have people with a noble blood, bourgeois, new-rich and prestigiously-educated individuals, white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, and etc. Thus, your ideology will partially determine which class you belong to. Bourgeois would not want to be considered white-collar workers, therefore they would distinguish themselves through a superior knowledge and wit that would contribute to progressive thoughts and higher vision than that of a white-collar workers. Your ideology determines your social position in France and you would not want to do anything to jeopardize it, would you?
Finally, relativity. In France, it is all relative to something or somebody. Are you a great student relative to an honors student or to a failure student? Are you a spiritual person relative to Gandhi or to your neighbor? It is all relative and a French person would not want to be at an extreme in certain cases. Look at some French movies, such as Angel-A or L’Avion, and you can find a lot of deep spiritual moments or a hint of them, but it is all relative. Even the movie description is given as a mix of fantasy, dreams, and reality. There is never too much or extreme of some element. French would rather call those moments a fantasy or a dream than an expression of a spirit or a soul. Relativity is safe, hence acknowledging your intuitive side is an extreme and unsafe, so why would you ever do it?
As I wrote the above stated points, I made a self-discovery and got a better understanding of French people, their mindset, and the cause of their resistance towards intuitive help. I will take those three points into consideration the next time I encounter a French company or an individual. What’s more importantly, from now on I will be able to pass the surface and see deep inside the soul of French men. I hope you that you will try to do the same, that is do not judge by the cover, but look deep inside that person, find their true feeling and you will succeed. There is no such thing as an impossible or difficult to “read” or understand person; you just need to looker deeper inside.

Hermès Part 2: The spirit of a brand

ThierryHermès

I had a great privilege of knowing and talking to the spirits of Thierry Hermès, the founder, and Jean-Louis Dumas, head of Hermès for 28 years. You may find it odd or perplexing to understand, but it was a truly enjoyable and unforgettable experience. Thierry Hermès turned out to have a good sense of humor and he was kind to tell me a few interesting Hermès stories and jokes. Jean-Louis is a very wise man who had a great understanding and vision for Hermès.

What those two persons had in common was shared values and philosophy. Hermès Maison was always intended to be focused in its commitments and it positioned itself aside or uniquely from other brands: whether it was a licensing strategy in 1950s or lack thereof (unlike Dior and Pierre Cardin) or an early development and proximity to its Chinese customers. Hermès still now continues to surprise (pleasantly) us with its decisions and firm stand on its brand philosophy: just think about an exuberant and steady pressure from the LVMH Group that it receives (!). On that note, I would like to wish Hermès family members to have a highly spirited believe in their House and a vision of ascending the brand all on their own.

Jean-Louis Dumas

              How is Hermès spirit like? Hermès spirit might not be the friendliest and warmest from an outside, but once you get to known it and immerse yourself into its universe, you feel welcomed and cared about in a friendly manner. Some people may think of a cool and detached stance of a brand that may push them away. However, Hermès spirit is not meant to please and attract everyone; it is meant to attract right people for a right reason. Once you pass this seemingly isolate wall, you find yourself in the best company of a smart, wise, and loyal friend. BUT please, do not confuse that with pride or higher attitude, but think of it rather as an unwillingness to fully open-up or expose its deep nature. Only people who truly value and understand Hermès can see and appreciate its values, nature of relationship, and what it has to offer.

To conclude, let me tell you a short story that one great man told me (even though not in person :)). Hermès throughout its history received many odd customized orders from its clients (I will not name them to keep the mystery alive). There was one order in particular that nowadays became a ritual anecdote in the House and mainly among family members. Hermès did accept to satisfy that customer’s demand despite constant self perplexity. In the end, the product was ready, but what happened next remained a mystery. The point to this story is that Hermès may have all types of customers with their own desires and thoughts, but it always maintains open mind and a great sense of humor! This just may be one of the secrets of its constant rejuvenation, innovation, and inner strength.

Hermès Part 1: The future of a brand

Hermès is a master House. It is not just a luxury brand, not just a lifestyle brand, it is more than that – it is an integral brand or a wholesome brand (Heresme 2011©). What is an integral/wholesome brand? This is a concept I developed through my intuitive readings about the brands and their future. We had a luxury brand era, now we are experiencing a lifestyle brand era. So, what is next? Next is the integral or wholesome brand era.

              The concept of integral or wholesome brand is self-explanatory: it is a brand that is self-sufficient, transcends the typical and standard connotations of a brand and its marketing strategies, and allows for seamless and smooth integration into consumers’ lives. There are three principles to this concept: Firstly, this brand is not an intruder, but a companion; secondly, it is not part of somebody’s life, but a natural extension of it; finally, it is not corporate/industrial in nature, but passionate and authentic.

              Why did this concept evolve? There is already a need for these new generation brands from a customer side. Unfortunately, customer needs and true desires evolve faster than the brands’ offerings. The brands that fail to recognize this trend and society evolvement will be left behind, while others will smoothly transition into the future.

If you are interested or have any questions regarding the above presented brand concept, please email me on: heresme01@gmail.com

As soon as I saw this article on BusinessInsider I knew it would be a perfect example to share with you.

Good question is raised in this article: “Why is Microsoft’s stock price underperforming?” or “Why is the Microsoft share price stuck?”I disagree with an author’s reasoning and would like to answer the question from the very cause of the problem or from the deep core of it.

Microsoft share price is stuck because Microsoft is facing the wrong direction, the direction of competition. While it should be doing what it is good at: focus on development of reliable and universally-acknowledged products. Because the authentic core of Microsoft is reliability and wide-spread endorsement, it is better of stop chasing its competition, like Apple or Nintendo (in games), and focus on what it is meant to focus on. As long as Microsoft will go outside its area of expertise and, more importantly, go after its competition in developing various out-of-mainstream and, as article well mentioned, “un-endorsed” products/brands, it will keep underperforming.

                   The author mentions that “the market simply doesn’t perceive Microsoft as being as relevant or as energetic as the companies with which it competes. […]. It must be perceived to perform well today AND make people believe that it’s got the moxie to keep it going on well into the future.” Well, Microsoft will never be able to make its customers believe in that, because what Microsoft is trying to do is to cheat: go outside its authentic core, deviate. Who would believe in unbelievable?

The article also mentions something about love just not being there: “the group of Millennials just wasn’t feelin’ Microsoft.”There is a very simple answer for this: Microsoft is not a lovemark. The concept of Lovemark has been around already for quite some time and it makes one very important point, that of presence of deep emotional connection between brand and a customer. By looking at the graph below, Microsoft probably fits in the Brand category: high respect, but low love. What’s missing? There are four jobs to be done: functional, emotional, social and societal. We probably will all agree that Microsoft does well functional and the societal job, but is behind with an emotional and social job. Social job talks about how an individual relates himself/herself to a society. Here we have a problem, because, as in example with students, we do not relate ourselves as Microsoft users into the society (unlike Apply). This point is tightly tied to the problem of Emotional job: how does Microsoft make us feel? Hmm...I feel nothing when I upgrade my Word or Windows but I do feel excitement when I upgrade my iPhone or any Apple product. Like author mentions, student will feel nothing if Microsoft is taken away or replaced. So, emotional connection is the major point Microsoft should currently be concentrating on. And the only way Microsoft will embrace and accomplish emotional connection with its customers is by being authentic and sticking to its core, the point I mentioned in the very beginning.

                   Finally, a note to Steve Ballmer and Rob Osler – I will make you another bet that before stating any brand campaign, you should review Microsoft brand strategy. $100M brand campaign will have no or even damaging effect for Microsoft because of communication of a wrong message. Therefore, I’ll bet that unless Microsoft reconsider and reunite with its authentic core it will not be able to see any triumphal result any time soon. To contact me on this issue, here is my email: heresme01@gmail.com.

Berluti - a House with authenticity

 Berluti is a great Maison. It always fascinated me. That's why I chose this House as a subject for my brand analysis project that I did at ESSEC Grande Ecole (another interesting fact about me). To truly understand the brand, I did not do any research on the brand, relying mainly on my reading information. Now I would like to share with you some insightful points that essentially attract and maintain loyal customers, fans and followers of Berluti. 

Below you can see a picture that shows you a mapping of Berluti brand fundamentals. By looking at it, you can see strong correlation between Berluti as a person and Berluti as an organization: perfection, inner strength and core and know-how are only some of the points in common. Overall, there is a strong consistency in a brand DNA and brand spirit: Berluti is a wholesome brand that stays true to its values and philosophy. 

This leads me to the next picture that describes Berluti brand values. Again, you can observe the same consistency. These are the original and authentic values of the brand, transmitted and enhanced from generation to generation.

 What is fascinating is that these values are still strictly applied and adhered to. Berluti is one of the brands that despite the allure of higher margins and profits made decision to stay true to its philosophy in the first place. However, since the acquisition by LVMH in 1993, Berluti has been slowly pushed to be a better contributor to the Group. It would be interesting to observe future development of Berluti, because now Antoine Arnault became in charge of it. I am strongly doubtful of Antoine’s plans to transform Berluti into global luxury men’s lifestyle brand with introduction of apparel line and opening of a new bigger flagship store. These initiatives remain questionable: Berluti currently preserves a certain veil and mysticism over its brand, but these great expansion plans may cause damage to its brand heritage and values.