Diagnosis

Every company has this problem, it's so prevalent in old companies with high share and established brands. They are not aware of their health deterioration till it becomes so severe and there is a free fall. And it's so deep in companies where the brand loyalty is very high, they keep harvesting for years, they are not aware that everything looks fine, in spite of serious cracks in their organisation.

And by the time they realise, it's too late and there is a free fall and panicking leads to further free fall. That's why preemptive transformation is vital for every organisation, they need to look beyond revenue growth, market share growth, profitability and scan for the changes in the environment. I phone or even Apple would not have been there now if they have not looked beyond I pod which was at it's peak when I phone was launched.

It looks so obvious but many organisations have not understood this because they are too preoccupied in their short term challenges only to understand later that those are the symptoms of a larger issue. And the leaders strive hard to address those short term challenges rather than addressing the larger issue..

And, it all boils down to the fact that the leaders doesn't have sufficient knowledge to diagnose the  problem and organisations need to take the external help of consultants time & again to check their health and diagnose the problem correctly well in advance..

I can share two companies which went through this, one is an automobile company, where the applications changed and hence the products, but the company never rolled out the required new products for the new applications.The brand loyalty was so high that it kept losing very minimal market share with no loss in profitability inspite of not getting into new applications and when it realised, it was too late.

And there is a sanitaryware company which enjoyed very high market share, failed to notice its problems, because the competitors were into trouble for various reasons and it continued to enjoy good market share in spite of conservative outlook and policies.   And there is a free fall, the moment the competition fixed their issues..

Perceptions

We don't see things, off course we perceive things, our five senses gives only the input information and our brain perceives things. And we don't perceive reality, rather the perceptions are formed basis one's assumption. A normal mountain could be very different for different individuals based on their own assumptions and those assumptions define how we see/feel/hear/smell/taste things. Assumptions are formed over a period of time and any major change in those assumptions can completely change the way we perceive the reality. How do assumptions change? see new things, think afresh, do something new everyday, read variety of things, listen to things that change the way you think. Astronomy is one subject which changes the way you look at things, there are many more Twitter news and YouTube channels which gives fresh new ideas / news on daily basis, those things questions our assumptions and changes the way we perceive things. As a leading neuro scientist Beau Lotto puts it, the next innovation is not technology, it's seeing / perceiving!

Brand

Brand is a promise to the customer on it's value proposition as perceived by the customer and success of a brand lies in creating that awareness and delivering on the promise forever.

For a new brand, value proposition is communicated by the company and as the brand gets established, it's important to keep checking the value proposition expectation from it's major customers.

For example, if a customer is using Dove soap because it prevents all skin problems, then it's the value proposition as perceived by the customer. It could be an exception but if majority of the customers perceive the same, then the company should know about it and ensure the value proposition is taken care in the product both in terms of chemical composition and brand communication. If the perceived value proposition is it's premium outlook, then we need to ensure it's there in composition, communication, pricing and the distribution.

The most difficult thing in a brand is creating it, the awareness part of it, how do we make this so simple!!