New Year resolution - Back to Basics

Back to Basics

With just a few days away from a year end, I set out thinking about what should be my new year resolution. Out in a flash came the phrase " Back to Basics". Then I started on a nostalgic sojourn of  blissful memories of my childhood. One of the things that I enjoyed th most was to go to the daily market with my dad to pick vegetables and fresh fruits. The experience was amazing as it involved a wonderful conversation between the buyer and the seller about the goods. The seller was proud of quality of goods that he had many stories to tell us... like stories about green vegetables from a particular village and how different was it from the ones that come from cities. This was followed by a healthy rate negotiations. At the end of the purchase both the buyer and seller stood to gain for the relationship was based on so much of trust and faith..

Absolutely no post purchase dissonance.

Now, think about our current daily experiences. Any purchase that we make on a daily basis is not without dissonance. Forget dissonance. Is there a conversation between buyer and seller? We behave like humanoids that walk-through the store picking up stuff that we need and walkout. Convenience is buzzword. Relationships exist only at a loyalty card level.Brands behave like inanimate objects. There is no talk/conversation between brands and buyers. Then where is the question of relationships.

Part of this problem can solved by Social Media. For a moment stop thinking of Internet and Social Media as an alternate platform for selling/brand building. In simple terms,Internet or Social Media are like the markets. These are meeting places out to humanize our day-day interactions. They are fast turning out to be the credible alternative to the real markets as customers are already talking on the web.

All that the brands have to do is to be

• Honest
• Sincere
• Responsive

This will help build conversations hence relationship. Don't worry about making mistakes. You will redeem yourselves through honest transactions with customers. But be paranoid about inaction.

Ain't these Basics!!!