An unforgetable journey by Shatabdi “Bangalore to Chennai”

I was suppose to go to chennai for an event being organized by my organization. Feeling of excitement and fear  had engulfed  me about being able to discharge the responsibilty bestowed upon me. Event was on friday,but I was suppose to leave Bangalore on Friday as few other people had already reached Chennai to make necessary arrangement.

I was suppose to be accompanied by Christo for Chennai trip. We got out ticket on Thursday. It was then that we came to that we are going by Shatabdi express, an express train, it will depart Bangalore at 4.30 pm and reach Chennai by 9.30 pm. Office people who did travel by Shatabdi  some time back told us that snacks would be provided during the course of journey.

We reached station on time by 4.10 pm, train was on time. While at station I told christo, I get vomiting sensation if we travel backward especially in AC coach. In return Christo told me he also suffer from same situation in such condition.  We were praying that we don’t seat in the direction expected by us. Finally train arrived, we settled ourselves in our respective seats.

Immediately well dressed coach attender served us a bottle of water, which I forgot to buy.  15 mins later appy was given to us, hardly had we finished it we received “sandwich, samosa and sweets”.  Christo got engaged in his work and I decided to take rest for some time. After an hour we were given soup along with bread stick and butter. This was served to by 6.30 pm, we thought, it would be the end, now we won’t b given anything.

But to our utter surprise, we were served dinner by 7.30 pm.  It was too heavy, felt like we were in some restaurant and had ordered dinner. By 8 pm we finished our dinner and decided to say no to any further serving as we were full.  Didn’t know how the time passed by and we reached Chennai. Then we realized that we didn’t face the problem of vomiting as our seats were in backward direction.

What we enjoyed the most was the timely food served to us. If we are served eatables in this manner at home, definitely will put on weight . Attender’s of the coach pampered all the passengers, which make the journey most memorable

“Why” factor in Marketing, solution to all marketing problems

Formulating marketing strategies is tough job for any marketer because there is no surety that marketing plan will work out in the very first go. Marketing depends upon trial and error because when we plan an action  few assumptions are taken into consideration, but when tested with reality changes are sure to happen. As  new few facts will come to into picture which may be crucial. Taking new things into consideration,  marketing plan is restructured and implemented keeping with current developments.

Marketing is a continuous factor which if done sincerely keeps the marketers busy day and night. If a marketing strategy has succeed or accepted well by the market, then marketers need to swing into action to know “Why this strategy was successful?”. An in-depth study of this, will enable marketers in formulating better strategy for future. Very rarely marketers go to this type of study as they are busy enjoying the success of their initiative.

When a marketing strategy fail, even then marketers need to know  “Why did the campaign fail?” This study will help them to identify their mistake, take corrective measures. Marketers want to know the reason why their campaign failed but are not able to do so because they have rolled out new campaign immediately which replaces the old one. Some time due to intense pressure marketers do borrow a idea from the campaign doing well but even then they fail.

If marketers keep pushing them on to the why factor, most of their problem could be solved. As this factor is applicable for both success as well as failure, which makes it a continuous process. As said marketing is a continuous process. “Why” factor makes it happen.

Don’t you feel the same?

Ordinary man beats Software Engineers by hacking Indian Passport website

Till date hackers were the one who were in news for hacking various websites for one reason or other. But yesterdays news about an ordinary man hacking Indian Passport website was a shock for most of us. Biggest surprise factor was that it went unnoticed for 4 months at stretch. This incident has raised questions about the credibility of India's websites and the way they are handled.

Luckily this guy didn't use the database India would have been in a difficult situation. Most IT companies in India and abroad had hired Software Engineers of Indian origin, due their intelligence and smartness.But seems like Indian software engineers are not able to safeguard their nations crucial websites. This incident is an example of it.

One question which pondered me after going through the news was "Isn't it a shame for Indian's globally?" Why aren't Indian brains willing to serve India, when they are ready to render their services globally? Such instances will have adverse effect on them and raise question about their ability to perform.

When a nations National websites is hacked by an ordinary man, one can just think about the security measured adopted the country in safeguarding the interest of its citizens. Specially in a country like India which is prone to terror attack any time. Who should be held responsible for it? Will this issue also subside like other incidents which rocked nation in past?

Whats you stand on this sensationalizing issue?

What does employees look forward to " Job Profile or Salary"

Understanding the ideology of employees is a tricky job as it keeps changing as he grows up in his career. No doubt money is always the motivating factor but Job profile also do matter in the long run. Money requirement matters in the initial years of career, the reason for it is that they want to earn well and settle first. That's the reason why some youngster join BPO at early stages of their career and later try to shift out of it.

Job profile is something which matters a lot to an individual when it comes to showcasing his credentials in front of his colleagues. Working on an interesting profile can get you easy recognition, along with better growth prospect. Interesting profile can help individuals to groom themselves in an effective manner. But before accepting any profile individuals need to check whether his job revolve around his educational qualification.

Getting a profile in alignment to one qualifications is a tough job, very rarely people find right job for them. But such profiles come with a small disadvantage i.e money. Most of the time it is seen that interesting profile with lower package but give ample opportunity for individuals to grow in career.

Sometime people find job according to their career but at a later stage of life when they look forward for a change in career they find it difficult. Reason for it could be either they are not able to find a job in the same profile or the money offered to them is too less. Then what should people do in such situation?

Should they settle in for less salary or wait for the right opportunity to come so that they can get a profile matching to their caliber.. What's your stand on this issue?

Getting a flayer of sales " My first sales meeting"

Sales person are always in demand as they are the one who generate revenue for company, hence have final say in companies affairs. Selling is a tricky job everybody can't do it, though people claim selling is an easy task. Their is no fixed trick for sale, which can help us win a deal. Its situational most of the time but ya its a challenging job for sure.

My first sales meeting was no different from others, was bit nervous obviously, went through all documents and reached the venue before time. My colleague had fixed up the appointment so things were bit smooth for me. Client was expecting me so we moved to their meeting room. First we did was exchange of cards, then moved on to business.

Client had more quires than I expected and found it bit tough to convince them on few things initially but as we proceed things getting into place and finally they were confirmed the deal. Couldn't believe I closed a deal but was true. This meeting was a learning experience for me in many way I came to know about those things which often didn't get noticed most of the time by the employees working in an organization but is in the eyes of outsiders.

It did give me confidence to move further but I am still not confident enough to move ahead thinking all my meeting will yield same success as this one. Am looking forward to learn a sure shot formula which could be applied to my sales meeting and could walk home happily with deal closed.

Not only me but all sales guys have the same dilemma and they keep trying to figure out new ways to close every deal they approach for..

Should employees be loyal to their employers?

A question which haunts both employers and employees, should they trust each other or not? As said an employee may love his employer, but can't say when employers may show him the door out. Change is a big challenge for both employer and employee.

From an employers prospective is any of his employee quits, he need to find a suitable candidate for the same post as early as possible. With each passing day employer is loosing on business, which can't continue for long. Even when they find a new person for the post, he may also take sometime to understand about the firm and operation to know it in a better way.

For employees joining a new firm is always a challenge because they need to adjust with many new things like place, people, their cabin, working pattern and many others. On top of that they have immense pressure to perform well for retaining their job. If a new employee is not able to perform well within specified period of time, he may be thrown out.

Even then both employees and employers are willing to ditch each other at any given point of time, why? Answer to this question may come out with concrete solution to one of the major problem of the organization. But to reach up to an y conclusion both parties need to compromise on few things, that can happen only then when an employee starting think from the perspective of employer and vice versa.

"Loyalty can't be bought by money, it has to be earned" this is one thing which both employer and employees need to keep in mind. That's the reason why few employees are not willing to part with their current employer even if they get good package outside.

What have you decided to stick on or move further? Any decision be cautious and firm about it.

Does company's website affect sales?

If we call today's generation as tech oriented it won't be wrong due to the addiction they have towards internet. All our quires are just a mouse click away, thanks to google.com, world's best search engine. Accessibility to internet is very handy these days, people prefer to use it to save time and take accurate decisions.

Most companies today have a website of their to let their prospective customer have a rough idea about their product and services, it is binding to all industries ranging from IT, Education, Hotels, Retail outlets to name a few. Once a website is created some companies doesn't do much change in it, content on websites are not updated at regular interval about firms development and achievement in past.

People are more inclined towards those things which are presented well to them, "well presented is half sold". Even after knowing this fact firms are not willing to invest money on their websites by taking help from online marketing professionals. But they don't mind if they are get business from their website but won't do anything to enhance it, to increase its reach.

Those firms who are investing money to modify their website at periodic interval are able to be more close to their prospective clients, customers etc. Reason for it that an individual can come to know about their the firm and its operation from the websites and can compare the same with others. A firm which is transparent and presentable on its website is more likely to cling deals than others.

In today's busy world nobody has time to visit places one on one, to collect information about things they are looking for, they get a list from Internet, note down contact details, call them to clarify the doubt, shortlist few, make person visit to the most promising one and get what they want.

I think its high time that firms realize the importance of their official website and start working on it religiously before its too late. If a firm doesn't want to invest anything on its website since inception its better to pull it down than hampering ones goodwill. Don't forget "goodwill once lost can't be retained back soon". It takes ages to build goodwill but seconds to destroy it. So be wise and act accordingly.

Being an online marketing professional it hurts me when I see some website who have developed it just for the sake of developing it, ignoring about the disaster it can bring to them in future. We can't fool today's generation, so better we upgrade ourselves to their expectation and standards.

Has recession come to an end?

Newspapers are flooded with articles on regarding recovery of market leading to new job opportunity but reality far to be seen. Though recruiting has picked up but still candidates are finding it difficult to place them in the profiles as desired by them. This implies to both freshers and experienced people.

Some people in mode of desperation are selecting wrong profiles or taking whatever is coming their way. They are those people who were laid off during recession and had to take rest. Now companies are finding it difficult to retain performing employees with them. They are luring employees by giving hikes, promoting them, making work time flexible to name a few. This doesn't apply to all companies, only few come under this category.

Those firms who were good to their employees during recession by putting forward unrealistic demands need not worry at all with boom. Their employees won't leave them expect in extreme situations. Because today employees want to stick with firm who recognize their work and efforts. Money is definitely the motivating factor but if an employee is satisfied by his profile and work he can compromise on it even.

Many people who are fed up with their current employer are looking out for a change buy not getting what they are looking forward to? Making them desperate to figure out the causes of failure to procure a good job. They are caught up in dilemma about what will happen next?

Whom has boom actually effected is the question freshers / experienced? I feel none both have not been able to get what they want until they are ready to settle for anything which come their way.

Is Marketing all about selling?

Their has been lot of confusion in the minds of individuals as well as organizations when it comes to hiring marketing professionals. "Marketing professionals are not direct sales personnel, they assist sales indirectly". Marketing begins much before the actual product is out for sale and continues even after the goods have been sold. Selling helps in generating revenues for business to meet up it expenses but the importance of marketing should not be sidelined, as its continuous process but people remember it only at times of crises.

A good once sold in market can't guarantee to sustain and retain its customer base in the long run, with no change in it. Its the marketing professional who come out with new and innovate marketing strategy to be ahead of their competitors. Customers today get carried away by those with which they are able to relate themselves with. Selling just focuses on get things sold out in market but marketing focus on developing product to be sold in market.

Best example of it - When diary milk came out with the ad campaign " Aaj pehli tariq hain" meaning you can have diary milk on 1st of every month when you get salary. Munch came out with new add to stating " you can have munch any day of the month not only on 1st".

Both "diary milk" & "munch" have hold in market but then also they keep fighting with each other to enter into others territory. They do such marketing campaign to create a goodwill for their product in market which will ultimately effect their sales. "At the end customer buys those things which see more frequently & keep hearing about it". Why do companies forget this fact?

Such notion have led to lot of confusion among MBA students which way to go "marketing or sales". They can't differentiate between sales / marketing and land into wrong job profiles. Then prefer to stick to it as a performer but an achiever. Very few people have the courage to change the profile when they know their track is wrong.

So next time when you hear about "marketing /sales" be clear about its meaning and reach...

A call from Veenit

Life has become so hectic these days that one need to find time to get in touch with friends. Yesterday got a call from Veenit my MBA days friends, though we were from two different streams but still had many things in common. He was from Mass. Communication but I was from MBA no where we had touch with each other in terms of studies.

Only thing which was common in both of us were that we did our graduation from the same college in Varanasi. He had seen me in college couple of time but I interacted only with my friends and didn't entertain strangers. He wanted to interact with me but couldn't muster courage to come forward. But when he saw me at AIT hostel, did come up to me for initiating talk. It was then I came to know about these things.

It was great fun being with him, a fun loving guy, always ready to crack jokes. Once had to shift to his room for couple of days as my new room was getting ready when I left hostel. Those were the most memorable days of my life. We used to wake up by 8 am freshen up have breakfast by 9.30 and again go to bed. Get up by 1 pm have lunch again to bed, at 5 pm have our tea take walk in layout, chat with friends by 8 pm have dinner talk for an hour or read newspaper by 9 pm were on bed. Both of us were experts when it come to sleep, thought we could win any competition in it.

But now our life has changed so much that we can hardly dream of sleeping full day as we used to do during our student life. Last year when he was in Bangalore, he was with me, we were discussing these things. We tried to repeat the sleeping session but couldn't succeed. That made us realize how professional life has effected our life's.

He was here only for a week on business trip, most of the time was preoccupied with phone calls and presentations. Didn't even get time to roam around the city, both of us were feeling bad about it but had no option, were tied by our professional commitment.

Nowadays we are in touch with each other either through phone call or through chat. Phone call usually fail as most of the time we may not be free to talk when calls are done. Later we forget to call each other, but still we are in touch with each other because of our mutual understanding.

Aren't we lucky to be friends..?

Season of "Swayamwar"

Seems like parents are in no mood to let their single ones to remain in bachelor state for long. Eligible bachelors also don't have concrete excuses to evade marriage proposals. Last year it was recession but this year market has picked up and many new job opportunities have also cropped up.

My case is no different, last year was able to save myself but seems like no excuse is going to work. My mom did come to bangalore for attending a swayamwar being organized by "Shri Narayana Guru Samiti, Bangalore"on 26th Jan 2010. There were 400 registrants for the meet. We took our respective seats as allotted by the volunteer.

Programme began at 11 am by lighting the lamp, soon profile of guys and girls were displayed on screens with specific details. Each individual was allotted a profile number, prospective brides / grooms need to note down. I handed over my notepad and pen to mom and asked her to select her daughter in law. Till lunch time my mom had selected 4 girls, I took the details of the girls to make our horoscope.

By the end of the event we had shortlisted 8 girls, now my parents need approach our astrologer to match horoscope followed by personal meeting etc. I am getting nightmare thinking about it, my parents are consoling me saying things will be fine don't worry.

Is their any way for all eligible to escape marriage till they are prepared for it?

A trip to the new flyover from bangalore to hosur

Traffic is major concern for commuters in any part of the world. People hate it but can't avoid it. Bangalore is no different, monday to friday people struggle to reach office and back home. Large number of fly overs have been throughout to decongest traffic in city. Road connecting Bangalore and electronic city was the busiest due to the presence of software giants like 'infosys,wipro & IBM'.

A giant flyover was being built to connect city to silicon valley covering 10km in all. Finally it was inaugarated on 23/1/2010. I wanted to go for a ride but was not getting a partner, luckily my friend dropped in to accompany him to petrol pump. As we were talking 2 more friends joined us and we all planned to drive to the fly over.

Within minutes we were ready for the drive with bikes, helmets & jackets. Had to struggle a bit to find the entry point, I told my friends before hand we would be driving slow. Once on the fly over we enjoyed the ride fullest on our bikes. They was parking lot on the way to stop for sometimes. Parking area was almost full with people stopping and posing for photos. We also took some snaps on our mobile and went ahead

We could easily peep into the campus of IBM, which was just a dream for most of us. Entire trip was enjoyable but the biggest joy was being able to use the fly over before most of my friends.

Mom @ bangalore

Who doesn't want to stay with their parents? I guess all of us reach would love to do so but can't turn their dream to reality. Students & bachelors working at different place miss their parents most than others. They eagerly wait for their parents or relatives visit mostly to enjoy home made food.

My mom has been trying to come down to Bangalore since I moved to my new room an year ago. Finally she came down this sunday to attend a family function. I was very happy to have her here. Though her bus was suppose to come by 7 a.m I was their at bus stop by 6 a.m thinking what if bus comes early bus reached @ 6.45 a.m.

This was mom's first visit to bangalore so was bit protective. No sooner did the bus stop than I got into it to find mom. She was standing in front of me and I was searching her. We unloaded the luggage and headed towards home. Cleaned room a day before to create good impression as my parents are aware about my lazy nature.

After freshning up we had our breakfast together dad had send chapatties. Then went to bed as both of us were feeling lousy. Mom was tired due to journey and I hve the habit of waking up late on sundays.

Seems like mom will be with me for a fortnight but will surely try to extend it for a month, shouldn't I?

A friends "Bachelors Party"

Who doesn't enjoy their freedom especially guys? Guys doesn't want to take any tension life as they are interested to lead a cool life. But such things can happen only in fairy tales not in reality. Marriage is a barrier to a guys rocking life as post marriage he is answerable to his wife. Wherever he does his better half needs to be informed about it. As soon as a guy is about to about to get married his friends throw a bachelors party to remind him that his days of freedom are numbered.

On of my friend is going to tie knot on 26th Jan 2010. Today he will be leaving for his home town to return back as a family man. Yesterday was his bachelors party, a night for him to remember before marriage. Party was rocking but had few bachelors like me, others were married guys ready to enjoy their lost days.

There was drinks, music, etc to entertain an individual but the going to be groom was not happy as we friends were pulling his legs. We felt it was the last time when he can be himself without any restriction and enjoy things to the fullest. Best part was all married guys were sharing their experiences with to horrify him but these talk didn't change his mind. He told" I am ready for the after effect of marriage, you guys need not worry about it. Anyways I am planning to discuss it with your respective wives." That was a bouncer, expression of all married turned bachelors was worth watching.

Didn't realize how time passed by and it was time to bid goodbye, as most of us had office next day. We all wished him "happy married life" and left for our houses. Don't know who's next to get married but "bachelors party is for sure"...

Great service from whirlpool washing machine

Kids at time create menace which cause big problem for grown ups. Something like that happened at my cousins place 2 weeks ago, when a 3 year old kid turned the timer of washing machine in reverse order, resulting it to stop all its function. Washing machine is more of a necessasity for us than comfort us as my bhabhi has back problem and our maid has also left us 1 month ago. Its not easy to locate on in short span of time though the hunt is on.

My cousin brother went to the shop from where we got the machine, to send their service people as soon as possible. Though they promised but didn't sent anyone, with every passing day clothes were piling up at home. Finally bhabhi called me one day to get whirlpool service center details from net.

Within in minutes I collected information from net and called their customer service and gave our residential address along with 3 set of contact numbers to reach us. They gave me complain number and told within 2 hours will receive a call from their end. 4 hrs post lodging the complaining called them back as we didn't receive the call. Then customer care executive told me by evening 8 pm concerned person will call me.

When I reached home at around 7 pm found washing machine has started its function once again, as whirlpool had sent their service engineer and he did fix the problem in short span of time. Was surprised to see their dedication towards customer grievance. Hats off to these guys who keep their words when it comes to satisfaction.


The day when bhabhi called me to check details from net, bhaiya had planned to get a new washing machine even though we got this machine an year ago. Now have no worries as I know whenever our washing machine develop some trouble its engineers will be their to help in short span of time...

Chilling cold in Bangalore..

Bangalore was known as air conditioned city few years ago. That time when people used to build houses, they won't keep the option for ceiling fans thinking it won't be of any use to them. Slowly people felt the need for fans now then can't survive without ACs. Drastic change in climatic behavior from then till now.

When I came to Bangalore 4 years ago only thing which was liked by me was the chill mornings time, which made it difficult to leave bed. But wanted hot water to take bath, without it can't even think of getting inside bathroom. People don't sweat here frequently, until and unless they do so strainful job.

Winters were normal here, people have hardly seen foggy morning for long hours as witnessed in Delhi, U.P etc. As I had spend my childhood days in U.P. used to miss the foggy days experienced during winter vacation. It was great fun sitting in front of bon fire full day, walking on terrace in afternoon, having tasty hot snacks in evening, warm sleep under heavy quilt at night.

But this year for the first time had seen foggy morning in bangalore, something bit unusual here. Was very happy, reminded me of my stay in U.P. Took my bike to capture the fantastic view outside, made one full round of my locality. It was wonderful experience, climbed terrace to enjoy more of scenatic beauty.

In the midst of excitement forget to wear woolen clothes, as a result of which now am sitting in office with a sweater and a jacket over to keep my body warm. Had an attack of sinus which had forced me to do do all these along with medicines and inhalation daily. Never mind to gain something good one need to make some sacrifices.

I will repeat the same thing if bangalore experiences foggy morning ahead. Doctors are their to handle rest....