So anyway I'm done with my purchases and about to leave when in strides Prof Murthi. (yea the God of Distribution and Sales Mgmt fame..) He looks around with his characteristic restlessness, mutters something to aunty in Tamil, looks at me and says.. " So you hotshot MBAs, if you could change one thing in this shop to increase profits immediately what would you start with? "
Marketing student that I am, if there's one thing I've learnt, it's to never answer in 1 line what you could in 20. We marketing folks consider it our divine duty to answer a question with so much of irrelevant mumbo jumbo that the the guy asking the question either runs away shrieking, smashes your head to smithereens, kills himself or (n this is if you are really unlucky) launches into a marketing argument of his own..
So there I was using terms like 'low hanging fruits', 'supplier relationships','voice of the customer' and 'monthly burn' with reckless abandon, when he smiles and says in his characteristic baritone 'Are baba all you are taking about will follow soon. All this will cost money. But what comes first? What can you do without spending a dime?'
N then it hit me. Sometimes we are so engrossed in our solutions, we forget the original problem. Instead of analyzing the problem and trying to find a solution, we try to force fit our solution to the problem.
For the sake of closure, the solution of course was to identify which objects weren't being sold and just occupying shelf space cannibalizing other sales. Items like pillows, bedsheets and buckets which students generally buy in the beginning of the year (and not 6 months into the term) lay there staring at me and suddenly it all fit in.. What a sheer waste of valuable shelf space!
Important Lesson learnt: Always start afresh. Baggage is the biggest barrier to a consulting assignment..
