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So, you have six senses, huh?

Let’s talk a little about Ethology today. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour from a biological perspective. M.W. Fox is an animal behavioural researcher who specializes in turkeys. Not in cooking them, for God’s sake, but in studying them.

Turkey moms, as all moms, are extremely protective of their young. Fox found out something very interesting. Turkey moms identified their young more from the ‘cheep cheep’ sound they made rather than from its look, colour or smell. Fox wanted to check this out.

Turkey’s prime enemy is the polecat, an animal that resembles a mongoose. Turkey’s instant reaction to seeing a Polecat is killing it.

Fox fabricated a toy polecat and placed it near a turkey. As was expected, the turkey tore it to pieces. Next, Fox placed a small speaker inside the toy polecat that kept playing a noise – ‘cheep cheep’ – and pushed it near the turkey. Surprisingly, the turkey mistook the toy polecat as its young and took it under its care. Using a remote, Fox stopped the cheep cheep sound. As if on cue, the turkey tore the toy polecat to pieces.

Ethologists calls this ‘Fixed-action pattern’, an instinctive behavioural sequence that’s highly stereotyped and species-characteristic. It’s said to be produced by an innate releasing mechanism, a sort of hard-wired neural network, in response to a stimulus. Translated in plain English, animals perform a lot of activities without thinking. They instinctively react to certain stimulus and act on cue.

Aah, that’s coz animals have just five senses, you think. Hold that thought.

Let’s talk about us humans. We see a ‘SALE’ sign on an offline store or on an online site. And for a good measure, we see a headline ‘Cheap as never before’. What’s our instant reaction?

We don’t want to miss it. We want to shop. How many of us compare the pre-offer and post-offer prices? Our overriding concern is to make use of the sale and grab the offer. Our mind just assumes the word ‘Sale’ means cheap prices – irrespective of whether the prices are actually cheap or not.

The turkey hears cheep cheep and assumes its worst enemy is actually its young. We see the word ‘Sale’ and assume the prices are actually cheap cheap.

Tell me, how different are we from a turkey!

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Care to vote again?

Here’s an easy question, if I may say so and ask.

An extrovert is an outgoing and gregarious person. On the other hand, introvert is a shy and inner-directed person. Of the two, who would make a better salesman?

If you vote for extrovert, allow me to apply indelible ink. Not on your finger but on your answer. Black it out baby, you are wrong!

Says who, you ask.

Says dozens of researches. There has been no causal relationship between extroversion and heightened levels of sales performance. ‘Steve Martin’ in a Harvard Business Review article titled ‘Seven personality traits of top salespeople’ says dominance is the ability to gain willing obedience of customers such that the salesperson’s recommendations and advice are followed. His study indicates overly friendly salespeople are too close to their customers and have difficulty establishing dominance.

Unconvinced?

In another study, Wharton’s Adam M. Grant studied hundreds of salespeople over a 3-month period. He found introverted salespeople made an average sale of $120.10 per hour while extroverts made $125.19 per hour. Seems extroverts are winning?

Not really. The more salespeople scored on extroversion, the lower their performance fell. He published his findings in an article, ‘Rethinking the Extroverted Sales Ideal’ in ‘Psychological Science’.

The highly extroverted wants to be the cynosure of all eyes and tend to move quickly from one conversation to another. They are excited by their own perspectives that they suppress or neglect others. As a result, extroverted salespeople may spend too much time delivering assertive, enthusiastic pitches and too little time asking questions and listening to customers’ answers.

So, should salespeople be extrovert or introvert?

Introvert, you say now.

Black that one out too buddy, you are wrong again!

In Grant’s study, the winner was actually the ambivert. Ambiverts are a bit of both. They will make excellent conversationalists as much as they will be great listeners. Ambiverts, by their nature, engage in a flexible pattern of talking and listening, and are likely to express sufficient assertiveness and enthusiasm to persuade and close a sale but are more inclined to listen to customers’ interests and less vulnerable to appearing too excited or overconfident.

Grant’s research serves the proverbial proof of the pudding. Ambiverts made $208.34 per hour!

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Vacant markets and virgin minds!

A wise mind once said ‘Don’t let opportunity knock on your door, keep it open’. Sage advice, specially to marketers who wish to launch new brands. Yet, most of them search for a market to serve instead of creating a market to own and rule. In other words, they want opportunity to knock on their doors!

When marketers get an idea the first question they ask is the size of the market. Important, yes; since you wish to know if there is a market for your new product and money to be made. But the best new product ideas are those that create a new market. There isn’t a ready made market available.

What was the size of the DTH market when Dish TV was launched? Zero!

What was the size of the tooth gel market when Close Up was launched? Zilch!

What was the size of the scooterette market when Scooty was launched? Nothing.

Yet, these brands went on to create the categories they entered and have remained numero uno since. They were not waiting for a market to be created, to seek entry. They created a market and forced entry. Along with it, their success!

Does that mean marketers can create customer needs? Fat chance. These smart marketers didn’t seek to create a need. They sought to spot a need before others did and created a solution for it. Thereby discovering a market to enter and creating a brand to rule them. The operating word is ‘discovery’.

The aim of marketing is to achieve a market, but the starting point is capturing the mind; the customers’. Their mind has not been made up yet. Since there has been none to make them think.

Customers didn’t know a thing about DTH till Dish came in. But they wanted to have better reception and control over their TV viewing. There was a need; there wasn’t a market. Dish TV created it.

Customers didn’t know toothpaste can come in gels till Close Up came in. But they wanted to have tingling fresh breath more so when they got up close with their sweethearts. The need existed; a market didn’t. Close Up created it.

Consumers didn’t know the meaning of scooterette till Scooty came in. But the young Indian woman was going out a lot more and wanted something bigger than a moped yet lighter than scooter. They had a need; the market wasn’t there. Scooty created it.

You get the picture!

‘The market follows where the mind leads’ said Al Ries. Reason why they castigate big companies for not blazing new trails and creating new markets. The biggies want to go after existing markets, the larger the better. It’s the small, the carefree and the I-dare-to-see-different who search for an unmet need and solve it with a new solution. ‘Critical to making correct branding decisions is the ability to differentiate the market and the mind’, said Ries.

The way to be big is to be born small. The way to rule a market is to create one. And that involves guessing the size of the need and not focus on the size of an existing market to enter. The market follows where the mind leads!

A new brand doesn’t require a market. It needs a human mind. Lots of them. Their needs are real and unsolved. Their minds are virgin and uncontested. Spot them and solve them. The customer will wed you for life.

You can live happily ever after!

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