I am Ratnakar. Founder of ‘S Cube Relations’’. This start up firm came into being in the year 2017. Please visit my official web site www.scuberelations.com. I welcome your guidance and suggestion to make the web site more interactive. I am a science graduate with additional qualifications in marketing both traditional and digital. I had put in 22 years of experience in the sales and marketing domain. My experience in the last 8 years was mainly in the marketing field. I have gained experience by interacting with various decision-makers. My interactions also taught me about existing gaps in the marketing activities of various companies.
Purpose of writing this article
As I mentioned above, my experience in the field and meeting different decision-makers of a company, helped me to analyze the situation. I agree that this analysis is mainly from my viewpoint. You must have heard that ‘hunger’ drives people. The feeling of hunger drives us to eat. Hunger motivates us. Hunger propels us. The experience we gain from the activities to satiate the hunger remains in our memory for a very long time. Hunger activates all our body organs especially the secreting glands. Hunger is not only the natural feeling to eat but the term is used extensively to satiate the desires in other fields. Someone is hungry to read; someone is hungry to travel and someone is hungry to achieve. The last phrase, ‘hungry to achieve’ suits the basis for writing this article.
My hunger to achieve.
My learning activities in detail- I was a medical representative. When I was in the job I felt it is too tedious. There are so many steps in achieving the task of sales. Target every month and cumulative for one year used to be always in the back of my mind. You will understand why I am calling the process tedious when you read the process. In the beginning, I get all the training on product features. It required a medical doctor to spend considerable time with all fresh candidates. The products dealt with many health complications. We were taught about the advantages of the products. We were told about the uniqueness of the molecule. A positive façade must also have a negative side. We were educated about the side effects of the product. I was academically prepared once the training session was over.
The next part and the major activity is field-work. We are now dealing with a specialized product. Perhaps Medical Representative is the only job where you talk to you a person who is a professional and certainly more knowledgeable than us. Communication played a very important role. It is very difficult to be in a teacher mode but talking to a more qualified person. In all my encounters with medical specialists, I experienced genuine warmth and an understanding environment. Only a handful showed the air of superiority amongst lacs of doctors met. One of the major activities is over.
The second major activity is to make the product available at chemists. Dealing with a commercial organization is very daunting. I had to be very patient with the chemist. I learned that waiting patiently even for a couple of hours helps. There is no appointment booking for the medical representative to meet doctors. Very few had specific timings to meet medical representatives. It is appreciable that despite their busy schedule, doctors allotted some time to meet us. The waiting exercise continued in front of the chemist shop too. During the discussion with chemist if anyone comes to buy medicine than the chemist will attend. Of course, he has to attend to the buyer first. I had to explain my discussion with the doctor and request the chemist to make it available at his counter. I am not entirely happy when I get written orders from the chemist. A question may arise why am I not happy? That is the third major activity.
Chemists should get medicines from an authorized stockist. He had certain rules and regulations to supply. The stockist will ensure he supplies to an authorized chemist and the chemist is in his sales books. More importantly, the chemist should be a prompt paymaster. There were instances where chemists delay the payment to the distributor. Once the distributor checks everything than he will be satisfied and the stocks will be supplied. The cycle is complete.
I had to repeat this cycle every month. Once the stock is supplied from distributor to the chemist than the onus is one to ensure that the stocks at chemist are sold. To do this I had to meet doctor regularly, ensure he prescribes. There is a catch in this process. The doctor prescribes my brand drug only if he is satisfied with the result. A doctor’s motive is to see the welfare of his patient. If the doctor is not happy with the efficacy of my brand than he/she will stop prescribing the drug mercilessly. I will be reporting this to my manager who in turn will report to the quality control team at the manufacturing unit. Usually, a team of highly qualified pharmacists and doctors will form the quality control team in the company. They will study the report submitted and analyze the cause. After studying and analyzing the team then suggests remedial measures to be taken by the field force. My manager will be notified about the same who in turn educates me. I will then act on that report.
My hunger to achieve and excel continued from the day I started for almost 15 long years. I was successful in my job and got numerous citations. This experience taught me a lot. In hindsight, even though I had numerous bitter experiences, I do not rue the fact. I am happy now that those experiences chiseled me into a sharp, understanding salesman.
The impact of my experience.
You have understood by now the experience I had on the field. I had to deal with completely different professionals. A medical doctor, a chemist, and a distributor. No doubt each was a chain in this network but with a different mentality. Dealing with each of them and keeping them in good humor is not a simple task. I entered the health care software domain after my stint as a medical representative and manager. One more success story ensued in the health software arena too. My immense knowledge gained as a medical representative and manager taught me the functioning of different health care centers. A software solution is more exciting to promote. I catapulted from being a less qualified person to a more qualified person. I started explaining the nuances of software to doctors and other decision-makers.
The experience expanded to other domains like the education field and ERP environment. It is fun to understand the concept of a software solution. It is more fun to explain and convince the concept to the clients. I dealt with different types of software solutions. Amongst them, the ERP solution takes the prime place.
The present scenario.
16 months back I began thinking about how best can I utilize my experience? You will agree working under someone has its limitations. I was convinced that I can make greater inroads in the market through my experience. A thought occurred to me, why can’t I start my firm? I will have no limitations and hesitations to implement mine though the process. I have the freedom to choose the correct method. I can better understand the client's needs since I will be dealing directly. I decided to take the plunge. I know what I achieved for 22 long years will not create a halo behind my head. Not my client will be enamored by my success story. The client probably will be impressed by my credentials. The client will however have to test my contribution to his/her company. I am sure I can impress my client in a short time. These and other thought processes strengthened my resolve to start my own. That is how ‘‘S Cube Relaations’’ was born.
‘S Cube Relaations’
I have reproduced the logo above. The concept of the logo is a well-thought activity. I wanted to convey the message that I stand for relations. My entire activity is surrounded by encircling hands which denotes continuous hand-holding. I want to do exactly as depicted in my logo. The golden yellow color chosen depicts continuous movement towards perfection. I said earlier I stand for relations. I will show a beautiful picture below; this picture motivated me to a great extent.
You will see two beautiful sisters holding hands. The younger baby sister is looking up to her sister. The look on the younger sister is of complete trust and confidence. The elder sister is sitting majestically. Elder sister is conveying that I am always here to hold your hand and support you throughout. This motivated me a lot; the relationship expressed in the image is of the immaculate bond.
The intention of ‘S Cube Relations’.
I have now set in motion the tasks I wanted to do in ‘S Cube Relations’. I want to be a trusted business associate for aspiring companies. I want to leverage my experience in conducting the marketing and sales operations of desiring firms in my area. Bengaluru is the place I live and the operations will begin from Bengaluru. I will spread the operations to the entire Karnataka state soon. I have studied digital marketing one year back. I am honing my skills on daily basis. I want to combine my experience with digital marketing skills for the maximum advantage to my clients. My concept of digital marketing is different. I believe only online presence is not that effective at the beginning of my clients. This does not apply to clients who are already established and created a niche in the market. My idea of combining digital marketing with on-field follow up will apply to start-up firms like me. There is no dearth of talent in start-up firms. There is a necessity to showcase talent. I am of the strong belief that both digital marketing and the occasional personal visit will be very helpful.
I will be at the helm of affairs in all B2B marketing associate activities. A B2B marketing associate must imbibe the essence of the client’s products and services. I will first interact with the client to understand the firm’s aspirations. I as a B2B marketing associate will reciprocate the feeling and confidence of the client in their products and services.
Analysis and reports are the essences of any sales/marketing activity. I am adept at analyzing the tasks with different perspectives. The first and foremost perspective is from the client. I believe in the dynamic adjustment of plans and will interact with clients in every activity.
My understanding of B2B marketing associate activities.
Business two business marketing associate is a huge responsibility. The two entities are run with experts. Each business entity has its aspirations and growth is in the topmost position. People are working in each business entity. Both business entities should have perfect symbiosis. The B2B marketing association activities will be successful only the associate imbibes the aspiration of the client business entity. The relationship will be smooth and running as long as both are in sync. B2B marketing associate is a responsible job. ‘S Cube Relations’ with vast experience in client management will be an ideal marketing associate.
The activities so far as a B2B marketing associate.
‘S Cube Relations’ in a short span of six months have entered into a B2B marketing associate agreement with a couple of clients. ‘‘S Cube Relations’’’ is now undertaking tasks of a reputed pharmacy college for creating a niche in the educational sector. This is the time of admissions to the pharmacy course. The present COVID pandemic has thrown all the activities into a Wild West loop. I discussed it with the authorities. We decided on creating awareness amongst the target audience. The creation of advantages of the college will help them in good admissions. This may not be exactly B2B marketing associate activity but fulfills the aspiration of the client.
Another B2Bmarketing associate activity of ‘‘S Cube Relations’’’’ is helping a diagnostic laboratory to expand the services to the entire Karnataka state. This is truly a B2B marketing associate activity. The onus is onto impress the credibility of client service and make more small business entity to collaborate with my client. It is predominantly a medically related service.
The next activity under discussion is with a sanitizer manufacturing company. The company has good infrastructure and has a good product range. ‘S Cube Relations’ need to do digital marketing and get them more distributors. The task is also to hold seminars and events. The task here is multifold. S Cube Relations’’ is geared up to undertake this task.
Conclusion.
I am sure the credentials of ‘S Cube Relations’’ have impressed the reader. You now have an extended reach in Bengaluru and Karnataka state. You now have a trustworthy and honest firm willing to take up your responsibility. B2B marketing associate is waiting for your decision. Contact +918884540400, +919964540400 for an online discussion. Visit www.scuberelations.com to learn briefly about our activities
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