Goldiee Masale has been investing large amounts of dollars in their ads seen on television across channels. The ending with a nice catchy tune.

They hired Salman Khan as their brand ambassador. But the question is Why Salman ? There came lots of questions in my mind, would you help me answer them ?

• Do we associate men with Kitchen and Masale ? Unless they are chef, right. So, then, wouldnt someone like Vikas Khanna or Sanjeev Kapoor be a better choice ? But then, they arent as popular face as Salman, right ?
• Does he cater to the right TG of the people who will buy Goldiee Masale or will be a key decision maker ? These would usually be housewives and moms of the house, who in general are more glued to the television sets watching soap opera (Hindi general entertainment). Would it then made more sense if key TV stars from leading soap operas should have been chosen as ambassadors. They would have been able to get multiple TV actresses in the same cost as Salman. May be , Goldiee Masale then would have been able to advertise Har Ghar Me , Ghar Ghar Me Goldie Masale :) 
• Now, lets assume that the brand were keen on having a movie star itself and not TV stars. How about someone like Madhuri Dixit or Kiron Kher ?

I checked with more than a dozen decision makers within their TG, and unfortunately every single of them were not able to connect with Salman with Goldiee Masale. He seems to be a force fit, just a known face, thats it.

The brand isnt playing with Salman's key traits. As a marketer I feel thats where many brands are going wrong. Ads are no more a Role-Play game. Imagine Amitabh Bachchan playing a role of a driver in an Uber ad - that just doesn't connect. It sounds fake.

Do share your thoughts ?

Each of you, as leaders, has a passion for achieving your leadership goals and aspirations.

And as a member of the About Leaders community, you see the importance of taking the time to learn about other leaders and how to refine your leadership skills. With this in mind, I want to share some of the extremely valuable and fascinating information that people have told me about their leaders.

The feedback I hear ranges from positive comments to deep frustrations.

Most often I hear the frustrations - the leadership behaviors that annoy this person about another person which results in lower productivity and less than desirable performance.

Here are Examples

People come to me and say comments like:

• “My manager doesn’t listen.” 
• “My employee doesn’t show a sense of urgency.”
• “My co-worker doesn’t share information”
• “My _____ doesn’t _____.”

How would you fill in the blanks?

Try it! This exercise is very valuable because it provides each of us an opportunity to reflect on needed conversations. Think about specific behaviors that are holding us back and potential barriers to accelerating our leadership skills.

Why Care about Barriers?

A total commitment to leadership success means challenging our thinking, priorities, and blind spots.

Unfortunately, what people don’t communicate to us are our behavioral blind spots – the things we routinely do to others but don’t realize the impact.

When blind spots are not revealed, and the truth about our behavior is not openly discussed, we continue to operate on cruise control.

We keep doing the same things over and over. As a result of our "unconscious incompetence" our learning is stifled. WE become our largest barrier to leadership success.

Barriers to Leadership

Over the next several weeks I will reveal the “Top 10 Barriers to Leadership” that I have heard people communicate about their leaders. The purpose of the “Barriers to Leadership” series is to provide a discussion that all of us will want to participate in, genuinely reflect on, and ultimately increase our awareness of leadership barriers that affect everyone.

Some of the Top 10 Barriers will be things you have heard before, behaviors you have personally witnessed, and maybe a few surprises. Try to guess at least 2 of the Top 10 leadership barriers that employees have said are the most frustrating leadership behaviors of all.

Courtesy - About Leaders

he proof you’re looking for doesn’t exist. Rock solid, guaranteed, “won’t fail” proof — it’s not out there.

As a business leader, if you wait to make a decision until you know you’re right, you’re usually making the wrong decision. To be successful, you have to develop the habit of trusting your instincts.

You won’t always be right.

That’s a certainty that you need to get used to. Despite insurmountable proof, you won’t always be able to make a decision that turns into the results you want.

That’s because proof is based on history not on reality. Experience and an honest interpretation of results will tell you how you should have made a decision in the past. But it won’t always accurately predict how you should make a decision right now.

There are numerous factors that are different now from before. Waiting until you have better timing isn’t a smart move either.

What do you do?

What should you do when you don’t have the proof you want in order to make a decision that you are sure won’t fail?

1. Stop looking for guarantees. — There are no guarantees in life. The proof you’re looking for doesn’t exist. That “won’t fail” journey you want to walk is just a fantasy in your head. Figuring out the right move starts with a shift in your philosophy. To make the best decision you need to believe that there’s a possibility that whatever your decision, it will be wrong. Chances are you’re going to make a mistake.
2. Be more honest about your weaknesses. — Stop pretending like you don’t make mistakes. You do. Sometimes you make big mistakes that have long term consequences. Denial just impedes forward progress. By acknowledging mistakes (and apologizing when necessary) you teach your brain and your employees to adapt to realistic benchmarks for success.
3. Take smaller, more recoverable positions. — Instead of lunging boldly after schemes that involve luck or fortuitous timing, make decisions that limit uncertainty. Stable long term circumstances give you the best environment for improving on decisions that you’ve made in the past that might not have been the best choice at the time. By taking tiny steps forward all the time, you limit the number of times you need to dramatically change course. That means there’s less drama, chaos, and frustration for everyone involved.

Making great decisions requires another set of skills.

(It’s requires you being curious and interpreting clues.)

The better you are at looking for answers and finding answers from what you see around you, the better you will be at making great decisions. Especially when you don’t have enough information to be guaranteed that what you’re doing will be successful.

Take for example the complexity of gas station fuel type analysis.  Which type of fuel is purchased most frequently by consumers?

You might readily answer that Regular Octane 87 type of fuel is the most popular purchase by buyers. But how would you know that was true if you just had a few moments to make a snap decision?

(Just because that’s what you might purchase doesn’t mean that’s what everyone purchases. Just because everyone you know purchases that type of fuel doesn’t mean that it is the most popular type of fuel sold.)

You can know with certainty the answer to this question by simply looking at the  selection buttons at the gas pump. In just a few seconds of analysis, you can see quite clearly which type of gas is the most popular. The button that is scratched, faded or gouged the most is most likely the choice of fuel that is selected most by buyers.

In a few seconds, you can accurately answer a complex question that would otherwise take much longer to answer. You could stand outside the gas station and count the number of cars and their selections. You could analyze gas container buying and shipping patterns over the weeks and months ahead.

Or, you could just look at which button on the outside of a pump handle is scratched the most. With a few more steps and a few more seconds of effort, you could analyze the buying patterns for every pump at the gas station.

If you want to know, you should probably start looking for answers. That’s where great decision start. With you looking to do the right thing.

The evidence you need to make a good decision is all around you.

Look for answers. Interpret clues honestly. Take steps toward where you want to be.

The only guarantee in life is that if you keep moving In the right direction, you are getting closer to being successful.

Courtesy - Danwald Schmidt

Step 1: Put Yourself in a Position to Delegate
Delegation is when you assign responsibility to another person to carry out a specific task . The task could be large (such as "revamp our train-ing department" or small (such as "take this letter to the post office").

It doesn't matter how large or small the task is. What matters is that there is another person that you can delegate the task to.

You don't have to have an empire of people around you that serve as your minions. Rather, you do need to put yourself in an organizational position that there are good people to whom you can delegate responsi-bility. These people could report to you directly. Or, there may be a group of people that are in a support capacity in the company that you could rely upon. Regardless, you need to be in a position to delegate tasks to others, if you want to get more done than you have hours avail-able in the day.

Step 2: Get Ready Mentally
The second step is to make sure you have mentally accepted the fact that you need to delegate to others. You may be hesitant to delegate to other people for a number of reasons.

You may fall into the trap of feeling that it will be faster to get something done yourself rather than having to explain it to others. Or, you may feel as if the other person already has enough to do and you don't want to add more to their plate. You need to move beyond this type of thinking in order to effectively delegate your tasks.

You will never be able to grow as a project manager if you feel that an-other person can't do something as fast or as proficiently as you. Sure, the first couple of times may be a bit rough, but you will be surprised how much easier things become. You'll also be pleasantly surprised when you find they can do something even better than you!

Step 3: Create Your "To-Do List"
Your next step is to put your "To-Do" list together. Take some time to do this right. One of the best ways to do this is to clear your desk and pull out your favorite pen and pad of paper. Start thinking about all the things that you need to get done.

This doesn't have to be in any particular order. Include those tasks that are related to projects (such as updating a status report) to everything else (such as completing your open enrollment insurance form).

Let everything come out on this piece of paper. You can include person-al, professional, or other obligations and commitments you have. You'll start to feel better as you begin to size up how many things are weigh-ing you down.

Step 4: Cull Your List
You are going to have a sizable list. You will be amazed at how much 'stuff' you have on your plate to accomplish. Some of these things are extremely important and others now appear to be just a waste of time.

Go through this list and delete as many items as possible. There may be items on your list that are MONTHS old that you've been carrying in your head for that entire time. Get rid of it. There may be items that you at one time thought were important but now they just seem trivial. Cross them out!

You are now left with a purged and manageable list that you can delegate to others. Narrow your delegation list down even further by removing those items that ONLY you can do.

Step 5: Begin Delegating
Take this relevant and meaningful list of tasks and meet with those who are on your team. Let them know the process you've just been through and the fact that you need their help.

You need to focus on tasks that are in your area of expertise - where you can make the biggest difference for the entire team. You can then divvy up what is left on your list and spread it out amongst the team.

Your team will appreciate your request for help and that these tasks really are important to get done quickly.

Internet Retailers are spending a lot of money on Advertisements on  Electronic and Print media to get more and more customers. Many of them are successful in getting traffic to their websites, but eventually not turning them into buyers. Typically, Industry average for conversion is close to 1-2 % of the total traffic. Can we make it to 4-5%?  How can you convert first time visitor to your customer? What are the best practices for any online retailer to get more conversion?

Below is the check list:

1. Free shipping is a boon : Homeshop18, Yebhi and few others have zero shipping charges while firstcry, zivame, cilory etc. have a minimum purchase amount to avail free shipping. This is fascinating for the buyers who are cost-sensitive.
2. Sales and special offer: The prospective buyer should be made aware  of the any special discount or festive offer running across any product. A buyer is price sensitive. He will browse through various online portals before buying  a product. If the section for sales and offers is prominent on the site, he would surely look into it.
3. Pushing the prospective buyer from shopping cart page to payment page: At times, it happens that the buyer would add products in  his cart but that would not result into sales. This could happen due to various reasons such as price-difference on other portals, fear of returns, exchange or refunds especially for first time buyers or may be due to heavy load on the site. This could be tackled by sending emails to registered users about their incomplete order status or popping the cart contents once the user has logged into her account. Tier 1 portals such as Yebhi.com and couple of others are sending emails to users to propel them into buying.
4. Alive your shopping cart: On various portals the shopping cart contents vanish once the user has logged out from his account or remain for a period of say 15 days. If the user wants to buy the selected product after a period of time, it would be cumbersome to again collect the same items and would not thus buy it.
5. Contact Us or Talk to Us: The customer care number and mail id should be prominent on portals. Especially for a first time user, who is apprehensive of buying from a new portal, the phone no should come handy. Buyer should be able to clear his/her doubts regarding returns, cancellations etc.
6. Offer multiple payment options: It is always good to have multiple payments options such as debit card, credit card, net banking, PayPal and last but not the least Cash on Delivery. Generally, many payment gateways offers all the options but you have to negotiate with them on setup cost and commission on transaction value.
7. Unique selling point: Always communicate why you are different or what is unique about your portal. If you are selling something that nobody is selling. Highlight even in the Home page itself. It may not be a product, it can be express delivery, packaging or freebees, it is better to tell upfront. It will increase customer retention time to your portal
8. How good is Your search:  Typically, people find product while browsing through your website, but sometime people are very specific to a particular product that they might have seen to your competitor. Search button very much comes into the picture, people would like to type the item or similar items. It is always good to have an automated drop-down menu of textual results. It will give the buyer exact product without wasting much time. It can lead to a conversion.
9. Top Class Product Images: What you will show on your site, is what people will buy. Unlike in a brick and mortar store where customers get an actual feel of the product they are buying, in an online store it is very important to use good quality images of the products. Additional features such as zooming or 360 degree view of the product would be quite appealing for buyers, who in turn can get a feel of the product they intend to buy.
10. Product Description: A product image would be incomplete without any description, whether it is an electronic good or a non-branded appear. People would like know its features , specifications before they buy it. The product information should be such as to remove all doubts from the prospective buyers minds.
11. Product videos: Video of the product adds value in understanding it better. For e.g.  In case of a jewellery set, a good quality video of the model wearing the set will let the buyer know as to how the particular necklace set would look from different angles. In a still photo it would not be possible. Homeshop18 uses videos for few of its jewellery collection
12. Sub Categories for Products: If you are selling many things it is better to create sub categories . It will help buyers to navigate through your website smoothly. It is difficult sometimes when you present many choices to customers, he may lost between many clicks.
13. Show shopping cart while customers are picking more items: it is advisable to show the shopping cart items while customers are browsing and picking more items. If a customer is buying 10-12 item, typically in case of grocery item, it is better to show him what price and what all items he/she has added to the shopping cart. It will reduce the effort of the buyers to go back and forth.
14. Checkout as a guest:  Shoppers are very smart. They know once they register to your website, you may start sending promotional material to them or share their data. It is good to provide them easy options such as “Checkout as a guest” or “ Login with Facebook” etc. Don’t force people to register or even login to facebook account. However what can be done, once a shopper buys from your portal , you can send login and  auto-generated password for his further purchases.
15. Testimonials: Product Reviews or testimonials are very important. People believe in other people. It gives them the true picture about the product, their experience. Most of the buyers read the product reviews before buying any product. It helps a lot in conversion.  Get as many as testimonial to your websites.
16. Cross-sell and Upsell with a bigger discounts: People shop in In-store and end up buying more while they reach to the billing counter. Some chocolate , candy bar, mouth freshener etc. For Online Retail – the trend has not started yet, but it is good to sell certain things. More analytics is involve in online retail compare to brick and mortar store. Here you know what all item a buyer has picked up, you can offer something like if he has bought shoes, you can sell him  socks with discount.
17. Call to Action: As they say, what is visible is what gets sold. But it is good to provide that button very prominently , may be in different color and in a bigger shape and font size. It sometime coerce buyers to click on it. It is all behavioural science.
18. Return Order: it is good to show Return order button. It gives confidence to buyer if he doesn’t like the product at least he has an option to return it.
19. Out of Stock: Don’t leave your buyers with out of stock option, if you are confident that you can replenish the goods in few days’ time. Let them add to cart and you can intimate immediately by current standing and when you are going to supply it.
20. Minimum Number of clicks to complete the Sales cycle:  Every shopper would like to get things in minimum number of clicks possible. If you are showing the clear progress indicator, it would be good for a buyer to see where exactly he has reached in his cycle completion

Courtesy - Retailopia