- Events
- Events
Drishticone 2021
Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur had the privilege to host Mr. Abhishek Gupta, CMO of Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance at Drishticone- A CxO Conclave on 23rd January, 2021. He was invited to give the keynote address and to enlighten the students about the current market scenario through their experiences.
The following is an excerpt of the interview with him-
Q1) How different is retail marketing from insurance marketing?
Ans. Whether its retail marketing or insurance marketing the consumers tend to be the same, but what changes is the mind-set of the consumer when they are interacting with your product. When the consumers are making decision about insurance they are looking towards the future but when they are into a retail environment they are thinking more of their present or immediate needs.
Q2) What are the essential qualities to focus on to be successful in a post pandemic world?
Ans. First to be agile and quick to adapt to the changes. Second to be empathetic because at this point of time are more vulnerable, as we realised that we are affected by something which is not in our control and as a marketer we need to be ore empathetic. Third, don’t let your focus move away from the customer.
Q3)How does one remain calm when facing a crisis or an unforeseen situation like the pandemic?
Ans. This kind of pandemic nobody had ever seen or anticipated, but it gave us a huge learning that an organisation you need to be prepared for anything. We have to realise that humans have that spirit of resiliency, when the push comes to shove the humankind always stand up and push back.
Q4) Since everything has moved online these days, so did our events. How was your experience at IMT Nagpur?
Ans. It was excellent. I have been speaking at a few institutes since the last 3 months, and this was one of the best interactions I had. The process was managed perfectly and the questions asked by the audience were very intelligent.
Drishticone | January 24, 2021
Mr. Kanav Kalia
Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur had the opportunity to host Mr. Kanav Kalia, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Oxane Partners Ltd to give a guest lecture on “Leading Through Challenging Times” at Drishticone- A CxO Conclave on 23rd January, 2021.
The following is an excerpt from the interview with him-
Q1) As your LinkedIn says that your expertise lies in aligning marketing and sales initiatives, so if a great marketing strategy does not generate desired sales, so what should be done?
Ans. If it does not generate the sales, that means, it's not a great marketing strategy, so it's not really adding value, ultimately. Marketing starts way before sales. Once there is a product, an outline should be created for that market strategy, and that's where sales come to the picture. There's a mismatch of alignment, the sales team is different and the marketing team is different, which is why it should be made sure that the sales does not operate in a silo, while marketing is doing something else. It is a challenge, because in a B2B, complicated industry, marketing is going to have their own agenda and sales need to have their own agenda just to sell. What is the key priorities for the firm, what are the most critical ones, which are going to have the most marketing impact in, what are the channels that we should be focusing on. That's what you should be focusing on in terms of promotion. Is it like digital channels or more of one to one personal communications or channels that should be supported, from that alignment of the sales and marketing happen. Translating the sales’ goals, to marketing goals, that's where the alignment happens. Now this alignment happens, when one understands sales and marketing, as well, and makes sure that both teams are talking together.
Q2) What do you believe is more important, strong visibility of the product or closing the deal?
Ans. One cannot survive without the other, unless the outreach is done there's not going to be any conversation, there is going to be no opportunity to close. Hence, unless there are closing opportunities, there is absolutely no point of reaching out. One precedes the other, outreach precedes and marketing precedes the sales. It's a fine balance, which is a tricky job. Both are equally important from a firm's point of view to drive the top line and the bottom line. The outreach and the marketing goals precede the sales, but they both are enabling each other.
Q3) We all know that social media plays a big role in marketing. So how does social media play a role in terms of sales or selling?
Ans. There's been a lot of transition, almost everything has moved digital. Earlier, in terms of reaching out to our connections, it was more personal relationship based selling and talking about selling. Marketing obviously involves a lot of digital work.
The importance of digitalization is increasing. There are algorithms from a digital marketing point of view that can be targeted. Whether it is retargeting or enabling the process of reaching out to relevant audiences. Now all is being enabled by digitalization.
Q4) Since everything has moved online these days, so have our competitions and events. How was your experience at IMT Nagpur?
Ans. I think the overall experience has been good. It's been a very warm welcome. Thank you so much for your time and all the best.
Drishticone | January 24, 2021
Mr Matteo Boffa
Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Nagpur had the privilege of hosting Mr. Matteo Boffa, President at Swiss Business Council Abu Dhabi at Drishticone- A CxO Conclave on January 23, 2021. They were invited to judge the Case Analysis Competition and to enlighten the students about the current market scenario through their experiences.
The following is an excerpt from the interview from him-
Q1) Your moto says 'don’t spend to destroy, invest to create'. Could you throw some light on this?
Ans. My philosophy is don’t spend money, energy or time in destroying something but invest in them to create an added value for the environment, the society and the people. This does not mean that we are investing in something that seems like a green and a non-profitable thing because you will not make money out of it but the idea is to create our own 360-degree concept of benefit.
Q2) You transferred from the world of Finance to The world of sustainability? What made you take such a step and how has been the journey?
Ans. I started working with Swiss bank at a very early stage,. I was supposed to stay in the bank and grow professionally. It was a good place to work with good salary but I was not satisfied with what I was doing, so I decided to step back from a comfortable position and jump into something new to make a difference in the world.
Q3) How does one remain calm while facing a crisis or an unforeseen circumstance like the pandemic?
Ans. Talking from a sustainability point of view, there are many steps in sustainability like recycling, reusing, repurposing, etc. The first are, refusing to use plastic like using reusable masks and gloves but this something not only related to the pandemic but to any action a consumer or a company does every day. So the pandemic gave us a chance to revaluate many things that are affecting the environment negatively and work towards changing it.
Q4) Since everything has moved online these days, so has this process. So, how was your experience at IMT Nagpur?
Ans. It’ s a good way of conducting a quick meeting or presenting something in front of many people like we did today. This way you can have an impact without having a bad impact on the environment so I am very happy how this online mode is developing and it was a very good experience for me at IMT Nagpur.