Walk into any bookstore and you will find innumerable tomes on consumer behaviour and studies about the benefits to be gleaned from them. Large organizations have invested significant amounts of time and money to study behavioural patters (very complex stuff) and customized marketing initiatives accordingly. I have worked with few such companies and have come away impressed by the way those data crunchers and analysts conjure up matrices and statistics. This data helps us figure out marketing & communication patterns unique to different sets of consumers.

Much has been written about it and in this post I am not going to bore you with similar ‘gyan’. Being at the helm of an organization, have you ever wondered whether it is possible that consumers are also observing your behaviour just like you are closely monitoring them? Are they basing their buying decisions on their observations and perception of you and your organization? If you think they aren’t, it means you are sleeping and it’s time to wake up!

Old school argues, “…but people are buying my products, you see…”

To them, I ask whether they have ever heard the consumer murmuring that a known devil is better than unknown alien before choosing a product. Innately, we are used to comfort zones and less willing to experiment and those who are willing to move out of their comfort zones get labelled as maniacs or scientists.

Fact is that consumers are watching you more closely than ever before. New media and technology tools mean that they have more than ample means to observe and communicate effectively (in some cases broadcast) to their peers. I don’t know how many companies are investing in improving or communicating about their behaviour to ensure perception. How much of ink are you getting everyday should not be the parameter to measure the success of your communication. The efficacy of the message in its ability to reflect true behaviour of your organization in the future should be the criterion.

It is important for companies to live by those values, which they gladly put on their walls and on websites and forget it after a while. It is time to walk the talk and live up to the expectations of various stakeholders not just your shareholders and promoters. The world is watching you. As I mentioned, behave! Consumers ahead…