Black swans for Russian marketing – we no longer understand what is happening

What is the difference between Eldorado…

Now I will give specific examples of how business processes of any scale collapse when you get used to thinking that you are the smartest. I do not encourage discussion of those who consider marketing shamanism. That's right, you're right. And the word vile itself doesn’t sound like us.

The article is an exclusively personal opinion of a non-professional, an outside view is most likely erroneous.

Telecommunications operator

A small regional office that provides a range of services:

• Internet connection and subscription services;

• installation of computer and structured cabling networks;

• rental of communication channels;

• provision of servers;

• installation of video surveillance.

Additionally, the company developed custom web applications. However, after 2022, large customers from the CIS left, as a result of which the income of developers was reduced by almost half. The salary of IT specialists in this company is so low that it can hardly be called a galley. About 60% of the staff are interns ready to write code for minimum wage. Not surprisingly, almost all of them leave for other companies after 5-6 months.

If in 2010 the company was growing rapidly and had very great prospects, now it is being forced out by federal providers. What is the reason? Like all similar companies – in low management efficiency.

There is no normal product, or rather, there is none at all. And planning tasks and communication at different levels of development forces programmers to keep 10 tabs with different services in mind and correspond in 3-5 chats, often duplicating their messages.

Digital agency

There is one digital agency in Smolensk that practices directive personnel management. They are not ready to hire remote workers. And everything would be great if the salary were higher than the market. But the dilemma is that they pay workers even less than what a lazy, average freelancer can earn.

Perhaps the only thing keeping them from scaling seamlessly is rethinking how they think about remote work.

Taxi park

A small taxi fleet with 5-6 cars, with one serious competitor and a constantly changing staff of drivers.

The director's main problem is not finding reliable taxi drivers. Some drivers scare away regular customers, others perceive this work as temporary, and others work as usual – they know that they can return at any time, even if they go on a week-long vacation without warning. Because there are simply no other candidates.

A possible solution is to take a minibus instead of maintaining 2-3 passenger cars and focus on long-distance trips.

El Dorado

I had the opportunity to spend almost half a day in one of the large Eldorado stores. I won't tell you what I did there. The behavior of his employees turned out to be much more interesting. The manager of the store was a woman named Nadya (changed), about 50 years old, ostensibly domineering and vain. She had 4 consultants under her command, 2 of whom were constantly chasing after customers.

As soon as a visitor appeared on the threshold of the trading floor, the manager, with a stern look, sent one of her subordinates to him. The consultant hastily followed the unsuspecting man and, without even allowing him to look around, asked some repulsive question.

– Are you looking at the phones?

Frankly meaningless conversation starters and intrusiveness are exactly what a person needs during his lunch break.

The manager considered herself the most experienced salesman and when the opportunity arose, she rushed into battle. She approached the visitor and immediately said: “Can I help you with something?” However, this phrase sounded completely different:

-Why are you walking here? You have a minute to buy something, otherwise I can’t vouch for myself!

Naturally, almost all visitors evaporated very quickly after her “help”.

By evening, hot customers began to arrive, ready to buy what they had long wanted. However, our Aunt Nadya was already on edge, and the consultants were exhausted from unloading a new batch of televisions. And against this background they continued to drive away visitors even more zealously. If they hadn't fussed, I'm sure a lot more checks would have been punched.

In general, from the words of the manager, I understood that this quarter it was not possible to fulfill the sales plan. They are far behind. And it was decided to correct the situation in the “old Soviet” way:

“Well, then we’ll put staplers on ourselves.”

And there is a whole layer of such professionals holding responsible positions in any business. When things are going well, the results of their actions may not be visible. But once a recession begins, this burden becomes too heavy for the company. Imagine that there are several hundred or thousand of these Tet Nadya.

The conclusions here, it seems to me, are obvious.

Marketing in Russia – conclusions

The main shortcomings of small and medium-sized business owners:

1. No customer service. If you need it, you buy it. What's not clear? Prices – on the website, delivery somehow…

2. They don’t recognize other people’s successes and don’t want to learn from other niches.

3. They hire “their” people instead of professionals.

4. They want to be the most competent in the company, although the only profitable strategy is to assemble a team of stronger specialists than yourself.

5. They don’t know how (or are afraid) to scale.

Small businesses are stuck in a time when you could hire people for three pennies and make something work. Out of habit, they want to pay little and get the same increase as before. It is logical to assume that business processes have become more complex, tasks have become more complex, with an eye on the work of related specialists. These are additional efforts and competencies. If you don't take this into account, no amount of management will help.

And here’s something else about business and money