What are the C.O.R.E. things to strengthen our working relationship with brand managers?

I recently replied to a question from Natalie Bourre who asked, “What top 3 things would strengthen your working relationship with medical product managers?”

Natalie is a consultant and trainer at Marketing 4 Health Inc. in Toronto, Canada. Her company provides strategic and tactical marketing expertise and training to pharmaceutical/medical clients.

She said, “I am building a website to help train new pharma / medical product managers. With your input, I will include information about working with marketing agencies. What do product managers need to know to have a strong working relationship with a marketing agency?”

Here is my answer to her:

I have benefited from a great working experience with some terrific brand managers in my career. And a few things really set these folks apart as examples of what other product managers could learn from. We also have a great client now who has formalized a review process to help guide and document the strength of our relationship.

I would apply an tool to answer your question – these are the C.O.R.E. things a brand manager should know and do:

C = Concentrated Focus
Agree on how to build Brand Value
Align on short vs. long term objectives
Set clear and consistent priorities

O = Openness
Be receptive to our point of view
Exhibit a good attitude to risk
Support creative ideas up the line
Keep the power of “no” at the right level
Establish a clear decision-making agent for the brand
Provide clear feedback on ideas turned down
Maintain transparency in the approval process
Ensure that senior management is accessible

R = Respect
Treat us like partners
Use our time and resources well
Share relevant business information regularly
Set reasonable expectation for the budget
Keep “need it yesterday” to a minimum with reasonable lead-times
Acknowledge our good work
Pay us on time

This will result in:
E = Energy
Speed the turnaround on decisions
Encourage and inspire original ideas
Visit the agency often to know the full team
Maintain a positive attitude even when things go wrong
Celebrate together when we win

We know these attributes are being achieved when our top talent asks to work with a certain brand team – and when a brand team asks to specifically works with us.


I’ve just published a new business book entitled FORWARD.FAST.: THE 6-STEP MODEL TO ACCELERATE YOUR HEALTH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BRAND. You can read about it, and even download a free preview chapter, at www.Forward-Fast.com.

Impromptu visit to Vienna zentrum

We had almost a five-hour layover in Vienna on the way home from Mumbai. So we decided to take a taxi into the center city for a quick walking tour and breakfast.

St. Stephan's Cathedral was an amazing place.

And overall the architecture, the streets, and the traffic (!) was a sharp contrast from where we'd been for the past week.

The crescent site of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sandrahalaya

On our last day in Mumbai we visited the Prince of Wales Museum.
With so much history and so many artifacts, I can't begin to write about everything we saw.

So enjoy the photos and if you'd like to know more, visit www.bombaymuseum.org

Paradise in the midst of chaos

Everywhere we went around Mumbai, we were fasicinated by the flora.
And there's no better collection than in the Hanging Gardens -- located at the highest point in the city center. The neighborhood is called Malabar Hill and is the most elite residential area of Mumbai, including home to the state's Governor.

It's the people of Mumbai who truly made our visit unforgettable

The sites were wonderful, the conference was educational, and the meetings were productive. But most of all, it's the people we met and interacted with that helped us experience the city as its best.

Thanks to
Aejaz
Sagar
Joyti
Bharat
Jetu
Rashmi
Douglas
Hiren
even the rug dealer
and
the singer in the band

Mumbai as a religious melting pot

This city has a long history of acceptance and tolerance of many, many religions. And while the population is about 80% Hindu, we saw a a variety of sects and faiths being practiced.

Here is a sampling of the dozens of Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Christian churchs, and even a Parsee Zoroastrian temple (fire worshipers who migrated to India from Persian, or old Iran).

Mumbai’s laundry gets done here at Dhobit Ghat

In just our first hour of touring the city, we were shown a place beyond your wildest imagination. The Dhobit Ghat is the place where hundreds and hundreds of pieces of laundry are done each day. The Dhobi men wash the clothes by hand on concrete sinks and then dry them in the sun. And to keep it all straight, they use a generations-old system of markings on the clothes to make sure each piece is returned to its owner.

The photos only begin to describe the chaos, color, activity, and sounds that mixed together in this amazing place.

Lots of ways to get around Mumbai – but don’t drive!