DAY 4: AWARENESS

Awareness is not only what you fight for in Marketing for your brands.

Awareness is what you need if you are entering an unknown surrounding. The more aware you are, the better your output will be.

As most of the children, when I went to elementary, I started selling stuff at school even if it was banned. (I wasn't the only one of course).

"Oblea" image from moonmentum.com

I started selling "obleas" which is a local sweet product similar to a sandwich made out of two big hosts (from the church, same ingredients) and in the middle, a caramel spread called "Arequipe" or "Dulce de leche".

My parents gave me the obleas and the arequipe and my job was selling them during free time.

The obleas came in a plastic bag, while the arequipe came in individual small plastic cans.

By the end of each day, both my sister and I came back home (went to the same school and had the same business) and made our financial analysis.

The result always was:

• Sister: sold 100% of the product
• Me: sold at most 40% of the product

WHY?? it was the same school, the same product, the same price, simply different friends and even areas of the school! what was I doing wrong or what was her secret or magic touch to sell it all?

I left the obleas business with a big disappointment, blaming the target, the consumers, and NOT BEING AWARE OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING!

In fact, many years latter, during a family dinner and talking about our early ages, my sister and I were talking about our businesses and the answer came to me!!

When my mother gave us the arequipe, and it came in individual or personal cans, the idea was that we had to give the obleas and the whole can to the buyer. In that way, the offer was attractive! In my case, I used to give the oblea and prepare it for the client, using only half a can of arequipe, (similar of what happens in the streets when you buy the product).

Obviously it wasn't that attractive and consumers left my side while they preferred my sister's deal!

After such a bad experience in the world of obleas, I started (also with my sister) selling chocolate bars.

It was simpler, a single product, nothing to prepare or sell separately, just a big chocolate bar.

Then a new learning came by with this business; a local habit very common in latinamerican cultures: "fiado" which means that you get the product but you are allowed to pay tomorrow.

Common in small products and with the condition of strong friendship between seller and buyer, as there must be TRUST behind it (Trust that the buyer will come back tomorrow and pay what he owes)

I started selling and selling by "fiado" and my "accounts receivable" number grew and grew significantly affecting my cash flow and so the future of my business.

I became a debtors persecutor more than a chocolate bar seller.

> Thought: Be aware of your culture or your business surroundings as these will have an impact and model it. A business can work perfectly in India, but might be needed to modify key issues before entering your market.