Value The Need

“What have you given me? It’s making my life miserable!”
Well, I know you are confused. You are not sure what I am talking about. Hold on a second! I will clarify.

That was the exact comment of my dear father, with all due respect.

On the auspicious day of his birthday in the month of June, this year, I had gifted him with a Samsung Galaxy S5 smart phone with my pocket money.

He became astonished and was happy. He seemed to be emotional, which was pretty much evident from his sparkling tear-filled eyes. He really appreciated the effort. I was very confident about my choice from the beginning. Somehow, I knew that he would adore it. But, little did I anticipate that he would be thanking me for my effort and not for the product itself. I got it now! I was utterly wrong! He did not like my gift after using it for few days!

But, I was not depressed. I know it’s a paradox! I should have been disheartened but the fact is that, I had no remorse. Rather I was curious to know the reason behind such behaviour. I was just wondering how anybody could feel bad about Samsung Galaxy S5! It’s absurd, isn’t it?

Common! It should be everybody’s dream come true.

Therefore, I simply asked him, “What is that big barrier that the phone has created for you? Why dint you like it?” He always has been very candid in expressing thoughts.

He simply confessed the truth which runs something like this, “Look, I don’t even belong to generation X. I am not a gadget geek and I don’t need to be. I don’t need a smart phone to make necessary calls. An ordinary phone would do that job."

"I am not internet savvy and I am not so curious. I am an expert in my field and here things work conventionally. These things don’t need upgradation now and then. So, basically, smart phone is not my requirement. Further, it’s difficult for me to operate. I don’t understand many things. It is a high-end technology.

Frankly speaking, I am afraid to use it. I get confused with apps and other features like QWERTY touch keypad, receiving calls etc., have added a lot of miseries.”

I realized I forgot to do market research with my father. I forgot that he too, is a customer. I would have asked about his preferences. He has different psychology, personality, perceptions, ability. He was born in a complete different era. Of course, his outlook would not match with ours.

There are people like this everywhere and it’s a marketing challenge to make them feel a sense of belongingness to this age. It’s a challenge to the concept of change management. In other words, in order to increase smart phone market share, innovative techniques have to be devised to alter the mindset of such people and to make them feel at home with smartphones.