Marketing is getting what you want

In the last marketing class, Rashi said to us " Marketing is the most important class you will ever learn in business school because it is really about getting what you want in your life" He then showed us a chart with three circles on it: Company (that’s you), Customer (What you want) and Competitors (obstacles). Just like any company who is trying to maximize its market share by attracting more customers. You, as an individual’s, should always market yourself in a way so you can get what you want in from life. To do so, you need to answer the 4W's :

• Who ( You and the customer): you and your goal
  
• What (Product and price): your characteristics, capabilities , background, looks etc


• When, Where and how (distribution): know the right time and go to the right person


• Why (Communication): your pitch, story

Earlier I have posted a survey to get feedback from my readers on what they think is the core of marketing. The answer is value proposition (30% got it right!). What is value proposition? It sounds like this fluffy, big word that only marketers can understand. Rashi defined value proposition as benefit minus price. In order to increase your value proposition, you either lower your price by cutting cost or you increase your product benefit. What’s more sustainable and less likely to be replicated by your competitor? Increase your product benefit!! Why? Imagine you are after a girl and you have a competitor, say Mr. Nice. Mr. Nice’s value proposition to the girl is “I am neither smarter nor more charming (limited benefit) but I have very low expectations: As long as you are willing to be my girlfriend, I don’t care if I am the last on your priority list (low acquisition cost).” Unless the girl doesn’t care about the quality of her love life (go for price over quality), Mr. Nice will never get the girl. Get the picture?

So How can one increase your the "benefit"? Differntiate your self: Seek opportunities that will help you develop what makes you special and different.

Wall Street Career Trek

In MBA, most student's top priority is to find their dream job. Each MBA program spends tons of effort on career service to make sure that their students get exposure to companies and job opportunities. Recently Haas hired a new recruiting assistant director, Nichole, to be out on the east coast to promote the Haas name in Wall Street. One of the key activity for Nichole is to organize a wall street investment banking career trek. Curious about one of the most high paying job post MBA - A Wall Street I-bankers, I joined the trip with the other 50 plus Haas students.

In total we visited 9 investment banks. The format of these company visits was pretty standardized: A brief introduction of the bank by a director, panel discussion which consists several associates from various groups and networking time where you get interact with the bankers at a more personal level. From these networking events you can clearly see who is more commited /aggressive than others: Some go from banker to bankers and trying to spot potential candidate for informational interviews, others stands by the refreshment area to relax. In the beginning I didn 't know what to ask these bankers. I imagine they have no life outside work, overachievers who enjoys constantly been challenged by greater responsibilities and exposure, and probably think they are better than everyone else because of their big fat bonus. But as I network more and more, I begin to see the meaning behind all these company visit : It's really just to get the banker's business cards, follow up with a " thank you" note , and hoping they will say yes for an informational interview.

Informational interviews are quite common in the US. It is one of the best way to gather information about what's happening in an occupation or an industry. For some industry, like investment banking, they are actually conducted in quite a formal way such that it's almost like pre-screening : If the banker likes you during the informational interview, he might push your resume through the first screening process. So the more informational interviews you do, the more bankers know who you are thus the more likely you will be invited for an interview. One banker revealed that he did a total of 60 informational interviews before he was offered a summer associate position at Lehman Brothers.

I think in Asia informational interview is much less common. As a result, people don't know what they are getting themselves into or don't know what to say/do during the real interview because they have limited exposure to the job they are targeting. As a result, most people probably just go into an industry where most of their friends go since that's what they know the most about. In my view this is not the most efficient process- both for the job seekers and the companies. My advice is that no matter what job you are targeting, try to know as much about it as possible BEFORE the real interview. Be proactiveand thick skin: call up your alumni network, weak-tie relationships and friends of friends. You 've worked so hard to get to where you are today. There is no reason why you don't deserve the job of your dream.

What kind of person make it in consulting?

• Strong personal presence, combined with compelling and professional presentation and communication skills
  
• Real thought leadership, combined with strong analytical and problem-solving skills (which includes both a quantitative and qualitative orientation)
  
• Personal leadership qualities, including an ability to manage people, drive change, and accomplish challenging goals both alone and with others
  
• The ability to work independently, while simultaneously being able to forge productive team relationships
  
• Business judgment and maturity, including the ability to develop a 'big picture' view and use it
  
• Intellectual curiosity
  

I copied the above text from one of our career service's presentation and I am actually quite surprised at how well they have synthesized the key attributes of a successful consultant. If you read these attributes carefully , you will quickly know that they are pretty generic and describe the key success factors in almost any industry. However, the thing that strikes to me is most is that our formal education doesn't really emphasize in any of them: It didn't encourage us to work in teams, it rarely gives us the opportunity to develop our leadership qualities and it's so result/grade driven that students find it no benefit in preserving the intellectual curiosity. I think the main reason is that the professors/teachers we had when we were in school are hardworking nerds themselves and they care much more about their research paper than personal development.

Don't be a nerd and seek oppotunities that allows you develop these skills

Getting involved in Haas mentorship program

One thing I am quite passionate about is helping prospect students to learn more about Haas so they can make better decisions. This is really one of the reason I started this blog. With this in mind, I decided to be a member of the Haas mentor program. Here is how the program works: The newly admit student will sign up to be a mentee in the program. Based on his/her background, the committee will assign a mentor to him/her. The mentor will answer any questions he/she may have on the student life at Haas and help to connect the mentee with the appropriate resource.

The goal of the program is to help the admit students understand what it is really like to be at Haas.( Yes, whenever I get involved in something, the first thing I think about is what is our goal? What are we trying to achieve as a group). Having gone through the process myself last year, I personally think the candidate can browse through school's websites, go to the MBA fair or even visit the campus but still don't have a clue what it is like to be at Haas. One of reason for this is because MBA is such an intense, intimate and personal experience that it's almost impossible to generalize. Haas admitted a total of 7 Taiwanese students this year. Each of us will provide a different perspective on the school because of of the activities we involve ourselves in. For example: Ashley is big on the non-profit, Gloria is focusing in consulting and I am all over the place- tech and investment banking. On the other hand, when you reach out to current students or alumni, ask what kind of school/club/career/networking activities he/she has been involved in so you know where the advice is coming from.