3Rs – Research, Relevance & Respect for Building a Sustainable Career

A few days ago, I received an email regarding a sponsorship pitch from a marketing consultancy. As usual, it was a forwarded mail addressed to a different recipient. The sender did not even correct spelling and alignment issues. I dumped it in junk mail and moved on. After a few days, I received a follow-up call from the same consultancy. Again, the caller addressed me as Mr. Pugaokar and jumped to the commercials talk. I asked her whether she checked my profile and company information before making a pitch. I further asked her how she approached me without basic details. She revealed that this consultancy had a database of companies, and they sent sponsorship pitches to random people. 

“We do not write separate mail for every company. We have standard content that we send to potential clients”, she said. 

 “Fair point. Most of us do it. But what about customising content for every new pitch and getting names right?”, I asked. 

She fumbled and disconnected the call. I often see a section of professionals demonstrating ignorance and disrespect in a work environment. This behaviour often stems from overconfidence and lack of accountability. Many professionals mistake arrogance and doing the bare minimum as a way of professional life. These distorted views popularised by some self-proclaimed career gurus are misleading and can jeopardise future of aspirants. Here are the 3 R’s every budding professional should focus on for building a credible and sustainable career. 

Research

Whether it is a business pitch or networking meeting, do basic research on the potential client and the person you intend to connect with. Try to understand their business, the industry they operate in, the competition landscape and their areas of concern. Company website and LinkedIn are reliable platforms to gather information about nature of business and management. You may also track their media visibility to get real-time information like business initiatives, collaborations and even negative press. These details help in preparing customised solution plans for different clients. Avoid sending business pitches to random companies if you do not wish to end up in their spam list.

Relevance 

Your solution offerings may not be relevant to certain companies. For instance, companies in the B2B space do not have requirements for end-user visibility like consumer-centric brands. Since they operate in niche market segments, conventional platforms such as trade magazines are more relevant to them than social media. In such a scenario, offering them a standard marketing plan won’t help you to crack the deal. Understand their outreach requirement and target audience. Study marketing channels based on the content consumption patterns of their audience and accordingly tailor your offerings. Buzzing irrelevant people cannot help convert a lead into a business. Tap the right people to pitch your offerings or collaboration opportunities. Also, avoid sending constant reminders to potential clients.  

Respect 

Humility and respect are non-negotiable if you want to make it big in your profession. Be respectful in your language and tone in person and a virtual setting. Digital data leaves traces forever; pay extra attention to what you write. Sometimes, people use derogatory language to catch the attention of clients. This approach can cost you a job and hamper the image of your company. Be punctual and adhere to your commitments. Respect the time and privacy of people. Ask them about their preferred mode of communication and avoid texting outside of work hours. Strictly avoid pinging them on their personal social media handles. Learn the art of listening. It will help you understand their pain points and offer customised solution offerings. These simple do’s and don’ts will help you build relations for long-term engagements. 

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Priyanka Pugaokar

Priyanka Pugaokar is a communications professional with expertise in internal and external communication, crisis communications, content generation and media relations. She holds over ten years of combined experience in communications and business journalism. She is currently associated with Rashi Peripherals Limited as Corporate Communications Manager and leads several strategic projects. She is an avid travel explorer. A lifelong learner, she holds interest in yoga, naturopathy, energy healing and crystallography.