Get to Know Mazher Khan

Marketing Head, Leejam Sports Company (Fitness Time), Middle East

Fitness Time is a very ambitious and well-appointed network of fitness centers in Saudi Arabia, catering to males of all ages and featuring large and luxurious sports and training environments. Please give us a quick overview of your operations.

Fitness Time is an extremely well-researched product. Between last year and this year, we added 10 more branches and increased our reach from 12 cities in Saudi Arabia to 13 cities in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, UAE. Currently, we have more than 350,000 members. By the end of this year, we plan to have 75 operational branches (73 in Saudi Arabia and 2 in Dubai). Each club has its own dedicated staff (branch management, customer service staff, trainers and cleaners).

Fitness Time is growing rapidly and is addressing serious health concerns in an affluent society where obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable death. Why is the Saudi market such a unique and challenged health promotion market, and how are you appealing to Saudi nationals with different membership programs?

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest obesity rates in the region, and it is a challenging environment for us because the overall lifestyle is not active. At Fitness Time, we have a brand suitable for every budget. Fitness Time Plus (the first-class VIP/elite club) caters to the affluent class; Fitness Time is a business-class club that caters to the middle class); Fitness Time Pro is an economy club that caters to budget-conscious people; Fitness Time Junior caters to junior ages; and Fitness Time Academy caters to youth for specialized training in soccer, basketball and volleyball. We have different membership options (three months, six months and one year memberships) within each brand of the club's membership. We also have several marketing initiatives each year, where we motivate people to have a healthy lifestyle. To make our brands more affordable, we also have several discount offers and bank tie-ups to facilitate our membership purchase.

What type of research did you conduct to determine the optimal member experience that would appeal to the affluent Saudi lifestyle and their attitudes toward exercise?

Fitness Time itself is a very well researched product, which has made us market leaders. On the other hand, we keep a close tab on our members' feedback and their needs, and we upgrade our facilities from time to time. We are closer to our customers than before because we are able to translate the research in to successful marketing campaigns that change the attitudes of people. We have been able to marry both quite successfully, which made us recondition the minds of the TG toward a healthier lifestyle.

How are you going about targeting and reaching all relevant age groups among the 17 million Saudi nationals in the country?

We have a product for each age group and each socio-economic strata of the society. With the help of our extensive network and strong database of members, we are able to reach our current members and convert them into return customers. On the other hand, we have extensive use of mass media for our campaigns. The Saudi society is very well connected on the Internet, so we have extensive use of Internet and social media channels, which help us reach additional customers. Through our unique offering, we have been able to raise the industry standards to the highest levels by providing comprehensive service to our customers.

How influential are women, families, government agencies and health professionals in encouraging changes in diet and exercise?

Women are quite influential in motivating their family members to have a healthy lifestyle. However, there is a lot that can be done on the public front by the government agencies to improve the health conditions of people in general. As part of our service, we have dietitian access as part of every membership, and we regularly encourage our customers to have healthy diet and follow natural ways to have healthy lifestyle. We closely monitor our members' progress and have devised scientific ways to help them achieve a healthy lifestyle.

What are some of your expansion and growth plans in Saudi Arabia and adjoining countries in the Middle East?

We are expanding rapidly and are more reachable to our customers than ever before, but we would like to be more accessible. We already have 55 open branches catering to 13 cities. There is scope to penetrate further into the Saudi Arabian market by going to smaller towns and opening more branches in the cities where we are already present. We are also working on a leaner, more budget-friendly format, which will help us further maintain our reach. Once we reach our target of 75 branches by the end of this year, we will set one more benchmark for ourselves, which will raise the overall industry standards. We are actively studying neighboring countries and would like to reach out to customers there also, but we will approach this in a very systematic and planned way.

Mazher Khan, Marketing Head, Leejam Sports Company (Fitness Time), Middle East

Mazher Khan is an extensively skilled, competent and results-driven marketing professional with comprehensive experience of in ATL and BTL marketing. He is an expert at forecasting and planning annual marketing budgets in line with the marketing objective. He is adroit at planning and executing multi-faceted mega campaigns designed to improve market share and gross revenue. He is an expert at planning and translating conceptual models into reality and develops innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing competitiveness, increasing revenue and improving the overall customer experience. He is also adept at tie-ups and negotiations. Khan spearheads the marketing team of Leejam Sport Company, the manager and promoter of the Middle East's largest network of premium fitness and leisure clubs, Fitness Time. A graduate in mass media with a specialty in advertising, he also has a post-graduate degree in business management.

What a B2B CMO Needs to Know Now

By Debbie Qaqish, Chief Strategy Officer, The Pedowitz Group

Today's B2B CMO is facing a watershed moment: find a way to drive repeatable, predictable and scalable revenue or find another career. Evidence is mounting on how smart B2B marketing executives are connecting to revenue, transforming marketing from being a cost to a revenue center, and—in the process—helping their organizations outgrow their competition.

Transforming marketing from a cost center to a revenue center is what we call Revenue Marketing, and it is a very fast-growing segment of our industry. In this technology-driven market, CMOs no longer have the luxury of ignoring their direct role in revenue. To put this phenomenon in context, we decided to conduct a study to see exactly what companies are doing and what real results they are driving.

The 2012 Lenskold Group/Pedowitz Group LeadGen Marketing Effectiveness Study reveals key data that begins to unlock the secret to connecting marketing to revenue, driving improved company performance while outperforming the competition. Key attributes of these successful marketing organizations are their focus on revenue and ROI while using integrated marketing automation, alignment of key executives to Revenue Marketing as a strategic solution, and a specific structure that supports the focus and key processes to enable the change.

Let's break down the study results.

CMO Point No. 1: Integrated Marketing Automation and Growth
Companies outgrowing their competitors are more likely to use integrated marketing automation (66 percent versus 50 percent of slower/same-growth companies). Integrated marketing automation entails the use of full-featured marketing automation integrated with CRM.

• Think about this: When was the last time you went to your CEO and said, "I have a plan for how we can outgrow our competition, meaning we can grab more market share now"? This is the type of conversation that your CEO is looking for and one that earns your seat at the revenue table.

CMO Point No. 2: Marketing Automation and Increases in Revenue From Marketing
Companies outgrowing their competitors are more likely to have experienced an increase in total marketing revenue contribution from marketing automation (55 percent versus 31 percent of slower/same-growth companies). This data point highlights the role of Revenue Marketing in creating a competitive advantage.

• Think about this: When was the last time you went to your CFO and said, "I have a plan for how we [marketing] can contribute more revenue to the bottom line"? First, you can show how companies are making a measurable contribution to revenue. Second, you can show how companies with the right technology backbone are outgrowing the competition and contributing more to the revenue number than their slower-growth counterparts. Given that the CFO has probably chewed more TUMS over the marketing budget than any other line item for the company, this is a conversation that would make his day, month and year.

CMO Point No. 3: Marketing Automation and ROI Metrics
Of the companies using marketing automation and ROI metrics, 69 percent reported an increase in total marketing revenue contribution in contrast with the 19-percent increase in total marketing revenue reported by users of only traditional metrics. These data points prove having marketing automation alone is not enough; a focus on ROI metrics by marketing is equally important.

• Think about this: You have just unlocked the secret to Revenue Marketing success. Many companies buy marketing automation and eventually use it as an expensive email system. Armed with this one statistic, you can now make a set of changes that can produce amazing and quantifiable results for your efforts.

CMO Point No. 4: Marketing Automation and Strategic Support
Companies outgrowing their competition are more likely to have marketing automation provide a level of strategic support (26 percent versus 15 percent of slower/same-growth companies). While the gap is fairly significant, both numbers are low. This is not a surprising number as most Revenue Marketing initiatives are still not driven by the CMO, but by lower levels in the marketing organization.

• Think about this: Why are you delegating something as important as Revenue Marketing? We are not talking about email here; we are seeing very large companies embracing Revenue Marketing as a strategic and innovative initiative. These low numbers give you an enormous opportunity to make a revenue difference.

CMO Point No. 5: Marketing Automation and Marketing Capabilities
Companies that use integrated marketing automation to manage lead-generation effectiveness versus companies that do not use marketing automation are reported to have the tools (75 percent versus 25 percent), organizational structure (49 percent versus 24 percent), and established key processes (56 percent versus 22 percent). In effectively managing the lead-generation process, companies using integrated marketing automation have a major advantage over those with no marketing automation. Effectively managing the lead-generation process is the first step to revenue and ROI.

• Think about this: Revenue Marketing is about much more than just getting some technology. Key success factors include people, processes and technology. As you begin this journey to Revenue Marketing, be aware of the importance of the other elements.

It's clear that today's CMO and certainly tomorrow's successful CMO will have an important role in revenue contribution and outgrowing the competition. Understanding how to make the transformation is now the top concern for smart executives. This report presents a set of data points that helps the CMO plan and execute that transition.

This article presents only a few of the many findings in the report. For a copy of the full report, click here.

Debbie Qaqish, Chief Strategy Officer, The Pedowitz Group

Debbie Qaqish is a Principal Partner and the Chief Strategy Officer for The Pedowitz Group, an award-winning Revenue Marketing™ agency. A nationally recognized thought leader, Qaqish has more than 30 years of experience helping organizations connect marketing to revenue. She is a pioneer in marketing automation, first as a beneficiary of the technology and now as an advocate and expert. She was named one of the Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management (SLM) for the last two years, as well as one of the Top 20 Women to Watch. She coined the term Revenue Marketer^® in 2007. Her first book on Revenue Marketing will be published later this year. Contact her at Debbie@pedowitzgroup.com or on LinkedIn here.

Are CMOs Missing an Opportunity to Lead?

By John Ellett, CEO, nFusion

While there is little doubt that as a CMO, you are chartered to be the brand champion for your company, recent research indicates that one of the biggest drivers of brand advocacy—the customer experience—is not getting the attention it needs at many companies. Why is this? And what should you do about it as the CMO?

The study, "Designing and Managing Customer Experiences for Improved Brand Performance"—commissioned by Pegasystems and conducted by my firm, nFusion—highlighted a significant gap between the importance and delivery of superior customer experiences. The gap at most companies (75 percent) was a result of customer touchpoints spanning multiple departments, such as sales, marketing, service, IT and operations, with the most frequent problems being inconsistency of customer experiences, ineffectiveness of customer-facing employees and inability of customers to achieve their desired outcomes. The fragmentation challenge is largely due to the fact that few companies have a single executive who is accountable for customer experiences across all departments.

So in a world where brand reputations are increasingly built through social
media—where customers share their positive and negative experiences, and those experiences are often inferior because of organizational silos—what should a CMO do? Here are five steps you can take to lead your firm in the planning and management of superior customer experiences and, as result, improve its brand and financial performance.

1. Secure chief executive commitment to this initiative. Without the top of the organizational pyramid firmly committed to the concept of great experiences for customers, the funding, practices and policies needed to deliver them across all touchpoints will be unlikely. To garner support, demonstrate the linkage between Net Promoter Scores and growth and profitability. Fred Reichheld's book, The Ultimate Question 2.0, does a good job of building this connection. Look beyond the soft benefits of improved customer satisfaction and into the measurable impacts on P&L, such as enhanced revenue per customer or customer visit, lower churn rates or reduced customer acquisition cost.
2. Build strong alliances with C-suite peers. Since it is rare that one executive holds responsibility for all customer touchpoints, gaining buy-in and resource commitment from all functional executives will be essential. As CMO, you probably don't manage all of the teams involved in delivering the customer experience, but you can leverage your position as chief brand champion to highlight the importance of every touchpoint. Help connect the roles of each function to the impact they have on your firm's brand reputation.
3. Implement customer journey mapping across all touchpoints. Pictures are said to be worth a thousand words, and explaining the desired state of delivering superior experiences across all touchpoints through the use of simple customer journey maps can yield great benefits. These documents can serve as powerful alignment tools to help build executive support and cross-functional implementation teams.
4. Engage all customer-facing and supporting employees. Experiences are ultimately enhanced by customer-facing employees or customer-facing systems that are managed by employees. Their effectiveness is affected by myriad people who never see customers but who have an impact on the product or service experienced by the customer. Building a customer-focused culture must involve all parts of the organization and will often require significant internal marketing and training focus. Internal campaigns can be effective at reshaping the culture, but make sure the commitment to act is in place first. Your employees can distinguish lip service from real action, and you can't afford to diminish credibility with or alienate those who take care of your customers.
5. Establish a portfolio of customer metrics. As with any corporate initiative, having clear success metrics will be important. Defining, tracking and reporting key customer experience data at both the executive and operations levels of the company is a mechanism for recognizing success and diagnosing areas for continued focus. Ongoing commitment to progress will be important, and sharing results will help ensure continued focus. Scorecards can be a powerful leadership tool if they measure the right things.

Are you missing an opportunity to lead your company in a new way? How does the role of chief customer experience architect differ from that of chief brand advocate? The latter is common and familiar in most industries. The former is rarely found outside of the hospitality industry, where guest experiences have long been known to impact brand performance and financial results. With increasing evidence that links customer experiences, social media advocacy and brand performance, is now the time for you to progress beyond your role of leading brand campaign design to begin leading customer experience design as well?

John Ellett, CEO, nFusion

John Ellett (@jellett) is CEO of nFusion, a digital-centric marketing agency based in Austin, Texas, that helps marketing change agents with brand revitalization, digital transformation and sales acceleration initiatives. His experience as a senior marketing executive at Dell during its rapid growth years has led to him becoming a trusted advisor to marketing leaders at firms such as AMD, BJ's Restaurants, Comerica Bank and Samsung. He is a contributor to the CMO Network on Forbes.com, and his first book, The CMO Manifesto: A 100-Day Action Plan for Marketing Change Agents, will be published in fall of 2012.