Evolution Strategy Advisors has been recognized as one of the 20 Innovative Companies to Watch of 2021 by The Executive Headlines.

Having spent more than 25yrs as Head of Sales and Marketing it was logical to move into consulting and with technology and data driving business, we used that as a backbone of our offering.

We started with bringing in international alliances through licensing and have represented some of the worlds leading brands Honeywell, Coty, Westinghouse and have been representing a leading licensing company LMCA in India. 

We further expanded into consulting as we found that companies were looking to change with the times as the environment was getting competitive.

Today we partner large and midsized B2C organisations to grow through our proprietary technique of Business Health Analysis, which is a business diagnostic technique in sales, marketing and strategy. We work on growing businesses for our clients using a combination of consulting, research and analytics techniques and then mentoring the executive team in to execute these changes. Our areas of excellence are strategy, sales and marketing leading to transformation of business. The core areas being operational sales & systems, product portfolio management, demand generation and digitisation of business. We work along with organisation to execute their plans. 

 

Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between The Executive Headlines  and Vineet Trakroo, CEO of Evolution Strategy Advisors.

How successful was your first project roll on? Share the experience. 

Our first project was with a home improvement brand in faucets. A known name but was having a challenge in growing and maintaining their profitability. It had been unable to shake off its past losses and increase product prices to be profitable. The brand was operating at the mid level of the market. We transformed the brand with a relaunch: changing its brand identity, brand name and also the go to market strategy. With this we also increased the prices. The promoters were convinced to invest in the brand upgrade it to premium segment. Within 6 months they turned profitable and sales grew in excel of 50%.

What kind of mixed responses have you received from your consumers over the years? How have they motivated you to shape your offerings/grow the company? 

Our clients have unique challenges and no 2 challenges are same. This forces us to look for an out of box solution. We work across categories and industries i.e. automobiles, pharma, fmcg, durables and building materials and each business is different. Finding opportunities to grow across sectors is a challenge which excites us. Its like solving a math problem.

The major change we see today is digitization of business and not just marketing. Sales too has become digitized as the numbers are live. But the infrastructure within the organisation is not yet up to speed to analyse this and suggest course correction, this has been a demand from organisations. Further organisations need support in execution as their team needs to be trained in the new ways.

What challenges did you face in the initial years? What can your peers learn from it?

Getting clients to understand our offering which is unique and only one of its kind. The concepts of analytics and consulting is new to a lot of midsized companies and large organisation usually rely on internal knowledge. Only organisations which have been having chronic issues try our approach . We are still seeding the idea.

“Earning trust and respect of consumers all around the world is through consistent focus on delivering high quality in all of our actions,” how do you interpret this statement?

We have been working with the most prestigious brands both Indian and MNC’s, each who are leaders in their categories. They demand the best of services and have been coming to us repeatedly for more business whether it’s the Tata’s, Mahindra’s, Pfizer, Abbott etc. When clients come back, we believe they have found our services useful. And when we are able to deliver the planned growth, we conform to our clients’ high standards. Every client of ours has benefited with our advice.

Fostering a culture of feedback is crucial to the success of every organization. How is this true with your company?

Our methodology of consulting requires a high level of interaction and value addition during which we discuss various issues during set milestones. These milestones form the basis of feedback and course correction in any project. The way we analyse data opens up a new conversation and insight thus feedback on these insights is the basis of our consulting.

About the adaptability, how do you stay relevant to the consumer interests and needs in this high volatile market?

Markets and competition have always been volatile. If its not the pandemic then it could be recession or competitor price cuts or new launches. Business never stops and volatility is part of business. Managing a changing environment and getting organisations ready for the future is what we do. This is done by understanding the micro and macro economics of the economy as well as businesses. Working with different industries gives us an edge in understanding how to deal with different situations.

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why? 

• Our knowledge: This is derived from our partners vast experience and our experience in consulting different industries
• Data analytics: We have acquired an ability to show growth insights to clients from their data
• Delivery : We have delivered higher than expectations of our clients thus more than 60% of our business is repeat.
• Partnering execution: Clients need more than ideas. They need the support to enable their teams and that’s what we do 
• Internalisation: We believe growth comes from within. Through our Business Health and analytic technique we open up the ability of the organisation to identify growth factors from within an organisations (the stakeholders: sales, trade, influencers and customers)

Customer service varies, but companies can still be successful. How do you maintain the quality of your services?

We work at two levels the conceptual i.e. creation of the strategy, getting a buy-in from within the organisation and then following it up with aiding the competency of the clients team to deliver. Thus our role changes from a direction provider to a mentor. This requires a strong level of engagement and understanding of people. Complementing the strength of the team is a sure shot way to improve success. We build competencies and step in to ensure success.

What do you feel are the reasons behind your company’s reputation?

Our client’s success is our reputation. We choose to work on challenges which are tough and clients have been trying to solve for years. This gives us an opportunity to grow in thought and measure up to the occasion. 

 

How do you and your company contribute to the global IT platform and society at large?

Our solutions are cloud based and we use advanced analytics in our diagnosis. Before we start a project we have all the data and have identified the gaps which can be covered. This is done by a strong understanding of IT, cloud analytics, research, sentiment analysis and understanding of how to manage data.

Do you have any new products or services ready to be/getting ready to be launched? 

We are currently working on digital transformation of business . This is not just doing digital marketing but digitization of the entire sales and marketing process and building a strong analytics based organisation.

About your plans, where do you see your company a couple of years from now? 

We see our self in providing business transformation and business analytics to more and more industries.

The key behind the success of Evolution Strategy Advisors, Vineet Trakroo, CEO

Marketing and sales strategist, with over 25 years of corporate experience now consulting large and midsized Co’s since 2013. He has been CMO with Usha International, Head of Marketing for CavinKare, Pidilite- Fevicol. Head Of Sales and Mktg for Beiersdorf & Ahmed Oil mills- Postman oils. 

BE Electrical & Electronics- MIT Manipal, MBA: Jamnalal Bajaj Insti. of Mgmt. Studies, Mumbai.