Krishen Iyer is the face of modern marketing operations. It’s a term for a new type of superstar within the marketing profession: someone who works well with clients but also gathers and makes sense of data about a client and their industry.
Krishen Iyer, for instance, is CEO and founder of MAIS Consulting, an organization based in California that provides assistance to insurance companies in the areas of marketing, contracting, general policies, and strategic growth. He brings more than 20 years of insurance company expertise, including working as an agent and running several companies. He’s in a perfect position to provide personalized service, development of strategic partnerships and marketing agreements, and mentorship opportunities to his clients. His efforts have led to satisfied clients and satisfied customers – that’s ideal marketing, even though it’s far from what many people think of: crazy campaigns and a lot of drinking and personal discord. Thanks a lot, “Mad Men”! First, that show was make-believe and set more than 50 years ago. And it was really designed to entertain viewers with all of those unpleasant people and situations and their serious drinking problems vs. any sort of serious marketing efforts and ingenuity.
Today, the world has changed as has the marketing profession.
People with skills in marketing operations, like Krishen Iyer, are in high demand. They’re more generalists who work closely with clients to help them see success rather than simply showing them posters of concepts and everyone going out for martinis every afternoon. Sure, these interpersonal skills aren’t bad to have in a pinch, but the modern marketing operations specialist is more prized because of his or her effectiveness in analyzing data, improving processes, seeing effective results, and helping clients achieve improved ROI. People who specialize in marketing operations need to communicate well with clients, vendors, and even competitors in the industry since the tight economy has led to more collaboration vs. competition. Marketing also goes beyond general agencies who can sell anyone anything. Today, think of those who have backgrounds in a certain industry who want to help others do better by getting the word out.
Defining marketing ops
As one of the fastest-growing careers within the marketing field, marketing operations specialists are especially prized. Darrell Alfonso, who works in Global Marketing Operations from Amazon Web Services, recently provided a webinar at MarTech. He shared that people interested in marketing operations should be key members of the team, not data-focused people in the background. Because of their familiarity with the ins and outs of a client, including their budget and past revenue/spending, they also can be put in the role of decision-makers who can suggest solutions.
They should be excited about creating, building, and helping clients with their strategies. In many cases, once they figure out exactly what niche clients want and need to see success, they may leave a larger agency to focus on these areas only.
Krishen Iyer’s approach
While Krishen Iyer didn’t set out to be a marketing expert for the insurance industry, his path took him there. He grew up in California and graduated from Bullard High School in the Fresno area in 1998. He attended college at San Diego State University in San Diego, where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in public administration and urban development.
Following graduation from SDSU, he began working in the insurance area which included managing a variety of companies and promoting affiliate insurance distribution centers that offered all types of sales and services to clients. Iyer also founded and owned a variety of companies in the insurance sector, starting with MNP Insurance that also was called Name My Premium. This company did well and attracted the attention of Inc magazine, which placed it on its annual list of 5,000 top companies in 2015.
His next move as an entrepreneur was to create a company called Managed Benefit Services or MBS. As founder and CEO of the full-service licensed insurance agency and marketing firm, he and the MBS staff worked with a variety of clients that included insurance companies and insurance agencies. One of the unique services MBS provides clients was a regular selection of leads that were generated by using customer analytical data to indicate which customer groups had the best likelihood of becoming clients. This approach helped insurance clients see a good selection of sales and MBS to see success as well.
After selling Managed Benefit Services, the next move for Krishen Iyer was to create MAIS Consulting, based in the Encinitas area. As founder and CEO, he placed his primary focus on helping clients, especially those in the insurance distribution industry. The goal of each unique partnership is to empower clients to find areas within their organization to improve, attract more customers, create more partnerships, and even seek out potential buyers and investors if they’re interested in growing or selling in the short-term or long term. All of these services fulfill a lifelong interest that Krishen Iyer has: how to use his experience and success to help others grow and succeed.
Today, Krishen Iyer likes to spend the first half of his day meeting with clients learning about them and their needs. Then the second half of the day is dedicated to finding solutions for them. He is also active in helping various charities including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and helping people who have been impacted by the recent Haiti earthquake.
