From Vanity to Value — Amarjeet Singh @ AJ

From Vanity to Value: Why Most Organisations Don’t Have a Marketing Problem — They Have a Leadership Design Problem

Written by Amarjeet Singh @ AJ — Lived experience across Automotive (2W & 4W), Service Industries, Theme Parks & Township Design/Management (Malaysia & ASEAN)

Everyone talks about marketing — clicks, impressions, engagement. Yet CEOs and CFOs still ask the only question that matters: “Where is the pipeline? Where is the revenue?”

Everyone celebrates new vehicle sales. Launches. Booking numbers. Campaign buzz. But the truth I learned the hard way — on the ground — is this: new sales excite the ego; systems sustain the business.

Let me ask a blunt leadership question:

If your dashboards look good, why does the business still feel fragile?

That question followed me for years — across cars, motorcycles, consulting with international brands, and later into theme parks and township design/management. Different industries. Same failure pattern.

1) The First Big Lie: Vanity Metrics Equal Success

Too many organisations still celebrate: ClicksImpressionsCTREngagementViews

These metrics are not useless — but they are incomplete. They answer only: “Did people notice us?” They do not answer: Did intent form? Did behaviour change? Did pipeline mature? Did money arrive?

So yes, leaders are asking the right question:

“Where is the pipeline?” But many stop one layer too early — because pipeline is not a marketing report, it is a leadership-designed system.

2) Pipeline Is Not a Feeling. It Is a Designed Flow.

In automotive — managing four-wheelers and two-wheelers — I saw campaigns that looked “successful” on paper, yet service frequency softened quietly. In motorcycles, one bad experience could travel overnight through rider groups. In theme parks and townships, we saw footfall without conversion, buzz without repeat behaviour.

Same problem: activity without a connected conversion system.

Vanity World

• “We got traffic.”
• “Engagement is up.”
• “The campaign performed.”

Business World

• “How many became qualified?”
• “How many moved to SQL?”
• “How many closed? How fast?”

3) The Funnel Must Include Upsell, Downsell & Lifecycle — Not Just Acquisition

Here’s what many strategists miss: funnels don’t end at “lead captured”. Funnels continue through the entire product life cycle:

• Acquire → create awareness and intent
• Convert → move from interest to decision
• Onboard → first experience sets the tone
• Upsell → value expansion (packages, add-ons, upgrades)
• Downsell → keep them in the ecosystem (entry options, smaller bundles, flexible plans)
• Retain → repeat decisions (service, membership, loyalty, community)
• Recover → win-back systems (not begging, designed recovery)

Leadership question:

Do we only “sell once”… or do we own the customer for the next 3–10 years?

4) Aftersales & Service Journeys: Where Lifetime Value Is Built (or Lost)

Aftersales taught me what marketing decks never did: customers don’t leave authorised centres only because of price. They leave because value isn’t obvious, time feels wasted, explanations are unclear, and trust erodes quietly.

In workshops, you can feel it before reports show it:

• Customers hesitate before approving work
• Appointments get delayed “one more time”
• Familiar faces disappear without noise

Another blunt question:

If your service experience was posted online today — unedited — would you be proud?

5) Social Media, Groups & Forums: The Real Marketing Department You Don’t Control

Today, word-of-mouth is not a coffee shop conversation. It lives in:

• Facebook owner groups
• WhatsApp / Telegram circles
• Rider forums
• Google reviews
• Comment sections

Your strongest marketing messages are being written without you. One bad post can undo months of spend. One honest customer defence can do what ads never will.

6) Human Upgrade Nature: Why Customers Evolve Faster Than Organisations

Customers upgrade. Fast. Their expectations upgrade. Fast. Their ability to compare, verify, screenshot, and share… upgrades daily.

So ask this:

Are we building systems for who customers are today — or who they were 10 years ago?

People don’t just buy products anymore. They buy:

• Convenience
• Clarity
• Confidence
• Community

7) Creating New Categories & Trends: Lead the Difference

Growth doesn’t always come from competing harder in the same category. Sometimes it comes from creating a new lane — a new story — a new standard.

• In automotive: service transparency packages, subscription care, premium service lanes
• In theme parks: experience bundles, seasonal content engines, membership ecosystems
• In townships: walkability, wellness ecosystems, micro-mobility, community-first design

Leadership question:

Are we following trends… or are we building the next category people will copy?

8) Partners, Collaborations & Ecosystems: The Fastest Path to Scale

The future is not “do everything alone”. The future is partnerships that make your funnel stronger:

• Brand partners to extend reach and credibility
• Service partners to enhance capacity and convenience
• Community partners to build trust and advocacy
• Technology partners to measure, track, and improve conversion

If you want pipeline velocity to improve, you don’t just push harder. You build a better ecosystem.

9) The Final Truth: This Is Not a Marketing Problem — It’s a Leadership Design Problem

Marketing fails when it is isolated from sales, service, operations, and customer experience. When organisations reward activity instead of outcomes, everybody gets busy — and nobody gets accountable.

So here is the question leaders must ask:

Where exactly does intent turn into money — and where does it break?

Growth is not created by noise. It is created by systems that respect human behaviour — across the product lifecycle. And every workshop, park, showroom, and township will eventually tell the truth — publicly — whether we listen or not.

— Amarjeet Singh @ AJ

If you want, I can also create: (1) a shorter LinkedIn version, (2) a 5-part series, or (3) a PDF-ready whitepaper layout using the same yellow/white theme.