Joy of Selling - III

I am not a sales professional, but was fortunate to get some exposure to selling profession. The joy of selling was not only about connecting with the customers, but was also about connecting with my own instincts!!

It was during my visit to Bangalore that I came across Venkat. Venkat worked as CTO with one of the companies in Bangalore. There some people you instantly like when you meet them. There was something about Venkat that struck a chord. This was a sales call and I was accompanied by my colleague in Bangalore.

Venkat started as we settled down “Look guys let me first explain what we do and then you can figure out your pitch”. He then elaborately went on to explain the complex product he was developing in the area of capital markets. Once he finished after about 20 minutes, he asked us, “Now I guess you guys know what we are into”. This was THE moment of truth because honestly I had not understood a word what Venkat had explained – it was way above my IQ level! “Well Venkat, honestly I have not understood a word what you said in last 20 minutes but let me tell you what I have understood” I said “You have a strong belief in your idea and the technology you are using. I know a gentleman back in my organization who gets beaten blue for spending time and energy on the same technology. I will introduce him to you and I guess then we can work on something” Venkat looked at me for a moment and said “sure – sounds like a plan!!”

We quickly got my colleague and Venkat together and they hit along well. My colleague collaborated with Venkat to put some stuff together for his internal presentation. When Venkat got his investments approval, like a true gentleman he called us “We have a deal now” and graciously gave us our first order with his company. It is a privilege to have met Venkat and it always gives me a great comfort whenever I talk to him though our domains are different.

There are a few things that I learnt in that moment of truth with Venkat:

1. It is an insult to other person’s intellect if you pretend to understand when you don’t.

2. Rather than pretending to understand what you haven’t, you can still genuinely connect with people if you look out for the things that you understand. In this case though I did not understand the domain, I could easily understand his passion for his domain.

3. When you connect, you complement each other much better even if your domains are different!

Joy of Selling - II

I am not a sales professional, but was fortunate to get some exposure to selling profession. The joy of selling was not only about connecting with the customers, but was also about connecting with my own instincts!!


In the year 2006, I decided to shift from HR to Software Sales. After heading HR for about three years for an IT Company, I requested an opportunity to move into Sales. I guess for me, boredom hits after every three years in career – rather than changing jobs I have always changed career profile and have been fortunate enough to be working for a company who believed in the same philosophy. The reason to shift to Technology sales was three-fold as far as I was concerned. 1) I do not understand Technology 2) I did not have formal sales experience other than some HR Consulting in the past and 3)My knowledge of Finance & Commercial – well less said the better! So effectively when I got my opportunity, I was excited like a Management Trainee once again!

We received a Request For Proposal (RFQ) from one of the multi-billion dollar Pharmaceuticals companies. The excitement died as soon as we realized we had no clue about 3 of the 8 service lines asked for! I and the team working around me huddled together – it could have been too big an opportunity to leave it like that. Everyone talked about strategies to cover all the 8 service lines. There was a lot of talk about tying up with the partners for the opportunity. This opportunity-based partnership was making me nervous – I thought it is almost an insult to the IQ of the customer – any intelligent person will see through the game. So I declared finally, “We will bid only for the 5 service lines and that’s it!” Everyone looked at me – “Are you mad? We would get knocked out in the first round!” one of the veterans said. “You will never get a deal like this if you leave some coverage. ””Maybe” I said “But I am not comfortable proposing the other 3 service lines”. “Your call” was the reaction with a shrug!

We put together a lot of work around the 5 service lines and finally were ready to present our proposal. The evaluation team had come down from US and had given extremely clear instruction about the expectations from presentation – I still remember the first instruction – No sales pitch with the Corporate Presentation please! My opening line of our presentation was - “When we got your RFQ, we could not understand much beyond the spelling of 3 service lines, so we will present only the 5 we know – Is it alright? Should we be presenting at all?” The CIO of that company looked at me for a moment and suddenly burst out laughing “Of course, finally someone admitting something that they don’t know! Go ahead please!” There was a sigh of relief! Our team did a fantastic job of presenting what we knew and defending queries in the months to follow. Finally we were selected for the deal over many bigger and better known competitors. When we were awarded the contract, the CIO told my boss “I am not a fool to think that you know the subject better than other bigger companies but I am awarding this contract looking at the integrity of the team dealing with us. We are doing the offshore work for the first time and it is more important to work with someone whom you can trust!”

It will be naïve to think that we won that deal only because of our honesty – but that definitely was the starting point. I understood one simple principle– “One Company never buys services from other company –people from buying company evaluate whether then can trust the people from selling company!”

Joy of Selling - I

I am not a sales professional, but was fortunate to get some exposure to selling profession. The joy of selling was not only about connecting with the customers, but was also about connecting with my own instincts!!


The year was 2000 and the entire IT industry was buzzing with new Dot Com ideas. Excitement (and of course VC money) was out there for everyone to see. During those days I worked with an HR Consulting firm. Our main focus was Headhunting but we also used to indulge in HR Consulting (yes, that’s the correct way to describe it!).

One day, we had a meeting with a prospect. I was accompanying my Executive Director and we were meeting a gentleman who was well-known for his shrewdness in the hardware industry – someone who had not only founded one of the earliest companies but was also extremely street smart. Lets call him D (He is no more in this world and may his soul rest in peace!)

This gentleman and his partner had a novel idea to set up an e-commerce company and I was excited with the idea. I started talking about their challenges and possible ways to handle them. Their eyes lit up. They called us for another meeting next day and we had an interesting session with theories and stories flowing in all directions. At the end of that meeting, Mr D said “Young man, you have an interesting idea – lets meet again for brainstorming”. Well, by then I was bored! I was sure that they were getting excited with my ideas but nothing was moving forward. In my opinion, there were only two reasons to work on a prospect – BRAND or MONEY – this start-up was clearly the latter! I said, “Sir, Brainstorming is using consultant’s time free!” My Executive Director almost lost a heartbeat when I made that comment and there was a pin-drop silence. Mr D looked at me and said without batting an eyelid, “Well then young man – charge your brainstorming session!” – there was another awkward pause in the room – who the hell knew how to bill brainstorming?? I said with the poise “Sir, I will charge you 5 lacs (Rupees half a million) for five one-hour meetings and today the second meeting is over” I made a conscious attempt not to look at my boss who was shifting in his chair and given half a chance, would have bolted from the room! “Young man, it’s a deal – send me your invoice”. We came out shaking hands as if it was business as usual – once in a car, my boss couldn’t stop laughing till he went completely red in the face! We eventually billed our Brainstorming!

In that flash of a moment I learnt a few things that have always stayed with me:

• If you do not respect your ideas – nobody does!

• If you are convinced that you are creating / adding value for the customer – you must realize the value!

• Social interactions are great but not to mix it with business

I must say that I did not have this clarity when I acted on my instinct at that particular moment. However, when I looked back after the initial euphoria, I learnt a lesson of my life which has stayed with me till date!

School Diaries – 1

When I look back to school years, it is sometimes difficult to believe that it was me! I certainly do not find any logic now about what I used to do; but clearly remember that I used to be fairly sure about being right during these acts. This is a diary of schoolboy - now coloured little-bit with nostalgia but written about the incidents as they actually happened in my life….

At the risk of being immodest, I must admit that I was extremely consistent in setting expectations about my behavior as a child. My mother was always sure that whenever I stepped out of the house, I would walk back with some trouble chasing me (sometimes literally in form of an irate neighbor or someone’s parents….).

Whenever she attended the Parents-Teacher meeting she used to be on guard and extremely watchful. Rather than meeting the teacher, she generally used to keep a close eye on the visiting parents. She was amazingly consistent in identifying the visiting parents who may have a word or two to share with the teacher about me. She would intercept them before they reached the teacher and pacify them with some genuine assurances about my future behavior and quick punishments delivered by her – She believed in quick justice ….. Many a times she used to give me a whack on the back and then ask about the incident! … I don’t remember her ever regretting for her action after understanding the issue!!

Once during a parents-teacher meeting while I was in 4th standard, one lady walked in the class. She was extremely angry and kept asking “Who is Yogesh?” My mother sprang into action and quickly met the lady. “He is my son. Please tell me what happened and I will take care. Lets sort it between us than involving the teacher”. The lady looked at my mother little irritated and said, “Well, everyday he threatens my son that he will kidnap him and my son comes home crying!!” My mother’s jaw dropped – even by the standards of my behavior, a charge regarding attempted kidnapping while I was in 4th standard myself was little too much for her to handle ….. Recovering quickly, she asked the lady ,”Tell me what happened please!”. The lady had calmed down a bit looking at my mother and said, “Every day your son drags my son towards the school-gate and threatens to take him away in taxi! It is good that school has security and they cannot go past the gate!” My mother turned to me and asked, “Do you really do that?” She even forgot to whack me before asking … perhaps hoping for a better result …. “Yes I do!” I said with courage and dignity of a revolutionary who is just about to hear his punishment in the courtroom. “BUT WHY?” she was clearly infuriated with my answer!! I explained, “Well, you see, he is a little weak boy and keeps crying over little things. So I am making him a little tough” …… “WHO HAS ASKED YOU TO DO THAT??” my mother almost screamed dispensing a quick justice on my back – this time with a double bonus. “I warn you if you ever go near him!” Then she turned to the lady and assured her that I would never trouble her son. By that time that lady also was little amused with my answer and walked away.

My mother was really upset and continued scolding me on our way back home ….. I clearly remember thinking “Why does the world not value it when you reach out to help someone from the bottom of your heart!!”

Lesson in discipline

After long hours of working on Friday, my wife and I set out for a leisurely drive along with the kids. During the drive, we came near my office. I work for an IT company in Pune and I head HR for this company. We have one of the best campuses in the Industry. It is always a pride to show the campus to the family. Kids just love it. It was close to 9.00 pm in the night as I reached the gate. I told my family that we will just take a round of the campus in our vehicle but not get down as it was quite late.

As I drove past the gate, I was stopped by the security personnel deployed at the gate. As I rolled down the glass, he politely asked me for my I-Card. I realized the faux pa – I realized that though most of the security men recognized me, I have never entered the campus without my i-card. I will be hypocrite if I deny that I was put off by the security person stopping me at the gate!! As a member of Senior Management team I expected to breeze past the gate…. The man politely told me that I cannot go in without the I-card. Just as I was contemplating to call our Admin Head, my conscience spoke from the back-seat, as if reading my mind “Yogesh, just turn back”. I intuitively trust my wife in such situations and turned back. For me it was a big fiasco in front of my family – especially my teenage daughter – as I never miss even half-a-chance to impress her!!

When we came out, my daughter asked me, “How could he do that to you? What will you do it him now?” I quickly realized the wisdom of my wife’s suggestion to turn back. I could clearly see that my daughter felt that I was insulted! “I will give him a reward when I go to office on Monday” ….. “A reward?? And why is that???” …. “It is simple – he just reminded me of the basic discipline that I shouldn’t have missed in the first place. He just did his job and he was so polite.” ….. she was quiet during rest of journey.

My disappointment quickly turned into satisfaction as I saw a beautiful opportunity. We always keep debating about some of the school rules , which do not make sense according to her (and must say I agree a few times!). Some rules are made to run scalable establishments and can’t really be debated every day. Of course there are ways and forums to register your views and bring in changes. Our views do not give us rights to break the rules. Neither does your position in the establishment give you any rights to break the rules.

I think what I attempted doing (driving past the gate without an I-card at 9 o’clock in the night) was sheer arrogance. Though my ego was hurt initially when I was made to go back, it was a great lesson in discipline for my daughter. God bless that fellow on the duty to help me with a lesson in discipline for my daughter and of course me also!!

The reward I wanted to pay him was just the consulting fee for a great lesson!!!!!

Childish by choice

I was getting ready to take the delivery of my new vehicle and was quite excited since morning. This excitement is something which has stayed with me over the years – the reasons have changed. Early in the childhood, when there was only one channel called Doordarshan and watching a movie was an event itself, I used to be excited for a couple of days whenever movie tickets were booked! Whenever I buy a vehicle today, I feel the same excitement – the world suddenly looks like a better place and I relish every moment of the build-up! I end up calling dozen of friends and do a count-down!

Sometimes my friends have criticized me for being little childish and have advised me to grow up. But I refuse to grow up ….. If I see any new car, I hover around it, peep inside and if the driver is close-by, I conduct a short interview. By the way it need not be a new vehicle for me to get excited - sometimes while traveling by the road, weather is beautiful and I just feel like driving ….. this has occasionally led me to request the cab driver to allow me to drive on Mumbai-Pune expressway!

I grew up in a simple middle class background and the kids of my generation were brought up in the overall environment of scarcity and lack of choices. This also taught us to enjoy each new event / acquisition in our life. I admit that I am a bit crazy about the cars but I guess it is an event worth celebrating. In our family, my brother and I make it a point that the delivery of every new vehicle is taken by our parents. It is great to see the pride and joy they feel and the whole event becomes a sort of a festival. It is the moment that all of us relish exactly the way we did when we bought our first car in the family.

It is not only about cars by the way …… cause of celebration could be favorite cuisine, child’s success in class test, the first bud on new sapling, a good movie …. We as a family almost celebrate anything ….. we are always on search for that little achievement that can get lost in the daily grind of life and create some event out of it!

I sincerely feel that people let the precious moments pass by. The moments are precious not because of the value of what you buy or magnitude of your achievement. But the moments are precious in terms of what those moments mean to your parents, to your family ….. Do we let go these moments just to underline a point that we have taken the success easily in our stride and to prove that it is no big deal …. Or do we really stop feeling happiness with intensity that we felt during the childhood? The latter is scarier as far as I am concerned. There is only one risk in celebrating every small event in life – you can be tagged as childish. To me it is the risk worth taking as celebrations rejuvenate the otherwise mundane life. There is a choice I have consciously made long back – To stay childish by choice!!!.....

Politically incorrect and popular

My mother was hospitalised for three months. It was a testing time not only for her but for all of us. During this period apart from her treatment, it was essential for all of us to keep a positive attitude. Biggest challenge was for her as she was the one who was in the hospital! During this period she became very popular with the hospital staff. The reason was very simple - lying on the bed she used to prescribe medicines to the staff left right and centre. This was also accompanied with counselling services of all types. "Aaji" (word for grand mother in Marathi) had become very popular while we were little worried about her enthusiasm in practicing medicine lying on the hospital bed.....

One day as her sodium levels dipped, the doctors decided to shift her to the ICU from the recovery centre. While the preparations were on , one of the maid servants came in - unaware of Aaji's medical condition. "Aaji what is the remedy you had told me for the cracks on my feet" - My mother stopped the process of her transfer on stretcher and explained the remedy. The young lady doctor finally chased away the maid servant and patiently explained my mother that she can continue her practice after she returns from ICU! Not very happy with the interruption my mother scolded the young doctor who seemed to strangely enjoy the scolding....... Honestly little embarrassing me!

On the other occasion I had taken her for some sonography tests. The lady doctor there seemed to be in the 9th month of her pregnancy. Intuitively I was nervous as counselling pregnant ladies happens to be my mother's super-specialisation. "why are you working near these machines?" I lacked the courage to continue in the room and disappeared leaving her to be looked after by the attendant and my helpless elder sister! Later on my sister told me that the lady doctor seem to actually listen to some of the counselling tips carefully!!

...... My mother seems to have an uncanny knack of asking anything to anyone. Anybody below sixty years age is considered young enough for her. We have tried talking her out of it a few times explainig the modern day concepts of personal space and privacy. So far we have failed spectacularly in all our attempts. Strangely enough people seem to enjoy the liberties she takes with them!

....I have never understood this phenomenon quite clearly but I feel that people perhaps respond to the purity of her intent. She has gone through a very hard life like many from her generation but those hardships have not created any cynicism in her. During her active life she was a teacher and I remember that she never differentiated between us and her students. She was an extremely tough teacher. Her specialisation was to take under her wings - students who would fail in at least a couple of subjects and ensure that they pass their exams with flying colours. May be this is the reason why even today many of her students touch her feet whenever they meet her. There was no parent counselling in her teaching style as she would herself double up as parent to her students rather than 'escalating' anything to the parents.

...... Over the years I have marvelled at her ability to be consistently politically incorrect but still very popular

Grooming a Professional

During one of my overseas trips, I was reviewing a project at the customer location in South Africa. We had just sent one of our techies – Satheesh, to work there. “So how is Satheesh settling down?” I asked – Mahesh – the program manager, burst into laughter. “What happened?” I asked. Mahesh was one of our veterans and someone with great temperament with people. “Well, nothing serious but I stopped Satheesh from eating other people’s breakfast since yesterday. I guess he was feasting on someone’s personal breakfast”. “WHAT?” I almost screamed. “Well, actually it was little misunderstanding. This is the first time Satheesh has travelled onsite. Since his arrival he was generally impressed with the office and pantry in particular. He did not realize that while tea, coffee and cookies are there for general consumption, items kept in the refrigerator by people are for their specific consumption. After spending 3 days in this office, yesterday he came and asked me about why have they stopped keeping muffins for the breakfast. I was initially confused but then realized that our friend was happily eating someone’s breakfast kept in the refrigerator! Poor fellow was extremely embarrassed when he realized his mistake!” “My god, what do we do now?” “Nothing really. Satheesh is a great guy technically and as I see it, he will settle down personally as well.” I trusted Mahesh and moved on ….. though little worried….
……. Days passed by and I visited South Africa six months down later. While visiting the same customer site mentioned above, I had a review with Program Manager from customer’s side and Mahesh. The customer singled out Satheesh in his praise and requested us not to move him away from the project for any reason. Instinctively I glanced at Mahesh who winked at me!

This incident took me back to my joining time in the industry. Back then the international exposure for IT professionals was still new. I had attended a personal grooming program. It was really an elaborate program with all details including table manners and personal grooming in terms of wardrobe etc. I still remember the distinct feeling that we all had at the end of the program – if we decided to implement our newly acquired knowledge, we would worry more about our cutlery and perhaps throw away half our wardrobe! While we laughed at it, it did leave some feeling of inadequacy with us. All of us had come from simple middle-class background and our careers were built more on our knowledge and the ability to slog than any blue-blooded pedigree! As we went along, we learnt through our exposures and some great mentors who focused on our basic strengths than our lack of grooming!

When I look at the Indian IT industry, Satheesh perhaps represents the common Indian IT techie travelling abroad for the first time and is a subject of humor – some true, some imaginary. Thankfully it is also made up of many souls like Mahesh who focus on basic skills of the people like Satheesh than grooming them on some standards! A big thank you to unsung heroes like Mahesh who quietly groomed the Indian IT Industry into a force to reckon with!

Capturing Wisdom

Once I was visiting data center of one of the oldest electricity providers and the bill-printing mechanism was more like a huge press printing some newspaper. I bumped in to a maintenance engineer whose job was to monitor the bulk printing of electricity bills. He was quietly sitting in a corner reading some paperback, when I met him. “So, what exactly are you supposed to do here?” I asked the question once he warmed up over a cup of tea. “I have to just ensure that this printing machine is working all the time”. “Oh, so do you have to stand next to the printer most of the time?” I asked it more as a doubt about his diligence than a query. He was sharp enough to get my drift and quipped, “No, I sit there and generally read something”. “Then how do you know that it is working fine?” He smiled, “Its very simple. I have figured it out over last year, that as long as I hear a peculiar sound from the printer every third minute, all is well”. Out of curiosity, I checked his record with the data center manager and I was told that this fellow was one of the most efficient engineers and his response time to the problem is great!

This reminded me of an incident narrated by a newlywed girl who was doing an apprenticeship under her mother-in-law. The old lady was narrating the recipe of one of her signature items. One of the steps puzzled our young lady. When the young lady asked, “How much time do you heat the contents at this stage?” the old lady simply said, “Well I put the vessel on the stove and go for my bath. I take it down as soon as I come back” This method of time-measurement stumped the young lady!!

If you look around the workplace, you will find quite a few cases where you get stumped by the experts. Over the years, they have devised their own mechanism of achieving results. It is not the stuff strictly written in any manuals but figured out over a period of time. Even if the experts are not secretive about the process they follow, it is extremely difficult to understand the correlation between the process and the results. When a new person tries to take over the process he finds it extremely difficult to follow some of these processes without feeling stupid. Just add the insecurity of the expert to the whole situation and the plot thickens! I have worked in the Outsourcing industry for about two decades now. When I think of all those brilliant professionals, who have made the Indian outsourcing industry work, I wonder - how do they capture the knowledge transition in terms of sound to hear on a cranky old printer or how much time one should take for a bath! My heart goes out for all those gallant IT professionals who not only transition the processes from the experts but also take them to offshore! My dear fellows - take a bow!

Wake up (from) Sid!

Siddharth – or Sid as he is liked to be called now-a-days is the first baby of our family (I know he will hate this description but can’t help!) – He is my elder sister’s elder son who is about to complete his engineering degree. Last month I traveled to Bangalore for some work. Coincidently, Sid was doing his internship with one of the leading multinational IT companies based in Bangalore. As I had some time on hand, I decided to catch up with him for lunch. I must admit that I always have to remind myself that Sid is now a grown up young man and I have to treat him that way….

“So how is your project going on Sid?” “Cool!” – this is one word, I guess, I will never fully comprehend. Sensing my confusion he was kind enough to offer a few more words “Well, they can actually give me a pre-placement offer based on my work which could be anyway between 6 – 9 lacs”. “Wow! That’s nice” I really felt proud “But at least I know that I do not want to do a career in IT Services Company”. That was interesting …. Having grown in the IT industry for almost my entire professional life, I was curious. Well, though I am distinctly aware that it is no longer the ONLY sought of industry, as it used to be some years back, I still wanted to know his thought process.

“You know, I would like to work on some product where I get some feedback from end-users. It really does not matter what products I work on. For example, right now I have developed an Application with my developer license and I have about 800 downloads in first few days. Some of them have criticized it – but I am kind of enjoying it. I see lot of people around me in the company who wait for week-end for their enjoyment and talk about work-life balance. I want to work in a way where I enjoy my work and not wait for week-end to live my life” …. I was listening almost in awe and almost felt jealous of the clarity he had at the age of 20. “So, what are the plans Sid?” “Well, I need to figure out the right course for post-graduation that will give me some chance for research. Till I get that I will perhaps work in industry for a year or so rather than sitting idle. I don’t mind working in a small boutique firm which employs people to develop some Apps”

Generally, with my HR profession I break into career counseling mode very easily but I could see that he needed no such help. There was not a hint of any anxiety about the campus placement or the “multinational brand” to work with. His ideas were clear and more importantly he was rational in his thinking than being just dreaming about it.

Lot is talked about the changes that will affect the future of the work. If one has to go by the young man in front of me, I guess the younger lot will be more and more aware about their needs rather than anxious to prove their worth to the world ….. With the world getting connected with technology, individuals with ideas will be comfortable working as collaborative force rather than cog in the wheel of some bureaucratic system …. The way we engage with each other at work place could change dramatically …. The focus will no longer be on the lowest layer of Maslow’s Hierarchy – the physical needs defined by ‘assignment abroad’, ‘campus salary’ ….. May be the younger lot will be more interested in living life on their own terms …. If we don’t align our management structures or practices to accommodate these changes, we will be irrelevant!

It was a sort of wake-up call from Sid! I almost resisted asking him “What do you think I should be doing?” ………