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!