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!
