Sitting through a sales call is never an easy task , It makes people sweat even in AC rooms lets see what can be a logical sequence of talking your way
through to a sales call
1) Formal greeting : Start your call with a formal greeting , just saying a casual "Hi" , "Hello" is definitely not a good idea , something on the line of
"Good morning sir, I am Saurabh Shukla from SPJIMR" is always safe
2) Introducing yourself, team members & Company : First of all introduce your self and any acquaintance of you have, give a moment to your prospect so that he can get your names and designations. Having introduced people present in the meeting room , give a brief introduction about your company . You may be from one of the largest organization on earth but please keep introduction of your organization very crisp , a small background , some of the recent & significant achievments and some work on the line of business of your client. This much should be enough .
3) Don't be too desperate : Now we definitely understand that you are on a mission and for you the conference room is a war front where you have to come out as a winner but remember the ice has not broken after introduction. There are always so much environmental factors in business scenario to discuss. May be you can discuss something about the clients business ( ofcourse how good it is doing).
4) State the purpose ( Not giving away everything): State the purpose of your meeting , this will depend whether you have had some communication with the client already, if you can state the purpose in terms of gain to client that will be really great.
5)Now listen: Having said so much how about giving the person on the other side give a chance to speak and when he speaks you better be listening
6) Understand the requirment: Every organization has some core competency of flagship product but customer is least interested in what all you can provide, his interest lies in solving the problem in hand so you better understand his requirment well and talk in terms of a solution which fits customer well ( rather then pushing your products).
7) Involve : In a meeting where more then one person is present from customers side , please make sure that both are involved in the discussion. That will not only lead to better discussion but also help you in getting more information and expectation.
8) Take next appointment : I am sure you never thought the dealwould be over in one call , so make sure you have an appointment for the next time before you leave the room. Also list down any deliverables which are being discussed.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Doing ordinary in EXTraordinary way
"There are no superstars in Wal*Mart we are an organization of ordinary people , overachieving"
David Glass, CEO, Wal*mart
Recently I was watching a story on discovery about kuchipudi dance, the performer who dresses like demon need to have red eyes and continuously blinks them during the performance. This is something which can be achieved by makeup and conscious effort (blinking eyes) but the performers have an extra ordinary way to perform it , they put a small mustard seed inside both eyes for entire performance , this seed is painful enough to turn eyes
into dark red ( and of course continuos pain does causes blinking). What an extraordinary way to achieve an ordinary goal.
One small story comes from BestBuy, It was expanding big time in 90's to the extent that same day it had opennings of many stores. One day it had openning of a store in Chicago and just few hours before stripes were painted in parking area , there was no way they can be dried by the time of openning . But if there is no way then make one by yourself, BestBuy store team got a helicopter flying few feet up from ground , just to dry the paint in parking area !!! and ofcourse it worked extraordinarily well!
Same is true specially for knowledge workers . Imagine today knowledge economy is run by millions of people , can every one get a chance to have something very challenging or work on simply outstanding extraordinary projects, I guess no ( plus every one does not have calibre to perform extra ordinary tasks).Above that ordinary works are also
need to be carried out for running the show. These ordinary works can be carried out very simply in a routine way but at the same time their is huge opportunity to go to that extra step which will create the difference.
When we took over a large project from European bank for managing their middleware infrastructure services , there were 12 servers to be managed. Every day by 10 AM we will get mail alerts from all 12 servers , each mail need to be openned and checked for any error before our taking lover all of the senior executives used to open all the mails and verify status by themselves . Our team decided that one person on shift would check all the mails
and club all the status in one other mail having subject " MMS Server Status" , effectively this meant now checking only one mail for every one else.
All senior executives now waited for this status mail which gave them snapshot . One day my senior was on the shift , after 3 months with the system he must have realised these are production servers and it is very rare that something goes wrong with them , most of the time they will be ok so from that day he changed the subject line of the mail " MMS Server Status - All OK " , so whenever every thing was OK a mail with this subject used to come and bingo , just looking at the subject line everyone knew they need not bother to open the mail for today's status , its going to be a sunny day ahead with lesser critical issues. I was in a meeting with client manager when he got this mail for the first time on his black berry and he shouted with
sheer joy , showing me he asked why didn't we think this before. While he couldn't stop grinning on this idea , I was also asking the same question to me what a brilliant way to perform a simple task. Someone not only identified the criticalness of the system but also identified the level of ease which can be provided to business users , what an extraordinary way to do a very ordinary task.
Many of Such small operational innovations gradually take their place in industry best practices and standard operating procedures , improving the entire chain of activities.
All one has to do is remember few things while at work
No task is small task.
Drill down deep on whatever you do.
Never stop improving and innovating.
David Glass, CEO, Wal*mart
Recently I was watching a story on discovery about kuchipudi dance, the performer who dresses like demon need to have red eyes and continuously blinks them during the performance. This is something which can be achieved by makeup and conscious effort (blinking eyes) but the performers have an extra ordinary way to perform it , they put a small mustard seed inside both eyes for entire performance , this seed is painful enough to turn eyes
into dark red ( and of course continuos pain does causes blinking). What an extraordinary way to achieve an ordinary goal.
One small story comes from BestBuy, It was expanding big time in 90's to the extent that same day it had opennings of many stores. One day it had openning of a store in Chicago and just few hours before stripes were painted in parking area , there was no way they can be dried by the time of openning . But if there is no way then make one by yourself, BestBuy store team got a helicopter flying few feet up from ground , just to dry the paint in parking area !!! and ofcourse it worked extraordinarily well!
Same is true specially for knowledge workers . Imagine today knowledge economy is run by millions of people , can every one get a chance to have something very challenging or work on simply outstanding extraordinary projects, I guess no ( plus every one does not have calibre to perform extra ordinary tasks).Above that ordinary works are also
need to be carried out for running the show. These ordinary works can be carried out very simply in a routine way but at the same time their is huge opportunity to go to that extra step which will create the difference.
When we took over a large project from European bank for managing their middleware infrastructure services , there were 12 servers to be managed. Every day by 10 AM we will get mail alerts from all 12 servers , each mail need to be openned and checked for any error before our taking lover all of the senior executives used to open all the mails and verify status by themselves . Our team decided that one person on shift would check all the mails
and club all the status in one other mail having subject " MMS Server Status" , effectively this meant now checking only one mail for every one else.
All senior executives now waited for this status mail which gave them snapshot . One day my senior was on the shift , after 3 months with the system he must have realised these are production servers and it is very rare that something goes wrong with them , most of the time they will be ok so from that day he changed the subject line of the mail " MMS Server Status - All OK " , so whenever every thing was OK a mail with this subject used to come and bingo , just looking at the subject line everyone knew they need not bother to open the mail for today's status , its going to be a sunny day ahead with lesser critical issues. I was in a meeting with client manager when he got this mail for the first time on his black berry and he shouted with
sheer joy , showing me he asked why didn't we think this before. While he couldn't stop grinning on this idea , I was also asking the same question to me what a brilliant way to perform a simple task. Someone not only identified the criticalness of the system but also identified the level of ease which can be provided to business users , what an extraordinary way to do a very ordinary task.
Many of Such small operational innovations gradually take their place in industry best practices and standard operating procedures , improving the entire chain of activities.
All one has to do is remember few things while at work
No task is small task.
Drill down deep on whatever you do.
Never stop improving and innovating.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
What Retail Quotes
Walmart and Target are the pioneer of the retailaing industry , both are so different in thier management and expansion styles yet very same when it comes to following business ethics and treating customer well. Both organizations show that it was the strong foundation pillars laid by founder members and then management by some of the best brains that took them to peak of Retailing and to the depth of consumer's heart
Sam Walton was a firm believer in the potential of small towns , because of his philosophy Walmart served small town customers very well and created a strong entry barrier for others.
Following statements shows the priority for Mr Walton was providing better services in the existing stores before expansions.
I always wanted to be the best retailer in the world but not necessary the biggetst : Sam Walton ( The walmart decade)
Sam's style was Management by walking around was the
I have always had soul of an operator, somebody who wants to make things work well , then better and then the best they possibly can : sam Walton
Stock it , price it right , Show the value , Take the money : Tom Coughlin , VP, COO Walmart ( Walmart decade)
Drapper put the foundation stone for target , he was initially into banking , mortgage and lending business where he always made sure to lend money to people who are strong in character , sending interests to investors much before time and doing business with complete integrity and honesty.
Buiness integrity is doing things as you agreed to do them. doing things when you agreed to do them. doing things you ought to do. George drapper dayton , Target ( from on Target).
Character is a matter of slower growth but the reward is certain : George Drapper
Target has always been particular in store decoration and putting stylish merchandising arrangements.
Capture the customers imagintion with array of goods and earn loyalty with generous merchandising policy : George Nelson
The concet of integrity and honesty in these houses is so strong that it keeps going on at the same pace with new management , always.
In retail there are lots of ways to be marginally crooked and we decided we weren't going to do that : Norman McMillan , VP, Strategic planning Target
Here is how target proposes building up talent for business
You want a good manager , put him under a good manager and let him run the business : Flyod Hall, Target CEO Retailing is detailing : On target
Sam Walton was a firm believer in the potential of small towns , because of his philosophy Walmart served small town customers very well and created a strong entry barrier for others.
Following statements shows the priority for Mr Walton was providing better services in the existing stores before expansions.
I always wanted to be the best retailer in the world but not necessary the biggetst : Sam Walton ( The walmart decade)
Sam's style was Management by walking around was the
I have always had soul of an operator, somebody who wants to make things work well , then better and then the best they possibly can : sam Walton
Stock it , price it right , Show the value , Take the money : Tom Coughlin , VP, COO Walmart ( Walmart decade)
Drapper put the foundation stone for target , he was initially into banking , mortgage and lending business where he always made sure to lend money to people who are strong in character , sending interests to investors much before time and doing business with complete integrity and honesty.
Buiness integrity is doing things as you agreed to do them. doing things when you agreed to do them. doing things you ought to do. George drapper dayton , Target ( from on Target).
Character is a matter of slower growth but the reward is certain : George Drapper
Target has always been particular in store decoration and putting stylish merchandising arrangements.
Capture the customers imagintion with array of goods and earn loyalty with generous merchandising policy : George Nelson
The concet of integrity and honesty in these houses is so strong that it keeps going on at the same pace with new management , always.
In retail there are lots of ways to be marginally crooked and we decided we weren't going to do that : Norman McMillan , VP, Strategic planning Target
Here is how target proposes building up talent for business
You want a good manager , put him under a good manager and let him run the business : Flyod Hall, Target CEO Retailing is detailing : On target
Similarly both corpoarte houses are extremely careful on customers services .
It does not matter whether customer is right or not what matters whethe she thinks she is right - Dayton , On Target
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Taking the Path to BPR
A company which has started couple of years back and growing at very fast pace would not need any business process re-engineering. The focus here will be entirely on growth , the volume handled by various processes should be farely low. So rather thn thinking about BPR such organization should directly adopt the best practices available in the industry since very beginning.
In other case BPR is very relevant for an organization which has been functioning for a decade , it has a matured stable growth rate, data handled by processes are of reasonable volume and outer business environment has changed significantly to advocate and support BPR. Many times processes for older organizations are not updated regularly which means after significant time these processes will be very good candidate for re-engineering as they would have various redundancies and the technology to support them would have enhanced multifold.
1) Have processes codified : Every organization does have a standard operating procedure for the entire range of processes carried out , these SOPs are formed at the very early stages of organization and supposed to be updated frequently but their are two main problems 1) People find out thier own way of doing things by passing the standard procedures given to them , this is true specially in cases where lateral hiring happens.
A person coming from different organization will be comfortable in doing the same work in different way , he may have used altogether a different technology so he will be building his own way of executing tasks which can be contagious after some time and spread across the team.
2) SOPs are not updated periodically : With time various changes happen in oraganization structure , technologies used and the way business is performed but all of these updates don't go to SOP as frequently as they should be going , so after some time SOP itself becomes obsolete.
So it is manadtory to know " As Is" Process for the organization and document them for refernce and benchmarking during BPR.
3) Management Support: Head of only one department or any manager alone will never be able to complete BPR ,there are many people & management
issues then we can ever imagine. Departments don't want to share thier data and decision making factors , people think it is yet another way to waste
time , People do not see any value add in contributing to this process , the information given may be a top level view and the list goes on.
This all can be eliminated if and only if we have a buy out from top management so that smooth communication can happen across all the departments
and they are forced to cooperate.
4) Conduct POC: The best way to get buy in from departments and management is to pick up a much smaller function in any of the department and conduct POC of BPR . If this POC could successfully bring some of the pain points showing the scope of improvement which can be braught in the processes then your task will be much easier
Thursday, October 23, 2008
An opportunity lost:
Recent Global turmoil seen more then half of top financial institutions falling down , they either filed for bankrupcy or sold themselves at a price which was half or third of thier valuations few months back. These financial organizations were center for best talent across the world , global banks and HNIs used to swear on thier name and expertise . Totally unmatchable human intellect and growth potential. It was a bargain time on streets when some of the best money makers were on the sale . Several banks like BOFA , CITI utilise this opportunity to the fullest by acquiring these organizations completly or in partial units.For Asia which is still thanking its stars for not getting into this mess , it was an opportunity lost. There are very few institutions in the history of Asia which have raised to the level of these western Investment banks . This time they had an opportunity to simply grab what has already been created at a price which is almost unbelievable but none of Asian oganizations were prepared for such opportunity. The only bank from Asia to venture into it is Japanese Namura which acquired Lehman brothers assets in middle east.Indian banks which were still in much better condition but financially as their exposure to subprime crisis was almost non existent , Couldn't leverage on these opportunities. This was a golden chance which comes almost in a dacade , one timely decision could have set any moderate financial organization to the top of the world. Quality assets and worldclass talent could have been acquired at very low cost and also retained for long time at very competitive operating expenses.
Anyways now most of it has already gone to kitty of US banks ( Yet again ) but still there are chances to learn a lot from this and grab some of the best talent in respective fields.
Anyways now most of it has already gone to kitty of US banks ( Yet again ) but still there are chances to learn a lot from this and grab some of the best talent in respective fields.
Monday, September 29, 2008
New Temples of Consumerism
Although it has been said again and again that only 3 % of retail in India is organizaed whereas rest is highly unorganized mom n pop store format but when I travel from Andheri to Mindspace , I feel exactly opposite . To name just a few mega malls which cross my way in are Fame Adlab , In orbit , Infinity , Megamall , Hypercity , Shoppers stop , Evershine , Shubhichha and what not ( My batchmate Ganesh informed me that currently 7.5% of retail market in India is organized and it is expected to go upto 20% by 2010, So it has increased for sure). half of these are located in very close vicinity to each other. A grand addition to the list is newly opened Star bazaar where you get every thing of daily need , probably the model was to repeat wallmart's mantra of big volume in low price , so most of SKUs are packed in relatively bigger chunks, I will not say the discounts are as bigger as smaller stores will offer .
One of the other innovation of Indian retail is having food joints within these stores , Big bazaar , shoppers stop already had it , same is done by Marks and spencer as well as star bazaar . These food joints are growing bigger day by day adding almost everything from Veg biryani to street food in thier menu. They do fetch some additional revenue speciall if people are coming just to do some window shopping , gourmet food can still make them spend some extra bucks without feeling guilty.
The recent realization by retailers is simple , no matter what happens people will spend money on food , vegetables and daily grocery items . Now a very large portion of entire mat is devoted to it which include green vegetables , fruits and even grains !
The challenge in front of consumer remains selecting the best and cheapest option , all of the retailers making branded goods available to thier consumers which leave them with selecting best price and the difference is not small . I planned to purchase Noka Music express 5310 which is priced over 10K in hypercity , 9600 in Nokia Service stores and around 9300 in Spencers , isn't it amazing that one of the retail format is able to sell cheaper then original manufacturer.
Whatever the case is options are many , these modern temples of consumerism are definetly attracting many ( and mind you with family and freinds) and leaving no stone unturn to pull some money out of thier pocket . I call them temples because these are the places where people go when they want to shop and also when they don't want to , when they are happy and also when they are stressed , also an obvious rush in festive seasons . Overall outcome will be a push to econmoy , to inflation and to some numerical predictions ( which are most of the time any way baseless) .
So Are you contributing to countries economy?
One of the other innovation of Indian retail is having food joints within these stores , Big bazaar , shoppers stop already had it , same is done by Marks and spencer as well as star bazaar . These food joints are growing bigger day by day adding almost everything from Veg biryani to street food in thier menu. They do fetch some additional revenue speciall if people are coming just to do some window shopping , gourmet food can still make them spend some extra bucks without feeling guilty.
The recent realization by retailers is simple , no matter what happens people will spend money on food , vegetables and daily grocery items . Now a very large portion of entire mat is devoted to it which include green vegetables , fruits and even grains !
The challenge in front of consumer remains selecting the best and cheapest option , all of the retailers making branded goods available to thier consumers which leave them with selecting best price and the difference is not small . I planned to purchase Noka Music express 5310 which is priced over 10K in hypercity , 9600 in Nokia Service stores and around 9300 in Spencers , isn't it amazing that one of the retail format is able to sell cheaper then original manufacturer.
Whatever the case is options are many , these modern temples of consumerism are definetly attracting many ( and mind you with family and freinds) and leaving no stone unturn to pull some money out of thier pocket . I call them temples because these are the places where people go when they want to shop and also when they don't want to , when they are happy and also when they are stressed , also an obvious rush in festive seasons . Overall outcome will be a push to econmoy , to inflation and to some numerical predictions ( which are most of the time any way baseless) .
So Are you contributing to countries economy?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Bhagvada-Gita : Revisiting the message of doing ones Duty
Gita is my favourite topic since long time , not because I understand it but mostly because I am still trying to understand it . There are so many dimensions to it and mostly my conflict is with the core message of Gita " do your duty efficiently without being attached to or affected by the results" . I can not stop thinking how is it possible that one works out so many steps to reach to the ultimate end result and this message says it simply does not belong to you so don think about it There may be two reasons behind it .
1) Influence to the result by external factors : In childhood we confronted one science example many times " what happens when 1 kg of cotton and 1 kg of metal is dropped from the same hight , which will reach to the ground first" our innocent mind always tend to answer that lighter weight will reach on ground much later then heavier one which is scientifically not true if the experiment is done in vacuum . Thats the catch .... if the experiment is done in vacuum where there can not be an external factor but we live in real world where there are so many external factors always influencing each and every activity we do and hence all the end results. so if the same experiment is carried out in external environment then it will be impacted by gravity , air and some other environmental resistance which will keep lighter weight in the air for some extra time.
Same is true for our acts , there are so many factors to prevent the pure outcome of our activity , suppose I am preparing for an exam and I read all the course material but will my surrounding and environmental condition be the same as of my other friends ... I may have some personal issues , I may be not feeling well ... On the day of exam I may come across some un pleasant event and the list goes on . whereas some one else may get an excellent environmental support and score much better then what he intended to.
2) Looking at bigger picture : Another optimistic way of looking at this message of not giving too much attention to end result can be our precision for end result. Human is not accurate in predicting results and it is very much possible that what we predict is an understatement of what we can actually do or even we may miss out on some of the important side results and other cascading results.
To put it simply If a student sets a goal for himself to score first rank in school without knowing that his calibre is to achieve first rank in entire city or in entire nation...
Arjuna's unwillingness to do his duty as a warrior, because fighting involved destruction and killing but there are other outcomes to this which are more important , It will be victory of truth and justice , This will annihilate evil forces from earth and make life more beautiful for coming generations infact it will have cascading affect till generations to give learning and lessions . Arjuna fails to see the bigger picture here
3) To perform every act by putting best of our effort: second point directly leads us to this one , if rather then shackling ourselves with some expectation which could be an understatement for us we perform each and every step in the process by putting best of our effort , there are great chances that we achieve much more than what we would have set as benchmark.
This will also help us in stopping the differentiation between various tasks , we consider some are important and some are not and so we tend to neglect the tasks which are less important whereas theory of management says there has to be value addition in each step , if there is no value addition that means a redundant task and has to be eliminated.
These were just few of the many reasons which may have lead to this mysterious message of Gita . I believe this message is worth considering , last time I heard something similar from Tiger woods when he mentioned that in his game he does not concentrate on the scores rather he enjoys & concentrates on each and every step of the game which keeps him away from the nervous ness which players get in tournaments by looking at their and competitors scores ... thats another way to look at it and I wonder Woods know it even when he may have never read Gita !!
1) Influence to the result by external factors : In childhood we confronted one science example many times " what happens when 1 kg of cotton and 1 kg of metal is dropped from the same hight , which will reach to the ground first" our innocent mind always tend to answer that lighter weight will reach on ground much later then heavier one which is scientifically not true if the experiment is done in vacuum . Thats the catch .... if the experiment is done in vacuum where there can not be an external factor but we live in real world where there are so many external factors always influencing each and every activity we do and hence all the end results. so if the same experiment is carried out in external environment then it will be impacted by gravity , air and some other environmental resistance which will keep lighter weight in the air for some extra time.
Same is true for our acts , there are so many factors to prevent the pure outcome of our activity , suppose I am preparing for an exam and I read all the course material but will my surrounding and environmental condition be the same as of my other friends ... I may have some personal issues , I may be not feeling well ... On the day of exam I may come across some un pleasant event and the list goes on . whereas some one else may get an excellent environmental support and score much better then what he intended to.
2) Looking at bigger picture : Another optimistic way of looking at this message of not giving too much attention to end result can be our precision for end result. Human is not accurate in predicting results and it is very much possible that what we predict is an understatement of what we can actually do or even we may miss out on some of the important side results and other cascading results.
To put it simply If a student sets a goal for himself to score first rank in school without knowing that his calibre is to achieve first rank in entire city or in entire nation...
Arjuna's unwillingness to do his duty as a warrior, because fighting involved destruction and killing but there are other outcomes to this which are more important , It will be victory of truth and justice , This will annihilate evil forces from earth and make life more beautiful for coming generations infact it will have cascading affect till generations to give learning and lessions . Arjuna fails to see the bigger picture here
3) To perform every act by putting best of our effort: second point directly leads us to this one , if rather then shackling ourselves with some expectation which could be an understatement for us we perform each and every step in the process by putting best of our effort , there are great chances that we achieve much more than what we would have set as benchmark.
This will also help us in stopping the differentiation between various tasks , we consider some are important and some are not and so we tend to neglect the tasks which are less important whereas theory of management says there has to be value addition in each step , if there is no value addition that means a redundant task and has to be eliminated.
These were just few of the many reasons which may have lead to this mysterious message of Gita . I believe this message is worth considering , last time I heard something similar from Tiger woods when he mentioned that in his game he does not concentrate on the scores rather he enjoys & concentrates on each and every step of the game which keeps him away from the nervous ness which players get in tournaments by looking at their and competitors scores ... thats another way to look at it and I wonder Woods know it even when he may have never read Gita !!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)