Confidence? Jus'what the heck is it?





THE INGREDIENTS IN THE CAULDRON

Now lets go in for a brief recap! How do we get anything and here by "anything" I mean "anything". If you want to eat then you are feeling hungry. so there is an input-the food and the result-you no longer want to eat. For every change desired in the state of an idea, principle or an object-you require inputs. For sales of engineering capital equipment, then some inputs are required. So, what are these?..



....They are four

1. CONFIDENCE: (I can almost hear the anticlimax)
2. INFORMATION
3. A SMILE & A THICK SKIN
4. A NON VIOLENT MR. HYDE ALTER EGO, with a toggle switch handy.

So, Think about that and I'll come back next time quickly-hopefully!
It's now goodnight or good 'whatever"-depends on where you are from

Bilbo
NB: You may have taken the ball into the opponent's penalty area and shot wild 10 times. Maybe, you have hit the crossbar 5 times. But, what counts is the goal!....that's a good piece of USKM (useful shit to keep in your mind), if you are in my profession. Remember Murphy's law ! It comes true every time.







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Selling High Value Engineering Capital Equipment.

Hi Friends, Its me again. Sorry for the long long absence but battling it out with ogres and trolls do consume time.
Before-we start on the topic which earns me my daily bread, I want to share with you something which nags me. Now, all books on sales, stress relief and time-management focus on being organized. Chapters are devoted to how to clean your table and how to file your papers. But, possession of an  organized mind-a mental progress map is far more important.
Every composition should have an organized approach, so that it can best serve society in the way it is meant to. So, I will in my next post elaborate on why high value capital equipment is important to me! Till then its
                                                    Ciao!
                                                    Bilbo

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

Now dear friends, who have been patiently plodding along  this road with me (if any that is) , we have to part ways here.    

For my way lies in the direction of sales & marketing of high value capital engineering equipment. While, I think that the basis tenets that will come from my keyboard in the future will not be different... "it is not for me to reason why-but just to do and die!" ..with apologies to the author of " Charge of the Light Brigade"...frankly, it is you who should take this decision...not me! For I am not competent enough.

So take the decision and we will set off in our fork, in my next post.

Bilbo       

Why Dale's Common Sense is " Not Common" in India

                        I had read the Carnegie classic ( and it is a classic) a decade and a half back but the best illustration of my point is a story narrated in the book. ( Due to many years, the story may not be 100% accurate and my apologies).
A Motor salesman visits a customer who is dissatisfied because the supplied motors are running hot. After some Q-A sessions, it comes out that the operator cannot place his hand on the motor comfortably. At this point, our salesman says bingo! but that's the point cos the motors are supposed to run at 60 deg F and at this temperature, human skin of the operator will have a natural aversion to the motor's body heat. So everyone is happy and our salesman comes out with applause and the confidence that the next motor order is in his pocket.
Now let's imagine the same thing in India. The salesman will be told ( first after some bullying by the guard) that the Purchase Manager is in a meeting. He goes away and next time comes with an appointment. The Purchase Manager meets him and expresses his disappointment with the salesman's motors. They run hot and are expensive!! The salesman wants to go to the shop but the operator is not in. Next day, he meets the operator who just says that his motors are hot. The salesman gives the 60 deg F logic but the operator says no. He has other motors where he can place his hands and he has been running motors for 30 yrs, so...! The salesman slinks out of the factory with his tail between his legs and goes back to his office to lick his wounds.

Does that sound familiar! so, what should the salesman do to receive the applause that Dale's salesman gets??

I'll explain in my next post but why don't you try to think about it yourself and post it here as a comment?
Bye for now... Bilbo

Reader Comments:

Just What Is Culture Shock?

I'm bad at definitions but I'll try anyway.Culture Shock is applying well proven rules to situations in life, without making allowances for differences in thinking where the rules have been tested and where they are or will be applied. That's it lol simple isn't it? I'll tell you a real life story where directors and VP's made this very silly mistake and this is first HAND.....
I used to sell eqpt for a company, a multinational giant where I came across an my overseas colleague-an American.A product which was in high demand was marketed aggressively by yours truly and we had a no of enquiries. Customers were asking me why we were not quoting. This product was made in the US, Texas and the man in charge was very cooperative for the first 3 or 4 months.Then he stopped co-operating all together. Now, in the US-people close deals fast but in India the land of the ubiquitous Jains, Agarwals, Baids etc take forever to make a decision. As one unit was priced around Rs 1 crore, they took even more time. But my US colleague naturally thought that we are making HIS LIFE MISERABLE BY ASKING FOR BIG QUOTES AND THEN JUST SLEEPING. You can't blame him either....

The end result was that the management stopped the marketing in India of what could have been our most successful project. This is what is CULTURE SHOCK . If only our country head had told the American the true picture then this would not have occurred. But the Indian sales head did not as he thought it was pretty obvious. Well..it was obvious for me and him, but not the American...

CULTURE SHOCK

The Man Who Started It All -----DALE CARNEGIE

The seeds of Culture Shock were first sown a few years after DC published his famous book" How To Win Friends & Influence People". (Just for a laugh friends, you should read Lennie Bruce's autobiography " How to make enemies..").

More about Dale and his book, later-on, folks
Its bye from
Bilbo

THE " SUPERsalesMAN " SELF HELP BOOK

All those of you (if any) who are following this blog may now think "hey!..
wait-a-minute-if sellin' is so simple and can bring me so much money, then
what's the big deal?" Yes! ABSOLUTELY true. What's the big deal coz self
help books are there! And they must have some value otherwise why would people buy them! Some of these books DO help, maybe not in 60 or 90 minutes and specially if they are written in an entertaining style. (By entertaining style, I do not mean the Zok & Wok caveman language that some modern management gurus have now started writing in. I saw a book the other day featuring Zok & Wok on MS Powerpoint. Now if that's not an example of a book written far ahead of its time, i'll eat this blog).

But to really utilize a self-help sales book, you have to make certain corrections otherwise in place of earning a six figure salary towards the end of the book, you may be desperate enough to write blog content. So-what is this correction? is it viscosity, temperature? No? then what about Quantum radioactive rays? No-well then you tell me!!...
For a sales guide book to really help you to learn the basics, you've got to compensate for CULTURE SHOCK!!... Got it..?
Anyway-bye for now!
More on that nasty gollum "CULTURE SHOCK" in my next post.

Sales As A Profession

We, indians, tend to underate salesman. Even today, people think that the word "salesman" is deragatory.

Selling is therefore deprived of its proper position of io the best profession. If you have a scenario where
* you constantly interact with other people.
* you devise your own way of fulfilling your responsibilities.
* Creative thinking is encouraged.
* The more the hours you work, the more is the monetary benefits you earn.
Then what will your reaction be? Will you opt for the hypothetical scenario or will you run away from it ?
In my case, I'll opt for choice 1 and make a Profession in Sales. Only in a sales job, do all of these come together. But you will be wondering what about targets, appraisals etc and the constant pressure. If you ARE thinking that, then it is because of faulty selling strategies in your organization or/and  lack of proper sales planning.

All things being equal, it is my firm belief that "Sales" is the best profession that a person can be in. If done right, the amount of satisfaction in sales is unparalled. Plus you earn money too as incentives at the same time.
What can be better then that? So, let me repeat this again that 'THE BEST PROFESSION FOR ALL PROFESSIONALS IS SALES AND ITS PARENT MARKETING'.

Watch this space for posts on marketing .

WHAT IS SELLING?

   WHAT IS SELLING?


Selling is perhaps one of the oldest professions or means of livelihood there is.
Without selling, you would not have been reading this post now and nor would I have been here. Selling or 'sales'noun has been instrumental in the growth of civilization.




If you want a definition, then selling is the art by which you trade something of value to you by an 'equivalent' item value-wise. Or sales is the science and art whereby you transfer your item/s ownership to your already identified market in exchange for currency or kind. It is the ultimate end in a manufacturing cycle which starts from raw material purchase for FMCG goods. Selling can be of anything-it can be a solid object, an idea, consultancy services, expertise etc. If you can recall Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) was a salesman of advertising space, in the flick "Kramer vs. Kramer".