A BREAK FOR INTROSPECTION

Hello Friends,

          I’m back from my sabbatical. Now, before going, I was having a tough time here finding sales subjects to write ABOUT. Perhaps, you guys are thinking that “Holy Shit! This guy’s flipped”, but it’s completely true. I’ve covered more or less most of the areas in selling capital equipment Sales, which deserve mention. I had no interesting points. Moreover, as you may appreciate, everything in this blog, is what I believe in, what has occurred or I believe can happen. I have never used the textbook approach to blogging. 

( that is , take a textbook and write about all the interesting words you come across, making it look like things you know or /and have experienced). So, I went in for an 

INTROSPECTION AND OBSERVATION session. 

         Post introspection, I find that there IS a problem but what about us introducing a not sales only but combined with Marketing and Business Management subjects. If that sounds funny to you, think about it this way. We were discussing selling Capital Equipment and /or Industrial Marketing. We will still be doing so but with the nuances of management science weavings into the fabric at random points. 

        So seat tight and put on your seatbelts. The show ain't over yet, not by a long way. 

Finally, on the International Women's day, join me in supporting women's empowerment, with this song of John Lennon entitled "Woman"

With lotsa love
Bilbo Hobbit

Sales & Marketing------Strategies( THE COLA WAR)

Dear Friends,

 I guess we discussed enough about Sales and Marketing last time. You should be able to say by now that the photo opposite is wrong, if the intention behind posting it was only for Sales &Marketing! Nah, I just got carried over as these guys really look cute in those superhero costumes.

The Error in the Picture
              The thing that is wrong with the photograph is that a couple of more of Marketing's sub-ordinates are not here. And one among them whom you just can't ignore, leaving sales aside,as he is really really indispensable. Monsieur "Strategy" is the one I refer to. 
In our profession,ladies and gentleman, costing is okay but she is no ogre. What is important is how and with what strategy, the approach is made. This is much more important  than the price in Selling of High-Value Equipment.

     In certain  Sales blogs,you often come across Lao's "The Art of War"but as I have said before, I prefer to read Clausewitz's book "On War"which reflects on history's famous wars to underscore the points in his book. Great rivalries today see the market leader take themselves up as the competition. The best defense is not to lack the courage to attack yourself says Clausewitz. If Coke had launched an own variant with a 'youth' target, Pepsi would have had no niche to operate.

[Karl Von Clausewitz was a 
General in the Prussian Army who wrote the  book in 1852 after retirement].

Clausewitz tells us at length about how the strengths of the enemy can often be converted to weaknesses.One of the best examples of this (says Ries and Trout)is how Pepsi Cola of New York socked one to Atlanta's Coca-Cola. In 1915,Coke was sold at a price of 10c for an unique capacity of its bottle which was 6 1/2 oz. Coke had no real competitors, which led to complacence.

MARKETING WITH SALES AND THE REST OF THE GANG

HOUSE OF CARDS

Hi Friends,

So-how are you and how's life been treating lately..Me? Its been a lousy few days.

As you must be knowing by now about my addiction with the net,I was on a high the other day when I saw a blog post. My eyes stuck to the title which said " Now shove this paper on sales face-Marketing". not those exact words, but I'm sure you get the drift. 

I stared at it open-mouthed in surprise and tried to know more about the author. But no information was available except for his name. Then it struck me that holy shit! this guy does not know the difference between sales and marketing as yet. Just think of a hypothetical situation where you are walking along with a werewolf expert in a deserted countryside. Suddenly a werewolf sees you both and gives chase, and your friend asks you " Who's that guy?" ..Eeeps!!! And you were counting on this dude to protect you!!! 
So, this post is gonna be about Marketing and Sales-the much misunderstood dynamic duo-so that the werewolf doesn't get you............

      The entire act of fulfilling a need of a section or few people by allowing them to purchase whatever it is they want is called marketing. Marketing is not one thing-it is a process where different activities come together and start from checking the need an entity has, devise way to fulfill that need, and sell it to the person who is wiling to pay the highest amount of revenue. We have our needs implanted biologically and later psychologically inside us since we are born. In the womb, all its needs were catered to automatically but after birth, the baby say feels odd and therefore bawls. It wants milk which he got every time he wanted it. So it now bawls and presto it gets it. This is the process of breast-milk marketing.  In subsequent posts, we are going to visit a man named Maslow, who will a important cog in this learning process.

We will learn about the need, how to fulfill it, how to position it, the importance of advertising, where to target it,how to give it, how to fix the costing etc. Look at the illustration above guys,  the cards here are the different functions, the card house is marketing. Some of the cards are more important like the one at the bottom-those are card (sale); card (need); card (costing). The cards above are slightly less important maybe. It all depends upon the application.

Rahul Bajaj and Bajaj Auto Ltd.

HOW TO ATTEND A TENDER OPENING (PUBLIC SECTOR)

AS YOU'RE ON THE WAY

I do not know about you guys but I find the journeying part of any process, the most monotonic. The beginning is well, a little hard but after you begins and before you end   is the period which you may find boring, but is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART in a tendering process.

In my sales career, I have had the experience of excellent beginnings neutralized by poor follow up. And it is here that temperament and the confidence is necessary. People will try to sledge you so that you lose your concentration. There are no ground rules here. Everything is below the belt. And it is here that experience pays.

Therefore, it follows that it is here, in this stage, that you will be subjected to ridicule & challenges and as in cricket, it is necessary to keep your head straight. Think of all those runs you have scored against better attacks (if you have not, imagine you would have...forget about real life, if you cannot even DREAM about winning, you are suffering from acute loser blues! My friend, perhaps you should consider a different career and I'm not trying to be funny).

I think that before we move on to another block, maybe we should have a recap. And here goes

Tender Openings: What a specialist does

1. Be present when the tender is being opened, if it is a press tender.Do not be late.

2. Try to make a rolling-your-eyes.."young kids really" expression to the bossman.

3. Don't antagonize anyone but stand up to get the information you are entitled to.

4. If the indentor is known to you, do be in a hurry to end the process, so that the other guys know the least.

5. Judge the competition and you have the idea about their bids.

6. Do not be the first person to leave the room but don't be a pest either so that they can push you out.

7. Give interesting technical answers should you get a chance.

8. Keep your ears in the customer's room. No, I don't mean use the extendable ears invented by Fred and George in "the order of the Phoenix" but think about it and it is possible.

ANECDOTE

One of the biggest dealers of KBL once tried his best to get me out of the race. He could not do anything at the lower level and went up and met the GM of the IOCL refinery. His attempt flopped and I got that order for 2 nos HSC pumps with drives and accessories, i.e. M+P landed that supply order. I don't need to mention the dealer's name as the biggest dealers in  Assam and one of the biggest in India. The same company M+P  later became a little inedible. but life is like that. Moreover, I was lucky that by the time I quit, I had acquired the rudimentary basics of  capital goods marketing. Today M+P market in NE has gone down and the conditions exist which are only a little better then when I was there. It's become the wild west all again

Finally, I forgot to tell you how to ask for an extension. Irrespective as to whether you are organized or not, you'll always find that you are unable to complete in time. Send over a fax or an e-mail asking for an extension because of blah blah( the best excuse always is to the tender justice). Remember, always ask two times what you want and you will  get it. There is a way to do everything and everything is best done in that way. You should either do it or learn how the other man does it, and then try it your way. Its the runs which matter, not how they come

I guess that does it for today.

See you next time. 

Take care and have an awesome day

Bilbo

(I put in the Beatles photo ‘cos there is a similarity...we are on the road too but specially because I am a fan)

Dear Sir or Madam, will ya read my blog

it took me days to write it, I just slogged.

Its got a number of ads like a flick

Please why don't ya just click....
..Starving Blog writer...
Starving Blog writer...........

COMMERCIAL TERMS & CONDITIONS

I have seen plenty of sales engineers who think their job is only technical. Is that really so? Definitely not. Say you are reading a detailed Notice Inviting Tender and you mark all clauses containing the words ‘debit’ or ‘credit’ with the remark ‘Accounts’, than you really are living in a fool’s paradise. Commercial terms are an indispensable part of any engineering parcel of any salesperson selling engineering equipment.

CAREFUL STUDY OF TERMS & CONDITIONS

If you ever want to rise up the ladder by your hard work alone and one day manage a team of juniors, you need to be familiar with Managerial Accounts,which is a different subject from financial accounts.

Managerial accounts are those figures and ratios, which your management will study. These are the figures by which the-powers-that-matter, if you head a regional office-the management and if you are the CEO-the stockholder's interests. These are the people you are ultimately responsible to, so ignore them at your own peril.

      What are these commercial terms and what happens if we do not know them..? If I do not know my commercial terms, then I have no business in meeting customers. Not convinced? OK, let us say you are in a electronic appliances store, and you want to buy a laptop,  having already decided the model. As you are satisfied technically, you figure  that you need to know the price. And then you see the price say 280$. You think its a little expensive but never mind, you like it. Then as you open your wallet and start to take out the plastic money, it strikes you that you have no information at all and unless you have some more information, you CAN'T buy it, meaning there's no SALE. Being more precise
"There is no SALE because of the lack of the basic commercial terms"

            But what information that I do not have? What are all these things which I do not know? I have no idea whether the prices are inclusive of taxes and duties. I don't know what other charges are applicable e.g. Packing & Forwarding, Excise Duty, State sale tax, any discounts applicable? I even don't know whether they will accept a cheque or a credit card, etc.( But surely, I can get to know all this information by just asking the staff. Yes, I can do that but selling the laptop is not the issue here. Say, you are at a remote site and you want to place an order fast for some equipment. You have got two quotes, but one has no mention of basic commercial terms.)
        This is the kind of trouble you land your customer in if you omit the commercial terms. Please note that in business lingo, the words’intentional’ and ‘nonintentional’ mean the same. Your forgetting may be a human error but if the  customer suffers a loss because of your messed up quotation, that will not help his career too

The basic Commercial Points that requires a mention are

      (A) Price basis which tells the customer that your prices are quoted ex factory or FOR(this    means Free on Road-it tells the customer that you will bear the transportation expenses) or whatever.

  B) Taxes & Duties: If these are included in the quoted price; what are the rates ; what taxes are being charged etc.

  C) Delivery: How much time will the delivery take. In the laptop case, it will be immediate off  shelf but for customized items, deliveries differ.

      

      D) Payment Terms : 100% against material or through bank or through LC (letter of Credit) or maybe you want a 30% advance payment along with the PO and balance against delivery. We will discuss about this later for delivery and payment are very crucial factors for selling capital equipment.

      E)  Transportation and Transit Insurance : 

      

      F) Validity: Your price is valid till when. Say the customer comes after 6 months, will your price remain the same. Therefore you mention a period 4 weeks, 12 weeks whatever period your prices will be the same and after that subject to renewal.

      These are the main commercial terms. A lot of others are there like P&F costs, warranty, service support, accessories etc. but these are the main. Without one of them your proposal will remain incomplete.

For International trading /selling , we have a set of commercial terms uniform all throughout the world and  which is acceptable and applicable to all nations. These are called INCOTERMS. Every year they are reviewed and revised, if necessary. The picture below will tell you about INCOTERMS .You do not have to be scared of INCOTERMS. They are certainly not rocket science.

That was quite a post.

This point was important however. Anyway, whatever-hope you like it.

Love and best wishes from

    ------------------------

(Someone from Bags-End)

SALES vs. REVENUE

SALES vs.REVENUE          ____________

Mirror, yes...  you!, Mirror on the wall

Among Sales and Revenue, who is more
 likely to  fall?

Well, good sales figures will make your mid-term report sleek,

But with no revenue, your future (at the year end) appears bleak. 

       And so would any self respecting magic  mirror have said had it been in such a position that it could answer questions. ( I am actually surprised that Rowling did not have any magic mirror in the entire Harry Potter series Yes, there were all moving photographs but then a mirror is a mirror. Wait a minute, there was one in the first right?.. that's enough of mirrors.
Let us go back to the subject).

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM

Therefore, we have the modest and suave 'Sales' on one side and the loutish and brutal “Revenue" on the other.” So who is more important? Sales surely because I have named this blog as " Salesgyaan". Well no friends, it is actually the reverse. Revenue is much much more important. Let me define what is revenue? Revenue is what the company earns from the customer against the supply of its services or products which has been done against the long and long purchase or work order (for capital equipment, purchase orders are usually long). You have the ROI (the Return of Investment)  ...You made a product for $60, suffered an expense on it of $10, paid another $10 to the government as tax and the balance $20 is the revenue or PAT (profit after tax). This is what  Revenue is. 

Now you are confused!! Wait a minute, you say. If this is revenue, then what is the sale? What is selling? If we had been talking about selling groceries or tools or F.M.C.G, then sales and revenue has only a small gap or none, say maximum 1 or 2 days. However, in capital equipment, the entire scenario changes. You are investing millions and you are getting back millions, so you just can't afford to be nonchalant and cavalier in your approach. Everything needs to be written down; the contract has to be signed, both parties agreeing to the points written. This paper or contract is your Sale. It is a contractual assurance that party X is going to buy ABCD from party Y for a value of $Q million dollars. And the process will be done in this way. A long list will then follow describing the breakup, which you had hammered out with your counterpart in the purchaser's company.

 Here, in the final stages you will see that people are going bang bang for 500$ when you are selling or buying million dollar products. Do not point these situations out as ridiculous  but accept them as compared to your sale value, its peanuts. That $500 can mar your case. You see everybody wishes to have played a role in decreasing expenses and what better role to play that to cut down the profits of the manufacturer who wants to make a buck doing fair business. Its a different matter that the Air Conditioners go on and on even in empty rooms, nobody switches off the fans before they quit..that's entirely different.(Never point out these things to the customer..i was only telling you as a fellow salesperson).

So, you have got your sales order or you have achieved your sale, can you now forget it? 

No you can't..May be your responsibility has decreased somewhat  but it is still there,.very much there..and it will be there till you get the revenue as per the steps outlined in the Purchase Order or Sales Contract.. We will tackle those steps in our next discussion. 

Before we finish, it seems that plenty of people are curious as to the word Gyaan and Salesgyaan. Well, Gyaan in Hindi means knowledge or wisdom. So-Salesgyaan means imparting knowledge of sales ( revenue too, hence) and 'the selling process' to those who want to avail of the facility, or wish to know of the same.

so  friends
auf Wiedersehen,
-------someone---------
from Bag's end

NB: Ever since the movie,my signing myself Bilbo has become too common. Though when i started, I had never even heard of the movie. Therefore, from now on., I'll sign 'someone from bag's end' till I can think of a more suitable name. (or maybe you can suggest one for me)

MIS And Feedback

....
Ha-ha. Does the pic seems funny to you?  It does to me. Now, if you are  thinking that ' the bastard is about to go in a long, sanctimonious lecture, again..Help :-) Lol!
 You need not be scared. I just want to tell you or "share with you" something about "Management Information Systems" and their role in Indian Companies.

Let us analyze what Mr. Boss is doing on top of the arrow. The conversation may be something like this.
Boss: Nope! I don't like it.Somehow alters the view ; aesthetic point of view. Not that I expect you bummers even to know what "Aesthetic" means.You people do not know what a good sales view is. Put me the...ere, instead.
Engineer #8: ( sotto voice) Does he mean that his bum is aesthetic, considering that's what we see almost all the time?
Engineer #7: ( sotto voice) Ha-ha; good one dude but keep your voice low

         A very important system in an organization which can result in an organization being buried  and failing woefully or rising up from the ashes, sphinx like, is MIS. What is MIS? MIS or management information system is the system available in your organization through which information flows, not gossip, not political diatribe but positive information. Business Information which does good for your company.

When the MNC's first arrived in India, we were optimistic that we were going to see some good management practices, after all. But nothing happened like that. The amalgamation of Indo-European Management thinking, literally made sales people account for every minute of your time. There is a particular MNC in Noida, where even branch managers have to fill out timing..Now, I believe that filling up a form where you are required to mention the waiting time too is absurd.( There is a journey time, a waiting time, a meeting time and a miscellaneous time)
There are plenty of reasons why this is absurd but my main bone of contention is that the minute someone is asked to do that, he or she ceases to be loyal soldiers of the commander-in-chief, if they comply.They instead become hear and doers, they become "yesman"-that creative spark inside them fizzles out and the challenge of capital equipment selling becomes a dodo.

        Well, a kangaroo lady I know and plenty of other departmental heads will not understand that. They'll say "  we are paying you big bucks man, this is the least you can do for us. They then proceed to tell you what to do and at the end of the year they ask what happened to you. Hey lady..back off. You want to place responsibility on me with you taking all the decisions? This is not acceptable at all. These lapses all the more important in capital equipment selling where there are few orders and less players. You gotta speak up for your rights.

         This is a tragedy. Today we have one of the best inventories for minds if not the best and look where we are going, in comparison to the Chinese-next door. Say you are Fernando Torres and the coach tells you that he must score a hat trick. A hat-trick has to be made irrespective of the side of the field where the goals are to be scored. So, Torres finds the going tough and ultimately score his hat-trick against his own team. 

Torres scoring for Chelsea against Sunderland while Juan Mata looks on.








     You must be in splits by now now...but these things do happen. Look around in your office, and you'll find the same happening day-in and day-out. Therefore, in selling capital equipment, let your team the freedom to think for themselves as per their capabilities. Take stock in weekly sales meetings. Gather all information and link it together to get information about new projects. Tell them what to do and why they should do it.

Do not tell them to do something without any explanations. For this indirectly tells him that you don't trust him. And lack of trust is one of the greatest demotivators -in the field of B2B direct selling of high value capital equipment. 
with love
friends
Bilbo.

See this : Arnie as Darth Vader

Hi Friends,

I just want to post this now. Recd it about 5 minutes back from Arnie

@ Scharwzeneggar..I can't believe this pal. Thanks ad infinitum

On Persuasion and "Win-Win" Arrangements

< meta name= 'keywords" content = capital equipment, sales, selling, persuation, persuasive selling, capital equipment selling>

When I started off in sales after spending about three years at site, the one advice people would give me was “ you have to be persuasive”..with the wisdom of a Zen-master .Accordingly, I thought to myself 'gotta be persuasive dude' and "Aal-eez-Well", but there was a spanner in the works,as usual. 

"What’s 'being persuasive'? How do you be persuasive?" were some questions which baffled dumb 'ol me.When I asked, the Zen-masters just smiled a-sort-of-Zen-master smile and uterred wisdom like “ find it out for yourself” or similar words to that effect. The advice-givers are never generous with definitions, as you may be aware. 

However, then I found out when once a person has made up his mind, it is difficult to get him to change his mind. I  was mainly getting my results with my personality, my ability to make friends, my lack of ego at my job hours ( but man I had an ego a mile long after office -I had to do a lot of struggling to realize ..or correction make my CPU realize that the world does not revolve around me-but that's another story).Finally, I decided that persuasion is what precedes aggresion, but I was not happy.

By then there were young people under me and I told them the same thing, crossing one more generation, without any definitions-of course. I had made up my mind by then that persuading is gentle aggression. I was not completely sure but then, no other definitions came to mind. About 10 days back, I came upon this definition in a book in the British Library here, which in my opinion, is superb and exactly conveys what ‘being persuasive’ can mean in sales. I thought therefore I‘d share it, for a change, being in a good mood.

This definition  gives you four approaches all based on the ‘win-lose’ sales concept of situations, which are as under

     1.Unimpressive approach: lose-lose

    2.  Timid approach: You win-I lose.

     3 .     Aggressive approach: You lose –I win

     4.   Persuasive approach: You win-I win

 This impressed the hell out of me, cos it makes perfect sense.Hope you think it is helpful.

 Now, I thought like crazy but could not recall the author. So, if he or she is reading this, thank you for a concept so brilliantly explained.Superb clarity of words and thought. Now I know what to tell my subordinates next time anyone asks me how to be  persuasive.!!

Wishing you lots of profitable selling

Best Regards from

Bilbo.

CHARLIE BROWN , THE SMILE AND THE ALTER EGO (Republished)

We have covered the knowledge and the confidence part of it (the requirements for a successful professional sales career). Now let us take on the other stuff.  All the remaining stuff can be possessed by just and being practical and thinking of Charlie Brown (Who? Why? What the? etc..as you must be thinking if you have been with me till now..). I'll explain.

Let us make a resolution that whenever you feel that you are weighed down by your information, lack of-confidence, the criminally partial behavior of your boss to a dumb cow, office politics etc. and you are starting to sink, just mutter to yourself "Charlie Brown".. Why Charlie Brown?  Why not? 

Just tell me does Charlie Brown has any problems with anyone?. No. What will his reaction be if he was called by the dirtiest phrase there is?... Nothing. Charlie will shrug it off. Does Charlie have any jealousy or any kind of negative feelings? No .How do you know that? From his face! Think of Charlie , picture him and think that if Charlie was visiting this customer today, what would his approach be when he meets the security people. Cool and polite ! Charlie does not have a rude bone on his body.

(It is my personal opinion that Charlie , Calvin and Hobbes are philosophers. The world will be a much better place if students are taught about Charlie, Calvin & Hobbes instead of Plato & Aristotle)

So the third thing you need to have friends is “Charlie Brown”!! Finally, always be polite to the security staff-they are just doing their duty. Maybe someone is being overzealous and you are feeling the first pangs of anger! 'Charlie Brown'. well, at least someone is doing his work over-zealously then the opposite. Give your anger the bird, and  stay in your Charlie Brown mode-you will be able to go in faster inside the plant than those snobs calling themselves salesmen who want VIP treatment. Don't believe me ?Try it out! You will see that it's not fiction. It's fact! "Charlie Brown"!

I have always been Charlie Brownish in my professional life and I think I have almost saved a year of my life- counting up all those 5 minutes to 30 minutes delay that an  average VISP (very important sales person) wastes trying to convince the security chief how great he or she is and why they should therefore be allowed in without delay.

So-now you are all prepared; maybe we will venture out and maybe meet a customer very soon

Till then, it's bye from Bilbo.

And remember,

“Charlie Brown”! And once more....all together

 “ Charlie Brown”..

Prologue: (Indian Public Sector business)

Some commonly used abbreviations

NIT: Notice inviting Tender

EMD: Earnest Money Deposit

ICB: International Competitive Bid    NCB: National Competitive Bidding

RFQ: Request for Quotation  

RFP: Request for Proposal

P&F: Packing and Forwarding

DGSD: Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals (Under the ministry of Commerce and Industry)

ST: Sales Tax   CST: Central Sales Tax

IC : Interchangeability Certificate

These are some abbreviations, which you will come across when you do business with the Indian Public Sector. It is an irony that the very rules, which were, enforced for transparency in Public Sector dealings have now become the bane of the Public Sector, for you can take advantage of them if you wish to.

It should not be assumed that the Indian Public Sector is totally corrupt. It is nothing like that. Corruption is a way of life in the states but not in the centrally administered Public Sector Units. If fingers can be pointed to the Public Sector then it is only in the respect that they are bound and tied by the lowest rule, even if they are well aware that the lowest party got through the technical scrutiny only based on assumptions.

What is true is that the Public Sector Officers remain confined to their departments. If  the maintenance department and the planning department have got some overlaps, no one co-operates officially because “it’s not my job”. This attitude and the so called transparency attitude are now the major woes of the Indian Public Sector. As a reputed Materials Manager once told me “As per the existing rules, we can remove our clothes. But if you think that we are going to show you our briefs, you got another think coming”. Bully for him.

In this section, I’ll guide you through the quagmire of doing business with the Indian Public Sector, but never in a negative way. The State Government departments.... They are beyond salvation now. What do you say about the Chief Engineer of a WB State department who on asked to state the reason for the discrepancy of  official treated water figures and actual treated water says that he will be risking his pension if he makes public the figures for the public works that his department has done. All this in a linked in discussion forum, too. And this gentleman is now looking for a consulting position (after his impending retirement) abroad in the US(probably where his sons or daughters are settled) so that he can pass on his expertise in showing 1 equals to 2, to his US bosses.

Here I conclude this prologue, friends with the hope that you will like it.

It is not my intention to thrill or educate but only to tell you what you will be able to find yourself but at the cost of time. The novel, the plot of which, is outlined here. starts from my next post.

Till then,

It's 

Merci et Adieu

Bilbo

SELLING TO THE PUBLIC SECTOR: TIPS & POINTERS

<PUBLIC SECTOR SELLING OF CAPITAL EQUIPMENT IS ONE AREA WHERE YOU DO NOT HAVE BOOKS NOR EXPERTS. Yet this post has been read only 3-4 times till now?></SALESPUBLICSECTOR)


          If all the selling I have been actively involved in  is analysed today, I bet that the amount of Public Sector to the Private Sector selling, will be something like 60%-40%. This is not because I was a "Public Sector Selling Expert" or anything like that. Actually, I did not have much choice because then and even now,the Private sector did not have that much of a presence in North East India. And NE India was the territory which I was invariably asked to represent by my employers for the first ten-twelve years of my career.

There are many differences in selling capital high value equipment to the public sector from the private sector and some of these are vital. These can be advantages or disadvantages. It depends upon how you look at them.

In this and subsequent posts, I will share with you the invaluable experience I gained in selling to Public Sector Units in India, so that you avoid making mistakes I made and thereby waste time. I will first  outline the road to traverse for selling in PSU's. You need to be acquainted with it if you do not want to lose time. Please do not be under any impressions that your Private Sector Selling experience will help you out. It will definitely be of help, but at different points along the standard selling route. But the outlined route from point to point is what you have to traverse. There’s no getting over it(as Ronnie Milsap may have said).

The Initial Approach" How to go about it.

A Public Sector Plant consists of two parts-(1)The Administration and General Office and (2) the Plant Area. You need to have vetting from different grades of officers to visit different sections. If you plan to visit the more sensitive plant area, then you will probably need approval from a department head. Making your appointments with the relevant officers and get all vetting done the previous evening is a good idea. This is because you waste the least time in getting your passes made. I have seen people wasting entire day in getting their passes made.

First of all, you need to visit the Materials Department , who will float the enquiries and place the Purchase Orders. You will be required to formally register yourselves in their approved vendor list before they can send you enquiries.  Next comes the “Engineering Services ’Department’ who will have the requirement. Get introduced to all the top bosses and find out about the functions of the different departments in the plant. Make  a mental family tree and replicate it on paper as soon as possible. Arrange a product presentation and invite everyone relevant and a few non-relevant people too. During the presentation, get introduced to all the individual bosses who sit inside the plant and make appointments with them.

Visit the different departments inside the plant and see where your product is required. But, do not try to push your product where it is not needed. Stay true to relationship selling.  Hold individual meetings and presentations. Convince the people who matter inside the plant and they will draw up the tender specifications, in line with your equipment, for tendering.

This is the easiest way to start and it is also useful when your boss asks you to account for your time. I have had plenty of bosses who had not even the slightest idea of how a Public Sector Plant operates. You may be under a little pressure initially. This has become a rather long post but there was no other way. Next time we will take up tendering.

So its bye from

Bilbo