Friday, August 28, 2009
7 Simple Rules to Ensure the Sales Executive's Commission in a Downturn
Author: Souma Das
Area Vice President - India Sub Continent, Citrix Systems India
Having successfully steered the organization through the dot com burst and the following slowdown, I have come to realize that in tough times, one needs to get back to the basics. Put your head down and follow some simple but effective rules with a clear focus on business.
Let me offer my 7 simple rules for sales people to combat the downturn:
Be close to your customer: Ensure that you are talking to your customer on a regular basis. In tough times your customers also look towards you for advice on how to leverage their existing infrastructure. By being in constant and regular touch with your customers you will have a pulse on how their business needs and priorities are changing and how you can help them to overcome the downturn. Tough times are opportunities for you to establish long lasting relationships with your customers. Remember that in good times everyone wants to be your friend but in tough times only your true friends stand by you. Be the true friend to your customer.
Articulate your service: Be articulate in communicating your organization's key messages to your customers. Convey to them in clear terms how your organization's offering or services can deliver a better and faster RoI to help them retain their competitive edge. Do you know your customers adequately to be able to explain to them how you can deliver a better RoI in a shorter timeframe or how you can help them leverage their existing infrastructure?
Innovate: A crisis is a great time to innovate, when you may have to think of ways of staying ahead of the competition, of being more efficient, of coming up with different marketing or product bundling ideas. Great innovative ideas originate at war times; likewise, wonderful business schemes come up to one's mind during challenging economic times.
Execute ruthlessly: The best strategic and business plans are worthless without proper execution. Focus ruthlessly on execution and keep an eye for details. Keep your eyes and ears open to your customers and follow up with them for their needs. Execute on your account plans without letting a day of plan slip out of schedule. If a customer has informed you to call them on a particular day, don't slip on that. If you don't execute on your plans, your competitor will do. Be paranoid about execution.
Leverage the team: As a sales person, you should be constantly leveraging the organization's resources to win deals. This is the time to focus clearly on leveraging all the resources at hand. Ask for input, both internal and external, partner the sales and tech teams, and utilize the marketing and back office personnel like a customer care team. They might know where the biggest opportunities or real efficiencies exist. Ask them, act on their recommendations, and recognize them for their ideas.
Act fast: Analyze your work and look at the time taken for each activity. Reduce the time taken for each action by 25-50 percent. If you used to take 6 hours before to send out a quote to the customer, now try to do it in 3 hours by working effectively and by leveraging all the resources. If you would normally take 3 hours to fix up meetings for the day, do the work a few days in advance so that each day has a clear direction and pre-appointed customers to meet. When this is done, it provides you with a competitive advantage.
Educate your eco-system: Talk to your eco-system of partners, service providers, and vendors. Make them understand the changing landscape as it pertains to your industry, and instill in them a sense of urgency. Leverage their knowledge and help them to improve their efficiency. Work with their sales teams and be a leader to them.
These 7 rules apply to your daily and regular sales days as well. But in tough times it really pays to follow these simple basic rules and implement them.
As a sales person with over 20 years of experience, I found these rules very effective and they have been my guiding light, and I hope they become yours too
How to Plan for your goals...
I receive this question from many students even from staffs, whenever I visit to educational institutions for any seminars or workshops. It is a classic question too.
“How do I set and track my goals personally and professionally…”
I suggest them the white paper technique. It always works.! Let me share it here, and I am sure this will help many readers.
Whenever you feel, you have to do something for the improvement in your professional and personal life… and don’t know where to start and what to do - follow these steps. I suggest do this exercise in early morning time, because your thinking level will be high.
1. Take a white sheet, just add your name and current date, and space for target date at the left corner of the sheet
2. Divide the sheet into 4 sections and name them as Strengths, Weakness, Goal Statement, constraints. Write “To Do” in the backside of the sheet.
3. Now add your strengths
a. It should be your professional and personal strengths – for example: good in visual basic programming, certified graphic designer, public speaker, confident enough to talk to new people suddenly, good knowledge in latest mobile devices, read books, having good contacts in social networks etc.
4. Add your weakness
a. Again, this should be covering professional and personal things – for example: Average English communication knowledge, poor email writing skills, No idea about what is going on other side of office, Less knowledge in current technical updates around you, lazy, Health limitations, hesitations to take new opportunities etc.
5. Now – Just write one clear statement about what you want to become in specific duration
a. For example: I want to become a Tech Lead, with good knowledge in Windows Mobile Programming, at a reputed organization in 1 year. (Add the after one year date as target date in the top of the sheet.)
6. It’s time to add our steps to reach the goal. Before that we should know our constraints – so that we can make plans to cross it.
a. Add your constraints – this can be taken from your weakness list
b. For example: if you have English communication knowledge in weakness, add it. Logically, every weakness will have an impact while you plan for your feature. So we have to cross almost everything.
7. Turn the sheet. Now you have “To Do” section.
a. For every constraint you have on the other side – write a crossing procedure.
b. For example: If you have “no idea about what is going on other side of office” – write “Get new friends” – you can choose the supporting activities from your strengths.
c. For example: if you have “poor email writing skills” – write “Get information about how to write efficient emails - Write more test emails in blog – and ask your friends to verify them”.
d. For example: If you have “Less knowledge in current technical updates around you” – write “Visit online technical news websites 15 mins every day and discuss with friends”
8. Fill as much as you can – but I suggest try to add 10 ‘To Do’ Items.
9. Stick this sheet in your personal desk – read ‘To Do’ section at least once in a day – I suggest morning times, before you start any work.
10. Follow it, add marks for every day in your specified duration. If you don’t do it any day, minus marks.
11. Review your Track sheet every weekend, know your progress. If it is less than expected, speed up – it’s your life. If you are in good marks, present some small gift to yourself J
12. You can see the improvement in 2 weeks. J .
It is very simple to do, but very efficient in results. There are different names in management field for this technique (for example: SWAT), but this is simplified for anyone – student, professional, business guys.
I am attaching simple templates for this exercise. I hope it can give you a basic idea. Visit here for template:
http://sites.google.com/site/gvmuthusite/
IT ENGINEERS COMMIT SUICIDE
Wipro engineer, Vishal Yadav (29), had a BE in electronics and hailed from Madhya Pradesh. Since May 17, 2004, he was working with Wipro as a Business Analyst and had gone on leave for two months. Interestingly, he had put in his papers via e-mail and was supposed to be relieved of his duties on August 31.
At around 10:20 pm on Wednesday, Vishal jumped from the top floor of S-II building of Wipro that has 12 storeys. When security supervisors heard a loud thud, they rushed to the spot and found Vishal down with blood around his body. They took him to the hospital, but it was in vain as doctor declared him brought dead. Doctor said, "With multiple head, spinal and thigh fractures, he might have collapsed within minutes after the fall."
HCL (Hindustan Computers Limited) engineer, Vikas Kumar Sharma (26), hailed from Munger district in Bihar. Since January 01, 2009, he was working with HCL as a Senior Network Analyst. He was living with a cousin in Delhi's Katwaria Sarai area. Though he was on a official off on Wednesday (August 19), he decided to report for the duty. The company cab had brought Vikas to the office around 4.30 am. Around 5.50 am Vikas jumped from the 5th floor of the office building. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
In both the cases, Police have been trying to find the reason of the death as they could not find any suicide note or any threat related information till now. In the case of Vishal, police framed eight questions and sent them to the human resources department of Wipro, but even after 24 hours, they were unable to get any personal details of the dead man. However, an HR executive of Wipro said, "We have been directed not to reveal any information or photograph of the employee. It is just that he had quit the job and was serving the notice period."
A police officer said, "We are not ruling out murder. There are lots of unanswered questions and it is for Wipro to clear the doubts."
In the case of Vikas, Noida's Superintendent of Police (City) Ashok Tripathi said, "The company's officials did not inform the police about the incident. Authorities at Max Hospital, where the victim was taken to, informed us."
In 2009, two suicide news of big IT companies' employees came in limelight. There are many engineers who are being harassed and forced to resign from the company. Last week, one of the former Wipro employees had informed media of the way he was sacked from the company. You can check this link to read that story - http://siliconindia.com/shownews/Sacked_Wipro_employee_alleges_harassment-nid-60537.html/1/2"
QUIT SMOKING
I remember thinking that I will never quit smoking. I tried quitting cold-turkey and with NRT, but both of them failed. I guess it's normal to have a hard time quitting when you're a certified smoker of twenty years. I must admit the psychological factor played a major role in the dilemma. Oh how I loved those cigarettes! There were times when I drove several miles to get that last cigarette of the day. I liked how it would instantly relieve stress, which was probably the main reason I smoked, but I also loved making smoke rings.
Regardless, deep inside I realized that I needed to quit. I was smoking almost 2 packs a day and knew that if I didn’t stop, it would eventually kill me, (I did quit thanks to Smoke Deter, but more on that later).
My first attempt to quit was using the good old cold-turkey (you quit without external help) method. Scientists have estimated that a smoker who quits cold-turkey needs to try 6 times, I tried 26 times and still couldn't quit. This "technique" was especially hard for me since I smoked so much for such a long time. It made me mad at everything and sensitive, plus I lost all of my concentration up to a point where I couldn't drive properly. I can sympathize with people who are unable to quit using this method.
The following attempt involved Nicotine Skin Patches. Those are effective to a certain degree, but they have a major downside: they are addictive too. Of course I would pick patches over cigarettes any day, because you’re not inhaling chemicals in the smoke, but you remain addicted nonetheless. Too bad that at the end of my expensive 400-dollar-three-month-supply I was craving for a cigarette. Apart from that I must say that I was really surprised with how effective they were. You should Patches if you don't have luck with Smoke Deter.
The 3rd thing I tried is a solution which was recommended by a friend of mine, which is called Smoke Deter. At first I was a bit skeptical. My BS sensors usually turn on when I hear about herbal solutions. Nevertheless it was much cheaper than patches so I gave it a chance.
Surprisingly it’s been 4 months since I've touched a single cigarette. I can breathe easy now. I have a healthier skin tone. And I gotta tell you, smokers smell bad (you notice it when you become a non-smoker). I've been recommending it since to all my friends and colleagues who want to quit. Probably the only downside is that my local pharmacy didn't have it. But nothing's perfect I guess.
For additional information about this quitting aid click this link.
INDIAN FOOTBALL
College in Indian Football Centre Partnership 
Stockport College has formed a unique partnership with Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Liverpool FC and Kickworldwide to create the Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football Development Centre (AKMFDC) in Pune, India.
Liverpool FC will offer the technical expertise and Kickworldwide co-ordinates the venture. Stockport College will be offering advice on how to develop the centre where players get professional training and full time education.
Steve Mort, Manager of Stockport College Academy of Sport said: "Our experience in England has proved so extensive that we were subsequently approached to be a partner in this unique venture."
Steve added: "Our project here is fitting academic and competitive football together at AKMFDC. As a UK College partner we are excited about this football development centre and committed to high quality service."
Students in India will get a proper knowledge through academics for the first time. The centre opens in September and Stockport College is looking to host the first set of students in the 2010 intake.
Kennedy leaves political vacuum
| By Daniel Sandford BBC News, Washington |
 Mr Kennedy was worried that his death would derail healthcare reform |
With Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral still a day away, discussions over his succession have already begun, in part prompted by the senator himself.
Under Massachusetts law, there should be a special election to fill his seat in the Senate between 145 days and 160 days after it becomes vacant.
That would mean a vote in January or February of next year.
But, in a letter he wrote just days before his death, Senator Kennedy said that the rules in Massachusetts should be changed because, in his words: "It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election."
Senate arithmetic
Everybody knows what his main concern was. Without his vote in the Senate, the Democrats' chances of getting their contentious healthcare reform through this autumn are badly diminished.
Universal healthcare was a long-cherished dream for Senator Kennedy, and the thought that his death might scupper the plans was clearly weighing heavily on his mind in his final days.
His seat is vital because of the nature of Senate arithmetic.
Under the "cloture" rule, if three-fifths of Senators support a motion, opponents are barred from blocking it by talking it out (a tactic known as a "filibuster"). Three-fifths of the 100-seat house is 60.
There are currently 40 Republican Senators, which means the Democrats need every one of their seats, as well as the Independents (Democrat-leaning Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman), to make sure any healthcare legislation is passed.
Of course there is no guarantee that all senators will vote along party lines but the Democrats are certainly going to need all the votes they can get.
 Mr Kennedy's widow Vicki is reportedly not interested in taking his seat |
In his deathbed letter, Senator Kennedy proposed that the Massachusetts governor should appoint an interim senator until the special election is held.
The current Governor, Deval Patrick, is a Democrat, and would presumably appoint someone sympathetic to the party's health care cause.
Governor Patrick has said he supports the idea of a rule change but it would need to be passed by the Massachusetts legislature, which is by no means guaranteed.
The next question is who might fill the seat. Will it be a Kennedy, continuing the political dynasty?
Speculation on family successors has centred on his widow Vicki (though the family says she is not interested) and his nephew Joseph Kennedy.
Joseph is the son of Robert Kennedy. A former member of the House of Representatives, he is currently running a charity, distributing discounted heating oil to the poor.
Beyond the Kennedy family, there is no shortage of potential candidates for the seat. Possible appointees include Michael Dukakis, who ran for the presidency in 1988, and former Labour Secretary Robert Reich.
Massachusetts is accustomed to having high-profile senators.
The other seat is held by John Kerry, who was the Democratic nominee for president in 2004.
Edward Kennedy's predecessor (though there was a brief an interim appointment) was his brother John, later President Kennedy.
FREE ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT SITE
THERE IS A WEBSITE WHERE YOU CAN SEE MOVIES VIDEO CHANNELS MUSICS AND MORE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES BECOME A MEMBER AND ENJOY
www.veoh.com
www.veoh.com
NEW TAMIL TELUNGU HINDI MOVIES IN ONLINE
HI
There is a site telecasting new indian movies you just login and enjoy the new movies in online www.70mmonline.com
There is a site telecasting new indian movies you just login and enjoy the new movies in online www.70mmonline.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
