Advice Inspiration

5 stories relating life to business

March 25, 2008 0 Comment Usman Sheikh read

“You never have an idea of what you might accomplish. All that you do is you pursue a question. And see where it leads.” Jonas Salk

Life is a fascinating journey and every morning I get up and look forward to the new challenges that I will have to face and learn from through the course of the day. You need to keep that perspective to live life fully. Over the course of this week I have talked about 5 recent personal incidents. They were instrumental in giving a different perspective to my usual business approach.

1. Sales & Relationships: An encounter with a street merchant helped me understand the importance of building a deep relationship with key clients . It enhances and improves the selling process when the person you are selling to, trusts you. To read the entire story please click here.

2. Squash & Strategy: This story is another affirmation of why the tortoise won the race. When embarking on a new journey take time out to study what you are getting yourself into. You should have a clear idea about goals and time frames and should build your strategy around this foundation to maximize your true potential. To read the entire story please click here.

3. The Gym: This story talks about the value of partners in our life and the instrumental role they play in helping us reach our true potential. By selecting your partners carefully you increase your chances of achieving your goals. To read the entire story please click here.

4. Different Perspectives: This story is about two individuals in the same setting and their completely different perspectives on how to go about life. It talks about flexibility and viewing life from multiple perspectives to get a better understanding. To read the story please click here.

5. Crossing the Rubicon: This story talks about crossing the point of no return.This applies to setting up a business, deciding on a career path or even selecting a life partner. We have to ensure that we make these decisions after careful thought and for the right reasons. To read the story please click here.

This week I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this segment on life and business. I may just make this a regular feature to keep things an open perspective on matters. I hope all of you enjoyed this series too, I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Advice Sales

Sales and relationships

March 20, 2008 4 Comments Usman Sheikh read

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ”Make me feel important.” Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” Mary Kay Ash

A couple of days ago on my way to a meeting I was stopped at a traffic light junction when a disabled man came to my car window, he was selling car cleaners . I didn’t need any, so he passed me by after asking. Moments later another disabled man who was selling the same came up to me. This was a man who has been selling similar merchandise at this traffic junction for the last 15 years and over the course of time he has sold many members of my family who pass this traffic crossing daily. He came up to my window,greeted me and condoled my grandmother’s passing away 2 months ago. The fact that he knew caught me totally off guard. He followed with casual chit chat regarding the health of the rest of my family and never once during this 5 minute exchange once mentioned whether I wanted to buy anything. You have to realize that we were at a traffic light crossing and were in a time sensitive situation. However, at the last moment, he casually asked whether I needed anything, I obliged and bought a fair share. Later on during my drive to the clients I began to think about what had just happened.

Sales is a very personal process, you are always more comfortable buying from or through individuals whom you trust or have a relationship with. Here was this man who had spent a large part of his life building a meaningful relationship with passer byes at traffic light junction . This continuous interaction on a relatively regular but short time frame basis had enabled him to build a relationship through which he could sell irrespective of whether you needed it or not. It wasn’t solely because he was handicapped otherwise I would have bought from the other vendors who attempted to sell me the same. It was only because of our relationship.

If you are running your own company or working at one where sales falls in your job scope I do believe the key to success is relationship building. I know it may sound somewhat cliched but just how many of your clients do you really know well. Truthfully, I need to do a lot more work in this area and this minor incident just showed me how strong a proposition you can build once you develop a meaningful relationship with your clients.

Personality

Who are you?

January 22, 2008 0 Comment Usman Sheikh read

“An individual’s self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.” Dr. Joyce Brothers

Do you really know who you are? It is a profound question. A question to which around 2 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to give a good reply . When I ask people this question I usually get a lot of “hmmmms”. The sad part is that many of us go through life without really understanding ourselves too well. Life is a funny thing, its so fast these days that I frankly can’t tell when the day starts and when it ends. Its this blinding tizzy of events which leaves us exhausted at the end of every day, only to repeat this cycle the very next day. So just when are we supposed to figure out a little more about ourselves. Well, if you haven’t thought about this question, this week we will be going through some basic personality models which could be helpful in understanding what exactly makes you tick. Being a certified psychometric consultant and guiding people through this process is most satisfying .

The process which I am going to take you through is based on a test which we offer at InnovoGS called the Jung Type Indicator. It is very similar to the MBTi test. This test uses four basic scales , after which it puts the tested person into one of 16 possible categories. The last statement is usually where I get a lot of flak. The most common question being, if everyones personality is unique how is it that you can place someone in defined categories. My usual response is, the framework that the JTi uses helps to identify personality based preferences. Just because a person isn’t very talkative doesn’t automatically make him an introvert and vice versa. The framework which seems fairly straight forward has multiple sub scales which a trained consultant takes you through to better understand your type. So its not a definitive guide, it is more of a structure to help you answer the “who are you?” question a lot more effectively.

Knowing a lot more about yourself and how you interact with the world, process information, make decisions and how you prefer to live are critical for the entrepreneur as well. I have been continuously talking about core values, work ethics and teams; all of these will fall into place when you require them to, when you have a sound understanding of yourself. I have greatly benefited from this self discovery process which has resulted in a more balanced life, stronger relationships and greater satisfaction in the work that I am doing. To make the most of this process keep an open mind and if there are some factors which may be confusing or troubling you, email me at enquire@innovogs.com and I will do my best to help you out.