Posts tagged "responsibilities"

Sales and relationships

“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.

Life and Business

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.” Henry Ford

Over the course of last week I have come across some interesting incidents which I documented in personal off topic posts. This week I decided I would share 5 of them so that we could all get a different perspective as compared to the traditional views on business and entrepreneurship I have taken in the past.

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 if you want to live your life fully. I keep telling everyone that life is too short for us to take things for granted. I often hear some of my investment banker friends telling me that they look forward to the time when they can actually stop doing what they are doing and start living. I could empathize with that view a couple of years ago but now it seems not to be the most optimal way to live life. I realize many people have responsibilities and valid reasons for sometimes sacrificing certain things early on in life to enjoy life afterwards. Just make sure that whatever you do it is something you feel deeply passionate about and you wake up in the morning looking forward to the day. You are one of the lucky ones if that is the case.

The same applies for business when you are selecting or working on ideas make sure your value and belief systems are correctly aligned with what it is that you are working on. Money is a valid driver but it shouldn’t be the only one. You must have other drivers which force you to push yourself harder and further. You have to choose to do something which you truly believe in and let it take its course. My last couple of posts talked about losing balance in your life in the early stages with startup ventures, make sure the sacrifice you are making is worth it. It should really be more than just money. Also if you are going to have an imbalance temporarily in your life make sure you have as few responsibilities as possible. When you have a life partner, children or a girlfriend/boyfriend your actions have a direct impact on someone else’s life. That is why I advocate getting into business as early as possible because you have a lot less to lose.

I look forward to a lot more comments and feedback during this week’s blog as the topics are a lot more abstract. A lot of us have very different perspectives on the topics which are going to be written about and I would really like to hear from as many people as possible.