So you raise $80m and are about to raise another $40m from Goldman Sachs. And you go from that to going bust in 5 days 5 days! Ozy Media was founded in 2013 by Goldman Sachs alumni with one of them having Harvard, Stanford & McKinsey on his resume. Crazy exposure – crazy growth –…
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Nothing much changed in the past 2 years or so except for where we live – where we work – where we play what’s the common theme? location how has your organization been impacted by the changing location of your citizens, clients, partners & other stakeholders? Has it changed the way traffic flows within a…
read moreTwo days ago, I received one of the better cold calls that I’ve received. He did a few things that most salespeople are told not to do. This is how it went Sales guy: Is this Umair? Me: Yes Sales guy: I’m X from company Y. You’re probably going to hate me for this as…
read moreHere’s how an org decided to get 100% customer satisfaction rating for their services. Illustrative example 👇 Let’s say you provide a service on your website through a form. As the last step of this form, ask the question about how happy the user is about your service before they can click submit. Grey out…
read moreSome of the longest monologues of all time weren’t delivered in movies or in plays but in sales discovery meetings by salespeople
read moreI ran a poll last week about the usage of slide decks in sales discovery meetings. The results were 50-50 for a long time before ending up 60-40 in the favor of “no”. I voted no as well. Here’s a quick overview of one approach towards discovery meetings that I’ve seen work well. 1. Understand…
read moreI ran a poll on LinkedIn asking whether salespeople prefer to use slide decks in their discovery meetings. The whole purpose of a discovery meeting is to understand the prospective buyers’ pain, aspirations, obstacles and to book the next meeting where you can share how you can possibly help. Aren’t we the exact opposite of…
read moreFor the past 3 months, I have been engaged with a company where I had to work from their office . This was a change for me as I have been WFx for the better part of the last 4 years where x has been Home, Cafes etc. The one thing that I had missed…
read moreHave you seen the recent article on ZDNet about Microsoft offering Starbucks rewards upon O365 renewals? The article poked fun at the way it was done and it got me thinking about how it would be received by Microsoft. Back in the day, one of Microsoft’s teams did a spoof video of what the packaging…
read moreResponsiveness, or lack of it. This is the most irritating part of initiating a purchase. It’s astounding how many inbound leads lay around unattended till it’s too late. I was having a conversation with someone in an Australia Post related company a couple of months ago and he was pleasantly surprised at our swift response.…
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Have you heard the story about the sales guy who closed the biggest deal in his company’s history only to be fired the next week? Here’s how it goes. A sales guy at a major tech company is working on a single deal throughout the year. His management supports him throughout the lean quarters. Towards…
read moreNeat little Google hack to find just about anything. Startup tools, VC, Salaries, Influencers … Find these and other useful stuff by searching for anything in public spreadsheets. e.g. https://lnkd.in/e4Q9_SM Replace “ROI” with any other term like TCO, VC, Salaries etc. Credit to Steph Smith – her original tweet is here.
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LinkedIn is a great platform to connect with others But most sales people use it for “automated cold calling” I’ve been that sales guy – and I’ve been a buyer – here’s my perspective. The general approach is to reach out to connect. & send a message detailing your service & ask for a meeting.…
read more“Sometimes the best kind of grit is gritting your teeth & packing your bags.” Adam Grant Reads like one of those Monday Demotivational Posters. But it isn’t: “’Never give up’ doesn’t mean keep doing the thing that’s failing.” “It means don’t get locked down into one narrow path.” These and many other gems in a…
read moreWorking remotely can be exhausting. Especially with back-to-back meetings. Here’s a hack that has helped me cope. At the start of every meeting – as soon as I join – I’ll crack a joke. Some people would giggle and some not – it’s slightly difficult to gauge the audience’s reaction when the cameras are turned…
read moreSome jobs are thankless. You get noticed only when you drop the ball. Sound familiar? In conversations with CIOs, I’d ask about what success means to them – and then their KPIs The CIOs aspirations would be about impacting business – e.g. adding more digital revenue streams. Their reporting metrics would be around budget &…
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Cobras, British colonists, CRM & KPIs. The British colonists tried to reduce the snake population in India and offered bounties for dead cobras. The local population started to breed cobras to kill them & get the bounty. The colonists discovered this & scrapped the bounty forcing the breeders to release their now worthless cobras –…
read moreWhen costs need to be optimized, the first two things that get cut are training & consultancy. Guess how your service is treated internally for budgeting. One of my CIO clients shared the above with me as part of his views on cost-optimization – just a few months before the contract renewal! A global pandemic…
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Digital self-serve is here to stay and the product/service price isn’t that much of a factor anymore. “Despite the conventional wisdom that big ticket sales require in-person contact, 20 percent of B2B buyers said they would be willing to spend more than $500,000 in a fully remote/digital sales model. And 11 percent of all B2B…
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As a salesperson, what’re your thoughts about cold calling? Surely, no one loves cold calling people – right? I interviewed a number of salespeople the past couple of months in North America and I posed this question to understand what drives them. One and thankfully only one candidate said that he loves cold calling and…
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