Technology | Sales | Marketing | Startups
Insights & Frameworks

Insights Categories

  • All
  • Business Development
  • leadership
  • technology
Incompetence As a Unique Selling Point

Incompetence As a Unique Selling Point (USP)

 Incompetence As a Unique Selling Point (USP) 1024 581 Intely Tech

Here’re two examples of how companies have attempted to 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐒𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐑𝐞𝐒𝐫 𝐒𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 Join me as I smh & 🀦 I invested some money in a small bit of land in 2008 with the schedule for it to be handed over for development in 2012. Not only has the handover not been done till now, I’ve…

read more
Tales from the OTHER SIDE

Tales from the OTHER SIDE – A buyer’s perspective

 Tales from the OTHER SIDE – A buyer’s perspective 1024 581 Intely Tech

I’ve been consulting with a large multi-billion dollar company recently to help them source the right tech & vendors for their ongoing Digital Transformation. It has been an interesting experience to manage such a large number of vendors of varying sizes in such a short amount of time and there’s a lot to unpack here.…

read more

Naval + drex

 Naval + drex 150 150 Intely Tech

What do you get when you combine Naval’s wise words with Drex’s killer visuals? Inspiration, amazement, a bit of jealousy & motivation. Here’re a few of my favorites from his 50 tweet thread. Twitter handle: @drex_jpg

read more
ethical business practices

Your Tech Stack isn’t your biggest risk

 Your Tech Stack isn’t your biggest risk 1024 581 Intely Tech

A major food aggregator suffered a total stoppage of service today. It had nothing to do with their tech stack and had everything to do with how their drivers felt about their compensation & working conditions. Things need to be made right! The other party affected are the participating restaurants whose online orders dried up…

read more
sell me this perfume

Sell me this perfume

 Sell me this perfume 1024 581 Intely Tech

Here’s how I was sold something that I wasn’t even in the market for. Have you seen small stalls for perfumes etc. in malls? You wouldn’t think that their salespeople use human psychology more so than the modern B2B tech sales guy – and you’d be wrong. I was walking past one of these stalls…

read more
modern sales org

3 things it takes to be a modern sales org

 3 things it takes to be a modern sales org 1024 572 Intely Tech

Three wishes – three guesses – three little pigs – three bears – three billy goats gruff This article won’t match the longevity or popularity of any of the above stories revolving around the number three for one reason & one reason alone. A modern sales company always moves forward as it evolves and the…

read more
return on ignorance

Return on Ignorance

 Return on Ignorance 1024 581 Intely Tech

More often than not, your biggest competitor is the status quo. People & organizations usually don’t like to change. The excerpt below from Brian Solis’s interview by McKinsey is so clever – and can be used in contexts other than retail. “When we’re imagining the future of retail, we have to stop thinking about these…

read more

Product & Service Differentiation

 Product & Service Differentiation 150 150 Intely Tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT3ZxLm__Bc I buy products & services for a number of tech companies and even before I get to see the product, I’ve an opinion about them mostly through their messaging or the way their sales people set up & conduct the initial meeting. In a commoditized market, marketing & sales will, in most cases, create…

read more

What’s the value of your product or service?

 What’s the value of your product or service? 150 150 Intely Tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABHMOz1gT8w Imagine that you’re driving to a wedding and your car breaks down. As you wait for help to arrive, what’s the value of a service that can get you to the wedding on time if it’s, 1 – a colleague’s wedding2 – a sibling’s wedding3 – your own wedding! Car services will attempt to…

read more

What’s Value

 What’s Value 150 150 Intely Tech

Imagine that you’re driving to a wedding and your car breaks down. As you wait for help to arrive, what’s the value of a service that can get you to the wedding on time if it’s, 1 – a colleague’s wedding 2 – a sibling’s wedding 3 – your own wedding! Car services will attempt…

read more

Morality in Monetization

 Morality in Monetization 150 150 Intely Tech

“Let’s leave morality out of this talk.” “Make sure your games aren’t too skill-based.” Mobile gaming constitutes 57% of the $173 billion video game industry. And they are markedly different to the games that I grew up playing – skills were more important to win compared to random chance or $. I do play mobile…

read more

How much is too much?

 How much is too much? 150 150 Intely Tech

In sales, qualifying an opportunity out is just as important as qualifying it in because investing time in an opportunity that you had no chance of winning is such a massive waste. But, can you go too far in your attempts to qualify out an opportunity? Here’s something that happened earlier today. I am looking…

read more
from hero to zero

From hero to zero

 From hero to zero 1024 572 Intely Tech

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 –…

read more
constant change

What has changed?

 What has changed? 1024 581 Intely Tech

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 more

Cold Calls – Openers

 Cold Calls – Openers 150 150 Intely Tech

Two 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 more

100% Customer Satisfaction Rating

 100% Customer Satisfaction Rating 150 150 Intely Tech

Here’s how an org decided to get 100% customer satisfaction rating for their services. Illustrative example πŸ‘‡ 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 more

Sales Monologues

 Sales Monologues 150 150 Intely Tech

Some of the longest monologues of all time weren’t delivered in movies or in plays but in sales discovery meetings by salespeople

read more

Sales Discovery meetings – one approach

 Sales Discovery meetings – one approach 150 150 Intely Tech

I 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 more

Discovery meetings – a buyer’s perspective

 Discovery meetings – a buyer’s perspective 150 150 Intely Tech

I 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 more

Building connections while working remotely

 Building connections while working remotely 150 150 Intely Tech

For 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 more