Master of Sales

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dushyantjoshi/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelthom/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gourav-arora-a87139103/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeepnss/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

Sandeep comes with over 14 years of multi-faceted experience in Sales, Support, Business Management and Development.  A Seasoned executive with emphasis in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in various start-up organizations, he has a demonstrated experience in taking businesses through the phases of concept development, incubation, launch, initial ramp, WW scaling and achieving consistent profitability. 

 Experienced start-up business manager in industries like Education Management, Service and Information Technology, he comes with international experience including sales, business development, operations management and he is an innovative hands on manager, driven by passion and know how.  Honing this experience and with his passion being and still is, to seek, share and spread knowledge, Sandeep is also a Sales and Leadership trainer and business consultant, reflecting his experience in management and training. He has successfully handled and created powerful & lasting impacts through Leadership interventions for middle and senior management for clients across industries like Banks, Insurance companies, IT, SMEs & Manufacturing. 

He is a Strong motivator and attitude trainer.  Conducting necessary TNA sessions to derive on the training requirement, Structuring programs based on the skillet and profiles of the trainee group using Experiential Learning and Conditioning Theory is his forte.  Modules such as Customer Service skills, Sales Training, Negotiation skills, Time Management, Motivation, Communication Etiquette, Leadership, Process training are few areas of his training specialties.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sajithps/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/monesh-babu 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-vinayachandran-40448210/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

On our seventh episode of the Master of Sales Podcast, we had the honour of hosting Nitin Vinayachandran. Nitin is the Head of sales at Lumos Labs. He has spent eleven years in sales. He has worked across financial services, recruitment portals, innovation management companies, identity and access management companies. Nitin is known for his sales consistency.

What motivates you to meet new customers?

Definitely meeting new people, and make sure to make a different in their lives. Understanding if a particular feature is applicable to a particular person, so that it appeals to him. It’s basically the kick of identifying the whole process and taking the solution to the costumer. The desire to demonstrate outcomes is even more critical when it comes to sales employment. Your income may be contingent on your ability to close a sale, but your employer’s bottom line unquestionably requires you to do so. Make an effort to link your motivation to your sales targets.

Nitin’s leadership style is showing them the way of doing things and it is important to give feedback and take feedback. Give them examples and give them space to be free so that they can give their output and criticize etc. All of those elements, as well as several others, are influenced by your company’s sales culture. The quality of your sales culture determines how much your salespeople sell, how productive they are, and how long they stay with your organization.

It’s critical to foster a sales culture in which salespeople interact and freely share tips and strategies.

A great manager pays attention to their employees and, more importantly, responds to their suggestions. Even if sales managers are unable to complete all tasks, demonstrating effort will earn them a great deal of respect.

It’s a two-way street when it comes to building trust. If you can show your staff that you trust them, they will be more likely to do the same. Sales managers should avoid micromanaging unless a certain salesperson is suffering and requires extra attention.

What are the specific KPI’s that you track?

Knowing how to measure a KPI begins with establishing defined objectives. A startup is more likely to be interested in tracking how many new consumers are attracted to the business than a publicly traded corporation, which may be more concerned with tracking share price and profit.

KPIs can be financial, including net profit (or the bottom line, gross profit margin), revenues minus certain expenses, or the current ratio (liquidity and cash availability).

It’s also critical to set goals that are attainable. Setting aggressive expectations that can skew results away from cohesive strategy is not what KPIs are for.

What skills have given the desired results?

Any salesperson’s ability to positively engage others, develop long-term connections, and form mutually beneficial networks will come in handy on a regular basis. Relationship-building abilities help a salesperson to complete duties more quickly and make better-informed decisions, from visiting clients and getting recommendations to requesting advice and accomplishing team goals. Building relationships needs trust, rapport, and a genuine desire to assist others.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/swaroop-kishan-52a23838/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

On our sixth episode of the Master of Sales Podcast, we had the honor of hosting Swaroop Kishen. Swaroop is a Performance-oriented Sales leader offering an exceptional record of achievement over an 11+ year career. He is talented in identifying and capitalizing on emerging market trends and revenue opportunities. He is the sales head at Cyber Security Enthusiast. He is also an entrepreneur. He started his company with the agenda of SaaS sales as a solution.

How to you motivate your team or how to go ahead and do sales?

1. Ethical leaders who lead by example make up strong teams. They illuminate the route ahead of them. They also teach employees how to deal with failure and what behaviors to exhibit. Employees, in turn, imitate the actions of their bosses. They follow in their footsteps, learn from their mistakes, and offer valuable input.
2. To lead by example, you must guide others via your actions rather than your words. Your goal is to motivate people to emulate your actions.
3. Motivate them mentor them sales is not going to happen overnight. It is a process it has to be build.
4. Keep giving them example of how things are done, every now and then so that they can learn

What roles has technology made to make things better?

• We live in a digital age in which organizations, products, and services evolve at breakneck speed, it’s no surprise that sales and other activities are being digitally altered. The integration of digital technologies and data into all aspects of business is known as digital transformation. The era of direct sales is coming to an end, while in-direct sales are on the rise.
• Essentially, the rapid advancement of computer and mobile technology has compelled firms to go digital. While some businesses have succeeded in digitizing their products and services, others are still drowning in the implementation process. Sales are changing as a result of digitalization, and the company as a whole is benefiting greatly.
• Follow-up emails to prospects and leads can be automated and scheduled using sophisticated CRM software. A sales automation technology can also help you improve your conversion rate by optimizing your sales funnel. As they enter the sales funnel, leads are tracked and sorted.
• When it comes to reaching the global marketplace and gaining more clients, social media plays a critical role in business. Using this technology to attract targeted traffic is one of the most efficient and effective methods to do so.

What are the KPI’s that you track among your team members?

What you track will be the focus of your team. Ascertain that they are concentrating on the most efficient sales activity. KPIs, or key performance indicators, are leading indicators or signposts that help sales professionals and their managers determine the effectiveness of their efforts. Sales KPIs are the measures you’ll use to assess your team’s performance in relation to your sales and organizational objectives.

You can streamline your sales process and guarantee that you and your team are prioritizing the proper activities for maximum performance by measuring the right sales KPIs.

Learn more about the guest - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrimaymohanty/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

On our fifth episode of the Master of Sales Podcast, we had the honour of hosting Shrimay Mohanty. He is Experienced in Finance Buisness. Partner with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. He is currently part of a recur team.

According to him it is very important to understand and listen to clients and what they want and then provide a solution.

How do you motivate people to give their best performance?

• People should have their own drive to wake up every day and work towards it.
• It is important for the salesperson to be able to engage in the conversation and keep the conversation going.
• The sales leader has to empower and encourage the employees that the sales can be done. While salespeople must find significance in their profession, they must also believe that their supervisor and company value their efforts in order to stay motivated.
• Failures and rejections happen more frequently in sales than little and significant triumphs, it’s easier to dwell on them. Ask salespeople to keep track of everyday successes – even if it’s only the tiny things that made them happy, like a fantastic discussion with a customer – and send you a message about them.
• Encourage salespeople to be entrepreneurs by cultivating ideas to grow business. Give them the time, freedom and space to try their ideas.
• Anyone in the sales profession faces negative situations weekly, if not daily – rejection, anger, confusion. It’s difficult to rise above all the challenges and stay motivated day-in, day-out.
• Each salesperson is driven by a different set of motivations. Some people will prefer one benefit over another. Celebrate each milestone with them.

What are the KPI’s that you track?

Internal innovation teams are frequently entrusted with comparing their KPIs (key performance indicators) to their company’s quarterly or annual goals. The problem is that KPIs assess teams and business units based on their success (or lack thereof), are sluggish to adapt, and do not value learning and failure.

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are indicators that show how well a company is meeting its objectives. Teams and business units are frequently judged on their ability to fulfil these goals.

OKR (Objectives and Key Results): are metrics that show how well a company or team is fulfilling its goals. Objectives are statements about what a team wants to accomplish; they are designed to be bold and ambitious in order to push the team to new heights. The measurements taken to track the development of each target are known as key results. The goals are qualitative, but the essential outcomes are quantitative.

What’s your ideal sales process?

A sales process is a blueprint for accomplishing sales goals and having sales reps replicate a desired level of performance. It lays out a step-by-step process that a salesman can follow to convert an early-stage lead into a new customer. Several different selling activities may be included in each step of the sales process.

You need to understand everything about the product that you’re selling. Once you understand the product you’ll understand the niche, what’s your target audience, then prospect.

On our third episode of the Master of Sales Podcast, we had the honour of hosting Sangram Kumar Swain. Sangram is the Business Head and Vice President of Sales at Pert.

Sangram is a business leader in the consumer electronics industry and is a seasoned sales coach.

In his younger days, Sangram was passionate about theatre and wanted to pursue a career in it but his family hoped that he would join the Defence Force or take up a government job.

He had different plans and dreams for himself and set out to create his own story.

He looked at the different things he could do and around 2003, he took up a job in the IT sector, which was booming then. In the companies where he worked, his colleagues noticed that he had great convincing skills as he was able to get a lot of people to sign up for their training programs. That’s when it dawned upon him that he could combine his technical expertise and his ability to convince people to become a good salesperson.

According to Sangram, he didn’t choose sales but sales chose him.

Sangram believes that it is the market that trains you.

He created a formula for success which has helped him and his team immensely.

Sangram calls it the ‘STUPID’ formula, where the letters stand for different factors that contribute to effective selling. They are :

S stands for ‘storytelling’. In sales, you have to be a great storyteller.

“The story makes your product extraordinary”

T represents the ‘technology’ involved in the product that you’re selling.

If technology doesn’t apply to your product, the letter T could refer to the ‘trust’ that you generate in your customers.

U stands for ‘usability’ or ‘utility’ of the product. This could include the benefits of the product.

P stands for the ‘price’ of the product. The letter ‘P’ could also mean ‘picturization’ of the product; where you picture how the product will solve a customer’s problem.

I denotes ‘interest generation’ where you draw the attention of your customers.

D stands for ‘demonstration’, where you show how the product or service works.

For closing deals, Sangram crafted another formula called FAN where:

F stands for ‘follow-ups’

A for ‘Act on your observation’

N for ‘Nurture it’

According to Sangram, it’s important for you to stay motivated to be able to help your team.

Sangram believes in leading by example. He believes in moving with his team and helping them close deals.

His team inspires him to work harder.

Learn more about the guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhilm/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

For our maiden episode, we had the absolute pleasure of hosting Akhil Minocha, the ex-Vice President of Sales, Asia Pacific at Persistent Systems. Akhil was responsible for sales of Persistent system’s software products covering infrastructure software namely security, analytics, cloud, and API monetization.

Having begun his long-standing career back in the year 1997, Akhil is indeed a seasoned professional.

In the early stages of his career, he took on revenue roles which included business development, partnerships and alliances. He took on a prominent role in sales in the year 2012 and has never looked back.

Akhil has been in the industry for over 24 years and he vouches that a career in sales is one of the most interesting roles that anyone can take up.

Here are the main takeaways from our conversation.

Based on Akhil’s vast experience, he believes that these are the top 3 traits that sales reps need to possess:

This is one of the foremost attributes necessary in sales. Be persistent, look for the exceptions and find ways to convince your client and convert the opportunity into a deal.

Get into a conversation keeping your ego aside and not letting yourself feel insulted at any point in time. Instead, take the lead and drive the conversation.

“Keep your ego back at home… Be ready to have straightforward or straight-jacketed conversations”

Communication is one of the most important traits required in sales. Your lead will convert into an opportunity depending on the kind of message you put out. Give careful thought to your messaging especially if it is written communication.

Salespeople are expected to bring in business day after day and quarter after quarter; and if they fail, companies start losing confidence in them. On the contrary, Akhil believes that companies must treat sales reps as exceptional resources.

There are times when salespeople face rejection and failure. It’s important to analyze what went wrong in these situations, correct yourself and get back to building more opportunities.

Here are some tips from Akhil on how sales leaders can steer their teams to success:

• You should be exemplary in your contribution and lead your team by example.
• Let your team members know that they are not alone and they can reach out to you whenever required.
• Share your expertise that can help them in their journey.
• Create boundaries for your reps but encourage them to take initiatives and explore opportunities for success.

The telecom, media and technology sectors have seen considerable change over the years. Akhil pointed out that there is a convergence of sorts now and they operate from a cohesive space.

Learn more about the guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jainsheetal/  

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

For our second episode of the Master of Sales Podcast, we had the great pleasure of hosting Sheetal Jain. Sheetal heads Signzy’s Sales and Business Development efforts in India and South East Asia.

She is an experienced leader in the FinTech space. Her career spans over 20 years during which she was instrumental in leading many successful GTM strategies and played a key role in building and mentoring many teams. She was an integral part of the leadership team that developed web-based platforms and enabled APIs for the BFSI market.

She says that her entry into sales was an accidental one. She spent the early years of her career in the corporate funding and research fields.

Her success story in sales stems from the fact that she loves identifying customer pain points and offering them solutions to solve their problems.

Sheetal believes that there is a misconception regarding sales — that salespeople are like snake charmers who entice people to buy products. However, that’s not the case. Salespeople are problem solvers and solution finders.

Sheetal cites that the transition is simple if you as a salesperson are convinced about a product.

” When you are trying to sell a product which you are not convinced about, it’s difficult to sell anything.”

It’s important for you to understand the product; and when you are convinced about a product, you are not just a salesperson but you transform into a problem solver for your client.

“You will not be able to sell if you don’t understand your product.”

Digitization has brought buyers and sellers closer. Today, you cannot sell something to a client and just walk away. The customer trusts you and you have to be there every step of the way.

Sheetal believes that when salespeople go to customers and understand for themselves what the customers’ pain points are, they then start believing in the product.

As a sales leader, you need to work alongside your team. By giving them the right answers to their questions, you will be able to convince them about the product.

You have to let them know that it’s good to have competition. Competition simply implies that your product is in demand and that is why multiple players are trying to sell the same product.

What matters is:

• Is your product performing better?
• Do you understand the customer better?
• Do you have a stronger relationship with the client?

“Teams see the ownership that you take on the account and follow the leader ”

Salespeople live by each sales quarter. At the start of a quarter, you may be looking at how many leads you have in the pipeline. Halfway through the quarter, you realize that you have a lot of ground to cover and by the end of the quarter you give it your all to finish well and achieve sales goals.

Sheetal rightly points out that if you don’t enjoy the drill, you are not a salesperson, to begin with.