Whats the right word!!

So what language do you speak in English ?

English is a funny language and to confuse more we have the American English and the British English. The accents while speaking can confuse if you are wrong or the creators of this language.To top it, we have the slang and the most deadly one is the mixing of local accent to this.

Come in India, we make new babies of the language and ofcourse we name them. Why to follow the Americans or the British? the Indian follow his own style and add English at his will. For example a typical North Indian will speak Hinglish ( A mixture of Hindi and Indian English), a Marathi manoos will speak Minglish ( Marathi + Indian English) and so on....

A simple word "Office" in Minglish is pronounced as 'Hophis" :p

You travel different state and you will hear different accents that will make you feel if you are pronouncing the right way or them.

The confusion doesn't end here. If you travel South East Asia, you might give a small kick to yourselves as it will turn out that you speak too fast than the South East Asians. Ofcourse, you will be understood more than the Americans or the Brits because they speak the fastest and have crazy pronunciation according to many of the South East Asians I came across.

Indians are blessed with a great tongue and they know how to stress and I think they use Phonetics more than any other country today.To give you a small example, lets take the tiny amphibian " Turtle". If you are an Indian, I am sure, you will hit your hard palate with your tongue a definite two times while making the pronunciation. But visit anywhere in South East Asia and you can see and hear "Ta.te" Use phonetics when they pronounce and if you haven't seen a turtle, you will keep guessing the real meaning.

Indians will make sure they stress every letter carefully and will not care about facial expressions unlike many other neighboring countries. The letters "T' , "R", 'L" are created more for Indians than anyone else. Come South East Asia, all these letters are not in their pronouncing dictionary.

One of the countries I visited in this region, a local colleague there asked me if we have the " big Shoppy Mau Jian Cafu" ( as pronounced by him)  in India as well. This was a question he asked while we were travelling in a car. I could construct with my limited command over English that he meant " Big Shopping Mall Giant" . I intelligently replied that I never heard this name before and I thought we don't have it in India. Fortunately, a few minutes later, he took me near this mall and to my surprise, he asked me again, " Cafu, you dont have in India??"

It was " Carrefour'....  Ofcourse, we do have it India but we never pronounce it that way, do we??

So a simple way I adapt is to put some 'L', "R" and 'T" somewhere when i try phonetics in these countries. I suggest you all can do the same ;)

It took me a while to figure out when one of our partners commented on one of his staff member that he is an "ESSO". Sorry guys, its not easy as its an abusive word. Maybe I help you with the last letter O which by phonetics is " Hole".

Before you figure out what the word was, I thank you for having the patience to read my blog. Do come again and bless me :)

Review life!!

Happy Republic day to you dear Indian Reader!!

Its been a while to add some good contribution to my personal blog. Handling a company blog is a daunting task which takes even the personal interest but this is my place so I can use all the time in the world :)

Today, Iam tempted to write a review on a great Marathi movie which I chanced upon yesterday night in a theatre nearby my place. I felt I need to make a review to my non-marathi friends and open up their minds to think about the next generation kids. Our kids are innocent and they are always curious to know things and we as a parent, as a guardian have a lot to think about and answer. We always have a tendency to avoid bad influences, shaky surroundings and we keep trying to avoid questions for which answers are not right for them to hear at their age. This movie is all about it.

The movie makes a great start by a Franklin D. Roosevelt quote “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future. ..

This movie takes a great point for discussion and dominates on the need to view few important points while upbringing our children. The name itself will ring bells for many as its called B.P. Yes, thats the name.

Before you bring your ethical devil out and start yelling, please read it till the end :)

The name B.P is abbreviated as Balak Palak ( literal translation : Child & Guardian). Ofcourse, it covers the same thing that you first thought after hearing the name. ( A Blue Film).

The story begins with a father who is completely disturbed and is thrashing his teenage son as he finds some adult CDs in his room. The boy confesses to have been seeing and takes the beating. The father is completely frustrated and the actual story begins when he asks his wife on what goes wrong. The wife narrates the story in a complete flashback mode.

The story revolves around 4 teenagers ( 2 boys and 2 girls) who are full of life. Four of them resemble the average teenagers that we know or resemble us when we were of that age. They are of the right age where there are no barriers, no evil thoughts, bubbly, naughty, mischievous  and just like any normal kid, they also have a lot of questions to be asked and answers to be obtained. For these kids, every day is a new adventure, new things to learn and just the right age to get influenced with evil things.

One afternoon, in the village where they live, when the kids are returning from the school, there is a lot of chaos in the neighbourhood. They get a glimpse of a 19 year old girl ( whom they know and have played with her) who is whisked away in a three wheeler accompanied by her parents amidst a lot of crowd and gathering. ( The background of this incident is that the girl had an affair and was impregnated.) Naturally the kids have absolutely no clue of these things nor they understand any terms on how someone gets pregnant and so on. In all the chaos, they overhear a typical adult term used by a typical woman (a common character  interested more in interfering others lives)  in the village.  The term used in Marathi language in the film is " Shen Khalla ( literal translation : Ate cow dung :p) The same term is also used in Hindi as " Mu kala karke Aai. ( Blackened her face). :p

The kids somehow feel uncomfortable with the event and are confused. They try to ask each other as to what happened to that girl. Why did she ate "Cow Dung"? Why did the villagers gather for such a small issue? They feel there is something fishy about this remark. They finally promise each other to find out the real meaning for this word as they believe that the girl who got punished must have done something wrong.

Each of them try to check with their own parent as to whats the real meaning of that remark. What do you mean by "Shen Khalla?"  All of them get tight slaps and return as losers. Somehow, they become more curious as they feel everyone is trying to avoid the answer and are very secretive.After a lot of struggle, one of the boys gives an idea that they should meet one of his friend who lives in a slum area and is basically an orphan aged 15years or so. This slum dweller is a typical character whom every parent would like to ensure that their kids are isolated from. He is a school dropout, has all the bad habits, knows more than an average boy of his age should know and has unnecessary answers for everything ;)

The lives of the four kids change drastically as soon as he is introduced in their group. This slum boy makes them understand on how girls get pregnant and gives them a lot of books to read and spoils all the innocence. The kids get influenced and within a short span of time, they get engaged in activities like reading porn books, doing extra work to collect money so that they can buy a porn video and watch it together. The entire outlook of seeing the world from the innocent eyes change. One of the boys and girl get attracted to each other and fall in love, while the other boy gets attracted to a girl aged 22years in the same neighbourhood. The young girl initially doesnt realise that the boy is attracted to her but he does a lot of crazy things like following her repeatedly, making regular advances by shaking hands, trying to sit next to her every now and then.

All hell breaks loose when this kid proposes the 22 year old girl :D and then she realises that he and the other three kids whom she knows personally are undergoing a lot of changes in them. She decides not to complain to anyone as it might become a big issue. She becomes concerned with the developments in the kids lives and fears that they might do something wrong. Tomorrow the kid might try to be cosy and befriend someone else. It was important to somehow change the thinking of these young teenagers.

She involves an elderly person, popularly called as Uncle, from the same village who is respected by all the villagers and is the moral police for all the young children. Together with him, they first decide to speak to one of the kids parent. He meets the boys father and tries to convey the message via a story in which he claims that a teenager of his sons age proposes to a 22 year old girl. He also mentions that it is not love but out of lust. The father, typically, an ignorant soul laughs at the story and makes fun. He claims if it was his son, it would have never happened and even if it would have, he would have killed him.

Uncle decides that it would be a disaster if he mentions to this father that it was his own son who did it. He believes that if the kids are wrong, someone has to ensure they are appraised with it and prove them it was wrong. Every kid at this age has a lot of question, and there is a need to listen to them, answer them. If it is not attended, they have their own way to get the answers and this is how they do it. There are a lot of bad influences like the Slumdweller kid and there is a need to ensure the kids do not search for their answers contacting such people.

He teams up with the 22year old girl and asks her to make the kids comfortable. She smartly convinces the kids that she also would be happy to enjoy the video that they saw earlier and manages all of them at one place. Everything is set and the teenagers are about to start watching the movie when suddenly the door bell rings. Seeing the elderly uncle makes it a very tensed situation however Uncle decides to make them comfortable and informs them that he knows what they are upto. He claims he is also interested to see it along with them. The Kids are puzzled and try to avoid the embarrassing situation to sit with an elderly man.

He tells them that he knows each and everything about them and has been watching them closely. He reveals that he also knew that one of the boys proposed the young girl. He explains them that being kids is the best thing in life and what they been now doing will only loose their innocence. He explains them that things they are watching are ugly and are presented in a very ugly way. There will be a time in life when they will actually enjoy such things in the most beautiful way. All the first things that time will be stale for them and it will also spoil the current way of looking at people. He explains them that its not a crime to know about these things however there is always a definite time for everything. He also agrees that their parents do a mistake by ignoring these things and do not explain it to their kids. He suggests them to keep chatting with their parents and add two extra friends instead of adding the likes of the slum dweller boy. He says they should keep making a try and have a constant dialog with their parents and the same should happen for parents. They also should try to slowly educate their kids.

The story ends here from the flashback and the wife who narrates the story turns out to be one of the 4 teenagers and her husband is the other. They realise that they have a lot of such negative influence in todays world like Internet, mobile phones etc. There is a need to accept these things in life and ensure to have constant chat with your kids. They decide to forgive the mistake of their child who was caught by the father and make a fresh start again in adding value and educating the child on things they are curious for.

Untitled Story

Confessions of a Taxi Driver

Its  been a real long time I haven’t been able to give some extra time to my blogging talent. The creative bugger inside me restrained to write the same vehicle and travel stories time and again. It says enough of the local trains, Autowallahs and high time I try to give some entertaining stuff to my beloved readers.

Funny, but all these thoughts poured in while I was travelling for yet another business trip, this time in my regular Pre-paid Taxi.  I was to catch a flight for my second home ( Chennai). Yes, it’s a second home as my work office is based there and it’s the place that I travel most only second to my in-laws house :p  Just kidding.

Alright, so amidst all this thinking, I was getting interrupted and invaded by a great Character Santosh Tiwari, who is supposed to be my regular taxi driver on every trip. Ladies and Gentleman, its my pleasure to share with you some good, bad and ugly stories of my new found character. I have been able to gather or lets say still gathering these entertaining, confused or lets say twisted life of Santosh only due to my frequent travelling. Thanks to Mumbai traffic that each of my trip gives me roughly around 4 hours ( to and fro) with this crazy yet simple man who was all the time narrating his activities in life whether Iam interested or not  ;) Courtesy to Santosh that I have almost travelled in every type of a Radio Taxi in Mumbai as like every other Radio taxi driver, he has managed to promote him more than the Radio Taxi he drives in. For travelers like us, just like Hotels where we stay, we get used to with taxi drivers if we travel more than a couple of times. For me, I feel very secured and safe to travel with a known driver than a real stranger every time as I travel so often and many a times unknowingly, we expose ourselves to them. There are times when I need to travel mid-night or sometimes really early up in the morning which is why I chose to have a regular taxi driver for myself.

 Santosh is a nice talkative, emotional, punctual, honest, dedicated man of around 35 years of age. Average physique and looks that qualify him as a typical Bihari Babu however his command on Marathi language cuts him above the rest of his breed. Specially imported from Bihar roughly 20 years ago, he can speak very good Marathi which can shy the proud Marathi manoos. He started driving Auto in the initial years and has had a troubled life like many others who come to Mumbai to make a living. Has two dependants in his family, a dedicated wife and an ailing son roughly around 9 years of age. Just like any other driver, he has to ensure he pays daily a specific amount to his employer ( Some Radio Taxi agency) and earn himself the balance which is handful to make both ends meet.

So far so good but there is a flip side for his personality and it is this side which tempted me to write about him. Santosh is a family man but is managing two families at a time which makes it a gharwali – baharwali episode. Cant say a story as I get his developments in bits and pieces like a typical TV soap as and when I catch up with him during my travels :D :p  Due to time constraint, I will break up my blog into small episodes which will make you eagerly wait for more to come.

Stay tuned to read on how Santosh  started his innings as a caretaker for the second family ;) Whats the story of his ailing son? 

Spirit of Mumbai : Auto Rickshaws!!

Auto -wallah - A True Character !!

As a salesman, the traveller in me, likes every kind of travel, be it air, trains, car, bus or for that matter even an Auto rickshaw seems to be the best option.

If you are planning to catch a flight and are in Mumbai, the best option whether you like it or not, is an Auto especially when in the evening peak hours ( anytime between 5.00pm to 10pm). Ofcourse, if you stay at the outskirts, it is common sense to come by a local train to the nearest station on the Central line like Kurla or Ghatkopar and take an Auto to reach the Airport. Anyways, don’t want to sound like a travel guide here :p

Auto Rickshaw, are cool means of travel in Mumbai when you need to travel faster. YES, faster in the peak traffic hours. Even if you have the most luxurious, most expensive car or taxi in Mumbai, be sure, you cannot win the race with our Auto-wallahs ;)

I wonder who invented the name Rickshaw for these three- wheelers. Probably, Shaw – Wallace, the liquor manufacturers from India named it after one of their kids Rick Shaw :P ..... Just kidding

Don’t go with their size and shapes, they can be the best fit for travelers like us when you are in real need to reach your destination faster than the destined Mumbai traffic time.

I have always found it entertaining to travel in these Auto Rick – Shaws as they inspire you when you are really down and depress you when you are really on a high ;)  Here the pronoun “they” stands for our great character “ Auto wallah”. Enter an auto rick shaw and you will find at your service, the stylish, the sluggish, the Spy, the ugly, the smart, the rude and please put some more nice adjectives as complimentory offer from me,  to our super character “Autowallah”

Amchi Mumbai is changing and so are our mama – kaka Autowalla  who have been replaced by “ Bhai saab” and “Bhaiyyas” thanks to the convenience of Trains from Bihar, UP and West Bengal. The Marathi manoos, our kaka – mama’s, do have a demand but more for the local politicians who mention them quite often in their inspiring speeches.  Nevertheless, Mumbai is still the safest city for Rickshaw travel inspite of these cosmopolitan character Autowallahs.

I feel proud to hear many times, when I travel to Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai or other cities, I always get a mention that Mumbai is the safest of all with regards to Auto Rickshaws. Yes, our Autowallahs are having a great reputation J

Coming back to the introduction, our Autowallahs come in different characters, full of life. 

Character 1 :  You hire an auto, travel without a single word – pay the rent – over :D   We call these autowallah as the selective of the lot ;) These kind of drivers are choosy. They will choose the right people to talk to and will always respect the frame of your mind.

Character 2 : You hire an auto, travel . You start a conversation for 5 minutes and end up the next 10 minutes saying “ Hmmm”, “ correct”, “Yes” and “ No”. You try hard to stop and ignore, but they will make sure you listen :D  we call them Time Bomb. You speak and trigger them, they will ensure they make good noise :p

Character 3 : You hire an Auto, travel . This Autowallah will interview and scan you on your job, your family, your general knowledge,your purpose in life and probably things which you never knew about yourself. He will continue this till you get out of the auto. He might also give you some good tips on the way. Be sure you engage in this conversation since most of the time, he will keep checking you from the mirror. Better listen to him and avoid an accident. We call them “ The Reporters” as you gain some extra knowledge that specific day :D

Character 4 : Iam sure I don’t need to introduce this guy as most of you might have tried these types. You hire him as you need to reach somewhere on time. Be sure, either he messes up the way or drives like a zombie. You keep yelling at him, but he don’t care. As if someone has given him a contract to make you late, he will keep his word. There are also sequel to such characters. They go in the next stage. You keep yelling and they show you how they can beat even a Michael Schumacher ;) We can only pray that we reach our destination in one piece ;) We call these type as “Zombies”

Character 5 :   They are music lovers. So much so that as soon as you enter they will start their Car stereo ( sorry but Akai or Takara haven’t yet innovated any Rickshaw stereo L ) Whether you follow the song ( as you might actually not be from Mumbai) , like the music, you have to hear it. On top, our character will ensure you hear his voice in chorus along with the lead singers ;) But most of the time, these autowallahs are disoriented. Be sure, you will be dropped either 1km ahead or before of your final destination … 

Iam sure there are many different characters and colours to these autowallahs and as a Mumbaikar, you can add maybe another 10 different types ;) 

But just like the local trains, life would have been so difficult without our Autowallahs, isn’t it? 

What say Mumbaikar??

Spirit of Mumbai : Local Trains!!

Typical day for a Mumbai Salesman 

It was a usual day for me like any other Mumbaikar. I had a meeting scheduled at 11am with a customer in Lower Parel. Staying in the outskirts of Mumbai might have an advantage on cost of living however if you want to reach the main city, you have to commute only by the Local Trains – a lifeline for every Mumbaikar. Specifically for a professional salesman like me, it can never be avoided.

If you have to travel by train, especially towards Mumbai during the peak time ( office hours), you need to ensure you have to have a cushion of minimum 2hours and today I made sure I am at the station by 9am. Its always a wonderful feeling to have a luxury of travelling I class, thanks to the profession and my company  as Iam entitled for it ;)  One big advantage to commute on I class ticket is that traveler, when he has to buy the ticket,  gets a special priority ( more like a frequent flier if you consider Air travel ), Ofcourse you spend 11 times more for a I class as compared to II class travel fares. I managed a ticket from the ticket window irritating and bypassing many other II class passengers,  who seem to be spending half of their lives standing in Queues on such ticket windows L  As expected  an old man on the II class queue  tried to stop by pointing me on the long queue however his expressions changed to frustration after I declared my class of travel. I feel bad but sometimes you cant help as it doesn’t make sense to stand in a long IInd class queue to get a I class ticket.

Fresh morning with a fresh energy, I decided to go by a fast train as it can save atleast half an hour. I had anticipated the crowd specially at the peak timings which I planned today but confidence shatters when you see human beings as honey bees  trying to get inside the comb L It was a typical day for any Mumbaikar but for me, especially after spending 3 years in Chennai, I have lost my agility especially when I need to catch a train.

A good thing about the Mumbai local trains is that every 5 minutes, during the peak hours, there is a train and just in case you miss one, you always have the next. I was sure that I can atleast board the train somehow as I had a I class ticket and you have special I class compartments for executives like us J

The train arrival was announced and it was suppose to come in any moment. I was waiting like every other fellow passenger at the red and green stripe area that indicates the I class coach. If you want to see unity in diversity, you should stand in any of these stations in Mumbai. I looked around and found a lot of people in these crowds are like teams. Most of them work either at one place, or one town or have been travelling since ages with each other on the same train at the same time scheduled. One thing you can learn from these commuters is there is no hierarchy in these teams. Ofcourse, in terms of noise making or singing or eating Gutkhas, they have self - proclaimed leaders.  You can hear different languages standing just at one place – be it Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Bihari, Marathi . And for the record, each one of them is a Mumbaikar here J :p

Train arrived. I managed to go forward two steps and had to back off as I couldn’t manage even to reach near the door. A disadvantage of I class travel is that in these local trains, the I class compartments are very less.  A single coach can take around 72 passengers inside these local train but as if Mumbaikars have to teach a lesson to Jessop ( the Kolkata Coach manufacturer),  a typical peak hour train carries around  300 passengers in just one coach. ( A train unfortunately has only 9 or 12 coaches) . And if you thought this is a bit too much, there are more ambitious traveler who prefer the roof more than entering inside the coaches J These are the kids with young blood  who frequent roof top policy. They are a treat to watch for onlookers and each of these commuters think themselves as some superstar ;)

 After spending ( should I write wasting) 15 minutes and making three sincere attempts to board the train, I decided to change the platform and opt for a slow local as I was now desperate to start. I took the overbridge on the station and tried my luck with two slow local trains ( Slow local train have good frequencies with regards to availability but are around 20 minutes slower). The I class compartments here were more crowded than the fast ones. Finally, the third train which I was about to miss somehow worked on me and I decided to try the II class compartment. I ran to the nearest coach and to my surprise, I could manage to keep my foot inside the train this time.

One more thing to know about Mumbai trains is that once you keep a foot overboard, you need not worry if you can get inside, because there are other passengers who, like you, want to board the train. They make sure , you get the right throttle behind you J 

I was in. J

My three years in Chennai made me out of date for the train travel as I failed to see commuters having their sacks do not take it on their backs. New rules declared by your fellow passengers dictates that it should be taken on the front. I could barely move my hand inside as I was surrounded by almost 50 people In every angle we have learnt in trigonometry. My axe deodorant axed me as I was getting different scents from every side. Should I say scent or odour? I don’t know how you will name a mixture of this two together. On top, with every passing station, the crowd was just increasing.  I can now understand a feeling of clay when it is pressed inside a mould. One good thing about travelling in winter time is that you don’t need to really wear a woolen clothing here, specially, when you are travelling in peak hours. The warmth that you get will shy a good heating device ;)

I had roughly  thirty more minutes to go amidst all these funny, crazy, dizzy smells and free thai massage. I wonder if the state government here has some tie ups with Thai companies running massage parlours . Iam sure they might have learnt some good tricks in these Mumbai local trains. If you have a body ache, be sure, you will get cured if you travel in such nice trains. And if you don’t have, be sure, you get one free as a compliment for the travel ;)

Standing helplessly between 8 shoulders, you have no option but to listen to some good gossips happening around. I could hear an old man chatting to some fellow companions on how much he was drunk on the 31^st night and how he spent on his friends. I could hear two people fighting somewhere inside the compartment on seats. Seems one of the fellow standing next to a commuter, who had managed a seat for himself, stamped on his feets. Both were cursing each other alternately. I could hear some bhajans being sung and my neighbor with his 10kgs of castor oil-filled head was engrossed in sync with these bhajans. I somehow managed myself to avoid free oil massage on my right cheek. I managed to use my elbow to set him right without really offending him. I don’t remember if had any better use of my elbow before this.

One of my co-passenger who seem to be quite happy and peaceful earlier exposed himself as soon as his Mobile phone with the latest “Chikni Chameli” buzzed with high decibels. He was mid 30s and seem to be working for a good company as an executive. Ofcourse, I didn’t make these impressions in the critical position I was in at that moment, but I had seen him on the platform where he waited like me. He tried hard to be soft on the call he was attending. Without any guesses, it was his better half on the other side of the line. The problem here in trains is that even if you don’t want, you have to hear conversations. Poor fellow tried hard to keep his voice low but the fight which started when he was leaving home had to continue and seems it was this time.  The soft voice was soon distressed voice and later a bit aggressive. In the next ten minutes, the crowd that surrounded me was more silent than the other noises as our fellow here was giving free education to all the husbands on how you shouldn’t talk to your wife ;)

Fortunately, by 10.45, my train reached Dadar station and like a joy slide, or the descent from the mountain, to get off a train is simple, when you have so much of crowd at your service. Simply follow the flow and you are outside on the station.

After an entertaining travel of 1 and half hours, with complimetory Thai massage, my clothes were crumpled L and disoriented. I wonder next time if  my clothes get ironed if I use a crumpled one ;)

Finally, I was ready to meet my first client for the day.  A typical day for many I class passengers like me who buy a ticket of I class but end up boarding a II class compartment. At times, I have also tried the luggage compartment which is even more comfortable than the II class with regards to crowd these days in Mumbai L

Where are we heading my dear Mumbaikar?

Sales Life : A simple way to succeed

Success is not a destination, but a continuous process!! The day you decide you are successful, you can become complacent. With every moment of success, you start getting a grip of your sales career and you become more confident and the journey towards success starts.

I have seen many successful sales and marketing professionals rise and fall from a very good position at the beginning of their peak. These are the ones who are following success but success never follows them. Some good achievements make them supermen and they live in these fantasies and become junk within no time. They too have defining and glorious moments in their early stages however, the problem starts when they rate themselves too big and fall prey too quickly on offers that are mainly meant for using them. Result is that these so called self-successful people have limited life in their new ventures and most often exposed on their limitations. Their career ends too early and are known to only those who experienced their success in those early days.

Look around and you will find many such good professionals whom you had rated very high but are lost somewhere in the No Mans world. Success is an addiction for some and things start becoming ugly when they self rate themselves higher than their current profile.

Their is no harm in aspiring for bigger positions or bigger packages in your early stages. Rather, one should have such ambitions that motivates him to perform and grow. As a professional myself, I would suggest the following key points that can lead to a stable an successful career at the very beginning of your sales career;

• Right Field : Choose the right field. It means the right products, right company irrelevant of what is offered. If you are good, you will get more than what you expected in a very short time.
• Be Present : Make sure you are visible. By visible, I mean in every sense. Make sure you report every move you take in the interest of your company. Try to put forth some new ideas which you think are new and do not ignore such inner qualities within yourself thinking that the company must have already tried such things. Make sure you speak out. Let the message get passed that you are the new contributor to ideas. 
• Clear your Basics : Maybe you have the best technical brain or maybe you had a good academic career still in the sales front, before you apply yourself on the field, make sure your basic queries are cleared. Do not hesitate to ask any silly question to your superior or colleague or even your friend who is working in similar fields. The better your basics, the best is your chance to make a mark on your customer. In the end, you have to sell yourself first to sell your product, although not literally.In other words, a customer will buy your product  only when he trusts you. 
• Have a vision : Make sure you have a vision for your professional life. A vision is a light house in your professional career and guides you at your target every time you loose your focus. Without a vision, you will make mistakes and loose important time.
• Job Changes : Never compare yourself with your friends, colleagues, neighbors or relatives when it comes to your job. You are precious and you know this better than anyone in this entire world. But for that you have to have patience. Just because someone else grows with a change in job, it doesn't make you small in front of them. You should grow at your pace. Change the job if you are having problems that cannot be solved. Most of the time, problems are self created and the solution also lies with ourselves. In my view, change the job if you are not being recognized, or if the company has no vision, or you are uncomfortable with the solutions or products offered or your growth is very less. Salary is important but should never be the deciding factor in changing the job. If you feel you are the best and doing a great job, be sure, the company has the same view, and they will ensure maximum that you are always comfortable. If they don't, they are sure that they will loose you. Also, make sure your needs are proportionate to the company's growth. A growing company will always give a stable income growth than a stable or saturated company which offers high income added with extra stress ;) Even if you are successful, if your company and you yourself have a definite vision, the combination can do wonders.
• Team Player : Even if you have played an anchor innings in the successful deal or project order, make sure you share the achievements. Nothing can be achieved solo in this career. Its all a team game. Be on ground always and make sure you praise everyone who are involved in your achievements. It will make a good character of you and you will always be a man which every team will need. 

In short, in the fast paced sales career, make sure you make it simple and successful. In the long run, those who went faster in front of you, will never even scale heights that you reach with this. Be a role model and a guide to all those who might get lost mid way in their early stages of professional sales life!!!

Sales Talk : Competition Story

Fighting Competition!!!

Recently in one of my half yearly review meetings, I came across one of my team members that they are being disturbed unnecessarily by a competitor in most of the major enquiries they come across for the company we work for. The major issue here was that more than half of  employees working with this competitor are our ex-employees, and they have similar product with around 75 percent similar advantages like our products. The company, they work for, is not bad, although the activities on marketing needs a lot of questions.

Instead of merits on their products, the competition here was promoting products as " Similar to our Products" and using every negative marketing strategy you could think of. Most of the time, they work on the enquiries generated for our products and throw prices to somehow spoil or grab our orders. Result was always discouraging to our team members as they would loose out on margins on orders. To some extent, a couple of orders have also gone where the purchase guys had no option but to place an order on the low pricing.

Our team members even tried to help customers in understanding the features and prompting them on benefits when the competition had counter offered. However, some of these steps were fruitful and some were not.

As I knew many of our employees, rather our ex-employees, I decided to check how they respond to enquiries when they get. The ex-engineer in question here in this region, who is a regional Manager with this competitor, knew me as the others and I decided to check on their strategy. Since my team member had this ex-engineers mobile number, i decided to make a surprise call to him. ( He didnt had my number so could not have known that it was me)

Following conversation took place between us; ( Here I will mention him as a EX  and for the record.. he still uses the same number for this competitor when he was working with us)

Call got connected...

Me : Hello!!  Is it Ex?
Ex : Yes, who is it? ( Obviously he didnt recognise me)
Me :  I need a Hensel ( My company) Junction Box. Can you please help me?
Ex :  Yes sir, but I am not working with Hensel ( I was relieved to hear that he was truthful). I can give similar product from another German company.
Me : No, but I like Hensel and I need only that product.
Ex : Sir, my product is better than Hensel. It is also Polycarbonate ( Generally, we stress on the material properties and he used the same here with the competiton)
Me : No, But the temperature range is better with Hensel. I know your company doesnt has such a good rating. ( I wanted to test him on some features of our products)
Ex : No sir, We offer a range that can sustain upto 80 degrees Celcius.
Me : But Hensel is better, it is upto 120 degrees.
Ex : ( Confused) No sir. we offer Ambient temperature upto 80 deg. We have 130 degrees fire retardant.
Me : ( Trying to show as if Iam not convinced) What? What are you talking about? What is the temperature resistance? Iam asking temperature resistance and you are talking on flame retardant features..
Ex :  ( Confused again ) Sir, Ambient is 80 deg and glow wire test 130 deg
Me : ( Angry on him as Iam more technically sound as a customer) How can you say this? If you dont know correctly, you should say, I dont know sir and I will let you know. Do you know the meaning of Ambient?
Ex : ( This time he is more angry on me.. and remember Iam actually a customer to him ) Sir who gave you my number???
Me : Why? I have your name card with me? Iam new in this company but it seems when you were working in Hensel, you had visited us and given your visiting card. Why are you getting angry? In fact I need to now speak to someone superior in your company? ( I was a bit harsh this time)
Ex : Iam not angry but you are not understanding. ( Confused, and angry tone)
Me : Do you know what standard is referred for Flame / Fire retardant?  You dont know what is Ambient? How can you suggest me such a product when iam asking for something which i know and iam aware of.?         ( Loud Voice and Angry tone )
Ex : ( Angry again) I told you 130 degrees. you only called me and now why are you shouting.
Me : GIVE ME YOUR SUPERIORS NAME!! ( Real good angry tone this time)
Ex : Why should I give. Iam keeping the phone. If you dont want, you can hang up. ( He was about to disconnect the call this time)

The next instant, I introduced myself to him and told him to calm down. I told him who he was actually speaking to. Also laughed about this entire episode loudly so that he takes it in a lighter vein. But he was totally shaken.I told him how can he forget my voice. He replied that he really could not recognise me. I apologised him and told him that I got his number and remembered him as I came to know that he is able to take away some of our orders. He tried to tell me that he doesnt but confirmed that he tries quite hard. I jovially scolded him as an ex boss that he forgot everything that we trained him on. Simple features, he was not able to explain. After clearing a couple of doubts for him, I hung up.

All my team members were laughing on the entire telephonic conversation and they all took one point very nicely from this episode. They have concluded that next time, if they find such competitors ( Mainly followers of our success ),they will simply ask the customers to call them face to face and ask any technical questions on the product to both, us and them. They are confident that they can definitely have an upper edge always.

With due apologies to my ex-sales engineer and ex-managers, doing favors to competition, the above experience for me was quite entertaining and hence thought of sharing it here. I could only take one more important lesson, that if your roots are strong, ethics are in place, you need not worry about fighting competition. Leaders will always lead... others will follow!!