Ideas, Innovation

Solving the healthcare crisis

A couple of weeks back, I was attending my cousin’s marriage ceremony in Chennai and my father got fever. He was also complaining of cough and difficulty in breathing. We took him to a clinic where a doctor gave some medication. We came back to our hometown (Bangalore) the next day and took him to a hospital to do continue the treatment as the breathlessness did  not go away. The doctor who attended my father immediately asked him to get admitted in the hospital to enable better care. He was kept in the Intensive care unit for some time under observation and […]

Sales

The changing role of a sales executive

In today’s environment, sales executives serve one purpose – to sell your products and services to your prospects and customers. In a B2B environment, we are slowly realizing that the nature of how we sell has and is changing rapidly. We started with selling products and services based on features and benefits. Then we moved towards solutions selling. Slowly, but steadily, we are now moving towards consultative selling or even challenger selling models. All of these models are still geared towards the “Push” model of selling. We have built a product or service, it will will help you solve a […]

Business Model, Innovation

Lessons in innovation from a retailer

Now let me ask you a very important question. Please think well and through before you answer this: What happens if you are forced to put an expiry date on every product or service that you create? What if you have to take the product or service off your price list at the end of the expiry date, irrespective of how well the product or service did business for you.. Now, if your business is like any other business that I know of, this is a scary thought.. Scary enough to start thinking about bankruptcy.. However, this is exactly what […]

Ideas, Leadership

When someone says “why reinvent the wheel?”

When someone says “Why reinvent the wheel?” , I am tempted to think that the person is trying to maintain the status quo and avoid change, change that is inevitable, change that is better embraced than resisted. I do agree that there could be times and situations where you really do not need to reinvent the wheel.  However, I believe that if you put your thoughts on a topic, you can always find ways to improve upon your previous attempts. It is even more important if you are talking about any of the important functions in your organizations like sales, […]

Leadership

3 things you can do daily to become a highly successful leader

I have come to believe that the things that matter most in any relationship, this includes your relationship with your direct reports as well, is the small things that you do daily. Here are 3 things that you can start doing today to improve your relationship with your team: Talk to everyone in your team at the start of the day. Everyday. This can be for a minute or 5 minutes. But do this as a ritual. You can say hi or ask them how did that meeting go or how was their day yesterday or even inquire about their family if […]