THE SUPERIORITY OF NUMBERS AND OTHER IRRELEVANT CONTENT

The United States of America.
Custer's last stand : The battle  of Little Bighorn 25th June 1876.

As the buffalo became scarcer, Indian tribes lives became hard. The Indians have had enough of being pushed into reservations too, the final straw being the US violation of  the treaty of Black Hills, and the unstoppable incursion of white Americans,
 as rumors circulated that gold (as in California) was there for the taking in the Black Hills. General George Armstrong Custer, a potential future US president, by nature headstrong, fought against forces led by the Indian Medicine Man and Chief "Sitting Bull" and Chief " Crazy Horse".
        Custer disregarded his scout's information that the Indian camps were enormous in size, and estimated about a thousand braves whereas, actually there was 2000-4000 Sioux braves. As was obvious, Custer and the US 7th Cavalry were wiped out, the only living being remaining being ironically Custer's horse 'Commanche'. Custer only had about 700 troopers  and then further proceeded to divide them into three units.

     No guys, you are still at the same site. I just started off in a different tack this time. Remember all the feedback you had to provide about competition including the market share variance if any and the order value of the competitors in the last quarter etc. Let's admit it this kind of data is impossible to give if you are selling capital equipment and your market is vast. I had often found myself as the sole person of my company in charge of everything of a state ( area  not less the entire UK). These forms were frustrating for so often you were required to give break-ups and they were huge waste of time. Moreover, it is quite probable that these forms were used as rough paper -no one ever read them-What do you do?-you collect market data or do you sell? I believe that the objective is served if your boss tells you what information he needs any time (when his boss calls him) and what he needs some time. You than satisfy his need by a mail/letter/fax whatever.
Simple, isn't it? The Indian mentality is to see if you have given the info in the form..Gee! Another example of why western sound marketing principles will not work in South East Asia, unless you tailor make them so as to suit the natural conditions.Coming back, the competition often had offices having three-four officers while I had to operate from my house, and they ruled.(I finally started targeting big customers and making my brand superior in numbers.and I kept my job that way)

          The point I want to make is FORGET all those things you may have heard about the quality of our sales people vs. theirs. These even out in the long run. What matters is how many players you have compared to the opposition. In an organizational perspective, it is the financial muscle you have.

  In this post,I want to continue my take (through Ries and Trout)on Karl Von Clausewitz's ideas and an important one is " Always keep your forces concentrated in an overpowering mass"-in other words' attack with all your resources at the decisive battle because history shows us that the army which is larger in size always wins. In WWII, had the US not joined the allies-giving them a huge superiority in numbers-the English and the French were being outfought and would have lost.   If you are American, than maybe your national anthem would have been "Dixie" if General Robert E. Lee had 25,000 more men. I did not know that either but the fact is that in Gettysburg ,1863 General Lee had 75,000 men while General Meade of the Union had 88,000 men. 

     

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL BIDDING : What to do and what not to do.

Just hope that someone finds my...

Hope that someone finds my...

Just hope that someone finds my..."MESSAGE IN A     BOTTLE"

..The Police

That will indeed be extreme i.e. you are so screwed up with your sales targets and actual results that you send a ‘message in a bottle’[ by the way did you know that Sting actually sent a message in a bottle..No? Well I’ve never heard of it too]. So now that I have your attention, let me give you some juicy and tender tips which if you know will boost your changes to win the tender. . Now, I don’t say win the tender but your chances to win it. And for those who are coming in just now, please note we are talking of Government and Public Sector Tenders.All these are stand-alone tips and this means you can do all or do one..it won’t matter excepting your chances will be enhanced to the same level.

So ready friends, here we go then:-

1. You may not have prepared the tender..maybe your sub-ordinates prepared it, maybe your boss prepared it..whatever. Do insist on your complete copy compiled exactly like the original. Go through the copy and and check if you understand each and every sentence. The key word here is understand  not agreement with. If say, you do not understand a particular sentence in the context, ask who prepared it continuously till you understand. Check the commercial terms basics. If the project is a big one and likely to take up time, checkup whether you have made your battery limits clear

2. Go through the RFP and ensure that your bid is exactly like it. Say, in the qualification criteria, there is a small hitch in your documents, make up a number ( two is enough) of replies if this is pointed out. Let us assume that you are 90% sure it will not come up, still do not ignore it.

3. If the ad says the closing time is within 1400 hours and you find that one tender has been dropped, yours is going to be no 2 then wait in the boss's office. Drop your tender in at the stroke. Say at 10 minutes past, somebody turns up huffing and puffing, he missed the bus and had to run…dept says well…but you say no.. stand in the way but if the department wants to allow him. You also allow but say that you’ll make a note in a semi-serious manner. All these varies actually depending upon your relationship strengths in the department. If you find that the tender's postponed at the last minute, go back with the tender collecting a copy of the notice. Do not drop the tender before time cos baby, that's what losers do.

4. The tender opening process. Don't try to say" Please once more" twice. You need to have your own shorthand system ready to note down the salient points. During the techno-commercial, ask questions to get to know your competitor's bid. You are entitled to know. Not everything needs to be noted down

5. The Ace card : Most Indian firms send their junior most people to tender openings which is an ace-in –the –hole card for you in two ways. You are the General Manager, and you are there whereas your competitor has only two Sales guys. The Boss-man has to be there-it is probably his office in the first place..he will love you. He won’t say anything but you and him are more similar in experience etc. and you are showing him respect. That’s an ace right down the middle: an enormous plus in your favor.  What you say or do will carry more weight now. Experience counts however but what if the boss is very close with the your competitor’s boss, sometimes it may not matter. Make it matter or give a complicated explanation to something which the other guys cannot participate in.

6. The tender opening of part 1 is complete. Everyone will start signing on the papers opened. They will bring a sheet to you to sign as the rep of your company. Here, refer back to point 3, and jokingly say that you are going to write a note, how X party was late and write it. Sometimes it is not necessary, but all those can be learned only with time.

Shake hands again, make small talk and then take your leave. Ensure your competitors leave before you

So next time we will see what is the next part ..For fun lets consider this day as Day 01. (Here day means calendar day, not a working day)

Bye then, till the next time

BILBO

NB: I don’t know what your philosophy of tendering is dear reader but mine is “ GET THE JOB AT ALL COSTS”. But no one can do that . Even DiMaggio’s streak had to end, so just add this line” IF I DON”T GET IT , I’LL ENSURE THAT NO OTHER S.O.B. GETS IT”. I have told you this because my blog posts will move as per that line. You should be knowing this beforehand, that’s what I feel.

Bye till the next time

WHY DALE CARNEGIE'S 'COMMON SENSE' IS TOTALLY UNCOMMON IN INDIA

REPOSTED ON POPULAR DEMAND


I have read the Carnegie classic " HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE
PEOPLE" ( and it is a classic) a "two decade" period back but the best 
illustration of my point is a story narrated in the book. ( Due to many years, the story may not be 100% accurate and my apologies).

   A Motor salesman visits a customer who is dissatisfied because the supplied motors    are  running hot. After some Q-A sessions, it comes out that the operator cannot place his hand on the motor comfortably. At this point, our salesman says bingo! but that's the point because the motors are supposed to run at 60 deg F and at this temperature, human skin  of the operator will have a natural aversion to the motor's body heat. 


So everyone is happy and our salesman comes out with applause and the confidence that the next motor order is in his pocket.


Now let's imagine the same thing in India. The salesman will be told ( first
 after some bullying by the guard) that the Purchase Manager is in a 
meeting. He goes away and next time comes with an appointment. The 
Purchase Manager meets him and expresses his disappointment with the 
salesman's motors. They run hot and are expensive!! The salesman wants 
to go to the shop but the operator is not in. Next day, he meets the 
operator who just says that his motors are hot. The salesman gives the 60
 deg F logic but the operator says no. He has other motors where he can
 place his hands and he has been running motors for 30 yrs, so...! The 
salesman slinks out of the factory with his tail between his legs and goes 
back to his office to lick his wounds. 

Does that sound familiar! so, what should the salesman do to receive 

the applause that Dale's salesman gets?? I'll explain in my next post 

but why don't you try to think about it yourself and post it here as a 

comment?

Bye for now... 

Bilbo 

THE " SUPERsalesMAN " SELF HELP BOOK

All those of you (if any) who are following this blog may now think "hey!..
wait-a-minute-if sellin' is so simple and can bring me so much money, then
what's the big deal?" Yes! ABSOLUTELY true. What's the big deal coz self
help books are there! And they must have some value otherwise why would people buy them! Some of these books DO help, maybe not in 60 or 90 minutes and specially if they are written in an entertaining style. (By entertaining style, I do not mean the Zok & Wok caveman language that some modern management gurus have now started writing in. I saw a book the other day featuring Zok & Wok on MS Powerpoint. Now if that's not an example of a book written far ahead of its time, i'll eat this blog).

But to really utilize a self-help sales book, you have to make certain corrections otherwise in place of earning a six figure salary towards the end of the book, you may be desperate enough to write blog content. So-what is this correction? is it viscosity, temperature? No? then what about Quantum radioactive rays? No-well then you tell me!!...
For a sales guide book to really help you to learn the basics, you've got to compensate for CULTURE SHOCK!!... Got it..?
Anyway-bye for now!
More on that nasty gollum "CULTURE SHOCK" in my next post.