Thursday, October 22, 2009
Opinion - Success - 1:1 !!
If you are not having a 1:1 with your higher-up on a regular basis (atleast once in 6 months) means you are not interested in your own growth. You need to drive this 1:1 with your boss. Do not expect your boss to call you to have this discussion. Boss will reach out to you only when he has a problem with you (well most of the times) !!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Sales Strategy - Prospect List !!
Acquiring new customers or building sales pipeline is an universal problem for companies. Here is a suggestion to build a prospect list.
If you are doing significant business with a customer who's really big (fortune 500 or billion dollar or more) consider their customers & vendors part of your prospect list. It is easier to reach out and play your success storey with these prospects than reaching out to completely new prospects. I am sure approaching the competitors of your customers is a very natural choice for most sales teams.
If you are doing significant business with a customer who's really big (fortune 500 or billion dollar or more) consider their customers & vendors part of your prospect list. It is easier to reach out and play your success storey with these prospects than reaching out to completely new prospects. I am sure approaching the competitors of your customers is a very natural choice for most sales teams.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Success means here !!!
My daughter Prithvi left home and moved into the dorm at UC Berkeley this weekend (08/22/09). Congratulations to her !! I dedicate this post to her future growth & success.
What does "success" mean to an individual? How do you define "success" in an individuals life? This is an important question every one should be thinking of. To answer this question better, this topic has to be looked at from
a) Individuals point of view
b) Family's point of view
c) Outsiders or public point of view
Reason I say this is that India's former president Dr. Abdul Kalam or Michael Jackson may be very successful people from public view point but may not be so from family side though. I am sure Dr. Kalam's family would have liked him to marry and settle down in life ? I am sure his intellectual genes were not passed to the next generation which is a huge miss to the world. Same is true with MJ who lived a life I am sure he didn't relish. He is a good example of money is not equal to success or money is not equal to peaceful life.
Back to my point that success should be defined and measured based on all 3 above I guess in the same order. You need to set goals and measure against your success. You as an individual should enjoy the success. Second comes your family who is all behind you should enjoy and support your path and be part of that growth. Third comes the public. You don't live for the public but they are equally important to trumpet your glory.
Let us break down a person's life into following age grouping if you will for this analysis.
Age 0 to 18
Age 18 to 24
Age 24 to 40
Age 40 to 60
Age 60 & above
Success in each age category means different things to a person. Every phase is as important as the other. To elaborate further
Age 0 to 18: You are measured based on how well you performed in school. How well you excelled in your extra curricular activities. Did you get into your college of choice and how that college is recognized in the outside world. Going back to my other theory this has to be analyzed based on how much are you satisfied with your performance, how much your close family is happy about your logical end at 18. How the public looked at you at the end of this phase. This phase your family is responsible for 90% of your success and 10% is yours.
Age 18 to 24: This is the bracket where you pursue your college life UG, Graduation, PG, Doctorate etc. This is the stage that lays foundation for you to launch a career. If you don't focus and take wrong decisions you will end up with wrong results. Lots of money(your parents ofcourse), your time goes into this phase of life which is very important as you are responsible for 90% of your success or failure and your parents may be 10% or less. Identification of the right life partner is part of this life.
Age 24 to 40: Success here means choosing the right career, partner & children. You are 100% responsible here. Very small or negligible percentage is from your family.
Age 40 to 60: How well you bring up your children or how well you pass on your tradition & culture to the next generation. You are measured by what your children do & what you contribute to the society. This phase you create a name for yourself or for your family. What you do during this phase will be the legacy you leave for the next generation.
Age 60 & Above: Phase where you plan for your next birth. Phase to enjoy the fruits of 60 years life. Slow down and think about how you can contribute to the society. How useful you can be to the world instead of living like a vegetable or a body passing time awaiting death. Important phase to think of what you want to hear from the next generation standing near your coffin !! How do you want your legacy to be remembered.
After Death: You are remembered not for your academic excellence but for the knowledge you passed to the next generations through your association with the community and the effort you spent in teaching your learning. You are not remembered for the wealth that you accumulated but for the wealth that you shared with others through community services activities.
Note: A person is successful when he or she has taken good care of health, education, finance, relationship with kith & kin & created the next generation.
What legacy are you leaving behind will sum it all?
What does "success" mean to an individual? How do you define "success" in an individuals life? This is an important question every one should be thinking of. To answer this question better, this topic has to be looked at from
a) Individuals point of view
b) Family's point of view
c) Outsiders or public point of view
Reason I say this is that India's former president Dr. Abdul Kalam or Michael Jackson may be very successful people from public view point but may not be so from family side though. I am sure Dr. Kalam's family would have liked him to marry and settle down in life ? I am sure his intellectual genes were not passed to the next generation which is a huge miss to the world. Same is true with MJ who lived a life I am sure he didn't relish. He is a good example of money is not equal to success or money is not equal to peaceful life.
Back to my point that success should be defined and measured based on all 3 above I guess in the same order. You need to set goals and measure against your success. You as an individual should enjoy the success. Second comes your family who is all behind you should enjoy and support your path and be part of that growth. Third comes the public. You don't live for the public but they are equally important to trumpet your glory.
Let us break down a person's life into following age grouping if you will for this analysis.
Age 0 to 18
Age 18 to 24
Age 24 to 40
Age 40 to 60
Age 60 & above
Success in each age category means different things to a person. Every phase is as important as the other. To elaborate further
Age 0 to 18: You are measured based on how well you performed in school. How well you excelled in your extra curricular activities. Did you get into your college of choice and how that college is recognized in the outside world. Going back to my other theory this has to be analyzed based on how much are you satisfied with your performance, how much your close family is happy about your logical end at 18. How the public looked at you at the end of this phase. This phase your family is responsible for 90% of your success and 10% is yours.
Age 18 to 24: This is the bracket where you pursue your college life UG, Graduation, PG, Doctorate etc. This is the stage that lays foundation for you to launch a career. If you don't focus and take wrong decisions you will end up with wrong results. Lots of money(your parents ofcourse), your time goes into this phase of life which is very important as you are responsible for 90% of your success or failure and your parents may be 10% or less. Identification of the right life partner is part of this life.
Age 24 to 40: Success here means choosing the right career, partner & children. You are 100% responsible here. Very small or negligible percentage is from your family.
Age 40 to 60: How well you bring up your children or how well you pass on your tradition & culture to the next generation. You are measured by what your children do & what you contribute to the society. This phase you create a name for yourself or for your family. What you do during this phase will be the legacy you leave for the next generation.
Age 60 & Above: Phase where you plan for your next birth. Phase to enjoy the fruits of 60 years life. Slow down and think about how you can contribute to the society. How useful you can be to the world instead of living like a vegetable or a body passing time awaiting death. Important phase to think of what you want to hear from the next generation standing near your coffin !! How do you want your legacy to be remembered.
After Death: You are remembered not for your academic excellence but for the knowledge you passed to the next generations through your association with the community and the effort you spent in teaching your learning. You are not remembered for the wealth that you accumulated but for the wealth that you shared with others through community services activities.
Note: A person is successful when he or she has taken good care of health, education, finance, relationship with kith & kin & created the next generation.
What legacy are you leaving behind will sum it all?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Fish Plural ... What the heck ?
Some times you wonder why people would have created things that complicate life. I am sure there must be reasons when it happened. But looking back you may not be able to comprehend why we follow such a thing today. One such that came to my mind is the use of singular and plural. Most of the things we add "s" or "es" to convert singular to plural but there are exceptions right. Why was that required in the first place and why can't that be changed today.
You know what I mean ? Why can't the plural for Fish be Fishes ? This will make teaching easy and will make it easy for people to remember right?
You know what I mean ? Why can't the plural for Fish be Fishes ? This will make teaching easy and will make it easy for people to remember right?
Monday, July 20, 2009
Get more than 24 hours in a day !!
If you think of it 24 hours is only an elapse time in a day. I don't have time ... Time flies ... It feels like ages ... are some of the comments you would hear from individuals when you meet them to talk about different subjects.
What really matters is not the total elapse time i.e. 24 hours in a day but how you use it. If you sit back and look at how you spent your time that day before you go to bed you can always find chunks of time that you could have used better. What this means is that if you were given 25 or 30 hours in a day you would have done the same thing (not made effective use of it).
My point here is that with your daily analysis of how you spent your time if you find ways to make effective use of 15 minutes or 30 minutes (improve the way you use it today) that will make a huge difference to your life !!
What really matters is not the total elapse time i.e. 24 hours in a day but how you use it. If you sit back and look at how you spent your time that day before you go to bed you can always find chunks of time that you could have used better. What this means is that if you were given 25 or 30 hours in a day you would have done the same thing (not made effective use of it).
My point here is that with your daily analysis of how you spent your time if you find ways to make effective use of 15 minutes or 30 minutes (improve the way you use it today) that will make a huge difference to your life !!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Winning a Raffle - Tip !!
I am sure most of you attend conferences & professional events. During those events you would have seen companies having booths to advertise their products. To attract visitors to their booth they will have raffle draw with attractive prizes. The way it normally works is that you drop your name card or staple your card to a small slip where you answer some questions.
Here is a tip to win the prize. If you just drop your card the probability of you winning the prize is 1 out of x cards thrown into the box. To increase your chance of winning what you can do is to bend or fold your card little bit before you drop it into the box. By doing so your card will stand out among all the ones thrown into the box. When the organizer shuffles the cards to pick one from the box there is very high probability of your card sticking out to win the prize. I have used this technique many times and has helped me to win prizes.
I hear you !! That's not cheating !!!!
Here is a tip to win the prize. If you just drop your card the probability of you winning the prize is 1 out of x cards thrown into the box. To increase your chance of winning what you can do is to bend or fold your card little bit before you drop it into the box. By doing so your card will stand out among all the ones thrown into the box. When the organizer shuffles the cards to pick one from the box there is very high probability of your card sticking out to win the prize. I have used this technique many times and has helped me to win prizes.
I hear you !! That's not cheating !!!!
Monday, May 11, 2009
How to say "No" to a Customer !!
If you are in the services business and your success depends on servicing customer needs I am sure your day to day life is pleasing customer demands. In today's recession hit economy you are dumped with requests for service that you don't own or not paid for as part of your contract. You might be servicing these request that are border line cases as there is no option for you to push back or say "No" to such requests.
It is important to learn the art of saying "No" to a customer in a manner that the customer can accept. It is hard but you need to think of ways you can convey the message based on your situation. I can think of few a here
1. Show them how the future would look if this precedence is set
2. You as an individual might have the competence today but may not be so if other individuals in your organization take over to do the same job. Since this is not part of your contract the new person may not be skilled to do this additional work
3. Extra time that will be spent on this new activity how it will affect the deliverable committed as part of your contract
4. Tell the customer that you may need to get approval from your supervisor
5. You may put it across in such a way that you are bending to accommodate this request one time but not every time it happens
6. Project it in such a way that you are working outside of your boundary to meet this request and get some extra credit from the customer for the work you are doing
It is important to learn the art of saying "No" to a customer in a manner that the customer can accept. It is hard but you need to think of ways you can convey the message based on your situation. I can think of few a here
1. Show them how the future would look if this precedence is set
2. You as an individual might have the competence today but may not be so if other individuals in your organization take over to do the same job. Since this is not part of your contract the new person may not be skilled to do this additional work
3. Extra time that will be spent on this new activity how it will affect the deliverable committed as part of your contract
4. Tell the customer that you may need to get approval from your supervisor
5. You may put it across in such a way that you are bending to accommodate this request one time but not every time it happens
6. Project it in such a way that you are working outside of your boundary to meet this request and get some extra credit from the customer for the work you are doing
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