Who is a valuable employee?

R. Shekar

Returning from a short break, Bill went on to explore the people philosophy at play. An abundant philosophy creates a culture of optimism, tolerance and the pursuit of universal good. A scarcity minded philosophy on the contrary might reward circumstantial short-term wins denying room for chance and intuition.
Putting the HR manager on the spot, he motioned towards four options created by interplay of gainful deployment of personnel (X-axis) and the returns they posted on the potential resident in them (Y axis).

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Corporate values at play

R. Shekar

The following day, William (Bill) Oliver, the international Sales Coach, addressed the top management team at the invitation of Rajat.
“What is your business philosophy?” asked Bill, startling the senior team. Perplexed at the prospect of mixing business and philosophy, they came up with several ‘smart’ responses on the fly that he listened to with great patie nce. Bill went on to present four possible scenarios he wanted the top team to vote independently and fearlessly in favour of the one closest to describing the company’s collective current philosophy.

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Psychology of selling

R. Shekar

“This may give you some ideas on the sales summit you are convening?” Rajat opined as he extended an invitation to PVR Rao, Head of Sales. ‘Psychology of selling’ was the subject of talk at the Rotary that evening. Rao consented, somewhat meekly though, at the prospect of an authority such as he, sermonised by another.

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Negotiating the best value for money

R. Shekar

PVR Rao, the Head of Sales, called Chandrasekhar, the new product manager, to convene a ‘Sales Summit’ to reinforce the need for the salesmen to hold the price line. Rao was vexed at being pulled up by the CEO for the sales team’s inability to command the price they were asked to negotiate. Rao wanted to put a stop to the practice of sales personnel seeking approval for a price deviation or a discount ever so often, reflecting adversely on the EBIDTA mar gins.

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Getting to bid for the best value

R. Shekar

By electing to call on customers along with the Heads of Sales and Marketing, Rajat had unwittingly invited this predicament upon himself. The moment of truth for any CEO, and Rajat was no exception to it, is to hear about some unpalatable home-truths about the organisation from its well-meaning and most loyal customers. He was told that the company’s sales personnel were making over-commitments which the production had difficulty living up to.

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