Categories
Entrepreneurship Startup

A new definition of a “loyal” employee

Most people do a mistake in thinking a “loyal” employee means someone having a long tenure.

There is a better way to think about “loyalty”.

A loyal employee is someone who is passionate about your company’s mission and vision.

It’s someone who constantly demonstrates the company’s values and culture.

It’s someone who goes above and beyond their defined roles and responsibilities.

It doesn’t matter how long they have been working with you.

And when loyal employees stop caring about your business, you can tell there is something wrong going on with them or with your company.

How to tell that they stop caring about your business?

It’s when they don’t speak up in meetings, argue in Slack channels, share new ideas or stand up for a point of view.

As a leader and a colleague, it’s your responsibility to not push your loyal employees far enough that they stop caring about your business.

Those are rare gems. Protect them at all costs.

Categories
Marketing Startup

To win against competitors – Tell a different and new story

Most marketers (and founders) like to do competitive analysis and follow the leader.

The natural instinct is to check what’s working for the competition and then try to outdo them.

They try to be “cheaper” or “faster” than their competitor.

The problem with this approach is – that once the market believes in someone else’s story, convincing them that you are “better” than your competitor is the same as convincing them they were wrong in believing your competitor’s story.

And nobody likes to admit that they’re wrong.

Instead, the better approach is – you tell a different story.

You convince the market that your story is more “relevant” to their new evolving and future needs than the story they currently believe.

That way, you are not telling them that they were wrong.

You are just telling them that the world has evolved now.

And it’s time to re-evaluate their needs.

If your competition is selling the story of “visibility”, you sell the story of “productivity”.

If they sell the story of “intelligence”, you sell the story of “collaboration”.

If they sell the story of “best-of-breed”, you sell the story of “all-in-one”.

You get the idea.

You need to tell a new story, that’s relevant to their new world.

Categories
Sales Startup

The Collaborative Selling Handbook

When products and GTM playbooks are becoming commodity, how can startups win against incumbents and also with their competitors? 🤔

The answer is simple.

It’s the speed of execution. ⚡️💨

But how do you ensure you’re able to execute faster without getting off the rails? 🚆

It’s the alignment. 🤝

But how do you ensure everyone is aligned with different projects and goals? 🎯

It’s the system of collaboration. 💬

System of what??

Collaboration.

Is it a new thing? Or a new tool?

Yes and No.

2 decades ago, we needed an efficient way to capture who are our customers and log our interactions with them, so the “Systems of Records” were born – e.g. CRM, ERP, etc. 👩‍💻

Then a decade ago, we needed a more efficient way to engage with customers, so the “Systems of Engagement” were born – e.g. Live Chat, Email Sequencing, Power Dialers, etc. 📧

Then 5 years ago, we needed to make sense of all these activities and engagements, so the “Systems of Intelligence” were born – e.g. Revenue Intelligence, Conversational Intelligence, etc. 📈

Today, we need to make decisions and our conversations actionable, so the “Systems of Collaboration” are being born – e.g. Collaborative Meetings, Collaborative Emails, Collaborative Projects, etc. 💬

Essentially, almost for every job you do, if the tool you are using is not enabling you to collaborate with your colleagues and customers, and if it’s not connected with your workflows and other tools, you’re at a disadvantage as a startup to execute faster and better.

Selling is no different.

In fact, it’s completely stupid to believe that only quota carrying people are responsible for selling. 🤦‍♂️

It takes a village to close most deals. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

And if you’re not thinking selling as hyper-collaborative function, then you’re not winning as fast and as efficiently than your peers who are practicing collaborative selling.

I’ve been talking about this for the last 2 years via different forums and mediums.

But finally got the time to jot down all thoughts in a consolidated eBook. 📖

👉 Feel free to grab a copy from here: https://www.avoma.com/books/the-collaborative-selling-handbook

Hope it will help you make “collaborative selling” as your competitive advantage.

Categories
Communication Productivity

How to send a calendar link to schedule meetings without being a jerk?

When you send a calendar link to a prospect or a customer to schedule a meeting on your calendar, it matters how you ask them to book a meeting.

You should give more importance to them and respect their time.

In your email, don’t say – “Go ahead and book the time here: <link>”.

A more respectful approach is:

“How’s your availability later this or next week? If it would be easier to schedule, here’s my availability: <link>.” 

With this approach, you’re giving them a priority and respect by asking them their availability first.

Then you’re also sharing a Calendar link to make it efficient for them.

Categories
Philosophy

How to get better at decision making

If you want to get better at decision making, then have a point of view.

When you don’t have a point of view, everything is debatable.

Know what you believe and what you don’t.

Once you know what you support and don’t, decisions become faster and seem obvious.

Categories
Philosophy

Subscribe to INSPIRATION

In this subscription economy, if there is one thing that we all should subscribe to is – INSPIRATION. 🙌

We all get inspired by various different things. But there’s a problem.🥺

You run out of inspiration – if not immediately, but eventually. 

Either you lose interest or you get inspired (read distracted) by a new shiny thing.

And before you run out of inspiration and stop the engine (your idea or project) completely – you need to refill yourself with some more inspiration.

That’s why even though most of the advice is repetitive and you’ve already heard before, you need to read inspirational books and blogs📖, listen to podcasts 🎧 or watch YouTube 📺, and follow thought leaders on LinkedIn, etc.

You need to keep recharging yourself with the new inspiration before the current one expires. ⛽️

Being inspired is different than being alive. 😇

When you’re inspired – you’re more optimistic, positive, and make things happen faster. ⚡️

Subscribe to “INSPIRATION” – and never cancel that subscription. 💳

Categories
Philosophy

Growth Vs Burnout

A little pain and discomfort is a sign of growth — let it be work, career change, exercise, etc.

A lot of pain and discomfort is a sign of burnout.

But you need to know the subtle difference between the two.

As sometimes when you are too complacent in what you are doing, even a little pain feels like a burnout.

That’s why a lot of the times what you think is a burnout might actually be a growth opportunity.

Just retrospect and see if you’re too complacent with your life – that would tell you the real truth.

Categories
Sales

Outbound Works

Inbound marketing and recruiting are all good.👌👏

But when you close a deal or candidate with outbound, it’s extremely exhilarating and inspiring. 🤩💪

Outbound works. You just have to make it about “them” and not about “you”.

Remember, if you don’t reach out and ask, the answer is “No” anyways! 🤷‍♂️

Categories
Entrepreneurship Startup

Why it’s better to over-promise and okay to under-deliver

I don’t believe in the conventional wisdom of “under-promise and over-deliver”.

I would rather “over-promise and (be fine with if I) under-deliver”.

The under-promise advice makes people play very safe. It doesn’t let them realize their full potential.

It’s a popular belief that when you’re communicating your goals to your manager, leadership, customers, or investors, you should under-promise and over-deliver.

But when you under-promise, nobody gets excited. Everybody can feel the lack of enthusiasm in those conversations.

This lack of enthusiasm is infectious. As one person starts playing safe, others start playing safe too.

And slowly you’re building an organization that’s bureaucratic and lethargic.

This advice seems good for people who want to “survive” but is bad for people who want to “thrive”.

For growth-minded people and high-growth organizations, there is a better option.

You would rather over-promise, and be fine if you under-deliver.

With the over-promise approach, people play aggressively.

They demonstrate a sense of urgency, excitement, and enthusiasm.

And their urgency and excitement are infectious too.

And you end up building an organization that’s agile and lean. ⚡️

The key thing in practicing this over-promise approach is not to punish people if they don’t deliver the committed goal.

Instead, you should pay attention to the effort invested in that goal and measure what % of the goal is achieved in the end.

And as long as it’s considerable progress — say 60-70% — you should still celebrate it as a win.

In the end, you will discover that, most often, with this over-promise approach, people end up delivering more than what they would have delivered with the under-promise approach.

But the bigger win is — you build an organization of high-energy and enthusiastic people that you want to work with. 🙌

Categories
Philosophy

Happy New Year 2022! 🎉

This illustration from Tim Urban is the perfect way to start off the new year!

Let’s not get discouraged about the plans that we didn’t complete, the opportunities we didn’t win, and the dreams that we didn’t fullfil.

Instead, let’s get excited about the plans that are worth pursuing, the opportunities that are worth winning, and the dreams that are worth chasing — as there are many of them still available for each one of us!!

Wish you all a very happy, prosperous, and successful 2022! 🎉👍