26 January, Republic Day and Constitution of India

Although India obtained its independence on 15th August 1947 but the day 26th January is one of the most important days in Indian history as it was the day on which the constitution of India came into force replacing the government of India Act. To form the constitution there was a drafting committee was appointed.

Republic day is the greatest national festival in India because that is the day when India became truly sovereign state. Every year a grand parade is held in the capital New Delhi, from the Rajghat, along the Vijaypath. The different regiments of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy participate in the parade. The President of India, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, takes the salute and addresses the nation.

Here are the some great features of the Indian Constitution:

1. Indian Constitution is a written constitution.

2. Indian Constitution is the largest constitution in the world.

3. It is blend of rigidity and flexibility.

4. Indian Constitution says that India is a democratic republic means sovereignty rests with the people of India.

5. Indian Constitution adopts parliamentary system. It is also found in Britain.

6. Indian Constitution says India is a Union of States and the government is federal.

7. Indian Constitution gives certain fundamental rights to every citizen.

8. It also contains Directive Principles of State Policy.

9. The 42nd Amendment of India Constitution also suggests fundamental duties to all Indians.

10. Indian Constitution affirms that India is a secular state it means neither religious nor irreligious, or anti religious.

11. Indian Constitution gives an important place to the judiciary and it is made independent of the legislature and executive.

In nutshell the Indian constitution represents a great vision that is based on great values.

Difference Between a Business Development Manager and a Sales Manager

Difference Between a Business Development Manager and a Sales Manager:

What’s the difference between a business development manager and a sales manager ?
The answer is confusing because in many organizations both are used for same profiles. But there are many differences between Business Development Manager and a Sales Manager. Before answering the question I want to make the answer little bit simpler and I want to ask an another question to make this question simple.

What is the difference between business and sales? Simple both are not the same at all, in fact sales is a small component of business. Here are the differences between a business development manager and a sales manager -

1. Business development manager focuses on both long term and short term results while sales manager focuses only on short term sales goals for example weekly, monthly and annual.

2. Business development manager develops new business for a company while sales manager develops sales people within a company for example hiring and training of sales people.

3. The role of business development manager is strategic while the role of sales manger is tactic.

4. Business development manager works according to the vision of the company while sales manager works for revenue generation.

5. Business development manager sets the prices of the products and services while sales manager sales products and services according to the prices set by the company.

6. Business development manager is also responsible for marketing activities while sales manager is responsible for sales activities.

7. A business development manager can play the role of sales manager but sales manager can not play the role of business development role.

Hence business development is broader concept than sales and it is strategic and it is related longer term outcomes, although short term outcomes are not excluded from business development.
What are the other differences between a business development manager and a sales manager?

Social Media and Sales Development

When you talk about sales development then you are actually talking about sales development tools. In this fast changing world sales development tolls are also changing very fast. When you talk about development of sales tools then how can you forget about social media? Social media is an important tool of sales development.

Social media is the only tool that allows you to develop a virtual presence that work for you 24 hours. Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook are the great vehicles on social media and google plus is also coming in this race.

In today`s era every sales professional should know how to use social media and if any sales professional is not using social media than he or she is not a professional sale person.
These tools basically help you to develop strong presence in online world. For example twitter is to help you in google rankings. Google treats every tweets as an individual page, this mean each time you tweet you increasing your value with google.

The only problem with social media is that it does not produce short term results and it becomes a time sucker. But in the long term it will not only give you strong presence but also a great competitive edge. To be honest if you are looking for short term results then I am sorry to say you that it will not deliver, but if your focus is for long run than it is a great tool for you.

To enter in social media world you have to create your professional brand and after that you can use google analytics to measure you social media efforts.

The medium of communication has been changed by social media hence every sales professional has to learn this medium. Every successful sales professional should learn digital sales because in digital life you have to learn digital sales.

With twitter, facebook, linkedin there is an another important and strong tool is blog. These all tools of social media should be integrated into your overall sales and marketing strategy. Sales professional and sales directors can no longer afford to ignore these tools because these tools are the most effective ways to generate leads. These social media sites and tools delivers audience and leads that you should tap for your sales and business development.

In the end I would say if you want to expand your reach you have to use social media tools for your sales and business development.

Marketing Audit

Marketing Audit:

To review and analyse your current performance of your marketing activities you have to do marketing audit. Marketing Audit is a tool that analyse the whole current situation that how profitable is your company. Marketing Audit is very necessary if you want to manage change. This audit is also review your sales forecast. If you want to measure your marketing efforts then Marketing Audit is the best option for you.

Basically Marketing Audit is divided into two areas – 1. External Audit and 2. Internal Audit

1. External Audit – In external audit you have to consider these three environments -

A. Economic Environment – In economic environment you have to consider all environment including social, legal, cultural, environmental and political environment.

B. Competitive Environment – In analysis of competitive environment you have to do SWOT analysis of your competitors.

C. Own Market Environment - In this analysis you have to consider total market size, marketing characteristics, product, prices and distribution. The most important thing in this analysis is you have to analyse how is your own market is changing and evolving.
In external audit you can use PEST and five forces analysis. Both these tools can be used.

2. Internal Audit – Internal Audit analyses the resources that the company has. It analyses
marketing team concerning structure, efficiency, effectiveness, correlation with internal functions and other organizations. In internal audit you can use SWOT analysis.

In nutshell Marketing Audit tells you if your sales forecasting have been accurate and your marketing efforts are producing sufficient growth, covering your cost and generating suitable results. According to Lalit Bhojwani – “Marketing Audit is a performance appraisal for your whole marketing activities that enable you to assess past and present performance.”

Difference Between Sales and Marketing

Difference Between Sales and Marketing:

Marketing and sales both are the important activities and there is difference between marketing and sales.

Difference Between Sales and Marketing:

Marketing and sales both are the important activities for every organization. Marketing is broader term than sales. It consist public relations, branding, advertising, sales etc. Hence sales is the one part or activity of the marketing. Marketing is not related with the closing the sale. When you interacting with the consumer and closing the sale than it is sales.

Marketing is creating the demand in the market while sales is fulfilling that demand. Marketing is more related with branding while sales is related with one on one marketing. For example, when you do all activities to reach mass audiences and consumer to create demand than you are doing marketing and when you are reaching with your prospects one by one via direct calls than your doing sales. It mean sales is a direct activity while marketing is indirect activity.

In small firms usually marketing and sales both are handled by the same department while in big firms or organizations there are different departments for both the activities.
Marketing creates a brand image of the product or service while sales is only related with selling the product or service. Both the activities are interrelated at the some point of the time. When a person is doing marketing than he doing sales on a large scale while when a person selling than at the same time he is doing marketing.

Without marketing you can not sale the product or service. Therefore marketing is more important than sales.

There is one more important difference between marketing and sales and that is the focus. Marketing focuses on long term concerns while sales is related with short term focus.
Marketing is related with educating and creating awareness of the product or service in the market. Sales is also related with educating and creating awareness but the difference is scale marketing do these activities on a huge scale while sales does these activities on very short scale and most of the times one on one basis. Sales is more related with interpersonal and interaction with prospects.

Top Sales Mistakes

If you are in sales then mistakes are inevitable.

To be honest sales is the only profession in which you can not avoid the mistakes. And to learn I would suggest you, make mistakes because sales is the only profession where the results of mistakes usually is not severe as like in other professions. These mistakes are your best learning sources. If you are in sales and you are not making mistakes then I assure you that you are a mediocre or average salesman.
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” ~Elbert Hubbard

In sales confidence plays a major role. The number one and only mistake you should avoid is – lack of confidence. If you are in sales and continuing fear of making mistakes than your confidence level is very low. Fear of making mistakes in sales is a major demotivating factor. “Make mistakes and learn from them” that is the formula of success in sales. If you want to be a sales super star than you have to apply the above formula. Show me any sales super star who has succeeded without above formula and I will give up my tweeting habit.

Many sales guys ask me, “Lalit, what is the secret of success in sales?” There is not any secret you have to learn and you have to be updated according to new changes. Because every change whether in technology or whether in products it impacts sales directly. You can not live in yesterday’s method and expect to be a sales super star in today’s world. Every sales star always focus on upgrading, they always work according to new technologies.

Too many salesmen talk, talk and only talk. Avoid this mistake because if you are taking more then listening then you are offering too much information and opening your all sales secrets to customers. Try to avoid this overselling.

Don’t waste your time after closing the sales and. You can take referrals for future but don’t waste much time after closing the sales because you can lose your sale in process of being too smart.
Lack of preparation is another important mistake that you should avoid. Poor product knowledge can ruin your sales carrier but remember never do same old sales pitch to every prospect. Many sales persons especially medical representatives do same sales pitching to every prospects. You should prepare your sales pitch according to your prospects. To do this you should get proper knowledge of your customers.

In the end I would like to give you three magical words to all the sales people and these words will help you to achieve glorious success – Update, Update and Update.

Decision Making Tips for Leaders

Decision Making Tips for Leaders:

Can you imagine a leader who does not make decision?

No, you can not because leadership is not possible without decision making. A leader has to make decision and some times hard decision that's why he or she is a leader. Hence decision making is an important skill for leaders.

How to develop effective decision making skill?

Have you heard this great quote?

“There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.” William James

This quote tells you how important is decision making for you. Some leaders always ask me, "Lalit, decision making is not easy for us because we have to make some hard decisions and many times we don't have proper analytical resources for decision making and we have to make many decisions for first time. Please give us a great tip for decision making."

Yes, there is a great tip for you - The boldest decisions are the safest. Take bold decision like every great leader does.

Here are other tips -

1. Keep in mind a clear vision of the organization’s goals.

2. Your decision should be insightful.

3. Great decision always involve risks so avoid zero risk.

4. Analyse but beware of "analysis paralysis."

5. Listen to your gut.

6. Do proper research before making decision.

7. You should have a back-up plan if the decision is a major one.

What are the other tips?

Blue Ocean or Red Ocean

Blue Ocean or Red Ocean:

Are you in the blue ocean or red ocean?

Red Ocean Strategy: If you are competing like many businesses in the existing market then you are in the red ocean. In the red ocean, businesses focus on existing customers and try to exploit existing demand. People of the red ocean give greater value to customers at a higher price and reasonable value to customers at a lower price. In this ocean you have two choices to beat the competition – either differentiate your product or lower your cost. This strategy is about brand management.

Blue Ocean Strategy: If you creating a new and uncontested market then you are in the blue ocean
In this strategy, you explore a new market hence competition becomes irrelevant. In the blue ocean, businesses focus on non-existing customers. People of the blue ocean create new demand and give greater value to customers at a lower price. This strategy is about brand creation.

People always ask me which strategy is better?

This is a very tough question because every strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages.
If you are able to take the maximum risk, if you are ready to face a new challenge because it is not easy for you to create a new market, if you want limitless growth, if you can innovate, if you don’t want to compete with each other in the existing market, if you are ready to completely explore new market if you are not boring kind of person and love thrilling adventures and want to do something different than go for blue ocean strategy.

If you want a safe game, easy entry and your objectives are only to earn money then go for the red ocean strategy.

In the end, I would say know what works and what does not work for you.