Investing in Sales Guys for a Start-ups

I was recently talking to a long lost friend who moved from London to India and started his own IT services company in India. He called in get some idea on hiring sales guys and what might be a good approach, the cost, the system and the road ahead. I found myself advocating not to invest in hiring a sales guy rather out-sourcing sales functions to specialist considering he has just started with a couple of projects under his belt. While I believe Sales is the bread winner of the company sales guys are the drivers to catalyze the process. It is very important for start-ups looking to invest in building a sales guys is to understand the whole sales process before they hire a sales person. There are thousands of books and consultants out there to give a whole load of wisdom and do's and don'ts. All of them are very important and does make a lot of difference but none better than your own experience. The vision and passion with which a product or solution was developed in a start-up or otherwise was yours. Hence there is no better person to make pitch then you yourself. Its very important to experience the joy of sales first hand. You will surprised at the sales you are able to achieve and how quickly you are able to relate to the customer issues. Having said that I do not obviously want anyone to digress from their passion and enter sales but initially its important to sell yourself and understand the different stages as relevant to you.

This is exactly why Steve Jobs sold his products himself always and has left behind a legacy for people to learn. Same is the story with microsoft, Oracle, facebook, their CEOs have sold most of the time. So when you are looking to hire next time around for sales (considering you are not from a sales background) consider breaking up sales tasks and out sourcing them, you could begin with Lead generation both Online and Offline (actual calling/email/etc) Schedule meetings for you, Invite for seminars/webinars, Feet on the street, proposals, negotiations, Closures, delivery and support.

You must be wondering about why included Delivery and support as part of the sales function. A sales guys job never ends just at sales. He has to know and be aware of things happening in his customers premise and what can he do to better it. It's the experience that will help sell more with just a little stretch from the sales guys  on checking with the progress with the client and internally at all points. 

Tirupati Balaji - Our First Trip

I have been in bangalore for the last 10 years but could never visit Tirupati. Today finally after so many years got a call from the temple and it could not have been better. I believe it was all for Gia.


We had booked a day trip through Via.com for Bangalore tirupati darshan. The tour is something that I will never recommend to anyone. You should do it on your own. Anyways, the day at the temple started with a bus ride from the Tirupati Bus stand to Tirumla Papvinashak bus stand. Gia slept through most of the ride unaware that we had plans of shaving her head for the first time. A ritual that Khushi was extremely excited about and finally it was here. Well what do I say she did not even flinch a muscle, cry so much so even sob during the whole process. She got ready and off we were to the wait for the darshan. We were at the que at 6.30 for the darshan to begin only at 9. The temple though the richest in the world was the worst at handling the que or at least our experience was horrible. But all the other events were all divine. It was as if God really was looking after Gia. She had her natural call right infront of the loo. Just when it was time to feed her Milk. The temple guys came distributing milk and when it was time for her to breakfast God sent us right next to the breakfast counter. While everyone in the temple premise waiting for the darshan pushing and shoving each other and all the other kids crying or making it difficult. Gia quietly looked around and maintained her peace. She waited paitiently for the darshan. Finally there we were right in front of the lord no pushing, shoving and a good long darshan from up front and close. No one between us and God. It was tranquil the 6 hours wait was worth every bit of it. Cant wait for the next time we go to tirupati again. This trip Gia is not just a ritual but truly a day when God made it so easy for us and took care of us while we waited for him. He was forth coming and kind. Guess this what people call Miracle.