The Chef's Special

Interestingly, with the meeting with a client fixed for Wednesday, I still haven't got the time to make presentations, ideally, I would have preferred the traditional approach, make some presentations, carry brochures, costing and pricing details and a proposal template to clinch the deal on the spot.  Normally, an approach to the client involves talking to the client and his colleagues, and often enough, there is not enough time to convince them on the product quality.  The talk centres around the Product Pricing, most clients are so price specific that they will not deviate even 5% from the target in mind.  So my approach is to present the product and then have four or five pricing themes ready. I think, I have become very Chinese in my approach.

 Friend of mine from Darjeeling, a state of India very close to China,

Prasanna Subba, taught me to be cool under pressure, we were working together for Dell International Services then and the work pressure was immense, from taking calls, to calling back, updating the specifications mentally and then handling the tension that the Area Sales Manager would dump on us.


Prasanna would sit on his workstation at least 15 minutes before the shift started, he would seem to be working, but mostly he would be on Opera Mini, the mini browser from Opera, that would bypass the security set up by the administrator, talking on Facebook and browsing the net.  I believe the Network Administrator had left that open so that he could himself browse the net and then the word got around and Prasanna, the networker that he was, got around to using it.

"Hi ! good morning, how are you doing ?" I said to him as I passed his workstation.
"Too you to, sir." with a pleasant face that never changed.
"Did you get my message that I was going to be late ?" I asked him, knowing he would feign ignorance as he had probably forgotten to tell Vikram, the Manager about me coming in late.
"No," he said predictably with the same poker face.  Sometimes I felt like punching that face, but I was in love with this guy of Chinese antecedents.  He made my day, with the perfect smile and composure, spoke in hushed tones to everyone and evoked in me the same thought process.  While Prasanna was around I never lost my cool or spoke in a high tone voice, we were probably people with similar mindsets who valued their peace of mind more than anything else.  In 2007, Dell was our office in Gurgaon and we had started to work together, certainly friends and two people who admired each other.

This morning too, Vikram was throwing a tantrum, "You guys have no integrity with respect to time, no value for my words and total disregard for authority."
"Vikram, the cab was late," I spoke to him coolly, knowing that the detached approach always worked better with him.
"You should have told me, there is nobody on the floor and the clients are screaming hell, you are my best man and I expect some more responsibility from you," he shouted back.

Immediately, I remembered the last time I had asked him for a sick leave and how agitated he had become, as if to fall ill was a cardinal sin. Prasanna had come to my aid with this thought then, "Stay home, don't call him, let him call you."  Well, I certainly wasn't going to call him and disturb my ride in the cab, and I just messaged Prasanna who had conveniently forgotten about it.  His Chinese antecedents were more than a match for anyone, he would take it easy, but his mind would be in full swing.  Even when we would talk to the clients he was always thinking of making one big sale, all the talk would go into convincing the client into buying that one big item that would make his numbers and bonuses.  Going for the big one was in his blood and he would stop at nothing achieving it.

Though I lost touch with Prasanna after I left Dell, I believe I inherited some of his sales acumen then.  So, if today the presentations aren't ready, it doesn't scare me, for I have the gift of the gab apart from all possible documentation ready on the Notepad, my preferred writing device on the laptop.  Its like each Notepad file is an item for my storyboard, one on Inverters, another on PV Panels, another on Batteries, everything in bits and pieces distributed in a folder called Solar.  I wish for a program that would allow me to port Notepad files into a presentation, sought of batch process, then my life would be a lot easier.  People often ask me why I use Notepad and not Microsoft Word or even Wordpad, they think it is a little primitive writing in Notepad.  But I kind of like the stickiness of a Notepad, and the so called primitive interface is simplicity divine.  There is no formatting to worry about except "Word Wrap" and it is fast and slick program that can be opened in a small window while taking notes and items from websites or other documents.

My product pricing, which as I explained is so critical for any business meeting is simple, the model being a USA based one, the pricing totally Indian.  Compare a Rs 108/watt USA based pricing to a Rs 40/watt Indian counterpart.  This would imply that a 1kW PV array System that would cost approximately $11,090 in the USA could be got at approximately 2/3s the price in India.  There was a time in India that the pricing was at Rs 225/watt but over a period of 4 years there has been a sharp drop in the prices of cells and manufacturing costs have come down as well.  So my Costing Notepad says, Indians are better than the US panels in pricing, however interesting there is still no talk of product quality.  Since the specifications have not been adequately supplied, it seems fairly difficult to understand what product quality is preferred.  Therefore my Notepad has three prices, Grade A, B and C.  Take your pick, I will supply you with the one best suited for your budget.

Ever since I got into Sales I have realised that my job is talk about the product and keep it entertaining while at the same time while keeping it efficient as well.  I don't worry about the Sales Pitch, as much as I worry about keeping the minds of all concerned in a state of constant thought.  There is precious little that can be achieved if we don't have positivity.  All the talk and game will keep the persons engaged and will give me time and space to think.  So dream up some nice game and integrate it within the presentation.  Last, I remember in one of my research presentations I had built in a golf game as a model.  The presentation had all gone too well, till one of the clients potted a hole-in-one.
Its game time folks, let the ball roll.

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Present Tense - Future Perfect

I have been working on this post interminably, the last two days were spent trying to figure out what I wanted to achieve.  Obviously not an easy task, knowing that the industry is still in a nascent stage here, even though Alternate Energy has been around for over 40 years.  My mind has racing, ever since I realized that the next 5 years are very critical, to the extent that they will be the commercially defining years for renewables in India.  We have seen the world progress and there is a lot to learn from them.  Here, in this post, I define the steps that one must take to create a viable renewable business :

1.  Create a Blueprint.
2.  Map out Existing Products in the Market.
3.  Define New Products to be created.
4.  Prototype the Products.
5.  Identify Markets.
6.  Extricate Customer share of the competition by research.
7.  Implement the S&M plan.

I walked over to the office of a gentleman by the name of Mohit, 12 years back, he a real estate developer based out of Gurgaon, the scope was and is still immense, Gurgaon is a bustling city in downtown Delhi, with development activity happening in every nook and corner of the the city.  It is based in Haryana, the one state in India that has promoted Solar Energy extensively, by way of subsidies, be at state or federal, capital or immediate.  I had last had a constant interaction with Mohit years back, and I have known him for a good number of years, actually 12 of them.  Last when I had met him, he had been adamant that my proposals wouldn't work.

This is way too expensive," he had expressed kindly, a man of gentle words, he seemed not to want to hurt me. "All the probabilities point to the government accepting Nuclear as the "de-facto energy mechanism.  The point here, Maninder, is that I don't understand why you want to push Solar on us, we are perfectly happy the way we are."

"Mohit, do you care about the future, the future of our children ?" I had fired back.
He nodded knowingly, he now saw me as a crusader of the lost environmental cause.
"See, when the money is flowing in, none of us want to change."
"What if the government proposed a plan that punished polluters and conventional energy usage."
"We will see when that happens, there's always a around in this country," he sounded like he had seen the world turn around a few times on the same axis.

Now for me the sun had never risen from the same spot, so my definition of the axis remained as confusing as the Axis forces of World War II, my country having been a slave to the Britisher during those times.  I did understand though that if Hitler chose to exercise his rights, there was fairly no chance that anyone would escape the assault without a third party espousing there cause.  The North Americans and the Europeans were with us, the Environmentalists this time around, and when the the Congress came to power some 10 years ago, the policy shifted to one of support for the cause.

Now, I was a technologist then, and today I am just a Sales Person, I understand that I have to talk and talk to reach an understanding with the client and the promoters, if I don't talk then I don't understand what are the issues in the region.  My normal Sales Pitch lasts for about 15 to 25 minutes, depending on what I have gathered during the first 10 minutes of listening and with Mohit I had gathered that he was a die hard traditionalist, steeped in the old school of thought, something that I call the Buchanan Syndrome, of having acquired his initial wealth by way of inheritance.  What else do I know about Mohit, that he and me are poles apart, he is slow moving sleepy giant who could buy a Ferrari tomorrow if he got his full quota of family money.  Yet I had taken a liking to this man, and I kept trying to poke him into accepting my point of view, even if in disagreement.

This time when I met him at Azad Apartments in Delhi, he had put on a little bit of more weight of which he had plenty in the first place.  I had a new proposal for him and this time it included a sizable share for his pocket as commission.  I was also going to give him all the marketing material to peruse and use, and I was ready for all arguments.  The government had come down heavily on polluting conventional fossil energy, coal was to be disbanded as an energy material in the coming years and it was proposed that by 2020, there would be 20GW of Solar installed, the installed cap as of today was 1000MW.  Wind was already hitting 18GW installed cap and add to it other sustainable technologies like Tidal and Wave, Hydro and Biomass and India was sitting on 25 installed renewable cap.
GW

Interestingly, this time around, Mohit was interested in me, new projects had taken a beating and lot of them were under pressure from the government to get NOC (No Objection Certificates) for renewables else get scrapped.  I am a realistic man and this time I understood his enthusiasm this time around, I wasn't going to take his earlier negations upon my ego, I gave him all the data he needed and provided him with supporting presentations to buttress my argument.  All was going to well, it was obvious, this thing had turned and turned around it had, my last 10 years seemed to be well worth the wait and if it took another 5 to make it a commercial success I was willing to go the way of the renewables.
"The feeling of possession is nothing compared to the more intense emotion of imminent or actual loss."

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The Psychology of Solar Sales

As a first step to my last post, I decided that today was going to be the day I would begin my latest big project, been thinking about this for almost 2 months, collecting data and content, writing and rewriting how I think solar should be sold.  We all start as Consultants, I did too, before I went on from Regional Manager to General Manager to an Associate Vice President.  It is still a cottage industry today, and if I talk to someone as an employer, the first thing they want to talk to me about is a fixed income.  Now, I am not against showing them the money, but this is a field that you don't know about, the normal rules of sales don't apply here.

Lead generation for most people is about talking on the phone and setting up meetings, while some dude does the hard work for them at the back end and gets them the numbers of people to talk to.  Impossible as it may sound, I have worked for renewable companies without a fixed income, worked on targets and commissions, proven a point or two about who I am and what I get to the business and then demand my dues.  I believe in a lot of smart work today, for instance last night I thought about how I would redefine my strategy for business.  This was of course much later after I had written my last post "A Purchase Order for an Idea".

I walked into Mr Behl's office the other day, "What do you want now ?"
"Sir, need your feedback on how to sell this product."
"I don't have time for this now," brusque and to the point, I do appreciate directness.
And I gave him a direct one liner, " Would you appreciate if I gave you a CD/DVD with a thought about how to sell the product ?"
" I might be." but his eyes were open and ears cocked, listening.
"But I need brochures and hard copies of price list first," he wasn't going to give in easily, at least I had his attention.

He stays in a sparse dwelling which he calls his SOHO, but for a rich man I daresay he has 3 more villas in the same locality.  He runs a PG accommodation for girls, where they are served food and get to stay in dingy rooms, ideal for hard working women, a righteous man of morals, I haven't heard of a single misdemeanour at his PG.  A narrow staircase leads up to a sparkling SOHO.  I sat there sipping my coffee that he had so graciously offered me, his wife himself had made the cuppa.  He lit himself a cigar and sat down in front of me with a cup of green tea, nothing less for a sophisticated man like him, it was left for lesser mortals to have the black coffee with a spoon of sugar in it.  I had thought of asking for milk but had refrained myself, I was a guest out to please the host.  At the bottom of a staircase I had seen a newly developed restaurant chain in Delhi, "Wah Ji Wah", he had rented his ground floor to them for a hefty sum.  Obviously he didn't need the money from sales, he was more interested in the thought of making it big in solar. The Sales CD/DVD had him interested, there is something about technology that props up most old men, me included, though I am at least 15 years younger than him.  So everything he ever wanted from me on a DVD, what better way to begin on the track to being a Consultant.  I had him convinced there, licking out of my hands and I had a gut feel, that this could be a big idea.

So last night, I downloaded Macromedia Authorware 7.0 from Adobe, a software I had worked on during my stint as a content developer more than a decade ago, those days of course Macromedia Director and Flash were the in tools to develop sparkling content, this though is a great software engine, it allows me to author content in the way that I want.  The whole of last night till 5am was spent looking up and testing this software, mind you folks the trial version expires in 30 days.  From content to training to quizzes it allows everything that one can dream of as an author, I could write previews of my book, if I ever got down to writing a book, on this software and burn to DVDs and hand it out to people.

So here's the thought for the day, I want people to start off as consultants in this industry, I often get questions regarding salary, "How much will you pay me ?" "Is it worth it ?" "I am good sales person, trust me." etc.  I ask them straight on their face, "how much do you want ?"
The answers are less obvious, " See, I was making 20K at my last job, I would be happy with 30Ks."
Going for the jugular, "I will pay you 40Ks but the job you do will be all mine."
In short, your A** is mine.  Not such a happy thought for most people content in the traditional thought of fixed income, and the comfort of 9-6 job.  I am here to employ consultants, unless you have already made a mark in the industry and then we will reverse roles, I will work for you while you tell me where to look for the bank.
Show me the worth, and I will show you the money.

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A Purchase Order for An Idea

Been at it, getting an order has not been easy, especially in the segment, renewables, where everybody thinks its about getting some electrical wires together to fit.

The approaches have been many, and they fit in tightly into a model, that I call SCALA.  New product development means the following :

1.  Simplicity

2.  Convenience

3.  Accessibility

4.  On the Ledge product

5.  Affordability

People come to me and say, "Oh ! you still at it, what have you achieved in 6 months, no bank balance, what is the point of being in this field."

I have been often disturbed by these thoughts, enough to trash the whole idea of renewables, yet I have hung on, "I totally totally believe in this thought and will carry on.

I tell them, " My journey to renewables started in 2001, when my life went through the biggest turmoil ever, I was 32 then, I required all the help that I needed and yet I was too Khuddar to give in."

Mr Behl, touched his long beard and told me, " Khuddari chodd aur hamarey pass aa ja.":

#Leave your self respect behind and come with us, we will make money#

I had then seen the bees and the birds decide when it would rain and when the sun would shine, the trees would talk to me, and the moon would shine in the night if I ever got caught up in darkness during my walks through that forest, I still remember.  The waters of Rishikesh had lifted this dead soul, who had no strength to walk, and the rapids had given me the courage to see the next few years.  I would not and did not give in, to Mr Behl or his likes.  Money earned without satisfaction gives, no pleasure nor hope.

After all these years of wait for a big break, it came today, a call from Saudi Arabia, suggesting that there was a need to install 2KW/3KW/5KW systems on the rooftops in Iraq.  When Ranjan called, and I have known him for near 20 years, big shot in some telecom firm in Dubai, my first thought was, "Am I being pulled into something I don't want to get into ?"

My soul refused to believe that good things could finally happen, after all it had been 10 years of wilderness, but the thought was overpowering enough for me.

"Yes Ranjan, I am game."

I have known Ranjan for 20 years but he has really got to know me in the last 6 months, know me enough, to give me the first hand information about the order  and suggesting that I meet him on Wednesday/Thursday the coming week to discuss this order when he lands from Dubai.  I understand there will be cultural differences, but then we are nothing if we don't talk about it.  I always talk nowadays and try and figure out whats going on, sales is about the ability to convince stakeholder, normally I listen for the first 5 minutes, before I begin to talk which is about 15 minutes or so, then take some questions and that is after I have reached a conclusion with the talk.  Most of the questions are about discounts and leverages on the price, I don't bother too much about them, a 5 percent discount is as good as 10 percent to me, I am here to build a bond not talk money with a client which in any case the client will pay as long as I give him a SCALA product.  We are trained to always think leads, while we should be thinking prospects.  Hard work happens in trying to convert Suspects to Prospects, that is where the big game is, the smart work happens in converting Prospects to Leads.

Suspect -------> Prospect ---------> Leads -----------> Orders -----------> Paybacks

"Am I on the right track? " I asked myself today scratching my flowing hair, which I leave loose nowadays.

"Damn right," she said.

Life, she talks to me lately, and Mandy listens.

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Some more interesting insights into Solar

Last night I dreamt of him and pictured a perfect world, one without whom nothing functions, the world comes and goes, the birds chirp in vain and the trees hum without reason.  The one reason I love my life is because of him, he showed me what no other person ever even tried to.  We exist because this thin layer of atmosphere called the ozone layer exists.  "Save it," he cried in 2001 and I just got around to doing it.

The pictures below have been clicked over the past couple of weeks and I know I am on the right path.  I thought it right to share a few with you

The Sirohi Village Solar Telecom Installation in Haryana, India.

                                   The Biotechnology Institute in Haryana, India will most probably go live next year.  Hope to have a go at this order.  All government institutes and new buildings in Haryana, India, a northern state, need necessarily to have part of their energy requirement as solar.

An existing site in Delhi, India, all built up, ready to be approached.  I have numbers of the concerned people, might just approach them this month.  Planning - you just learnt enough about it, mister, to hold back and wait.





A happy new year and prosperous 2013-2014 FY to all friends, families and well wishers.
Sometimes, we must destroy what they take for granted, before they learn the value of what they should have cherished.

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Some Interesting Pictures ..... Installation

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