Sell – anoop.blog

Last week I was at HiLite Mall in Thrissur with my family, headed into Lulu Hypermarket, when a sales executive from SBI Card stopped me near the entrance.

“Are you planning to take a credit card?”

“No,” I said. “I already have an HDFC and an ICICI card.”

She wasn’t ready to let go that easily. “But this one gives you cashback for every ₹100 you spend.” I still wasn’t convinced — I’ve heard that pitch a hundred times, and two cards in my wallet were plenty.

So I asked her a simple question: “I drive about 15,000 km a year. What’s in it for me, specifically?”

Here’s the thing — she knew the card inside out. Cashback percentage, the fact that it was tied specifically to BPCL fuel purchases, the reward structure, all of it. What she couldn’t do was the next step: take my number — 15,000 km a year — and turn it into a rupee figure that meant something to me. The feature was solid; the translation from feature to my life was missing.

A smiling man at a counter using a mobile app displaying savings data for electric vehicle usage, while a woman looks on, both surrounded by a retail environment.

So I pulled out my phone, opened the calculator, and we worked it out together, right there at the kiosk.

It is not always the salesman’s responsibility to sell. I think the delivery team is well placed to sell once the contract is signed. I have been working as architect from quite some time, so I think it is better I talk about this as a Architect.

I think an Architect is naturally placed to build a relationship with customer and grow business. He is probably the one individual start working with client early once the deal is signed. He will be working with key technical contacts of the client including CTO, CIO, IT directors etc who make or influence the IT decisions. So, the Architect is key person and instrumental in driving clients to find their best solutions.

Tag: Sell

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