On our third episode of the Master of Sales Podcast, we had the honour of hosting Sangram Kumar Swain. Sangram is the Business Head and Vice President of Sales at Pert.
Sangram is a business leader in the consumer electronics industry and is a seasoned sales coach.
In his younger days, Sangram was passionate about theatre and wanted to pursue a career in it but his family hoped that he would join the Defence Force or take up a government job.
He had different plans and dreams for himself and set out to create his own story.
He looked at the different things he could do and around 2003, he took up a job in the IT sector, which was booming then. In the companies where he worked, his colleagues noticed that he had great convincing skills as he was able to get a lot of people to sign up for their training programs. That’s when it dawned upon him that he could combine his technical expertise and his ability to convince people to become a good salesperson.
According to Sangram, he didn’t choose sales but sales chose him.
How to be successful in the home automation industry?
Sangram believes that it is the market that trains you.
He created a formula for success which has helped him and his team immensely.
Sangram calls it the ‘STUPID’ formula, where the letters stand for different factors that contribute to effective selling. They are :
S stands for ‘storytelling’. In sales, you have to be a great storyteller.
“The story makes your product extraordinary”
T represents the ‘technology’ involved in the product that you’re selling.
If technology doesn’t apply to your product, the letter T could refer to the ‘trust’ that you generate in your customers.
U stands for ‘usability’ or ‘utility’ of the product. This could include the benefits of the product.
P stands for the ‘price’ of the product. The letter ‘P’ could also mean ‘picturisation’ of the product; where you picture how the product will solve a customer’s problem.
I denotes ‘interest generation’ where you draw the attention of your customers.
D stands for ‘demonstration’, where you show how the product or service works.
For closing deals, Sangram crafted another formula called FAN where:
F stands for ‘follow-ups’
A for ‘Act on your observation’
N for ‘Nurture it’
How to motivate your teams?
According to Sangram, it’s important for you to stay motivated to be able to help your team.
Sangram believes in leading by example. He believes in moving with his team and helping them close deals.
His team inspires him to work harder. He also pointed out that he learns new things from his team.
What specific strategies can be used to incentivize teams?
Sangram thinks that a hybrid solution works best to incentivize and keep teams motivated.
Sangram shared 3 top ways that sales reps can earn incentives. They are:
- Display the right attitude towards work
- Put in your maximum effort. Efforts will be rewarded to motivate you to work harder in the future
- Generate revenue month on month, quarter to quarter
Pro tips from Sangram for those who are aspiring to be good salespeople:
“Don’t worry about sales strategies, don’t worry about what others are telling you, if you know what you are doing is right — do it. “