My Five Ways to be Persuasive

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Guy Kawasaki has an interesting post on Five Ways to be Persuasive. While I roughly agree with those five, I wanted to talk about five of my own. Ways to be persuasive that is.

1) Dont Sell when there is no sale! - If the customer's problem wont be solved by your solution, there is no sale. Dont try to still sell your solution to him by trying to force fit your solution to the customer's need. I remember once making a presentation to a CIO about offshore outsourcing and how it would cut his budget by over 30%. The CIO stopped me and said, 'That is not my problem; I want a solution to increase my budget so I can be more relevant to my business!'

2) Don't just win the order! - Don't put all your energy into only selling a product or service. Put some thought, energy and the time of some of your smartest people on helping the client use your product. This might seem like an obvious thing, but if you go by the percentage of failed outsourcing projects for example and the reasons for their failure, it often turns out that what was sold and what was delivered (or consumed) were different. Look at this another way - Don't sell what you cant deliver! This is not to say you should not take any risks, but just that you need to think beyond getting the order.

3) Open up new problems! - If you are aware of mistakes in the client's approach to a project, for example if they have overlooked some important aspects, don't be afraid to open it up even if it may delay the project or it seems to result in a weakening of your position on the deal. For example, if you are selling an SAP implementation project and you notice serious gaps in the client's business blueprint output, ask them why they are bidding out the next phases of the project without getting the entry criteria right. You may not serve your immediate cause by such a professional approach, but believe me you will be seen as a trusted partner who is not afraid to open up uncomfortable topics to really get it right.

4) Ask till they drop! - Ask your client questions till you are truly clear about what they need and they are clear what you will deliver. While explaining your solution, ask more questions to make sure you have got the nuances of their requirements right. Ask even more questions to make sure they have understood well what is in your solution and what is not. Ask still more to make sure you have no ambiguity in any corner of your mind. Look around the room to see if all are showing signs of comprehension and look for any lingering doubts popping out. If you are not convinced, ask more questions until your throat is dry or the client tells you to get a move on...

Then, have a sip of water, and ask again...

5) Tell them your secrets! - Tell them how yesterday at dinner you were wondering how to fix that one nagging issue with your own solution. Tell them how you knew how the client would be wondering about it, how you were toying unsuccessfully with potential solutions even in your shower, and how you just maybe finally have got some ideas to solve the problem but how you are still not yet fully convinced of the solution. Tell them you want to bounce off your ideas with them to see if they would truly be effective. Be honest about it and tell them what you are worried about with your solution. You wont believe how much credibility you would earn this way.

Apple Thoughts

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Apple is coming up with another iPhone. They are already the most valuable technology company in the world having overtaken Microsoft recently. The consensus conventional wisdom is that the future is clearly an Apple-rich one.  


Then how come most of the large Indian IT companies are doing nothing about it? Go to the websites of the top 10 Indian IT giants and you will be hard pressed to find anything about Apple. It is almost as if the most exciting tech company in the world did not exist for these Indian techies. You might argue the story is the same for the global biggies like IBM, Accenture and Cap Gemini but I do find evidence of them starting to think (if not worry) about Apple here, here and here.  I googled to find Rob Enderle has even speculated at length about a merger between Apple and IBM!!!! 


This apathy is probably because Apple has still not made any significant moves into the corporate world, having kept themselves more than busy in mesmerizing and dazzling individual consumers worldwide over the last several years. 


Most of the Indian IT companies are mainly servicing the corporate world, where it is true that there are very few Apple products. Until  now that is. However, this may be about to end as we can already see from the slow but sure entrance of the iPhone into most companies. Knowing the kind of person Steve Jobs is, he is surely not going to let the huge corporate market just lie around without doing anything about it sooner than later. 


My prediction is that the Indian IT company (or companies) which gets its Apple Strategy correct would be in super shape come 2020 and the rest are going to be caught napping. Is this surprising? Am I making too risky a bet? I don't really think so. It's just a hunch and I can just see it coming. 


Come on, I am only betting on Steve Jobs...what can be safer than that?