Consider the following tale of two sales leaders who wanted to be successful:
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In his quest to achieve his sales targets, Peter was overly focused on "closing the sale". When in front of a customer, he often focused on what the "next steps" would be. He sold from the mindset of "What all can be sold to this customer out of all my services?" and tried to maximize his sales. He would constantly try to fit his services and convince customer that they really needed it. He believed that sales was all about selling ice cubes in Antarctica! He danced in joy when he closed a sale - and would then focus his energies completely on next sales closure. Peter was successful on a short-term, but his success was often short-lived. He wondered ‘Why?’
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Jack, on the other hand, believed in "building a relationship". When a sale was closed, he considered it as a beginning of a relationship. When in front of a customer, he mostly focused on "understanding/listening" what customer had to say. He sold from the mindset of "What are your problems and how can my services solve them?" and tried to map services with real problems. He believed that sales was all about building relationship through delivery of "value". Without getting overwhelmed (or overjoyed) about the sales closure, he focused his energy to communicate and align people for success. Jack was considered ‘slow’ initially, but he knew he had built a foundation of great relationships for a long term.
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The difference between Peter and Jack was that of the mindset - of purpose and of clarity. Jack knew that business happens and reputation is built only when you solve "real" problems of your customer. For that, first step is to understand and carefully listen. That is the starting point of all relationships. The difference between their mindsets is same as the difference between "hearing" and "listening", between "watching" and "seeing".
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Note: This post is a continuation of my first post “Focus on Effectiveness and Tale of Two Managers” – written on same lines, but with a different message. Check it out if you haven’t read it yet!
Today, I would like to congratulate my friends at ActiveGarage for launching their flagship project - 99Tribes which is a people discovery engine for Twitter.(See the announcement)
In real life, we quickly build connection with people who share common interests. 99Tribes allows you to discover people on Twitter who share your interests.
Consider the following:
Based on the patented Rawsugar technology, you can start discovering people by typing what you are interested in (popular examples being: marketing, sales, blogging etc.)
Like any directory, 99Tribes will show the search results. What happens next shows the power of discovery.
On the left column, you will notice a set of tags. These tags show the “other” interests of people displayed in the search results.
For example, marketing may be your interest and you search on Marketing. Looking at the tags on the left you may notice that a set of people interested in marketing are interested in music too. You click on music and now the search results are updated to reflect people who are interested in Marketing and Music. It does not stop there. The tags get updated and you may notice that there are number of people who are interested in Music and Marketing are also interested in Fashion and Art. Or Camping or Hiking.
This is a brilliant concept because it allows you to connect to like minded people.
The world of Twitter is magical world because it empowers you to build meaningful connections by having authentic conversations. It is no more about just building ‘connections’ but about building ‘valuable relationships’ – 99Tribes is a brilliant concept and also an opportunity to find more like minded people whom you can connect with to build meaningful relationships.
Check it out at 99Tribes.com
Bonus: Also check out why my friend Becky Robinson (at Mountain State University’s School of Leadership Development) loves social media – and what it means for leaders.
You might also like revisiting a series of 14 Quality and Improvement articles I wrote at ActiveGarage as a part of #QUALITYtweet series.
… and I am very proud and happy about it. Jurgen Appelo (over at NOOP.NL), whom I have been reading since last couple of years, has compiled a list of Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs. QAspire Blog ranks 89 amongst these, when mere inclusion in the list is an honor in itself.
There are several tipping points in a blog’s career, those moments that clearly take it into the next league. This is an important milestone and an indication of growing popularity of this blog. This makes all the effort so far – totally worth it.
Thank you Jurgen – for taking an initiative to compile this list based on Google, Twitter Grader, Alexa and Technorati ratings.
Bonus Reading:
Have a GREAT day ahead!
P.S: Thanks to my friends Nicholas Bate and Kurt Harden for congratulating me via their blog posts - this only raises expectations and pushes me to do it better! BIG THANKS!
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This month’s Carnival of Leadership Development is hosted by Sharlyn Lauby at HR Bartender blog. I am happy to have my post 3 Lessons in Building Great Relationships with Customers featured there along with some of the best posts on Leadership Development. If you are looking for some fantastic reading on leadership and allied subjects, you should quickly check out the latest Carnival.
Sharlyn and Mr. Bartender are celebrating their 23rd anniversary and hence, the posts in this month’s carnival are organized according to the blog anniversary. During the submission process, I was asked “How long have you been blogging?”
That is when I realized that I will be completing 4 years of productive blogging later this month. When you immerse yourself in doing what you love doing, all ‘metrics’ take a backseat. You just keep doing it without any expectations, simply enjoying the process. That, to me, is the cornerstone of all success and satisfaction.
My blogging has taken me places without going anywhere. I have some great friends across the globe with whom I share ‘thought-based relationship’. We are connected by our thoughts. I am no where near to being famous or earning money through this blog (and that is not even a distant ambition!). I just love doing it – everything else is a by-product.
I started blogging in April 2006 and wrote my first post titled “Solutions Perspective”. I have come a long way since then experimenting new stuff, overcoming my own resistance to write and sometimes overcoming the “writers block”.
Why did I start blogging?
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because I was passionate about sharing lessons I learned while doing my work.
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because I always wanted to get better at writing and expression.
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because I wanted to ‘explore’ this new fad called ‘blogging’.
How has it helped me?
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It sharpened and shaped my thinking. I became an ‘observer’ to my own thinking patterns and happenings around me.
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It helped me become a better writer and get good at expressing myself clearly.
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I had a heightened awareness about my areas of focus and learned a great deal about them. Lessons I wrote came from things that worked for me and also from reading/thinking.
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Blogging helped me increase my reading, subscribing to other great blogs and discovering new blogs.
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Blogging encouraged me to do more – more reading, more writing and more thinking.
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I understood the power of ‘contributing’ – comments, link love, guest posts and so many other ways of adding value.
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It opened up new opportunities for me through people I came to know via blogging.
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I get immense satisfaction after I write a good post that resonates well with so many people. If any of my blog post so far has helped even few individuals for better, I think all the effort so far is worth it.
So this month is special in more ways than one. Stay tuned for special offerings this month – to mark the 4th anniversary of this blog. I am super-excited.
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Photo Courtesy: Kristina’s Flickr Photostream
Last year was very hectic for me – work, travel, book, blog and a host of other things. I needed a good break to re-energize and spend quality time with my family and hence, last week, I took a one-week break to Goa – my favorite destination. Sandy and rocky beaches, palms dotting the skyline, overcast skies, the grandeur of vast Arabian Sea, Portuguese architecture (some of the world heritage sites), cathedrals and food has always enticed me. A week spent without cell phone, internet and connectivity helped me spend time quality with my family and myself. My batteries are recharged and I am ready to take on more work, more reading, more thinking and more writing.
In social media, a lot can happen in one week, and it did.
There were a number of interesting conversations on the blogs I follow and I am yet to catch up with all of them. I hope to read them all in the coming week and get back on track.
I wish you a wonderful and productive week ahead!
In the photo: Vagator beach in North Goa.
This is another high point in my blogging career. Thanks to Becky Robinson, my personal story on “Perseverance” has been posted today on Leadertalk – the blog of Mountain State University’s School of Leadership. I wrote this post when I was in Helsinki, Finland.
Here is an excerpt:
“In the equation of success, having a purpose is one part, another is one’s ability to persist. I have seen a number of people who, when faced with difficult situation, just did what their heart told them.”
Read the full post here. Thanks Becky, for this opportunity.
Readers, I await your comments!
Writing a book (at least one in my lifetime) was my dream and I am glad to announce that my dream is finally coming true with my first book titled “#QUALITYtweet – 140 bite-sized ideas to deliver quality in every project”.
This book is a compilation of 140 ideas on quality management. Each idea is in form of a tweet – no longer than 140 characters. Twitter’s popularity has proven that you can indeed say a lot in 140 characters.
The inspiration for this book came from Rajesh Setty – my mentor and a very good friend. This book is a part of Rajesh Setty’s #TH!NKtweet series. I cannot thank him enough for his generosity.
The basic premise of this book is that Quality is still a very heavy subject with lot of focus on models, frameworks and theories. With limited time to read, people want short and practical insights on how quality can be managed. This is a book you can read in less than 30 minutes. You can read it over and over again, because each tweet will prompt you to think.
The foreword of #QUALITYtweet is written by Dr. Pankaj Jalote who is an accomplished author, academician and a veteran in the field of Software Quality and Processes. You can read more about him here. Many thanks to him.
I also thank Lisa Haneberg, Skip Angel, Phil Gerbyshak and Michael Wade for their kind words of advance praise. They have been great teachers for me over past few years and they continue to enlighten me. Utpal Vaishnav is a cool friend who reviewed the book with lot of love and care. I thank all my peers at Gateway TechnoLabs who have been extremely supportive and encouraging. Readers of this blog have never failed to inspire me.
The book will hit the stands on 11/11/2009, my daughter’s third birthday! Stay tuned for more updates on #QUALITYtweet in the time to come.
Tags: #QUALITYtweet, Leadership, Management, People, Processes, Quality, Tanmay Vora book
Books/Reviews, Leadership, Managing People, Process Improvement, Quality, Social Media | Tanmay September 22, 2009 | 
Comments (46)
Here is yet another proof of how powerful social media can be. I am very glad to announce the official launch of my friend and guide Rajesh Setty’s new free eBook - defiant! Practical Tips for Thriving in Tough Times
Here are some of the key highlights of the book:
- Its completely FREE and you can download it from here. (No Registration Required)
- The entire project was conceived, created and implemented using the power of social media. The key tools used were LinkedIn Answers, Blog, Facebook and Twitter.
- This book includes a collection of 80+ tips from 50+ smart people (including yours truly) who contributed to the project and shared their tips/ideas on how to thrive in a difficult time. I have shared the tip on how remaining alternatively skilled can really help you find your next opportunity. You can read my tip (#46) on page 64.
It is very inspiring to see how you can use the power of social media to create very relevant content.
I am sure you will enjoy the book as much as I did. If you like it, drop a note in the comments section.
Happy reading!
I have recently updated my Flickr Photostream with some new chosen pictures. Enjoy the photos at http://www.flickr.com/tnvora. Your comments are priceless.
Here are some highlights:
This is a peepal leaf against light. The veins of leaf came so clear that this looks like roads of a well planned city.
This is a beautiful flower at Esplanade Park Helsinki Harbor. More pictures of Helsinki Harbor at my Flickr Stream.
Lutherian Cathedral - Dome View. Also called Helsinki Cathedral, this monument is like Taj Mahal of Finland. It looks even beautiful when viewed from the sea.
If you enjoyed these, I am sure you will enjoy the rest. So what are you waiting for? Jump on to Flickr to see more.
There was an interesting question on LinkedIn Answers recently - “What 4 or 5 things do you do each and every day to be successful?“. Now that was thought-provoking.
Here is my list of 5 things that I do (or try to do) everyday to be/remain successful:
- Eat healthy and walk to stay fit. No fun being successful and sick!
Get 7 hours of sleep and maintain a mental balance that is needed for managing difficult situations at work.
- Be thankful for what I have. Everyday for 5 minutes, I think of what I have that others only yearn for. Being thankful for gifts you have (health, intellect, family, passion, willingness, work, kids etc.) is essential part of “success-thinking”. Be thankful to the family for they are the ones for whom you want to be successful.
- Observe/Learn. Observe patterns in the way things happen, in the way people behave, mistakes made by others. When I observe and learn something, I blog about it. Blog is an important knowledge management tool for documenting my learnings. Part of my success project.
- Aspire for Quality - quality in interactions, quality in client calls, quality in work products I generate. Quality everywhere. Because Quality delivers an experience. Quality drives success. Good quality means a pleasant experience that is memorable. Challenge though, is to balance quality with timeline. Tight deadlines does not mean poor quality. Isn’t it?
- Delegate. Doing everything yourself is a sure way to limit your capacity. One of the most important traits of successful people is that they are able to multiply their capacity by virtue of delegating. By delegating, you also give others a chance to lift their game up and be excellent.
What does your list look like? Well, I am curious to know. Give it a thought and share it in comments.
Image Courtesy: Yogi’s photostream on Flickr
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