“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” -Jim Rohn-

I was doing exceptionally well, and my business was growing super fast, and I was pursuing angel investors in Feb 2017 for raising funds to scale-up, but all of the sudden things changed, and I needed to take a break for a medical emergency (my daughter's health deteriorated), and it took nearly a year to stabilize and recovery, and my work break lasted for 12 months (March 2017 to Feb 2018).

During those 12 months, I left my hometown (Karnal) only for a day (in July 2017) to meet a senior leader who came back to India with an objective to groom SMEs. And we had our first interaction over the LinkedIn, and from there we exchanged phone numbers and met in-person.

And that 2 hours of the in-person meeting made a powerful impact on my mindset and after the meeting, I said to myself I need to meet this guy more often. However, I was hesitant to ask for the next meeting siting his stature and the scale of business he was handling ($ 3 Billion).

However, I waited for the right time, and when I was restarting my entrepreneurial journey after the one year break, I dropped him a message on LinkedIn and shared what was running in my mind that I am going back to Bangalore to restart. I told him exactly where I was and also, where I want to go. I said to him that I took a break when I was pursuing angel investors, and I want to restart exactly from there, but I am in the state of self-doubt and don't know what to do. I am afraid.

He was courteous enough and invited me to his office and coached me for two hours with GTM (Go-to-market) and answered all my questions.

And after his coaching, I sat down, arranged my available resources, and assets and left for Bangalore to start again.

And it took me five months to achieve my primary goal of finding the investor, and during those five months a lot of great things happened (I have been invited to speak on social selling-LinkedIn training on international forums, International authors reached out to me to publish my content in their books and a lot more).

I am still the desi guy, but the way I do the things are different today. And the five persons whom I met, talked most of the time in last eight months have made a significant impact on me and today I want to share the first person who was there before I restarted my solopreneurship journey is Dr. Alok Bharadwaj

Dr. Alok consistently guided me in the last eight months and helped me to achieve my primary goal (Funding). Sometimes, I used to go off the track, but he made sure that I stay on the track until I reach my destination. His experience and strategies made the difference, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his coaching.

Thank you, Dr. Alok.

#Coaching #SelfDoubt #Solopreneur #SME #Scaleup #Funding #GOAL #IMSolopreneur

Complaint which people make about LinkedIn that I am not getting responses to my messages. Here is a quick video for you

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In case you’ve taken a five-year nap, you know that the B2B buyer is digitally savvy. Sure, this is more or less true across different industries. Ignoring the reality of the digitally engaged buyer, is risky. Let’s examine the four pillars that make up this reality.

The Modern B2B Buyer is on Social Media

During the past five years, many B2B organizations have been slow to adopt social selling practices. The proof is abundantly available that the modern B2B buyer needs a modern B2B seller. In 2017 81% of the U.S. population is active on social media. Let’s not forget that we sell to people. The B2B buyer whose behavior is heavily skewed to engaging in digital channels in general, wants to engage with sellers digitally. Any B2B organization who thinks their buyer has a split personality – one at work and one outside of work – is taking a big risk. People are people.

The Rise of Content Marketing

The sophisticated marketer has figured out that publishing content that maps to the buyer’s journey is effective because the buyer needs it and wants it.

Let’s examine this without the “sophisticated” qualifier. When you think about this, it’s not really that sophisticated. It’s simple logic. Here it is.

Buyers do not:

• Take phone calls.
• Respond to email.
• Want to talk with sales in the first half of their journey.

Buyers do:

• Want to read educational, informational and entertaining content.
• Use social media to conduct research.
• Use social media to ask questions.
• Register for webinars that help facilitate the buyer’s journey.
• Have high regard for the opinions of peers and influencers.
• Consume content in different formats, e.g., long form, infographic, video, podcast, webinars, etc.

You see the simple logic? The buyer is in control of their buying journey. With 6.8 people involved in the average B2B buying decision, the way to reach and engage this team is through relevant and engaging content that is helpful to their journey.

Mindset Shift

In my book, Marketing 2.0, published in 2009 (the stone ages of social media), I spoke of the need for businesses to undergo a mindset shift to use social media to drive business results. Eight years later, we see considerable evidence that the shift has happened. Research points out that 75% of the B2B buyer’s journey is influenced by information discovered in social media, and 57% of the buyer’s journey is completed digitally.

It’s natural to witness the maturation of the B2B buyer’s mindset shift for two reasons. More managers responsible for making decisions have become engaged in social media and therefore experience first-hand what it takes to engage in digital communications. Additionally, more use-cases have emerged enabling slower-to-adopt businesses to take notice and take action, especially when direct competitors have demonstrated prowess as “social sellers.”

The Evolution of Business

No one remembers the mindset shift that took place to put a telephone on every employee’s desk. Just imagine the conversations in the executive suite when telephone technology was in its infancy. It probably sounded something like this: “We can’t give a telephone to each employee! We won’t be in control of their conversations with prospects and customers. Additionally, they might abuse the telephone and call friends. It’s just too risky. We’re not going to do it.”

It sounds comical, doesn’t it?

Some of us remember when email was first introduced as a digital communication tool. Similar conversations took place in the executive suite. Yet, email has become the most pervasive digital communication channel in the modern era.

The new modern era – the connected era – is comprised of digital communication tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and in Asian regions WeChat and WhatsApp.

The social channels most used by B2B organizations remain LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Other popular digital tools and channels include text messaging, private messaging on social media apps, social video and yes, even email.

The modern B2B organization must engage the modern buyer in the manner in which the buyer wants to engage. In Lithium’s 2017 State of Social Engagement we learn that most brands are stuck in broadcast mode through their company channels. It’s time to get human or risk being irrelevant to your buyer!

Our customers and prospective customers are engaging in digital channels. Marketing and sales alignment is a culture shift that has to happen in the B2B selling organization. When marketing says, “your number is my number,” the alignment mindset is off to a great start.

Employees who willingly engage in digital channels because the brand has made it easy for them are more likely to be influential to a buyer, because the buyer wants to engage with subject matter experts.

Digital transformation is way more than a buzzword. My only pushback on the phrase is that it’s missing a word. I prefer to think of it as digital sales transformation. Isn’t that what we’re experiencing?

#ContentMarketing#DigitalSales#DigitalSelling#Sales#Marketing

Read the complete article:

https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/b2b-content-marketing/2017/4-reasons-b2b-digital-transformation-is-dominating

It was a great meeting with Dr. Alok Bharadwaj (Former SVP Canon Asia Regional Strategy Centre, Singapore). We have discussed the area of synergies between his new venture CreoVate Transformations & Consulting and SalesMOJO (A Social Selling cum LinkedIn Sales Training Company). Dr. Alok has an excellent vision and road-map for CreoVate. CreoVate is planning to deliver niche services like India Entry Management, Build-Operate-Transfer, Change Management, Customer Strategist, GoToMarket Architects. If you are looking for any of this, then Dr. Alok is your go-to guy.

AGENTS OF TRANSFORMATION: Though people see us as management consultants, we, at CreoVate Transformations, call ourselves enthusiastic architects, facilitators & catalyzing agents to Change Management & business transformation (CMBT) journey for ambitious, growth hungry organizations, determined to win in Indian markets. As India accelerates its economy, large number of Indian & global companies want to make Indian operations, a solid growth & game changing story. Whether you are looking at enhancement in business outcomes or constructing their enablers. we help leadership make right choices aimed at impactful performance that drive results. We are not just advisors, we are contractors who work with your teams across levels to create & innovate a better tomorrow. We call this CreoVating. 

CREOVATE BUSINESS PURPOSE: CreoVate is a new entrant in India, set up by an old practitioner who has successfully played on the leadership turf of building strategies, scaling up operations with powerful go-to-market architectures & embedded hi-impact execution capabilities in India and across South & South East Asian markets . It is founded with a mission to be a guide, coach, mentor & facilitator for business organisations which are at the cusp of transformational journey. Be it a new entry, a renewal, major turn-around, response to disruptions, rapid scale up, strengthening weak links, seeking to build competitiveness or catapulting people capabilities in order to help leadership on business performance & driving results. 

CREOVATE FORUNDER:Creovate is founded by Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, an Alumni of IMD Lausanne & FMS, Delhi, India and former head of Canon Asia Strategy centre in Singapore. He was previously EVP-COO of India Operations where he grew business from $15 Million to $350 Million, a leap of 20 times in 13 years.

New Read Receipts and Typing Indicators

Free LinkedIn Account-UI

SalesMOJO will be sharing more insights and a quick video on new user interface soon.

Once upon a time, an old man named Strategic Selling lived with his 3 sons Calling, Emailing, and Social Selling in a village. All his 3 sons were hard workers. Still, none of them agreed with each other and quarrelled all the time by claiming I’m the best and you are dead/ old-schooled. The old man tried a lot to unite them, but he failed. While the villagers were surprised at their hard work and efforts, they also made fun of them on their fights.

Months passed by and the old man fell sick. He talked to Calling, Emailing & Social selling, his sons to stay united, but none of his sons heard his words. So, he decided to teach them a practical lesson so that they would shed off their differences and stay united.

The old man called as his sons. He told them, ‘I will give you a bundle of sticks. Separate each stick and you will have to break each stick into pieces of two. The one who breaks the sticks quickly will be rewarded more.’

All sons agreed.

The old man gave a bundle of 10 sticks to every one of them and asked to break it into pieces. All the sons broke the sticks into pieces in minutes.

And again they started to quarrel among themselves as who came first.

The old man said, ‘Dear sons, the game is not over. Now I will give another bundle of sticks to all of you. You will have to break the sticks as a bundle, not as separate sticks.’

The sons agreed and began to break the bundle of sticks. Unfortunately, they could not break the bundle. They tried very hard but failed to complete the task.

All sons said to the father about their failure.

The old man (Strategic Selling) replied, ‘Dear sons, See! You could easily break the single sticks into pieces, but you were not able to break the bundle! The sticks were same. So, if you stay united, nobody can make any harm to you. If you quarrel every time with your brothers, anyone can easily defeat you. I request you to stay united.’

The three sons understood the power of unity and promised their father that whatever be the problem, they would all stay together.

Moral: Unity is Strength!

Therefore, to get more sales in 2016, sales organization must use the multifaceted approach of Calling, Emailing and Social Selling to win more strategic accounts. None of the approach is dead and none of the approach is a silver bullet to break a large account.

Related Topics:

• How to Create Buyer’s Persona
• Cold Calling Framework
• Emailing Framework
• Social Selling- LinkedIn Triggers, Twitter Triggers