The one-day summit dealt with the emerging issues and challenges in the digitized world and how digitization contributes to the transformation in sales.
the HRM
In one of its kind events in Nepal, the Growth Leadership Academy on August 26 organized the sixth edition of the Sales Summit in Kathmandu.
Organized with the theme ‘Sales Optimization through Digital Transformation’, the one-day summit saw the active participation of over 200 people from the Nepali corporate fraternity.
The summit was inaugurated by Avi Z Liran, Chief Delighting Officer, Delivering Delight, and David Goldwich, Principal Consultant, David Goldwich International Pte Ltd.
The objective of the summit was to introduce innovative tools, techniques, and processes to cater to an ever-changing market, examine the emerging issues and challenges of selling, and identify opportunities for personal and organizational growth.
The summit had sessions on how digitization helps in the transformation of sales in which the importance of digitization in the sales process was widely discussed.
The Growth Leadership Academy has been organizing the summit every year since its inception in 2016.
Addressing the summit, Mohan Ojha, Managing Director of Growth Sellers Pvt. Ltd., said the summit aims at providing a platform for sales persons to learn, and expand knowledge about the emerging issues, challenges and trends across the country and globally.
“Without a motivated and skilled sales team, it is difficult for organizations to grow and do business. In this context, it is vital to update sales mechanisms and enhance the skill of sales professionals in this digitalized world,” Ojha said in his opening remarks.
The opening remarks by Ojha were followed by an hour-long session by Amlan Mukherjee, Managing Director of Unilever Nepal Ltd. In his session, he talked about how digitization is completely changing the way shoppers are shopping globally.
“Lately, the way shoppers are shopping is changing globally. They are comparing everything online. The salesperson’s job has completely changed. With everything digital, they cannot be completely unaware of what is happening in the digital space,” said Mukharjee. According to him, the entire landscape has changed where the consumers compare products on digital platforms much more frequently than they used to do earlier. “Comparing has become so easy. And the challenges for salespersons have completely changed,” he said, adding that salespeople are dealing with much more informed shoppers.
Former banker Anil Keshary Shah said that salespersons are rainmakers of every organization. “Without salespersons, no matter how good the company is, there is no money, revenue, or salary. Salespersons bring money to the organization,” said Shah.
Talking about digitization, Shah said there has been a huge transformation in digitization as people these days can’t even imagine leaving home without a phone. “I play my games on my smartphone. I maintain files on it. The whole dynamics have changed. And this is what we call the transformation,” said Shah.
According to Shah, salespersons should also transform themselves. “Transformation is a journey without a destination. Transformation is critical for your survival and career, growth, and your company,” he said.
“Nepal is not only one of the countries with the highest phone concentration but with smartphone concentration. The instrument is already there. Salespersons’ work is to put their service in the smartphone.”
In another session, participants were divided into five different groups for group discussion. The session was facilitated by Pranu Singh, head of corporate affairs, brand, and marketing at Standard Chartered Bank Nepal. Likewise, the session had Madhav Kafle, head of sales and marketing at Worldlink Communications, and Upendra Pradhan, AddIn General Manager-Sales and Director of Dabur Nepal, as commentators.
The five groups discussed in the topics of “Is digital transformation a need or an option?”, “Impact of digital transformation on sales process”, “Striking human-digital balance in this human world”, “Five most essential things or pillars for digital transformation to optimize sales and to make the process stronger”, “Discuss the things that business needs or unlearn about sales to adapt to the changes or work in a digitized world”.
The session titled “Enhance Ourselves in the World of Technology” was moderated by Upendra Pradhan.
According to Balkrishna Gurung, National Sales Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd., digital marketing should be done according to the needs and requirements of consumers. “Salespersons must understand and research what consumers are looking for,” he said.
Likewise, Vivek Jha, Chairman of VJ Consulting Pvt. Ltd., said data is money in this digitized world. Giving an example of the insurance sector, Jha said insurance companies have to analyze data to verify claims. “Software and data have changed the whole scenario,” he said.
Similarly, Karvika Thapa, CEO of Kimbu Tech said like companies, consumers are also becoming smarter day by day. “The way companies are investing in technology, sales optimization, the same way consumers are also becoming smarter every day. Consumers have all the tools in their palms to decide whether they want to buy your products. Companies have more challenges now than ever because customers know everything. They have more information. What brand image you are creating impacts sales directly.”
In the session ‘Dare Ask’, Avi Z Liran said salespeople should dare to ask potential consumers. “Even if there is a ‘No,’ salespersons should believe ‘no’ means ‘next opportunity’, and develop a relationship with ‘No’. Sometimes salespersons should also dare to fail,” he said in his session.
The Summit ended with closing remarks by Samjhana Sharma, Editor of the HRM magazine.
