the HRM
The Sales Summit – Lumbini Province was organised by Growth Leadership Academy (GLA) on March 2 with the theme ‘Staying Ahead in Difficult Times’. After successfully organising the seventh edition of the Sales Summit in Kathmandu, the steering committee planned to take it to the provincial level and it started with the inaugural event in Koshi Province, followed by this edition in Lumibini. The event was inaugurated by the Mayor of Siddharthanagar, Istiyaq Ahmed Khan followed by a welcome speech from Mohan Ojha, Chairperson, Sales Summit Steering Committee. He briefly discussed about the reason behind organising the sales summit in 2016 and the need for the event to touch base in provinces. Similarly, he also discussed about the theme and its relevancy in the present context.
During his speech, the chief guest mentioned about the strength of Lumbini Province and the ways the economy of the province could be strengthened. He was thankful to the organising team that such a conference was being held in Siddharthanagar. He emphasised on creating synergy for the development of the municipality, province and then the country. He stated that the young generation is energetic, smart and makes the best use of resources in these difficult times to create opportunites and we should all work together for the betterment.
Altogether five sessions were held in the summit under different themes namely, modern day sales challenges and solutions, keeping salespeople happy and motivated, sales excellence mantra: the whole company approach, overcoming business challenges – capitalizing on opportunities and final one is motivational session on “Let’s Touch the Sky”.
The first session on ‘Modern Day Sales Challenges and Solutions’ was moderated by Neha Agrawal, Managing Director, Bhojdeals, Lumbini comprises of panelists namely, Rajesh Agrawal, Chairperson, Industry Committee, FNCCI; Ajaz Alam, President, CNI Lumbini Province; Srishtee Gurung, Chairperson, Commodity Committee of Woman Entrepreneurship, Butwal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Rupandehi.
The esteemed members of the panel have discussed the capacity under utilization of the industries, exploiting technologies to enhance production and lower the operation cost and innovative techniques to optimize sales.
Further, the second session was conducted as motivational session under the theme of keeping salespeople happy and motivated. Ajaya K. Mishra, CEO at Norvic International Hospital and Medical Center Ltd. has delivered the presentation as resource person focusing on the driving forces that keeps sales team motivated and close more deals.
“Intrinsic sales motivation is when salespeople complete tasks because they are motivated by internal reasons, such as the feeling of accomplishment or satisfaction,” Mishra said to the participants, “Extrinsic sales motivation is when your sales team is motivated by external factors, such as rewards or to avoid punishment.”
He also discussed about balancing emotions and life satisfaction. On top of that, he emphasised that the motivation should come from within and once should not be dependent on other entirely for motivation.
In the conclusion he underlined the importance of competence, motivation and skills for the doing the job in an outstanding manner.
The third session was panel discussion on sales excellence mantra: the whole company approach moderated by Upendra Pradhan, Additional General Manager, Sales & Director at Dabur Nepal comprised of panelists namely Mahesh Swar, President, Nepalese Marketing Association; Sushama Sharma, Entrepreneur and Jassu Shrestha, Chairman, Kalash Soap Industries. The session briefly discussed about the sales culture, customer approach and marketing that comes along with the sales. Moreover, the panelists have shared their opinion on pros and cons of pull and push sale strategy.
Another important attraction of the event was a key note speech delivered by Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, Managing Director at Panchakanya Group on Overcoming Business Challenges – Capitalising on Opportunities. Starting the session with the the statement that sales is an important part of not just business but life itself, Shrestha said that experiences make people skillful and one should not fear the failure, especially in the sales one should always try until and unless s/he achieves the success. It is undeniable that sales is the backbone of any organisation.
“One should capitalise with whatever they have at hand. Instead of lamenting and looking at the situation negatively, one should learn and earn from the opportunities they get,” Shrestha said. He also highligheted that the country has immense potential to achieve prosperity by harnessing the resources.
He also underlined the braindrain as another challenge and the organisations are facing the short of talented pools. He concluded the speech with a thought to ponder for everyone that opportunities are often not identified, and if identified, they are treated differently from threats/risks.
The keynote speech was insightful and inspiring to the audience. He hailed the initiative of Growth Leadership Academy for organising the Sales Summit in the Lumbini province and the importance of conducting such conferences outside of Kathmandu.
The last and fifth session was meditation and yoga based inspirational speech by LP Bhanu Sharma, President, Life Coach, Jeevan Bigyan Foundation under the theme of ‘Let’s Touch the Sky’. Sharma’s session started with a note on positivity. We as an individual have our personal lives but the work/office is also our family and part of us.
He talked about knowing self and self-management. He questioned the participants how many of them are able to see and know the person that is inside us. “Our reality is within us. Have we ever tried to recognise and understand the person that is inside us?,” he asked the audience, “That is our real identity and we must know it. We must be self-aware, we must realise that knowing ourselves will help us better ourselves. It will not only help us personally but in professional lives as well.”
He also conducted a breathing exercise in the event. The exercise was done by the audience enthusiastically. The breathing exercise helped calm the environment and energise the audience at the same time.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Alisha Thapa, Corporate Affairs Manager, Growth Leadership Academy. The event was conducted in association with Dinesh Soap. In their feedback participants have said that the sessions ware insightful and had a lot of practical takeaways because of the examples cited by the panelists and the moderators.
