It was way back in late 90s. I still remember it was a quarter end. I was working on a large deal. I was banking on that deal to meet my quota and I didn’t have any other deal of that size. As I was working for that deal for more than 4 months, I had built a good rapport with most of the stakeholders in the organization.

The need was there. The prospect liked our product. The POC and demo went on well. The only aspect that was preventing the prospect to place the order on us was the commercials. The IT Head asked me to meet the procurement head and try my luck for the PO. This Procurement Head was a tough person and I had never come across such a tough negotiator previously.
It was the last day of the quarter. The Procurement head sensed my desperation and started with a rock bottom price. He categorically told me that if I was not matching his price expectations, he would ask his IT head to look for some other product and vendor. Having put so much of efforts, I didn’t want to let go this opportunity and gave a bit of discount to satisfy his ego. He was not satisfied. The haggling went on for more than an hour. The prospect didn’t seem to accept my final offer.

I was getting tired and disappointed as time was ticking out. It was evident in my face. After seeing my expression, he said, “Sir, I have told my expectations. You please match this and take the Purchase order”. I said with a smile, “Sir, along with this “Purchase order”, ask your HR team to issue an “Appointment order” also to me, because if I go with this Purchase order to my office, they will definitely issue a “Get out order””. After hearing this, he burst into laughter and the situation became light. He then released the Purchase order within an hour.
Sometimes our smile and sense of humour changed the situation completely to our favour.

Experimentation and Innovation requires a certain mindset coupled with courage to explore.

A decade back, an experiment to connect with coaches and build successful coaching practices, led to the creation of a LinkedIn Forum called – Global Coaching Lab. A simple LinkedIn Forum morphed into an organisation later –Global Coaching Lab LLP

During the transition, I recall an event we conducted called – SELL COACHING. There was,
Still no formal entity, yet.

Still not much awareness about how to create and grow a business around people and capability enablement.

Still not much clarity on the market opportunities for Coaching, then in 2012-13.

Still not even a bank account to collect the fees and issue an invoice to the 35 odd people who got excited by our event SELL COACHING.

Today, as I reflect, after a decade, it tells me that invoking the Innocent Archetype and courageously exploring opportunities helped to grow an experimentative idea around Coaching into an full-fledged organisation that focuses on using coaching as a fulcrum for change.

Well it’s time to let go of any voices that hold you back and get ready to take action on your ideas. It matters big time!

Humour is one of the mature Unconscious Ego Defence Mechanisms’, not as difficult to invoke.

#sales is perceived as a serious profession but frankly every sales professional will have tons of humorous experiences to share. I still cherish my short and sweet stint in the middle east a decade ago. My employer had arranged a good cross cultural orientation session before travel, and I was fairly confident to deal with the new environment. But a theoretical swimming class has its own limitations.

It was my first week in the new geography and my colleague accompanied me to maiden meeting in a government organization. We were waiting in the reception, and I was doing a mental rehearsal of greeting the client with the few words in the foreign language learnt by heart. At this stage, I saw two men meeting and greeting outside a conference room in their traditional way with cheeks. I was taken aback for a minute since I was planning to do a handshake and greet the client in local language. My colleague sensed the change in my facial reaction and quipped what perplexed me suddenly. I told him that I am not prepared for the traditional greeting and asked if a rehearsal needs to be done quickly. He burst into laughter and said it was ok for expats to a handshake-much to my relief.
 Back in office, the “Prasad in the wonderland” episode spread like a wildfire, and we had great fun. Enjoy every minute of your client interaction. #HumourHelpsBigTime