The tournament had all the thrills that the ICC expected it to have and this tournament turned out to be a defining moment in world cricket because IPL followed the next year and as the saying goes – rest is history.Being a sports enthusiast, I must admit that I have written very little about Indian sports other than cricket. Being a cricket fanatic that’s quite expected but I do regret that I do not write more often about other sports especially when I do follow some of them.
Many years back, 2012 to be exact, I wrote one of my earliest pieces in this blog and that was about the London Olympics. It was written one day before the opening ceremony and I am quite proud to say that I predicted correctly the number of medals that India could win that year. I predicted that we will win 6 medals and that’s exactly the number of medals we won eventually.
The high of the 2012 London Olympics couldn’t be sustained unfortunately by India at the Rio Olympics of 2016. We won only 2 medals, one by PV Sindhu (Silver) in Badminton and the other by Sakshi Malik (Bronze) in wrestling.
India had sent a strong contingent of 117 athletes (which was the highest ever from India) but came back with only 2 medals. It was a disappointment. But, India as a nation is obsessed with cricket so I don’t think we should be highly critical of these athletes because they do not get the kind of support that our cricketers get from the public as well as the sponsors. So hats off to each of them for fighting hard and trying their best for bringing glory to the nation.
Covid-19 led to an unprecedented situation with the Tokyo Games being postponed in 2020. Finally, it’s scheduled to start on 24th July 2021 – a good one year later. But, Covid-19 is still a reality, and hence for the first time, ever Olympics will be held behind closed doors with no spectators around. That straightaway takes the thrill out of the games. A buzzing stadium not only gets the athletes pumped up but also makes the TV viewers feel that they are inside the complex. But these are tough times and we should consider ourselves lucky that we will be able to see the Olympics be it, sans spectators.
So what are India’s chances this year? Will India be able to break her own record of 6 medals this time around? Let’s get into the details followed by my predictions.
India is sending around 126 athletes to Tokyo this year making it the largest contingent ever.
The disciplines along with the number of participants (in brackets) are given below along with my prediction on medals that India might win:
Athletics (26) – 1
Archery (4)
Badminton (4) – 1
Boxing (9) – 1
Equestrian (1)
Fencing (1)
Golf (3)
Gymnastics (1)
Hockey (Men’s) (16)
Hockey (Women’s) (16)
Judo (1)
Rowing (2)
Sailing (4)
Shooting (15) – 5
Swimming (3)
Table Tennis (4)
Tennis (2)
Weightlifting (1) – 1
Wrestling (7) – 2
As you can see from the above, I am expecting 11 medals this year with Shooting being our brightest hope. Many of our shooters are at the top of their game over the last couple of years and their performance would finally decide how many medals India end up with.
For the first time, India is participating in 19 different disciplines in the Olympics which shows that we are improving but to get Medals consistently one needs to have a bit more patience.
Anything less than 10 would be a slight disappointment and I hope we meet up to the expectations this year. With the crowd not being there, it can work in India’s favour because that external pressure won’t be there which gets built up during the medal rounds.
The games begin in 12 days. I will be doing some detailed analysis over the next few days on some of the disciplines where India is expected to do well. Do join in the conversation with your views and opinions.
Will you be watching the Tokyo Olympics? How many medals will India win this time? What do you think?
I was shy in my school days!
I was an introvert during my college days!
I was an average student throughout my life!
I was defined as “good for nothing” by many of my friends, relatives, and my father’s colleagues who called me lazy and also used to laugh at me due to my weight.
I got myself depressed thinking all the above was true. Accepted what the people said and a severe inferiority complex gathered inside me.
Such negative comments can get you to curse yourself and what I lacked most was a mentor! A mentor who could understand me and show me the path to overcome these mental issues.
I had no one to talk to about the mental depression I was going through. Day by day I went into a cocoon. There were friends around me, and nobody understood that I am having a problem with depression. It’s been 24 years and many friends who might read this blog would find this phase of my life unbelievable! But as the saying goes facts are stranger than fiction!
I was all alone and just going through the motion. For the next few years that is what I went through – just on the motion. I didn’t lose it in my mind probably only because of Cricket.
Then life took a turn when I joined ADDR.com. I got a job in inside sales and the work was only about writing. Writing emails to be precise. I had this habit of writing a diary during my school days but I stopped doing it. When I joined ADDR suddenly I felt the enthusiasm to go to work every day. I used to look forward to Mondays with a lot of energy. Still, I didn’t understand the inner calling. Once again I missed a mentor. Missing a mentor is something I realise today – if only I realised that 24-25 years back, things could have been very different. But I don’t have regrets of those depressing years because today I look back and think that was part of my journey and I feel happy that I overcame those bumps.
Writing!
I didn’t realise that I can weave magic around the words. I didn’t realise that simple English is loved by readers. I felt vocabulary is more important than free-flowing English. Didn’t realise that writing just like the way you are saying or talking is appreciated by many people. It was only in the year 2020 when a few unknown and unconnected people talked to me after reading my blogs and LinkedIn posts, I realised that it’s a talent.
The pandemic of Covid-19 which led to months of lockdown in 2020 made me read and write more. I had a lot of time in hand which meant I could spend time reading those books which were lying on my shelf for many years. As I started reading more, I started taking notes and as I started taking notes, I started writing small snippets of my learnings, and then I got habituated to writing daily. I started my personal journal. Then I added the gratitude journal and finally a decision journal.
Amidst all this, I wrote a book and wrote the plot of 3 other books (2nd book was released in August 2021) and it’s been less than a year of this writing habit.
Your mind knows what your real calling is! What’s required is to listen deeply to that calling. It’s only possible when you spend time in solitude. And when you get the answer, stop thinking & start doing! Never procrastinate!
Writing is bliss. Many don’t understand it. I see marketers who need content writers for their marketing initiatives! It will never give you great results! Writing is emotion. The brand is also an emotion. So as a marketer you need to write because you know your audience. You can employ an editor to fine-tune the writing, but you need to write your own copies if you are a marketer.
Writing comes from the soul. The words keep pouring out. This leads to decluttering of your mind. When that happens you get clarity of thoughts. You start living in the moment!
Too much time is spent in regrets of the past and anxiousness of the future. By writing, you can overcome these negative thoughts. Initially write for yourself. Better still, write it publicly because someone somewhere will get connected to your thoughts. Don’t spend time thinking about what others will think about you. Believe me, no one has the time to think about you, it’s just a wrong notion that people have, which stops them from writing publicly. This is the same reason why people don’t ask questions in group meetings.
Always think like a child. Children never think twice before asking a question because for them if they don’t know something, they ask. If they don’t get something, they cry. If they like something, they smile. As we grow up we send signals to our brain that we should know everything because others show that they know everything. But that’s not true because everyone can’t know everything. So google for answers or ask someone and of course, read.
As I started writing more and more, I felt happy. Some people connected or aligned with my thoughts, many didn’t but that didn’t stop me because I was writing for myself.
When you read a book or watch a movie or listen to a song do you do it for other’s pleasure or is it for your personal pleasure? It’s personal, isn’t it? Writing is also similar – you write for your pleasure – don’t think of others! Then some people will connect with your story and if you can inspire even one person in this world – remember you have done a great job.
I love cricket and when I decided to document my journey as a cricket fan I never thought if anyone would really like to read that story but when I got feedback from unknown people who read my book I realised that I was able to hit the right chord.
I built my career on writing. I am a sales professional and my emails connected with my clients who believed me and did business with me. It’s a different matter that I realised quite late that writing is my calling. Writing gave me happiness.
It’s important for you too, to understand your inner calling. You need to listen to your soul to understand your inner calling. Don’t compromise your happiness for anything. You are the hero and so it’s your right to be happy. But you need to take control of your life. Don’t lead a life based on peer pressure. Do what you love to do and I am sure you will be happy.
What’s your calling?
The year 2007 started with heartbreak with India bowing out of the Cricket World Cup in the very first round to make it the worst performance by an Indian team in recent history.
But then, every dark cloud has a silver lining and from the ashes rose the phoenix – and it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India got a chance to redeem themselves in the same year because the International Cricket Council organised a T20 world cup in South Africa in September 2007. The senior players of the Indian team like, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, and Anil Kumble opted out of the tournament and Mahendra Singh Dhoni was made the captain of the Indian team.
India had played only one International T20 match till that time and was the least experienced team in that format. India didn’t have any domestic tournaments in T20 format at that time. In a way, the tournament was not taken very seriously by BCCI at that time.
All was about to change in a fortnight.
It felt like 1983 because nobody gave India a chance especially with the senior players not playing the tournament. The other teams were in full strength. But India surprised everyone by not only reaching the finals but also going on to win it. The 5 run win over Pakistan in the finals remains one the closest matches ever played between the arch-rivals in world cup history.
The tournament had all the thrills that the ICC expected it to have and this tournament turned out to be a defining moment in world cricket because IPL followed the next year and as the saying goes – rest is history.
A year that started with a major heartbreak of losing out in the 50 overs world cup turned into a great year for cricket fans as India won a world tournament in cricket after 2 decades.
Along with that win, India started a golden run in World Cricket.
In 2008, India went on to defeat Australia in Australia in a Triangular Series – thereby becoming the first Indian team to achieve that feat. Later that year, India defeated Australia in a Test series in India, and in 2009, India won a Test series in New Zealand after 4 decades. All this under the new captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
All this culminated in India being crowned the world number one in Test cricket for the first time ever. For 21 months, India held on to that crown.
In 2011, the 50 overs world cup was held in India. Till that time, no hosting nation had ever won a world cup. All of that was about to change as the Golden Boy of the Golden period in Indian cricket, MS Dhoni, led India to a famous world cup win on 2nd April 2011 – the cup came back home.
Though India’s test record outside the subcontinent suffered reverses after 2011, the ODI bandwagon continued to roll on, and then in 2013, India defeated England in England to win the ICC Champions trophy.
For the first time ever (and it’s yet to be repeated yet) we had a captain who had led his team to win 3 different ICC world championships – ICC T20 World Cup, ICC Cricket (50 overs) world cup, and ICC Champions Trophy.
I call this period of 2007-2013, as India’s golden period in cricketing history. In all this, one man played a pivotal role and he is Mahendra Singh Dhoni – The captain cool who led from the front with aplomb.
As the world’s best wicketkeeper captain, turns 40 today, here I am wishing him the very best for the years to come. His contribution to Indian cricket will remain unparalleled and I hope he keeps entertaining us through IPL for another couple of seasons.
Happy Birthday, Mahi.
I was speaking to a colleague and he said he was spending way too much time on meetings. I could see he was getting stressed and due to long meetings he was ending up spending long hours in office work.
If time is within your control then where was he messing up?
Spending more than 9-10 hours at work is not advisable! I wondered how I could help him.
After talking with him, I realised he was doing two big mistakes in time management:
For meetings, it’s best that you set the agenda beforehand. While sending the meeting invite, write down the agenda with the associated timestamp.
Say, for example, you are an account manager and you are scheduled to meet with a client and project manager on a particular escalation issue. This is how you can send the meeting invite:
Escalation Meeting: Project X
Players:
Duration: 30 minutes
Agenda:
The person who is sending the meeting invite should control the time. Human beings’ minds at a stretch won’t be focused for more than 50 minutes. So don’t drag any meeting beyond that.
Recently someone in my Twitter connections wrote that he got off a call with a client after a 6-hour meeting and he is pumped. Don’t take such comments on social media at face value. Because most people are wearing a mask on social media. You can’t be pumped after a marathon meeting of 6 hours. It’s insane.
I try to keep meetings within a window of 40 minutes. If it goes beyond 40 minutes then it’s mostly big group meetings where there are a lot of questions that needed to be answered. I feel bad when a meeting goes beyond 45 minutes because after that a big percentage of people won’t get any value – will be distracted hence I try to keep my points as short as possible.
After a meeting is completed, it’s important for the person who initiated the meeting that he sends an MoM to all participants. This then gets baselined for future meetings if and when it’s required.
Learn to say NO to meetings if you are already filled for the day. People will understand as long as you give the next available date for the meeting. If you are transparent then people will bend too. People get angry when you play around. Many times clients get irritated because as account or project managers many people start taking them for granted. Don’t avoid them. Be upfront informing them that you are busy today and schedule a time tomorrow. Do not force yourself into another meeting when your body and mind need rest. Nothing is more important than your physical and mental health.
I advise you to maintain a diary. You can create a timetable for yourself for the next day before shutting for the day. Don’t keep more than 3 meetings in one day. You are misusing your time if you are doing it. Because you need to prepare for meetings too. And if you are having 4-5 meetings in a day – then the last couple of meetings you will be present only physically.
Keep one hour of buffer every day. So if you are planning for 9 hours, your diary should be optimised to 8 hours. One hour should be kept for unknown occurrences.
This is a simple model to follow and it’s easy to follow if you maintain the diary and make sure you meet the objectives. Don’t think too far ahead. Take one day at a time.
Time is precious. Don’t waste it. Your family needs you. And they need you in full self. When you are with family they should be given 100% priority!
What’s the process that you are following?
In the end, it didn’t ache like the way it ached in 2019. I don’t know why but probably because somewhere down the line, I always felt that New Zealand had all the aces up their sleeves to win the WTC finals. Or is it because I have got used to India losing important finals of ICC tournaments? India after all has reached 6 knockout matches post 2013 (3 finals and 3 semifinals) losing all of them. That’s 6 knockouts in 7 years.
It could also be because the high of beating Australia in Brisbane paled in comparison to this match. It could just be the mindset. Probably, I still can’t believe that one match can make you the world’s best side. To be fair, even if India would have won, it wouldn’t have eased the pain of the 2019 World Cup loss to New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Let’s not dilute the matter though. New Zealand deserves this win. They planned correctly and they executed brilliantly. This is the best New Zealand side that I have seen in my 37 years of following cricket. The process that started with Brendon McCullum has finally ended with a victory at the WTC finals to be crowned the best test team in the world. What’s more, this New Zealand side is the world number one in ODI cricket too at the moment.
But where did India lose it? What went wrong? Can India turn this around during the next 5 tests against England? Let’s delve into the details.
But first, let’s start with two very interesting statistics:
1. India was 182 for 6 in the first innings and ended the innings at 217.
2. New Zealand was 162/6 in their first innings and they ended the innings at 249.
Remember, India was 7 overs away from coming out of this match in even terms but as the above statistics show you, the difference lay in how much each of the team’s tails wagged.
New Zealand has always been blessed with a plethora of all-rounders. All their bowlers contribute with the bat. And the WTC finals showed us how it made a big difference in the final analysis.
Let’s look at another piece of data:
The last day of the test match when we finally got bright sunshine at Southampton, it was expected to be the best day for batting. Let’s look at the numbers to understand the story.
India scored 106/8 on the final day whereas New Zealand scored 140/2.
The difference is stark. On the same pitch, on the same day, one team catapulted whereas the other team came out trumps.
This is one problem that India needs to fix within the next 40 days otherwise this English summer might end up worse than 1974.
If we review the matches over the last year that India played, one common scenario is that the team won due to humongous effort put in by the bowlers. Another important aspect has been the resistance shown by the lower middle order. India wouldn’t have reached the finals without the heroics of Rishabh Pant (Sydney & Brisbane), Ashwin, and Vihari (Sydney). The pace bowlers have done their job consistently but the batters have been disappointing.
Yes, the batsmen have scored heavily in India and against the West Indies but in two crucial series, New Zealand and Australia they have failed consistently.
Rohit Sharma has been one of the top scorers for India in this 2 year WTC cycle but close scrutiny will tell you that he has scored a solitary fifty during this period outside India. Virat Kohli has not scored a century across all formats for close to two years now. Chetashwar Pujara is averaging close to 29 in the last 2 years and Rahane has only one century at Melbourne which he can really be proud of. These things matter because the final was being played in England. I am sure the batsmen would have scored merrily if this same final was held in UAE. But in England, the conditions favoured swing bowling, and India was found wanting.
Things didn’t start badly though even after Virat Kohli lost an important toss. India was going at 4 runs per over till the first drinks break. But that break changed the momentum completely. Suddenly runs dried out and as soon as Rohit got out playing a loose shot away from his body, things started going New Zealand’s way.
From that time on, it was all New Zealand. Yes, India hung on. Gave a display of grit but that’s never India’s game. India is a team that loves to dominate but the conditions meant they had to dig deep. These were conditions where India needed the best out of Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane but all were found wanting especially Pujara.
The Indian think tank went with the option of two spinners which I think was the right call because Jadeja is the world’s number one allrounder and he can play purely as a batsman in any team. It’s unfortunate for India that he didn’t click in the finals.
After posting 217 in the first innings, it was New Zealand’s match to lose. They started with good intent and at 100/2, India was already hoping for 2 days of washout to save them from the loss. One day got washed out but two crucial days remained and as it panned out finally it was enough for New Zealand to win the inaugural WTC finals.
India had things going for them on the 5th morning when the bowlers came out with intent and didn’t give anything away. 31 runs were scored in 2 hours and in the process, India picked up 3 wickets too. India was well and truly back into the match. At 135/5, India got the window of opportunity to get hold of the proceedings but a bizarre decision to start with Jadeja and Bumrah (the two least effective bowlers for India) post-lunch backfired and by the time India got their main bowlers back into play, the New Zealand batters had got into the groove. India didn’t have a lot of runs to play with and naturally couldn’t go on an all-out attack and as soon as a few lusty blows were hit by Kyle Jamieson, the momentum shifted. Southee played merrily the way only he can, hitting a couple of sixes in the process and helped New Zealand eak out a 32 run lead.
From a position of losing grip of the match, New Zealand was back in the ascendancy and the onus was on India to save the match. With hardly much time left, it was a situation which India knew was not good for them. As soon as New Zealand got that lead, the match had only 2 possibilities, a draw or a win for the Kiwis. I had the feeling that we would get a result because India’s top order didn’t look comfortable against the New Zealand pace bowlers. Kyle Jamieson has been a thorn in India’s flesh from the time he debuted in 2020. He picked up 5 wickets in the first innings and he was the primary threat again in the second innings.
Southee’s positive show with the bat rubbed in his bowling too and he was the destructor in chief helping New Zealand pick up two wickets before the end of the day’s play.
The 6th and final day was supposed to be the best day to bat. There was an expectation from the Indian camp that finally Virat Kohli will come out blazing with the sun out. But he flattered to deceive and as it turned out fell victim to Kyle Jamieson once again. None in the top 5 looked comfortable other than Rohit Sharma who unfortunately got out to “Umpire’s call” the previous evening. The onus was now on the man of 2021 – Rishabh Pant to play positively and save India’s day. He tried his best but both Jadeja and Ashwin didn’t click with the bat. The entire decision to play the spinning all-rounders came to naught and as the records show expecting anything from the Indian tail is a fantasy that 9 out of 10 times doesn’t happen. India got bowled out for 170 runs and New Zealand needed 139 runs to win the finals.
India bowled well. They kept it tight but the wickets didn’t come. Ashwin brought in the cheers with two wickets but that’s where it ended for India as Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor carried New Zealand safely to home.
Jasprit Bumrah was a disappointment with the ball. He was supposed to be India’s trump card. But then all the trump cards failed to deceive and cricket is a team game and when your main players don’t show up it’s difficult to save the match.
New Zealand are the deserved winners of the WTC title 2021 but let’s not take anything away from this Indian team. India played a total of 17 test matches in the last two years (running up to the WTC finals) and won 12 of them – losing 4 (2 of those losses interestingly came against New Zealand). That’s the highest number of wins by any team in the world in the last two years. New Zealand on the other had played 11 matches and won 7 of them. So just on match count, India was far ahead of any other team but they lost the most important match of the last two years – the finals.
In this WTC cycle, India won 4 matches away from home whereas New Zealand won only 1 but when it mattered the most then came out trumps – the finals.
One of the best ways to judge how good a team has been is by checking how they fared away from home. And by this count too India has been ahead of everyone in the last two years.
As can be seen from the above or understood how this WTC cycle works, India passed the grueling tests of beating Australia in Australia and beating England in India – two of their toughest assignments but failed to turn on their A-game when it came to playing against New Zealand.
These statistics are more of a rumbling of an Indian fan but numbers don’t lie. Just on a series-by-series basis, this Indian team has been the best over the last 5 years and that’s why they have been the holders of the world number one title in Test cricket for most of the last 5 years.
With the finals over, it’s time for Team India to look forward and think of 2023 when the next WTC final will be held. India has a tough assignment of playing England in a 5 match test series which starts on August 4 and it’s high time the team management sits together and iron out the problem areas. For India to do well in England the top order has to play big innings. Cute-looking 30s and 40s won’t work because England will score big. England’s only weakness is in the top 3 but they hardly have a tail. If India got frustrated seeing the New Zealand tailenders bat then England will leave them with hands on their heads. Players like Woakes, Curran, Archer and Stuart Broad can hardly be called tailenders and hence it will be difficult for India to get through their lineup twice in a match so easily. Hence, to be competitive and to allow their bowlers to attack consistently the batters need to do their duty of scoring big runs.
It’s easier said than done because it’s difficult to play big against the pace battery that England has. But, if you want to be the champion side you need to beat the best teams in their home conditions. England was left frustrated in India with the spinning tracks and hence India should expect green seaming conditions in England throughout this summer. India needs to hope that the weather remains dry because then the combo of Ashwin and Jadeja will come to the party. More dry conditions would make our batsmen play a little more freely too.
One thing that hurt India a lot was the way the batsmen played – too slowly. Cricket is finally a numbers game. You need to score runs and in English conditions, you never know when that magic ball will come to take your wicket so when the sun shines make merry and score big.
India has the opportunity to relax for a few days and then start hard preparations for the long test series. I am sure Virat Kohli and his men want to leave a legacy behind them and the best way to remove this WTC finals loss from everyone’s mind would be by winning the series against England. India last won a series against England in England 14 years back. Time to create your own legacy – time to win England.
What do you think? Does India have it in them to win against England or will this loss leave them disheartened?
PS. India generally plays badly in the first test of a series – lost against England in Chennai and lost against Australia in Adelaide – but they bounce back strongly thereafter. If this tour is treated as a 6 match series then it’s not a bad omen for the rest of the tour!
You have a lead!
As a salesperson that’s where you start!
Now, it’s very vital to decide whether the lead needs to be given an adequate amount of time!
What you need to do here, is to qualify the lead!
Qualification is not possible without asking questions!
Ask questions that are pinpoint and which are related to the lead’s business!
Say for example a lead comes to you asking for a price of developing a food delivery solution! What are the questions you need to ask here?
1. There are already delivery apps available in the market. How do you position yourself in this market?
This question is something that investors ask before putting in their money – so there is no harm you asking it because as an entrepreneur he should be knowing his value proposition!
If he avoids this question, be sure that the lead is yet to be ready to do business! He doesn’t pass your qualification criteria.
2. Have you done any market research on how much traction you might get after launch?
If he has not done such market research advise him to get an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) done first before investing in this idea big time. If he is a genuine lead he will be interested. If he is not he will still ask you to quote for the full product. Disqualify him because he is yet to understand the basics of starting up.
As you can understand both the questions are more about him than you! You need to ask such questions to qualify the lead. You should value your time. The last thing you would want is to waste time on a lead who finally vanishes after taking the proposal. You should only send proposals when you are 70% sure about the client. After sending the proposal, there should a Yes or a No or questions from the client. If the client goes non-responsive it means you didn’t qualify him.
For every business idea that comes to you for development, you need to do the following:
After that, write down your questions as if you are an investor of this business idea or an early-stage user of the product. Ask questions from that perspective!
If the lead is genuine he will get extremely pleased with your questions because he will know that you care about him and his business!
If the lead gets irritated then you can very well know that the lead is not serious. Disqualify him.
We are generally trying to send signals to our brain that “All is Well”. But that’s a wrong strategy, rather you should look at finding ways of telling your brain that all is not well when you sit to qualify a lead.
If a lead is disqualified it’s one work done or rather one work less to do. Because you should look at putting 100% energy towards those leads which are genuine!
People come to me asking that after sending the proposal their leads are not responding to them and the first and foremost reason that they could think of is that the quote probably is high. This is the genuine mindset of most salespeople! Come out of that. You as a salesperson should think like a businessman! So you will charge which is profitable for the organisation!
You should go back from the day the lead came to you and check the communication thread across all channels! Look for the false signals which prompted you to think that it was a qualified lead. You will find that there were doubts which you planned to ignore. People generally ignore such doubts for two reasons:
Both won’t help your cause. As a salesperson working with targets is the name of the game. But pressure doesn’t mean you end up sending proposals to all and sundry. This is not a machine gun and you can’t be lucky all the time. So be selective with your choices. When you are not 100% sure, then, don’t end up spending a humongous amount of time on that lead. Ask questions – genuine clients like it. Only the non-genuine clients get angry with questions. Ask yourself do you want to work with genuine businessmen or with people having shady intentions?
Showing a fat pipeline to make your boss happy is a short-term activity that won’t linger for long. One day you will be caught and you will be judged as a salesperson who doesn’t know how to close deals. But that’s not the case. Probably you are a great negotiator but you are unable to reach that place by sending proposals to everyone and then getting swamped with follow-up work. Your quality suffers. And experience tells me that it’s better to focus on a small group of potentials to ensure better results.
Quantity is never equal to quality. So don’t end up spending an insane amount of time on leads who have not been qualified yet. Tell your brain that the lead is unqualified! Listen to your gut. Follow the process of elimination before zeroing down on that qualified lead on whom you are going to give your utmost attention!
Human brains are wired in such a manner that we always look for convenience. So we keep looking for shortcuts to reach our goals but the fact of the matter is that there is no shortcut to success!
You have limited time every day for your work and I see across many people, the same habit of spending maximum time on activities related to pitching. So it could be making a presentation, or a mock-up, or a proposal. But if you ask me, the most time that a salesperson should give is, on qualifying a lead. It’s difficult to qualify a lead as you can read from above because you have to follow the process of elimination. Hence put your most productive hours on activities that would lead to qualification or disqualification of a lead.
Rather than thinking about your target, you should have a mental model for yourself and maintain a qualification lead sheet.
If you follow the process of elimination to disqualify a lead, you will be left with very few leads. Now put your 100% focus on understanding the real need and requirements of these leads and give a customised pitch that would be client-focused.
Don’t sell your features! Sell the benefits. The value proposition is what the client will opt for.
Price is what the client pays. Value is what the client gets. It will be easier for you to sell the value to the qualified leads than the disqualified leads. Try this method on both types of leads (Qualified & Disqualified as an experiment) and you will see the difference!
When you focus on a few leads, the quality of your pitch/proposal will be far better and the lead will feel better about you because you will customise your pitch which is best suited for his business success.
There are a few advantages of following this method:
So the next lead that you get now, follow this process of elimination to qualify a lead. Please do write back if you benefited from this idea!
One final hack: The Pareto’s Principle.
80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. So it means 80% of your effort goes wasted. This wasted effort is basically in disqualifying leads. And when you disqualify better, you will be left with genuine leads to whom you can cater. Now target to win 100% of these leads.
Finally, you should be happy with what work you do. If you are doing it just because another person is saying it, without understanding the “why” then you might not get results. First, go through all the principles and hacks given above and sit back and think about how you have been doing thus far, and how you can customise your work schedule based on the above.
Put your best foot forward. Keep a note at every step of the above process and then let me know how it worked for you! Even if it didn’t work, at what step did you get stuck?
I am all ears!
Today is Father’s Day and here is my story as a father of two wonderful kids (My teenage son doesn’t consider himself as a kid anymore but then that’s another story).
I am a Bengali married to a Kannadiga. The language that we use to communicate with each other (me and my wife) is primarily Hindi – sometimes English. Don’t ask me why, but that was the common tongue for both of us from Day 1.
When my son was born in 2004, we were in Bangalore.
My in-laws and my wife used to talk in Kannada with my son.
Whereas
My parents and I used to talk with him in Bengali.
When my son was about 2.5 years old, we moved to Kolkata!
Bengali got precedence because everyone in and around spoke in Bengali!
My wife continued speaking in Kannada with my son though!
Over the years, my son picked up both Bengali and Kannada other than of course Hindi and English!
We got into a situation where my son used to speak in Bengali with me and others in Kolkata but swiftly changed to Kannada when he used to speak with anyone in Bangalore.
Amongst all this, my wife and I continued speaking with each other in Hindi and English.
Talk of a diverse country? Come to my home where multiple languages thrive!
Fast forward: 2016
We adopted a two-year-old girl from Chhapra, Bihar and she only understood Hindi!
After she came into our lives, our household language turned into Hindi though my parents continued to communicate in Bengali with both their grandchildren!
We tried speaking with her in all languages (Hindi, English, Kannada, Bengali) but she remained comfortable only in Hindi and English!
Even if you ask a question in Kannada or Bengali she will either answer in Hindi or in English!
If you come to my house this is what you will see:
BUT
Everyone speaking in Hindi with the daughter! And now 75% of the time we end up speaking in Hindi or English amongst each other!
This is how a diverse language household became a Hindi-dominant speaking household!
Lucky are those who are blessed with a daughter! Daughters change you! They are the biggest influencers in our lives!
If you want to learn about persuasion and influence techniques adopt a girl child! Your life will change!
What’s your story?
PS. Don’t think we need to celebrate a single Father’s Day because everyday is Father’s Day!
As France started their Euro 2020 campaign a couple of days back, I was met with a similar question which I have got used to over the years. And the question was “Why France”.
This is a question I have faced during World Cups more often than during European Championships. India is a football crazy nation with most people supporting Brazil or Argentina. The Latin American style of football has a worldwide following. They make you fall in love with the beautiful game. There are a few who support Germany and Italy too but French supporters in India are very rare. So here is my story of how and why I ended up becoming a French football supporter.
It started in 1986.
I was a 10-year-old kid enjoying my summer vacation in Kolkata when my uncle told me that there was a quarterfinal match to be played at night between Brazil and France. Hearing that both my father and uncle would be watching the match I thought to join in too. But watching a match and not supporting anyone was not something I was used to. So I asked my uncle and father whom they were rooting for. They answered Brazil. I thought, it’s better to go the opposite way because if the team that I am supporting wins, it will be great fun to see the frustration in my uncle and father’s faces, and anyways if my team loses, it didn’t matter because I was not into watching world football that much.
So late in the night, the match started. My uncle and father helped me recognise some of the star players like Zico from Brazil and Platini from France.
It was one of the best matches in the 1986 world cup. A free-flowing game with a nail-biting finish with finally France beating Brazil via penalties. There were a lot of surprises with Zico, Socrates, Platini all missing penalties. But that match which I watched accidentally made me a French football fan. I didn’t watch France play for the next 12 years but that match in 1986 remained with me for life and turned me into a French football fan for life. France didn’t do much after that because they lost in the Semifinals and the entire focus moved to Maradona and Argentina thereafter.
As things turned out, Maradona was the cynosure of all eyes, and why not, after all, he was the best footballer ever seen by our generation. He took Argentina to the finals of the 1990 World Cup too.
In the meanwhile French football went into a period of doldrums and they didn’t qualify for both the 1990 and 1994 world cups. By the time they re-entered the world cup, I was in college and it was 1998. With France back in the world cup, I remembered the 1986 Quarter-Final incident and by instinct went against the crowd and supported France from day 1.
Nobody really gave a chance to France, especially in my friends’ group who were either Brazil or Argentina supporters. Once again I found myself in a horrible minority position. This time I risked being heavily trolled too.
On the day of the finals, it was once again 1986 revisited with France meeting Brazil in Paris. About 5 of us were watching the match in our flat with me the only one wearing a blue T-shirt. By reaching the finals the French team had already become the greatest team in French history and now one final push was required for them to reach the pinnacle. Two early goals by Zinadine Zidane made my friends go back to their beds and I remember watching the match almost alone towards the end.
The supporter in me became a proud supporter post-1998. Why do we support a team that is not even remotely related to us? It’s a strange psychological question. The fact is, we are going through a lot of turmoil internally due to our daily hassles but we always want to show a “happy me” in the exterior. A team whom you support when they win makes you feel superior and that’s the reason you will find passionate fans taking an ugly route when their team loses. Because it’s all personal after all. How much you say, that’s not my team anyways because India is not playing, but when you commit your support towards a team, you are the team, and when that team wins or loses it matters to you. This is a fact. And hence though being a French supporter happened in zest in 1986 and once again in 1998 (just to be opposite of the crowd) – when France won I became committed to their football team. And that’s how it has been from there on. France went on to win the 2000 European Championships and then reached the World Cup finals in 2006.
The era of Zidane ended but French football kept growing and then in 2016 I got another fan at my home and my son followed me and started supporting France. France lost the Euro finals to Portugal that year but came back strongly in 2018 to win the World Cup once again. Most of my friends still support either Brazil or Argentina but it was me who was able to have a good laugh at the end of the World Cup – in fact, we had a nice get-together with a few friends at Bhojohori Manna to celebrate the World Cup win. It’s all about happiness you see – France is in no way related to me but their win felt like a personal win. That’s how sports work for the fans.
So as the Euro 2020 started one year late due to the pandemic of Covid-19 and as all my Latino-Football friends alienated towards Ronaldo and Portugal I am once again in the minority supporting the Les Blues. No problem, I say because being in the minority keeps your expectations down and as history has shown when your expectations are less, the win gives you even more pleasure.
On paper, this French team is the best in the world. Each of the players in their XI is a superstar. They are the favourites and that puts me under tension. The first match was won by a 1-0 margin but the big one against Portugal is round the corner.
Looking forward to some great football and I hope you are having a great time too.
Who are you supporting and why? What is your story?
All our lives we keep trying hard to impress others!
As a child, we want to impress the teacher! The seed is sown.
Then you see your parents trying to impress their neighbours or relatives with the marks you achieved in the exams. You start getting biased in your mind.
As a teenager, you try hard to impress that crush of yours!
You try to impress your friends with a new gift that you got – probably a cricket bat or a new cycle or a bike? You start getting status-biased.
Everything in your growing up years develops you towards a certain bias and a lot of it has to do with things over which you do not have control off.
Say, for example, your neighbouring friend rides a fancy bicycle and you yearn to have one. You rush to your parents and ask for a similar cycle or better. Now your parents can afford it or not is not in your control at all but you still yearn for it. If your parents give in to your demands they might end up telling you that get this percentage in the finals and I will get you that cycle. You get into competitive mode, comparison mode, and try to study hard and get good marks. You no longer study to learn something new – you study to get marks because the goal is to get a cycle. This is how biases keep building on our psyche and it keeps being with us most of our lives.
Little by little we forget to live our lives – we start living others’ lives. But we forget that we are, what we are. We are all unique and we all have our specific journey. We try to become someone else by competing, by comparing, and eventually keep getting disappointed.
When I was in college, I saw all my friends having a bike of their own. I yearned for one but my parents couldn’t afford it. I was a pillion rider right through my college days. This disappointment finally led to me buying a bike right after I got my first job. The naivety in me led to my first dabbling with loans and I ended up paying 35% of my salary as an EMI for a bike. A few years later when I left Bangalore and came to Kolkata, I sold off that bike without batting an eyelid and didn’t feel sad at all. Today I don’t even think about that bike. Today I feel why did I spend so much on that bike when probably a second-hand vehicle would have done my job. It was my status bias – the only problem, I realised it many years later in my life.
Throughout our lives, we keep trying to impress others (status bias) though the game is never about others. It’s always about you. When you buy that first bike, that first car, that first house – people will say congratulations but then they move on – nobody really cares about what you do and what you have, other than for that specific moment. Thereafter you are on your own – in most cases maintaining those assets and paying those EMIs. We bring the suffering to ourselves by trying to impress others and that’s one of the worst things to do in life. The biggest problem – we mostly realise this pretty late in life, at least that’s been the case with me.
I have a friend who is a good painter. A good artist. Art was his favourite subject. But painting doesn’t make a great career – that’s what he heard at home and he was literally forced to take up a professional degree. He adjusted to this new environment!
We all do – we eventually adjust – that’s how humans have evolved – we learn to adjust – we learn to compromise – we learn to keep our emotions in check.
Eventually, he became a professional, turned himself into an entrepreneur but when I go to his house, I see the canvasses in his room and I realised that he paints at night when the world sleeps. It’s great of him that he has kept his inner passion alive but he lost many years in between running after a degree which right now frankly doesn’t matter. That degree is just his social symbol. As I said a status symbol. We are all status-biased right from our childhood days!
When we enter the 40s we realise our mistake of the 20s but the years lost can’t be recovered. So the next generation should learn from our mistakes and do what they love to do. Don’t work just because others are doing it – don’t do something because your relatives are telling you to do it. I tell my son that spend time and think about what you love to do and then start learning and improving those skills. It could be anything. It could be cooking (which he loves to do) – just try to be the best at it. It could be designing (he is learning the skills online now that ICSE exams are cancelled). Just focus and try to excel in the field of your choice.
Recently I sent the below note to my son and asked him to take a printout and keep it handy so that he can revisit whenever he feels he is going astray.
“When you’re young, you have time. You have health, but you have no money. When you’re middle-aged, you have money and you have health, but you have no time. When you’re old, you have money and you have time, but you have no health.”
Bottom line: Get wealthy at a young age. Invest your time in garnering special knowledge and then monetise it. Invest in equities. In 15 years, you can be independent!
Here independence means financial independence. You will no longer work for money – you will work to make yourself happy. Only when you work with happiness – which only comes when you have a peaceful mind – you will get to reach your purpose in life.
Here is a small trick which you can try out!
Ask this question to your own self:
If you are 30 years old – What’s the best advice you will give your 22-year-old self?
At any age just go back 8-10 years and answer the above question and write down the answers!
You are now thinking in hindsight but you will see the mistakes you did in the last decade and work on the issues to improve your next decade.
I am sure when you truthfully answer it, you will know that life is all about you – it’s your life – you are the hero – others are supporting actors in the play.
So don’t waste time getting validation from others for your activities! Don’t spend time thinking about what others will think about you. Don’t spend time leading others’ lives! Go ahead and make a better life for yourself.
Are you doing it? If not, what’s stopping you?
PS. Babumoshai Zindagi Badi Honi Chahiye, Lambi Nehi!
The heartbreak of the 2019 World Cup loss in the semi-finals was a real one because India played really well going up to the semi-finals!
But then sports is like that! You end up losing when you least expect it.
Add to it, India’s record against New Zealand in ICC events has always been a dicey one! Somehow India ends up losing to them consistently! The last time that India won against New Zealand in an ICC event was way back in 2003. The superstitious me always had this doubt hanging and when India lost a hard-fought semi-final, I was not fully surprised!
With the World Cup gone out of hand, I and my friends changed our focus to WTC which was ICC’s latest plan to have a World Test Championship! Right after the World Cup, India travelled to West Indies which was India’s first series in this WTC cycle!
India played like champions and whitewashed West Indies!
When India beat Australia and then followed that with a 3-1 win against England their participation at the inaugural WTC finals was formalised!
With 3 days to go for the WTC finals, fans are getting visibly excited but people like me are being more pessimistic than optimistic! Once again it’s India’s nemesis, New Zealand who are waiting!
New Zealand has been the only team to have defeated India in a series in this WTC cycle. India was literally pushed aside by them in the 2 match series held in 2020. With New Zealand coming out of a great series win against England, they have their tails up and goes into the finals as the world’s number one side! So if India wins, it would be an upset! It works well for India because going in as favourites never worked for them.
Let’s now look into the playing XIs of both these sides. Both the teams have plenty of choices and it would be interesting to see the starting XI on 18th at Southampton.
For New Zealand, this is the playing XI that I feel is best suited.
Tom Latham
Devon Conway
Kane Williamson
Ross Taylor
Henry Nicholls
DJ Walting
Colin De Grandehomme
Kyle Jamieson
Tim Southee
Matt Henry
Trent Boult
There are two places to debate about. Does New Zealand take the spinner, Ajaz Patel in place of a pace bowler? And the second point of discussion is, do they take Matt Henry in place of Neil Wagner? I give my reasons below.
Some people think that by getting in a spinner you add variety to the attack. It might be true but you need to ask yourself about the quality of the spinner. Ajaz Patel is a good spinner – please don’t take me wrong but India will treat him with disdain. It will become a relief time for Indian batsmen and they might get the momentum back in their favour. The only way you can keep pushing India back is by relentless pace and swing bowling.
Batting well against quality swing bowling is an art and I do not think many batsmen in world cricket can negotiate such swing consistently. So for me, it should be an all-pace attack for New Zealand.
The debate of would they opt for Neil Wagner in place of Matt Henry or Tim Southee, I think they should go with Matt Henry and that’s because he has a great record against India.
Cricket works a lot on confidence. Matt Henry’s performance in the second test against England and his performance in the World Cup semifinals against India should tilt the scale for him.
Coming to India, this is my chosen playing XI:
Rohit Sharma
Shubhman Gill
Chetaswar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
Rishabh Pant
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ishant Sharma
Md. Shami
Jasprit Bumrah
Not much to debate here other than perhaps why should India opt for 2 spinners and why can’t Siraj replace one of Shami or Ishant. I give my explanations below.
Jadeja is one of the top all-rounders in World Cricket today. You can’t drop him by any analysis because other than batting and bowling, his fielding is something which is least looked at. But as we saw in the Australia series a moment of brilliance can change the course of the match and Jadeja is capable of doing it again. The debate for Jadeja ends there.
Ashwin has been the highest wicket-taker in this WTC cycle. And India played in 3 series outside India. So you drop Ashwin at your own peril. Add to it, his dogged batting technique and he is a must-have in your XI.
With two spinners in the XI, India has 3 spots to be filled by pace bowlers. Bumrah walks in naturally in the XI leaving Umesh, Siraj, Ishant, and Shami to fight for the other 2 spots. Umesh has been highly inconsistent while bowling outside India so he will not be an option right now. The question of real debate is with Md. Siraj. He has been one of the most improved cricketers in the last few months and India has never lost a test match when he has played. The superstitious me wants him in the team. But I think India will go with experience and will start with Ishant and Shami. Ishant being a workhorse helps the captain with long spells and Shami is your go-to man to break partnerships.
So what do you think about my choices?
Who do you think will win the WTC finals? Can India break the Kiwi Jinx?
Do write in as we start the countdown to the biggest test match ever in the history of world cricket at Southampton on 18th June 2021.
I will be there in front of my TV screen at home. Where are you planning to watch it?