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Anup Dutta
Anup Dutta

Anup Dutta

Co founder and CBD

Yoodle Media & Appsquare

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Anup Dutta is a member of:

Current Job description
Co-founder & Chief Business Development of Yoodle Media and Appsquare

www.yoodlemedia.com.au & www.appsquare.com.au



We are Mobile & Social App development company, with leading the mobility industry within Australia & NZ region



I look after New Business development initiatives , strategic alliances and vendor management
My family background
My Dad is a doctor,Mother is homemker
Elder brother : Entrepreneur and co-founder of WIRKLE Technologies in the past (One of the early pioneers of Mobile Tech revolution in India) and currently Director of Business Development in US company
Younger brother,Engineer and Entrepreneur (Agri based business)
What achievements are you really proud off , in your corporate journey?
I believe the journey of startup itself is extremely enriching and accomplishing , but if i have to mention some key achievements

- Pioneering a Barter business platform in India (In the past)
- Bootstrapping Digital startup in Australia into a successful business model is something i'm really proud off

- Creating 2
Motivating team members
My approach is to tell my team to deal with that with some humor and philosophy , I make it a point that we all joke about it when we loose an opportunity, a potential big client or when we miserably lag behind our defined targets. Humor always cheers the spirit and helps the team to see the disappointment like a very regular occurrence , so they don't spend time on it more than it deserves , but at the same time I have always imbibed a meaningful thought that we must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.

So with some sense of humor to lost hopes, the team is always ready with full force for next set of challenges, and strangely it WORKS !
Essential skills
I think

-Passion :Even thought thats not a skill, but if u have passion ,this is a force that helps u achieve the right skills

-Skills : Ability to connect with people , selling skills, some tech skills to understand the space in general , street smart and sense of humor
Education system in India
I am product of the same education system, It's fiercely competitive and lacks independent thinking

I have been fortunate to also get exposure of education outside of india so i can make a reasonable comparison , so some of the measures that definitely can be imbibed into our education setup is that It's needs to be more practical rather than theory based. Extra curricular should be given strong focus as a part of education for overall personality development which i believe is lacking in India. Teaching is such a nobel profession and should be encourage, young people should join in and bring some enthusiasm in old school of thoughts and that will certainly change the game.

ANd lastly alternative education should be uplifted, not every one can get into IIT's and IIM's but thats not the end , the alternative education should be promoted and students should gain confidence in their own passion,acquired skill set and thus take up and create new opportunities for themselves
My advice to upcoming professionals
First have the passion for technology/digital , and create your own independent understanding of how it can help solve some challenges and add some value , when you have figured that out think of how you fit in that space between solving and creating the value chain ,now this can be developing solutions, or managing clients or selling such platforms or solutions or managing teams or project management etc

The whole idea is to start with some reasonable understanding (No one is an expert when they start,even im not till this stage) and then work backwards to now acquire your skill set of the role that you want to take. Acquire the skill set would require some hard work , curiosity and learning ,connecting with mentors, sharing thoughts with like minded people and understanding your own strengths .
Comparing Online sales with hardcore sales
Rather than primarily focusing on the differences of the sales process between hardcore and on-line sales agent should first understand the similarities.

The basic ingredients and architecture of the sale are identical. The sales components are:
Identify marketplace
Initiate Prospecting Activity
Connect with potential buyer
Conduct sales presentation
Handle objections
Close the sale
Follow-up and service post sale
Ask for referrals
Go back to step 2

I can share my sales approach , which i have followed through out,it's very simple and easy and always works for me , i learned this in my first job of selling product door to door ( best experience so far)

1. Introduction
2. Qualification/Discovery
3.Presentation (Pro active objection handling)
4.Closing
5.Rehash
Essential qualification required
No formal education required apart from your interest in digital / technology . If you want to enter into more technical side then you may need some development skills or project management or IT or Computer degree

Some degree/ diploma can certainly add value to give you a head start in forming an understanding of the space if you want to get into sales / business development
Effect of sales on an organization
Sales has been and always will be bloodline of any business, it's the fuel to the whole organisation. In this competitive world the relationships are based on word call ROI (Return on Investment) , every time the new relationship with clients, alliances or even the Internal employees are based on ROI. You show them value they will spend with you, you

But i would say, stick to the basics , the best way to sell is NOT TO SELL AT ALL , rather think of yourself like a buyer first and answer what all you will need to know to buy from a someone , this role reversal always helps you to prepare well , pre emptying the objections etc, the more articulate your can be to show clear value and more engaged you can keep the client in the process the better are the chances to win over a business.

Remember, to be saleable you need to be likeable , and sad but true BUYERS ARE LIERS , so be smart to handle NO and somehow come to the crux of the objection rather than accepting NO as an answer .
Becoming good marketing professionals
Yes, A diligent sales guy can always see marketing as a good option.

A good sales people always have some reasonable idea about the hot buttons of the clients , this is a great skill and can be articulated in creating marketing collateral, the right content or message which have to go out.

A savy sales guy can also bring to the table his/her discovery/qualification skills ,this is crucial for understanding the pain areas and challenges the client is facing in their existing setup or environment , this can help him a great deal in designing right marketing campaigns which can focus on addressing some great solutions to these challenges or pain areas of client and thus articulate a clear value.

A good closer ( a gun in sales) can always bring his knowledge of the right words or keywords to use for closing a deal into marketing campaigns. Cold calling /prospecting skills of salesman can make them very pro active marketers , by exactly targeting and engaging prospects for lead gen.
Upcoming Trends
Convergence of Social,Local & Mobile is bringing the small business in the limelight, now the BIG beats SMALL is thing of a past, it's now the FAST beating the SLOW.

Digital is innovative and interesting space to be in, I guess Analytics is next big move within the space , new solutions will come up and business will become more smarter in engaging their customers
Developing a country
1. Each one Teach one:

I think the right education is always very crucial, i do not mean the bookish knowledge , so young professional should form a group or societies to connect with rural India and organise a structured vocational education there.This will bring a lot of change and new development.

Education and knowledge brings the confidence and this is very much required in all of us as young indians to move the country forward in our own small ways

2. Action speak lounder than words: Learn & practice entrepreneurship

Young professionals should try to connect with like minded people , start something new or may be just as a hobby to begin with , discuss thoughts and ideas and try to give it a shape, somehow the things would make sense with right efforts. New initiatives always bring some favourable change and development will follow.
Handling new territory
New territory is ofcourse challenging , because their is no past history to learn from and when you have to pioneer it it's generally scary.

But, I would say, if we stick to our guns and the basics and it does work i.e Don't be afraid to experiment with new pitches,approaches , most importantly fail fast and move ahead faster, this gives a good sense of the new challenges, new skill set required and great understanding of shortcomings. A good team collaborative effort always helps an individual sales professionals in various ways, but specifically two ways

1. Experience of sharing the lost deals in new territory : Helps others to learn from the mistakes and helps the sales guy to understand and analyse his own approach and thus modify.

2. Experience of sharing the Win deals in new territory : Sharing this is helpful for other sales guys to adopt new ideas that is working,to add to their own sales style/approach .
Importance of brand image
Brand Image is helpful for cutting down the initial objections and somehow makes the decision making process easier before buying.

On the other hand if small companies without brand image can smartly pre-empt the objections and savy enough to understand the decision making buying process, can very well compete as well.

For eg. Task is to get the sales order for toiletries in a 5 star hotel

> Company with brand Image (lets say DETOL )

Sales man ,lets assume his name is TIPU SULTAN (I told you about my sense of humor) goes to meet RANA PRATAP , " Sir how many bottles you may need for whole year?" .

> Company without the brand image (Lets Say XYZ)

TIPU SULTAN "Sir I'm from XYZ ,most of the hospitals we supply have been with us for 4 years including A,B,C and there is a reason they are with us for so long , we provide 1,2,3 and to top it up,we give 3,4,5 which no one else can provide. And Mr RANA PRATAP,who apart from you will be involved in making the purchase decision sir ?"
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