Tips on Smarter Selling @ SiliconIndia Sales Symposium Date:   Wednesday , February 09, 2011 In today’s highly competitive marketplace and challenging economic times, successfully growing your sales revenues can be extremely difficult, sometimes frustrating and, of course, very rewarding. Sales are tough to come by especially when buyers see every product and service as a commodity. Sales people now-a-days must learn to outsell their competition by selling differently. Keeping this in mind SiliconIndia organized the ‘Sales Symposium’ on Jan 22nd in Mumbai. Around 400 sales professionals flocked the event. Fit into the Customer’s Shoe It is imperative that sales professionals will be able to differentiate themselves, or their company and their products from the competition within thirty seconds of saying ‘hello’! And, that today’s buyer wants to know what’s in it for them. Dhananjay Shinde, Regional Sales Manager at IBM India said, “Sales person should understand the individual customer, his organization & business very well and act as a trusted partner in every business transaction.” The biggest challenge in every industry is that the Sales force organization structures tend to be left alone during stable economic times, when companies are doing well. “They are more apt to come under scrutiny when times aren’t as good, or when a company is facing significant change. At present, in many companies, there is increasing scrutiny of how sales forces are designed and a willingness to consider changing the sales function in ways that will better serve customers and drive improved financial results,” Meenakshi Sapru, Sales Manager, Hewlett-Packard Digital Press maintained. Nurturing Smart Sellers Not only does building your sales force structure necessary but nurturing it is also important. Prashant Pradhan, Assistant General Manager – Training INFOMEDIA 18 said “Implement transformational leadership through people connect, caring and motivation. Trust your team, build your team, nurture it like your own and see the fantastic results they will deliver. Not to forget that every team success has to be backed up with product and marketing superiority, adequate control systems, and best processes”. Bhavik Dangarwala , Regional Director - Channel & Sales at Vision Solutions said, “The learning in the selling process helps not just in the career path, but also as we conduct our lives, the ingredients being Passion, Commitment, Creativity & Belief. These coupled with a continued Positive Attitude form the key”. A Fulfilled Sales Day This one day highly interactive program helped sales professionals walk away with improved strategies, tactics and an arsenal of ideas on how to improve the sales effectiveness as a manager, a leader and a contributor. Also the sessions provided them with knowledge on improving the sales and sales management skills, an arsenal of tactical weapons, vital sales process components and key to building a competitive sales force. The Symposium proved to be an excellent opportunity for delegates to learn from experts from leading companies like IBM, HP, Network 18 and others.