Most of the big companies spend lot of money and time on training of their sales force. From the perspective of Human Resource Management, this can be termed as continuous endeavour at skill enhancement. But from a layman’s perspective, it is like adding some spice to otherwise mundane life of a sales guy. Sales representatives are usually all alone on their duty; unlike their counterparts in office jobs. So, a sales guy has to withstand all the pressures and pleasures all alone. Intermittent review meetings or motivational trainings work as the much needed respite from the drudgery of a routine sales call. This story is about one such meeting which was held in the holy city of Varanasi.
There was nothing holy about the venue
or topic of the meeting. The venue was a five-star hotel from a reputed brand
and the topic was about paradigm shift. The meeting was attended by about 30
odd people and the group was composed of teams of three District Managers of a
Pharmaceutical company.
The meeting was conducted by the
Regional Sales Manager but the main speaker was some management guru who was
not on the payroll of the company. It was quite strange because sales guys only
listen to their immediate superiors or at times to senior management people
from the company. They seldom listen to anybody who is not going to affect
their appraisal in any direct or indirect way.
Nevertheless, the management guru was
somewhat less than a celebrity, so there was no chance of him appearing on any
television channel. He was not even popular on YouTube; which is overcrowded
with so many videos on self-motivation by self acclaimed motivational gurus. In
simple terms, he was an unknown face for most of the guys who had been there to
attend that meeting.
After the customary welcome address,
the podium was handed over to the guest speaker. He was flashing a sincere
smile and started delivering his lecture, “You should consider yourself
fortunate that your organization has given you this once in a lifetime
opportunity to learn about new insights in the way you go about your daily job.
Today, we are going to discuss about ‘PARADIGM SHIFT’. Before understanding
about the paradigm shift we need to understand the meaning of paradigm. The dictionary
definition says about paradigm as the framework of certain basic assumptions
and ways of working which a particular group of people follows in routine way. All
of you appear to be intelligent enough. Does anybody want to contribute on the
meaning of paradigm?”
Sunil was the first to stand up to
answer that question. Sunil was famous for speaking on every topic; no matter
how little he understood about that topic. Sunil said, “Sir, I think it is
about changing the layout of the online form through which we submit our daily
call report.”
The guest speaker just smiled at
hearing that answer and said, “Nice try. Anybody else?”
Rakesh was considered the most bookish
guy in the team. People often used to say that he had read a lot more than what
was needed for a medical representative. Rakesh said, ”Yes sir, I think I can
explain it in a better way. Paradigm is the way you take things for granted. Paradigm
is the way you follow your master calling list, your tour programme, your
sample consignment and last but not the least; you follow the directive from
your district manager.”
Rakesh’s District Manager was too
pleased to control his urge to elaborate on the issue. Vimal; the District
Manager; was famous for putting any complex topic in the most simple way. He said,
“Listen guys, this term is not as complex as it sounds. I know that we are not
literary kind of people. Can you recall what we do before going to meet a
doctor? We normally conduct the survey of a few nearby chemists to understand the
prescription pattern of that doctor. Based on that feedback we plan our call
strategy and implement it inside the doctor’s chamber. This is the set
precedent which we follow during our working. This is a very good example of
paradigm.”
Every member from Vimal’s team clapped
as a gesture of appreciation for Vimal’s answer. Even the regional manager gave
some words of encouragement to Vimal.
After that, the main speaker asked the
participants to quote some examples of some medical representatives from any
company to show how some people were trying to shift from paradigm.
As usual; Sunil was the first to come
with an example. Sunil said, “Sir, there is a guy in my territory; working for
Aristo pharma. You must be aware that medical representatives usually start
early in the morning if they have to go to an interior for work. But the guy (from
Aristo) starts late in the evening; to go to an interior. He has made good
relations in interior towns. He stays at the house of any big chemist and
spends his night there. I think because of his different approach, he is the
top seller in my territory. The sale of Aristo in my town is more than even
that of Pfizer or Glaxo.”
Rakesh did not appear to be pleased
with that statement. He interrupted Sunil, “What does he do during his night
stay at the chemist’s house? Is he negotiating for his marriage? Shifting from
paradigm does not mean that I should start walking on my hands with my head
upside down. Does it mean that I should enter a doctor’s chamber walking in
reverse gear; just to catch his attention?”
Rakesh further continued, “Sir, I fear
that my district manager would announce a directive asking everybody to go to
an interior during late evening; just to show to his bosses that he has
implemented the ‘paradigm shift’ in right spirit. I am not going to buy this
argument.”
Rakesh’s comment was followed by lot
of hue and cry from every representative. The situation was getting out of
control. The main speaker was at his wit’s end. Finally, a booming voice from
the regional manager could calm down the people. He said, “Ok guys, let us
break for lunch. Our guest speaker would show you the real meaning of paradigm shift
through an interesting puppet show. We have specially called the puppeteers from
Rajasthan for this purpose.”
Everyone was happy to hear about lunch
break. While they were having lunch, Vimal asked his team members, “Hey guys,
this meeting is going to be over by today evening. After that, all of you would
be rushing for your buses and trains. So, let me utilize this time. How much
sales are you going to do for this month?”
Rakesh said with a deadpan face, “Sir,
let us shift from the paradigm for this month. I will do zero sales in order to
show a good example of paradigm shift.”
