People Matters

When Reach is the Mantra

By Ester Martinez, Managing Editor

Apr 15th 2011

Talent challenges in export-oriented industries and B2B companies are very different from those in domestic retail-focused industries. While managing global diversity, ‘holding on’ to a highly mobile workforce and currency fluctuations are typical worry areas for export-oriented industries, retail companies are more focused on availability of apt talent and the required numbers for scale and reach. In this April cover story, People Matters focuses on providing a snapshot of curren... Read more »

Cover Story: The Sales Factor

By Ester Martinez & Rajlakshmi Saikia

Apr 15th 2011

 India’s growth story lies in the immense potential of its growing domestic consumption, its ‘demographic dividend’ and its burgeoning middle class, which is an opportunity for retail products and services. The challenges companies in such industries face include extreme cost pressures driven by consumer price sensitivity, affordability of products and services for the local buyer and brutal competition between both domestic companies and entrant MNCs. As a result, domes... Read more »

Cover Story Interview: Manoj Kohli

Apr 15th 2011

The market is extremely competitive and your people need to be superior - Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) & Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel.What are the unique characteristics of sales teams in the telecom industry? In the telecom industry, in the last decade we have built a machinery to create availability and reach of our services. There are several elements that are unique to telecom: Firstly, the importance of how you engage constantly with traders and costumers; our front-sal... Read more »

Cover Story Interview: Srikanth Rajagopalan

Apr 15th 2011

A well designed incentive program pays disproportionately higher as performance crosses 100% of targets - Srikanth Rajagopalan, Senior Sales & BD professional with 14+ years of experience across FMCG, financial services, telecom sectors.What are the talent challenges facing sales-driven organizations? One of the main challenges these industries face is the availability of talent. With the economy growing at 8+%, companies are hiring aggressively, especially in customer-facing roles, to he... Read more »

Cover Story: Industry View - Pharma Sales

By Varun Upadhyaya, Director and India HR Head, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Apr 15th 2011

In pharma sales, process and targets are equally important - Varun Upadhyaya, Director and India HR Head, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.Q. What are the unique characteristics of the sales teams in the pharmaceutical industry?Pharmaceutical is not very different from FMCG in the talent requirements and talent management challenges. The main difference is that pharmaceutical has, both a mass general sales process oriented to physicians where the sales team targets the doctors geographicall... Read more »

Cover Story: Industry Views - Insurance

By Anuraag Maini, Executive VP - HR and Training, DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Co Ltd

Apr 15th 2011

Compliance and governance is an integral part of insurance sales - Anuraag Maini, Executive VP - HR and Training, DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Co Ltd.Q. What characteristics define the sales teams in your industry? A couple of point as a backdrop before I answer this – one is that insurance as a product, specially life insurance products, is not bought but sold; this means that your sales force plays a very important role in the sales process and hence the success of the business.... Read more »

Cover Story: Talent Experts - DDI

By Rajiv Krishnan, Managing Director, Development Dimensions International (DDI)

Apr 15th 2011

 Determining sales potential or sales motivation is not an easy task - Rajiv Krishnan, Managing Director, Development Dimensions International (DDI).  Q. What are the common characteristics of the sales teams in FMCG, BFSI, insurance, telecom and pharmaceutical industries?Except FMCG and pharmaceutical, the others are only a little more than 10 years old. Any kind of mass selling was only present in FMCG which too has undergone a major transformation as FMCG began to concen... Read more »

Cover Story: Talent Experts - SHL

By Y. V. Lakshminarayan Pandit, MD, SHL (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Apr 15th 2011

Today “command and control” model is replaced by the “lead and coach model” - Y. V. Lakshminarayan Pandit, MD, SHL (India) Pvt. Ltd.Q. How would you define the sales teams in these industries?All these industries are highly competitive with several large multinational and Indian companies competing for market share. Therefore, companies need highly effective sales people both for selling directly to the consumers, as in the case of insurance and banking companies, ... Read more »

Cover Story: Industry View - BFSI

By Gautam Chainani, Chief People Officer, Aditya Birla Financial Services

Apr 15th 2011

“Trust” is a crucial element for customers and employees - Gautam Chainani, Chief People Officer, Aditya Birla Financial Services.From my experience, to build a successful sales team, companies need to focus on hiring the highest relevant profile basis competency mapping. Hiring is a big challenge for these industries as talent is scarce. Once the person joins the organization, the initial days are crucial to ensure that the environment to succeed is set for the individual. In... Read more »

Cover Story: Industry View - Insurance Sales

By Judhajit Das, Chief Human Resources, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

Apr 15th 2011

Sales is not a career of choice for many - Judhajit Das, Chief Human Resources, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance  What are the characteristics on managing sales teams that are unique in our Industry? The first element that is unique to the Insurance space is the regulatory requirement of certification that anybody who is selling products in this space needs to have; In the Insurance space, the successful sales people are actually people who are seasoned professionals on financial ma... Read more »