Hello everyone! Three years without a blog post. That is not good!
Well the fact is I had taken a long blog-posting sabbatical to devote my creative juices and energies for penning a book, my first one. The manuscript of “Gita and the Art of Selling: Memoirs of a Sales Yogi” is all ready; and, a contract with the publisher (Leadstart Publishing) all signed, sealed and delivered.
So I say in an Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque (and The-Terminator-like) vein: “I’m back!”
The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita ["Song of (the) Blessed Lord"], often shortened to simply The Gita, is a sacred Hindu scripture. Authored more than a couple of millennia ago, it is one of the greatest texts in the history of theology, literature & philosophy. It has been described as a lodestar of eternal wisdom that can inspire anyone to accomplishment and enlightenment.
The Gita embodies the teachings of the Divine One, Lord Krishna ‒ a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, the protector of the universe in the Hindu pantheon of Gods. At the start of the Kurukshetra War in the epic Mahabharata, the warrior prince, Arjuna lays down his arms on the battlefield refusing to fight his own cousins. The Almighty dispels Arjuna’s tumult and turmoil through His discourse, the Bhagavad Gita.
But what is the tenuous relevance of The Gita to selling? How does a spiritual and philosophical magnum opus relate to business matters? The truths and the tenets espoused in The Gita are amazingly germane to the executive experiencing flap and dither on the battlegrounds of sales. In this book I hope to connect the dots between the precepts of The Gita and best practices of selling.
Selling is pervasive in modern society. It is an integral part of every walk of our social and economic lives. Professional selling revolves around trade and commerce; yet, the process of preparation for sales is a science and its execution an art. So mastery in the profession requires flair and finesse in the artistic, scientific and commercial elements of the craft.
There are umpteen books on the process, techniques and methodologies of selling. All of them invariably adopt a regimented, structured and scientific approach to the subject matter. Not only do these theoretical publications make for some vapid reading, but they also fail to flesh out the subtleties of sales and the artistry involved in its practice.
In this book, “Gita and the Art of Selling: Memoirs of a Sales Yogi,” I have attempted to use the fine art of story-telling to convey the essence of selling and sales management. It chalks up inspiration from ancient literary masterpieces, like Hitopadesha, Panchatantra, etc., which wed education and entertainment to convey esoteric messages on purity and morality.
The retro storyline of the book is woven around a protagonist, Mahesh Kumar, who joins a nascent outfit, BCL (Bharat Computers Ltd.) and moves up the rank and file of its hierarchy. He learns traits essential for sales success; and acquires qualities crucial for effective sales management. Mahesh narrates ordeals and occurrences from his stint at the fledgling enterprise that grows rapidly into a behemoth. His career progression too is equally impressive.
Thus Mahesh describes the unique sales culture and conventions at BCL ‒ termed 360°-Selling ‒ that create a shining example of entrepreneurial success in corporate India. He discerns the fascinating links between apposite tenets in the Gita and prudent sales practices.
Mirroring the Gita, this novel has eighteen chapters. Each chapter details a major event or a milestone in Mahesh’s life. All chapters are enjoined into one seamless narrative thread. The memoirs are based on a rhetorical mode of narration for story-telling; yet use exposition to explain sales theory. The insights expressed in each chapter links to a canon espoused in the Gita.
The novel has been penned as a funnily-serious or seriously-funny (despite the oxymoron) book that reads like a thriller, feels like a soap and serves as a sermon. In some ways, it parallels the mishmash of a typical Bollywood potboiler with four “-tions” in it ‒ action, emotion and recreation; and education added to the mix.
The book has been scribed with three cornerstones in mind:
1. Style: The body has a narrative style ideal for light reading. The syntactic and semantic presentation is such that the fictional story flows smoothly and reads like a “humorous thriller.” At a superficial nuts and bolts level, I hope the book makes for nice and nuanced reading in English. The plot of this memoir develops like a Sagen, but attempts to achieve the effect of a Märchen. It bridges the traditional chasm that demarcates fiction and non-fiction.
2. Substance: The exposition of sales-related content is non-fictional & non-pedantic. With its 'learn while you laugh' or ‘laugh while you learn’ mode, the novel aids learning. It unravels the processes & practices that are the bedrocks of sales. The building blocks of sales are described using straight-from-the-gut stories. Also exposed is the blueprint for sculpting a big-league sales team.
3. Soul ‘n Spirit: At a sublime, spiritual level, this essay serves as a self-help or motivational book, which professionals can use for selling skills improvement, personality development etc. The hope is that the novel will trigger sales success and business achievement for the reader. If the material provides inspiration for taking a leap into entrepreneurship, that is icing on the cake!
My target audience for this literary effort is the well-educated, urbane crowd in the 18-30 years age group. That is a raw, inexperienced group at the dawn of its professional career and can potentially benefit the most from the wisdom shared. Skills and knowledge I gained in my stints have been shared. I believe the sales insights presented also cater to the needs of the upwardly-mobile, 30-50 years-old demographic.
Will post again when the book hits the stand in all its print and paper glory!
