A MASTERCLASS In Entrepreneurship To Build Your Own Empire & A Chance to Raise 1 CR? | RAZORPRENEUR

foreign

[Music]

ER thank you so much for taking the time

to be here

but the first thing which I want to do

when we start a bodice and uh many of

you have been on it is in three to five

minutes we want everyone to forget that

this is a conversation that's being

recorded on camera it should be just the

seven hours and that's it nobody else in

the room

um to set some context right

um

and you all saw our new razors you also

have new razors getting launched they

have a full set of Scentsy razors I also

was lucky enough to shave some of you

with them uh before before we started

but it's a gaping hole in our portfolio

it's something that we've worked very

hard to fill so that was one thing the

second thing was get started

property called The Barber Shop a year

back Rohit was the first guest on it and

um it grew far faster than we had

imagined it at after the imagination of

younger India people who are watching

the podcast were there to learn

entrepreneurship they were aspirational

they wanted to know how to build your

own company how to raise money etc etc

if you see the comments like the views

it's all young India

[Laughter]

it's a great thing it's a great thing if

uh if everybody's trying to build their

own distribution it's great yeah I like

it yeah so I think content is a great

game right so a lot of people try to

build out content and commerce

individually and then try to marry them

but I think if you we build out Commerce

incidentally with the build out content

and smartly named it Barber Shop Razor's

Edge and started seeing how it can sound

helping our friends

has become a

where we are actually throwing the bond

literature okay by selling people that

if you want to become an entrepreneur

step one is to know how to sell

ing is super critical everything else

fundraising strategy investors hiring

culture people marketing all that comes

later but the founders fundamental first

skills and license at to the seat of the

table is to learn how to sense and we

are using razorpreneur as a modus to

tell people that if you learn how to

sell that's half the battle one so

today's launch of the Razer burner is

actually bringing in people who have

been experts at selling in their own

Fields right uh and actually talking

about the sales experience and what

sales means to you

um to give you a broader sense about

Razer printer is

you've seen the range you have Sensi

smart 3 which is our 99 rupee three

blade razor they have Sensi flow 4 which

are four blader Sensi flows episode 6

blader right we're going into colleges

they're going on YouTube on Instagram

across the country and telling people

that you remember that Wolf of Wall

Street games sell me the spin they're

actually flipping in and saying sell me

this razor right and show me how you're

gonna do it and you have amazing prizes

for people to do it for one month we're

going to run Razer printers I'm going to

take a truck full of inventory and go in

into each of the colleges investing in

the e-cells getting kids to come and

sell and are fairly confident that as a

young brand we will also learn from our

Razer printers that how do you sell and

you know what are some of the insights

that are coming when you go into the

market when you go to your customers and

you go to your family members to your

WhatsApp groups to your cousins

we'll have the top 10 Razer Runners from

India come in we are going to invest uh

in them when they start their own

companies

um we are going to bring them on the

barbershop for a mega finale and we have

prizes for the best college the most

Innovative sellers the most viral seller

the most the person who sells the most

and I'm actually very excited for Best

Sellers

and it's such a fascinating category

it's no one has really spoken about it

with a young brand out of India seven

years old we do never we don't really

have

you know we have to use all the punches

that we can kind of gather to play a

role in the markets when it comes to

sales there are a lot of strategies that

sound smart but don't

actually kind of structify in a way that

you imagine them to be something even

like Red Bull like owning energy and

then sending going into colleges and

they were very smart throughout like I

don't know someone telling me that Red

Bull had this campaign when outside bars

at night they would crush red moon cans

of the brain would crush their book and

just throw them around every bar so the

money just to show how much people are

actually buying Red Bull it was not

consumption but it will just show and

tell and a lot of that because then they

own people jumping off yeah balloons

it's outstanding what they did over the

years in India or edible's college

strategy was simple relation to send

these Red Bull girls

would just go and you ask any boy on

campus to hold her at Burlington and if

a girl asks you politely you're not

going to say no okay

when we spoke before you said that

there are some fundamental selling

principles that are common across

whether you're selling a friend whether

you're selling a service or you're

selling a company

it's a two-minute elevator pitch two

hour uh distributor meet whatever it is

the fundamental principles of selling

are unchanged are unchanged what are

those just shed some light and then all

of us have like a lot of experience on

that yeah we'll take notes yes I'll tell

you a story and this story goes back

away it goes back to the early 90s

I guess all of you are somehow familiar

with a game called American baseball yes

so if you go back to the 60s and 70s

American baseball was very much part of

the ethos of suburban America father son

bonding yeah that is where the lifetime

relationships are never gone then when

you got into the 80s

obviously more and more things and

activities started coming out for

decades so they they want to really go

with the old man and anarchical foreign

coming down

there was a guy who came as uh the

general manager of the Atlanta Braves

and I remember he was speaking to us at

a conference in PNG in Cincinnati

I forget his name the name is unimported

he completely turned around what he did

in that Stadium

and attendance took off

family started coming back

and this spread everywhere

so let's see everyone all of us

he had one very simple response

I asked her what she wanted

and I gave it to her

okay so so the fundamental principle of

setting is

the moment you call it selling

you're coming from your point of view

yeah

it's like when we were talking in the

morning and you started telling me all

these wonderful features of this lovely

razor aloe vera and wait and I don't

care yeah right because that's what it

faulted to me

so what you want to do is not sell

what you want to do is give someone

something they want

and that starts with which a lot of us

don't understand of human nature causes

us to start thinking of all the things

that excite me about my offering correct

you see this in meetings in something

you're trying to sell something to

management yeah

you're giving a full spiel because

you're trying to demonstrate everything

you know yeah

as opposed to thinking what does he want

you're in front of a big audience

understand the audience what did I want

give it

now you figured out how to make business

and thought right that's your problem

so so almost stop calling it sell it

yeah the moment you are selling you are

pushing something

what you got to do is figure out what

they want

okay back to her but in some cases

create the bond absolutely in fact the

most of the breakthroughs

come by someone figuring out what people

want but don't get realized that they

want yeah

breakthroughs come from that

this existed forever of course then

Sudan was the first greatest marketing

genius and people didn't care about bad

breath before right and it was the norm

and oh they didn't talk about it

I don't know the research then says no

no if everybody stinks

about needs develop uh 25 30 years ago

if you went and asked person what do you

want from a shampoo yeah the number one

need would be cleaning some people would

say dandruff yeah no one would say

healthy beautiful hair yeah no one yeah

today you go awesome yeah they'll say I

want healthy beautiful there I want soft

drink yeah so these needs develop I

think that's one of the problems with

market research because you know most

market research tries to focus on asking

consumers what they want yeah they are

whereas I think learning how to sense

and observe and draw lessons from that

tends to be very powerful because most

times you ask the consumer

they will not fully articulate it but if

you see their lives if you understand

what role the product can play in making

their lives better or more exciting or

more fulfilling that's when true

Innovation actually starts uh starts

happening I mean supposedly urban legend

or otherwise Forbes said if I asked the

consume what they would have said I

wanted car they would have said I would

want a faster Carriage right correct so

there is some of that but since I work

with entrepreneurs all the time it you

could also take it to another extent and

be so blindsided that you think what

they want is really what you think they

want and that is a fine line there you

know what do the consumer really want

but doesn't know correct versus you know

trying to sell something down just

because you are so full of that stupid

consumer you don't understand

yeah but you know most most needs tend

to be somewhat related right yeah very

rarely do you find needs are that

obvious so you have to be able to peel

the onion get a little bit deeper truly

understand you know how you create value

and that process itself will take some

take some time it's very hard to do

right right because the fundamental

question now as an entrepreneur the

fundamental question that an investor

asks is how big is the market right

first question

means the full concept of creating the

market is out the window because if the

need is already solved then it's not

something new that I'm doing now

for one level further it's not how big

the market did it is how big the idea is

yeah yeah if the idea is big

now it's then your job to execute it in

a way that it becomes uh financially big

that doesn't necessarily mean 10 billion

dollars is the answer to why you would

get that investment or check or whatever

right as an entrepreneur I think before

I became an investor somebody told me

this which I always stayed with me he

said you know we went after they were at

i o board which was inside the computer

and said we went after owning 90 of a

still large enough at small Market

versus one percent of a large computer

Market it's also how you position right

so it's if you treat that just as a

question entrepreneurs trying too hard

to answer how big is the mask and then

you lose authenticity just sounds like

fluff that you put together nothing

sells better doesn't matter employees

entrepreneurs uh somebody you're dating

doesn't matter authenticity you lose

that there is nothing there if we can

smell it sense it you know so this

question how big is a market that some

reason entrepreneurs seem to uh feel

overwhelmed about is the question I hate

the most yeah it's just one of the

hundred questions it's not the

determining factor to why you get that

investment or not any bank or maybe at a

very senior level the Nuance of Market

sizing is understood by by investors but

if you look at Associates analysts

Bankers first question is because they

want to sell upward look it's awesome we

train them so don't underestimate I mean

I know a lot of people have this also

with that investors are largely stupid

maybe we aren't who knows but

I think a little bit of credit okay

don't ever underestimate the other party

that's what I would say you know uh I I

think it's just a question at least from

Microsoft site right it's not the make

or break decision making because people

don't get it otherwise why would we

invest in a space company we really

don't know what the market size is yeah

but the power of the idea and the

capability of the founder to continue to

reinvent themselves first and foremost

right you want doing lasers seven years

back yeah yeah five years Health maybe

you'll be doing you know female uh

products

well you haven't sold any to me yet so

during the day

exactly I think it's a filter question

yes I don't think it's as we said it's

not the main thing it's not it's a

testing question correct you know you're

thinking yeah if you said look

small now but I'm going to capture that

and I'll continue to reinvent yeah if

one is really convinced about it that's

still good enough you know I don't know

the one thing which I'll say that if you

take the biggest company in the world

right really really big companies

like the last 10 20 years

all of them

have created markets yeah

so for example Airbnb turned every piece

of real estate yeah in the world using

marketers uh

uh you know Hotel opportunity whereas if

they imagine how many hotels are there

the dancer would have been much more

finite yeah right so if you look at uh

over right so all these markets were

created

into a very basic human unit at the end

of the day but not in the conventional

time sense yeah the question is capital

I I personally think that it's capital

in the US for example is far more uh

benevolent towards such ideas the risk

capital in India is far more

conservative in such ideas yeah and

hence this search for more definite

determinate markets yeah right so it's a

function of where you are what which

phase you are doing like for example the

reason deep sizes happen therefore in

India is because this Capital comes with

a certain definition yeah the LPS also

have a certain expectation or market

right is it changes yes slowly now right

so I I genuinely believe large outside

companies are never going to be created

within camps yeah right always will

break Temps and completely redefine how

markets are thought of like uber

fulfilled the basic human need to ask

the driver how much money he makes every

month yeah

we didn't know we had that need

I realized that's what I really wanted

yeah and also depending the starting

point right look if you're a category

Creator is a different way to understand

what the potential of the idea could be

is if you're a number to a number three

player then the relevance of

is very important yeah and also that

situation is very Dynamic and so for

example when Port looked at the

headphones Market at a 5000 rupee price

point the market was a certain amount

then all of a sudden you say if I can

democratize and bring headphones at 2000

rupees all of a sudden that market

explodes can be much much bigger and so

a little bit depends again on what

assumptions you're taking about you know

consumer Behavior consumer appetite to

buy and that answer will keep on

changing again over over time and it

silences too I told Vivek said sorry if

you look at another favorite topic is uh

you know India is a market of 10 crore

people result yeah some numbers

and it almost seems like a gospel

tutorial because everybody's views it

everybody will use it because right on

five years back the number of cyclones

yes five years and the number 17 sorry

but I I still said that the wrong number

simple reason that it if you look at

India today right and I'm just confining

to India

India is digitally equalized I have and

financially illegal

so the

girl sitting in July

for sambalpur is watching the same tanma

is really in your show right yeah

somebody said they are already digitally

equalized correct right what they don't

have is much in power

and so as for children wise the job of

selling anything is going to be that

much easier yeah because you know what

they have been sold well already they've

been waiting for money in the hands

aspirations so it's a very different way

I'll give you another like live example

from two days that I was with my

daughter in the US she was playing golf

and her favorite thing is when she

finishes the game uh her Beast is time

is to go to altara Sephora every day

exact routine finishes the team go take

shower and do sir foreign

and their brands which I've never heard

of yeah Adriana Grande and yeah all

kinds of State she knows of Paul wow she

told me this is that influencer this is

a very famous person the perfect

right

and this is this person this is by the

way and you know what she's not digital

equalized within India she's 11 she's

digitally equalized right yeah

it is phenomenal it's the first time she

stepped into the store but she knows all

the events is saying his awareness

is there second is availability which

again becomes easier Curtis access again

do you have the financial wherewithal to

afford the floor dramatically I don't

think selling is the same anymore right

yeah I I I my I my first job was a

medical representative right I sold it

really really sorry yeah that is that is

considered the hardest song right

because like if you want to be more than

life you'll start there

why did you do that I resistance

that's how all the big Believers

appeared it all started that that's when

you started 18 months

thank you

your license

no but I we did the hard hard yards

right

I think just doing hard yards

is insufficient it may be still a good

life skill to learn but I genuinely

believe

people need to do the digital heart

yards nowadays to understand what

setting means

I just I think that concept of selling

as we knew it will become very passe for

every category I'll give it example 10

years ago

if you wanted to buy a fan

what would you do

Electronics

maybe maybe a relative about God

then finally

you would go and you would go to the

repanda and you would ask him if had we

got no bloody type for you in anything

right yes right and you would select

today yeah

more than 75 percent of people who buy

fans

and he said

according to offer finds a year uh

75 percent of people who buy files in

India

go through their Discovery process

digitally Amazon

starting from be at Google or today if

you want to buy a fan what do you do

yeah you go to the net and you type fan

yeah and the first result is only

fantastic

and business launches b2c yeah yeah so

the entire

Discovery process now now what is that

what you said how does it change the the

selling task now my ability to actually

communicate with these 300 400 million

people has dramatically changed I did

not have any access to them at different

points of their journey to tell them

this is the kind of fan you need if you

have a room this size yeah this is how

the color can look in this this is how

the energy you know I think you do not

want to get that word the mouth you're

really not want to get back from a

Uganda yeah so that ability to now

leverage that digital platform which

India is outside like I mean in terms

there's no country in the world which

has built the digit was like the one

from weakness to end I changed all the

way you want to approach it this is so

brutal because sorry uh this short Pro

because now I see messages in my email

or inbox but a lot of young kids if they

when they want to tell you say I want to

work with you earlier it used to be you

know long paragraph with the resume now

a lot of the smart kids what they do is

they just send you sing I'd love to work

with you here's an Instagram page like

gruto 20 000 followers

it's like dude I now immediately know

you get how to build distribution right

right and the page could be about

anything yeah Beach could be about golf

it could be about it could be about just

means yeah but if you can build some

sort of distribution that to me is a

short short sign that you know how to

build digital distribution and in order

to sell the fact that you call an

Instagram page distributor itself is

fascinating to me it is because it's not

intuitive by the correct so I mean just

coming back to the hard yards hard yards

uh thing that Rohit talked about that's

great that hard yards thing the

definition of hard yards change so

shantana and I trained at the same

company he did 18 months of Van Sales by

the time in the same company I came for

that training it got compressed into 18

weeks okay which started with why would

you load the van first so you have to go

to the place and load the van but after

two days they say okay now you learned

how to load the van now you go and clean

the bottles in the Shelf yeah and then

you go to the next step which is you go

with the bank and see what he's doing

then you collect cash the most difficult

thing which I always feel that was to

tally the cash at the end of the day

correct but now there's no cash to tally

correct right so everything is on paytm

and UPI and things like that but the

modern version of that when I cash

overnight

[Laughter]

the new hard yards is digital so now

when we trained people knew we say okay

here's an Amazon page why don't you

optimize it and show me how you can

increase the conversion and keep at it

till you get to a certain number or here

is a new product launch it online and

show me or do distribution or set up an

Instagram so the hard yard has changed

but the fundamentals of The hardyard

Remains the Same right yeah what are the

fundamentals how do you sell what is

distribution uh how do you get it how do

you get share of Mind share of shell all

these things are not going to change

yeah it's just the medium which keeps

changing over time actually I think the

implications are very profound right

because what Allah is saying is at the

end of this day the role of sales which

used to be far more around demand

generation yeah is moving far more

towards Divine fulfillment now yeah

right because generation of demand

through Discovery can happen through

lots of different things so what would

make a sales personally successful in

the past that's changing far more to

ensure that products are actually

available developing much more deeper

relationships

it's actually becoming a little bit more

farming in many ways it is but the thing

is managing example today if a

restaurant is born in India

9.9 or 10 chances they will seek us out

yes right it is just natural it's

nothing is what we're doing today

now that's the easiest part

the the tough part becomes how do you

sort of get them on board and how the

menu look like how do you write content

uh how do you do discounting

Discovery right

relationships that farming customer

cohorts here and which customers cold

start problems that becomes a dissolve

farming it's not like selling because

somebody had to go and really get them

in a uh you know very sort of lets your

five meetings and then you convert

somewhere yeah right so it said but I'll

also come to actually my theory on some

things which are returning still but we

can catch on that cards whenever so

you're saying like selling and building

has have actually become quite

interwoven I think because again if I go

back a long time in the past first of

all no one even used to use the word

build now if you see anyone's LinkedIn

profile they say building this building

that building this company but no one

used to say that I'm building yeah

you're always selling yeah and building

was a different act which happened in r

d or by marketing somewhere else

but like if I see a modern company like

most of you are in the modern company

but I get to see shantanu and his

company quite closely there's almost no

difference between selling and building

because everyone in the company is doing

all of that all of the time together

because they're just so interlinked yeah

and what is what we used to call selling

is really just the last mile now yeah

it's just the final as you said it's the

final fulfillment

yes exactly I mean but to me so it's

what you said something first still

eternal

I think everything today is so much

noise everyone can get digital everyone

can build an insta page everyone can you

know

everyone equally right but the hard part

is really how do you rise through the

plateau it's a real distribution you can

get right but people are so tuned out of

this noise the real hardcore problem

between selling is Art of communication

at the end of the day medium doesn't

matter what is it that you are

communicating why should it why does it

matter to you because people buy

since they can sense what your passion

your purpose is and second why should it

matter to them like you said right so

those two have effective can you

communicate doesn't change you know and

I think that more and more Brands think

I can just go digital yeah and everybody

is going digital in fact

um Skittles uh you know they did a

Broadway show uh and they got so much

more and it's an old-fashioned way of

doing a Broadway show because everybody

is digital right so how do you in fact

the problem has amplify how do you rise

above the Clutter that's such an

important question so other days someone

came to my network I want to ask you

also they came for this one of the this

whole content creation has become a

investment thesis yeah the true content

on the cell Commerce I want to do social

commerce this and that right and their

first page which I think and that's the

damn question was there are now eight

crore content creators in India I said

there are eight crore content creators

in India is

let me give you a point of view on this

um

effort

the focus

the learning the creativity the insight

the training

which goes into the creation of the

actual communication upon Dagwood has

collapsed grammatically

superhero right I remember I mean

leveraging my age when I grew up in this

field

I was not bothered about

the media channel which would be for my

entire four person effort and months a

year should we spent on making that

content which works

then

some computer will figure out the right

way to send this out yeah B8 plays in

cinemas

or something else on television on that

one thing now here's my theory on why

that's happened

people love numbers okay right now in

the digital world

you can get numbers Left Right Center

upside down

these numbers were never available

in older types of media you know that

reach frequency thank you very much

right now you can slice it you can dice

it you can figure out whether this guy

is sleeping when you get to him or not

yeah

the current generation and frankly

people like me also get caught up in the

Powerpoints made with these numbers them

the first part however which is the

actual gone band

requires judgment it requires insight it

requires

um

a management decision which takes some

risk because there isn't a number which

he can he or she can fall back on to

justify the decision and that balance to

my mind

is why you see

it's not so good stuff right what you

see is so much crap it's not funny yeah

what should I do on this I want to

actually ask you I'm sorry last last

night and then you got this so people

come to me today and they come and say

October look at this Effectiveness

calculation this Roi calculations and my

answer back to them is always

the biggest Roi driver

is if you can step change the quality of

your communication whatever vehicle

that's guided on yeah right and people

come with this traditional story

nowadays of oh but advertising takes

time to work not at all if you crack it

you can see it the next week or is it oh

yeah oh yeah is there a critical mass of

distribution access if you are looking

if you're a mass scale brand the key is

there's a critical mass within your

target group so if your target group

with two people yeah you better get to

both of them yes if your target group is

200 rods

yeah

sorry this is a thought experiment and

like so

um

if you think about lyrics

You Will Remember lyrics are more old

some of the new songs yes is it broadly

too yes

[Laughter]

remember

and people say they were better ads

I think that's wrong yeah it's just that

Those ads played Wednesday the winter

correct and Sunday though

yeah

we're home and there's nothing else it's

also you saw those ten ads great correct

and it just grown you like around

totally for you and that there was there

was going to six months yeah the same

end for six months okay

so I genuinely think that

that is true that great content was

created the attendant took breakfast

it's damn hard today now right it is

damn damn hard

like takes AMOLED to print that ad in

the same place for Generations but it

too still register I was tired of its

own think of like how many clutter

breaking ads have you really seen in the

last one yeah it was too many you just

there's great content out there actually

for Superior to probably what the future

previous initials ever made that's my

belief but it is just a different one

whether what 690 channels on television

uh one likes hours on YouTube okay

install this it is just incredibly hard

so creativity

and and hence why it is just my last

sentence in my at least people of any

social media and all

if they do not offend my sensibilities

often

I don't think they're doing

that's the bar is it that's the bar

because I am not the consumer I don't

even understand the generation as well

correct as they do when for me to as

management to stand judgment on their

content right he's very presumptuous

but I want to actually talk to you about

this a little bit in terms of content

with bricks cracker you started off in

comedy right and you know I remember

your I like I told him the canvas Laugh

Factory I saw you in 2011. when I just

joined McKenzie like going to your show

when you and Rohan I think she opened

for you or the other day from then to

now where you are actually amongst the

people who is breaking

you figured out that there are niches

and I think there's a very scientific

approach too

getting to our consumers and selling to

them uh your brand and your message

which you do very successfully but what

is it that has changed the bitter and

equalized world that makes it what a

dick what's the hard yards in the

digital world that you are that you are

actually putting in now

um actually this is I actually agree

with a lot of what what he was saying

um you know when aib used to be a just a

YouTube channel used to Output twice a

month like two videos a month I used to

call hours this is into between 2011 to

2016-17 time we used to put out two

videos a month and I used to call her

write a snipers then all right

at that point getting a million views is

a lot wow and I remember around 2015-16

I started spending a lot more time with

the Abbey social media right because

they were outposting they were posting

five times a day right so their FIFA

group was a lot more yeah and we grow

our social media very very quickly right

there was a bunch of young the social

media team was younger than the video

writing team uh they were taking more

shots and the dart than the video riding

team which means their consumer Insight

was a lot sharper like what ended up

happening was the social media team

would come and tell us

so we need something more Evergreen

because stuff is changing every week now

so I think feedback loop is really

important that's why I I really like it

when people build their own distribution

because building on distribution means

that's the digital Hardware today which

is going out selling every single day

realizing if I do X then Y is the

response if I do X then Y is the

response when you do this 50 times over

is that's when you start understanding

okay this is what selling in the in the

additional age means in fact I was

telling someone the other day saying I

love working with brand teams where I

write ads now I love working with brand

teams where somebody on the brand team

has done some sort of an artistic skill

in their life

correct right so once you know it in one

field it becomes easier for you to judge

what is good in another automatically

like you see a musician on uh

you're all automatically a better judge

of an idea as well right it's not just

about creating the ideas also about

judging second thing which which you

said is this rapability with a digital

world to create this rapid feedback

to learn with low list and keep

repeating you know because if I again

convert that to the old world

it's different but it is the way we used

to talk to our guys or going store to

start the salesman because he is the

first person

so when you launch a product and you put

it into the distribution Channel it

takes three four months before I can

speak to a person

within the first two days you're picking

up the phone and speaking to the sales

guy correct

Etc and that was the old feedback

correct this is a path

correct people going through a metal mud

which is the feedback of the store

people correct your guys are now going

directly to Consumer to the person who

you're selling to yeah and that rapid

turn down which is all these so if you

remember whenever we launched a new

product we would be sent on the first

day to sell with the salesman yeah and

you would do 25 stores at least with the

salesman and the pitch that you started

with in the morning you would see the

salesman modify modify modify modify

modify at the 25th store he would be

selling very easily and the pitch would

change so they wouldn't exactly this

digital version of it in the real world

right and then you would go back like as

a assistant brand manager you would go

back and talk to the trade market and

say listen I think we need to change

modify the plan and then the whole plot

would go back out and it would change

and then you would go back maybe a week

later spend a DC so it was an iterative

process even then except that it was not

so glamorized and sexified I didn't have

a social media team where you would have

things coming up on the screen

is the same but the technology now

enables you to do that actually much

better correct I need to recognize it as

uh that is

and I got it because of the NBA

which is typically you have a bunch of

very less range and Engineers I've got

an NBA

victims of that right but you have

Engineers

mbased on the signs of selling right

yeah but the art of selling you're

focusing on Hardware but what about the

software because effective selling is

about relationship management it's about

winning both the heart and the mind of

your customers

the soul of selling you know

foreign

that can get lost because we try and

make it too formulaic right we focus far

more on Journey plans and line selling

and all those hardcore metrics and the

risk is then do you actually lose

ultimately you know can I tell you funny

story of uh to raise it then the

gentleman will be stay amen okay he was

on so do you joined the committee

recently and I was on the sales training

stand and he was uh so yeah correct with

one old season 30 year old Frontline

salesman every winter we used to go to

Every chemist and sell a vix of crop

promotion

and the only attempt of the sales guy

was to sell cases of cases so

this young MBA goes there it looks at

this shop give me a shop with the teams

who have enough mixed up to the last

episode

asks ask the retailer how much normally

do you sell a month retailer gives them

some answer guy punch calculator and

says oh give me back so much stuff

as a

left-brained engineering

because

yes

I really wear that identity probably if

last week how I associate myself I do

still associate myself as an engineer

yeah yeah all right so you know for me I

tell you the turn off is when people

start talking about marketing as it's

that is the most important thing right

your product and for me in a pitch if I

don't hear from you what really is your

product and you don't have that deep

deep deep passion and understanding of

the detail of your product all marketing

is just fluffs and waste right and I see

so much I won't means even today well

funded millions of dollars great

marketing but I'm not a consumer of that

product and that shows over time people

don't want to consumer product

The Genius of that but I think there is

enough that's not talked about on what

exactly are you selling right and why so

much of this is all about confident but

content really I mean doesn't matter as

much as the authenticity the genuineness

of your product and today more and more

people

think that just somehow you know

marketing for all problems and it solves

no problem unless you really really are

at the fronting Frontage

marketing cannot sell for average or a

bad product that I completely agree but

sometimes in a competitive environment

where some product is good at some

things the other one is better at

something else targeting becomes

important then today a compelling story

if you will in the consumer feels so

you're far off Beyond just the function

that is in my category for example if I

look at shaving cream there are 25

shaving creams out there

some people who likes you know the way

it kind of sits on the brush some

different things will be like but if if

I tell someone hey look at my taco

shaving cream by the way it's green

color so when you wash your face it

feels it it's getting cleaner the

fragrance is three percent which is much

higher than the market it's also priced

in this much so I'm now kind of telling

any it's this really cool new brand

which isn't Made in India and it's an

Indian balanced startup and it's stop

using all the stuff that you've been

using for years use my second tell that

compelling story even though my product

may not have superiority above the

others which

is a lot it will be incremental but when

people are using my shaving cream I want

to make sure that they fall in love with

it and my people but like here the

Breakthrough companies such as they are

don't forget haven't just been marketing

Geniuses they actually have been not

amazing it's actually the product I mean

like but and I 100 agree with you right

it's got to be based in the product and

you build on it otherwise it's a slim

track however

let me give you a current Trend IMC

which I don't think is good no okay

product

people are tossing widgets

into their products

which really

needs no meaningful consumer need and

that is not a good thing sir uh LED

lights wonderful technology outstanding

in every way the light quality energy

everything

okay

is it really meaningful to me that my

bulb can give 99 000 colors

you know so people uh because of tech

Hardware technology is right now

allowing us so much widgeting on the

phone I guess in the in the third

lexicon it is

uh no one has found the killer app for

all their stuff so they're throwing

things and that is a negative part but

um the pro it has to start with the

product but on the product which is a

functional superiority or repeat

distinctiveness it needs to for a long

lasting brand to be graded it needs to

leverage up

some form of purpose or emotional need

Etc and disability

uh Pampers I think if you also worked on

the reward story Pampers started with a

hardcore technology which was better

absorption so these babies dry

but over time this first level is up to

let your baby sleep all night

Therefore your baby actually grows and

develops better and becomes healthy you

know so it therefore you are a great

mother so you leverage yourself

I told you I was old no if you just just

to complete the thought one is this

Paradox of choice right so we just tend

to give the consumer so much Choice

sometimes the consumer also doesn't want

the choice because they're bombarded

with like 50 000 decisions to make a day

you know frankly I don't care after the

first at least for myself after the

first six colors of my LED light I don't

care about the colors I don't even know

the names of the colors

I'm sure that like at home my wife knows

at least if I know six you know 60 but

even after 60 she doesn't know nine men

don't know yeah no idea I have no idea

is it a food

so so you have to draw the line

somewhere but what is changing about

selling and where marketing also comes

important that some people see it is

plus some people don't is

product is now becoming experience

so yes you must have a great product on

at minimum a priority product but a

parity product can be overcome with a

superior experience combined with it and

when you take the full package it's a

superior offering I'm a consumer so this

extension of product into experience is

a big Trend which I think a lot of the

new age companies are doing very very

well especially in India but also in U.S

Europe and all these places uh where the

long-standing company 30 40 50 years

they tend to miss out on that and they

really focus only on products yeah no

you're right think of digital payments

in India Google pay a phone pair

whatever you used to what a wonderful

experience I mean I I no longer have to

stand out in front of the panwala think

or do I have change do I not have

changed it just so the experience it as

better it's not the product works yeah

built on what one he said if I take uh

because we have been discussing physical

products see if we take a platform

it's quite interesting uh

and I always at least emphasize to my

team saying the biggest sales hack is a

better product like

so if my sales person is sitting with

the restaurant partner and dealing with

objections right it's time wasted

so kill it at the product take

everything which is a distraction fill

it at the bit about like improve the

Recon improve things that give

self-service like 90 things that person

is selling today or doing things should

not be happening in the first place

that's the biggest production we had

that we can do for the sales person

right and I genuinely feel

uh that's a part of a Mist so when you

look at Salesforce transformation in

Consulting is we do a lot bunch of that

stuff right you'll always focus on input

management and daily sales call all

those important super important right

but the moment you have a inferior

product you're very low productivity

right so I I resonated that like for the

old-fashioned you know this hard yards

not to just throw the baby with the bath

water as they say it you know uh my kids

are obviously uh at a different

generation but I put my daughter through

two years of working in a cafe okay

because uh you know you understand as a

part-time right she still finished

college that was important but my point

is the hard yards are important most

Founders think I just sit in a room I

can be an influencer and that's good

enough I think how the your VA and then

you lose the actual human touch right

and which you got through the hard yards

and they were all intrinsics that you

learned and the intrinsics and soft

skills are as equally important because

you know be whatever that version is

going out to make the delivery or going

out to City to

you know that particular uh uh whatever

problem solving and in my case you know

engineer whatever I would do one week of

QA on our own product right it's also

with product right so before release and

it was a question of can I find any bugs

and whatever that is

but today is for much of that is lost

because everybody eats this Kool-Aid or

drinks this Kool-Aid that I need to be

an influencer I need to do personal

brand marketing as a CEO and all of this

one like yeah and some of do that it's

like

to me there is a time and a place for

that but it's not a replacement for you

legally being able to touch and feel

your customer and be really

understanding your products

ultimately and you're right the route is

two things

what the consumer is and what your

product is in terms of delivering them

to the consume then you make sure that

this

gets out in the most persuasive or

cost-effective right time to the right

person correct but that's sort of how

the in fact we used to yeah because

a lot of this I mean

ultimately

my definition of creativity is the

ability to make unexpected connections

well if you knew if you know what it was

before you get it

then it's it's what you already know and

the only way you can make these

unexpected connections is by putting

yourself in environments where you've

observe seed potential things

which in your normal environment you

don't come across so I'll give you one

example a story really but

food I had ordered some food it came

with a small raisal package okay

and which is nice and we were meeting

that company later I asked the CEO how

much do you pay for raisins because I

thought this was overpriced okay

he had no idea so I said can I talk to

your head of procurement what is the CEO

of children in my opinion rate marketing

rate packaging you know great everything

and I asked their head of procurement

how much are you paying for cage you're

facing

any Housewives including me that's

another label that I'm happy to carry I

know how much ratings cost right two

guys had a procurement CEO have no clue

but you're packaging this 25 grams of 60

rupees I said why do you think somebody

is gonna buy this right right and

answer that so to me that's

a problem so marketing is great yeah

right but these are the hard yards which

sometimes get lost in all these podcasts

and limitations

one thing which happened

and just understanding the other person

so sometimes if you go with the

salesperson the field and you are guilty

that you haven't decrypt the person with

the best product or feature and create

you see wonderful results you only know

that

it's only the other person yeah right

and so quick as 21 first job Pharma

sales

very diligent two and a half month

feeling it the MNC company in Delhi

uh South Bengal calculator

the very flourishing pediatrician

practice and we had some electric uh

products and I will go for two months

and we addressed the film hook remember

that yeah yeah

and nothing is he will not be safe in

each one half months I tried like

practically and I remember I know that

was my assets what company was this this

is

so he once came with me and then he said

key okay next time don't carry this to

go just uh ask the nurse not some person

care

that's right okay

it was not natural for me to have this

conversation so when classes

or football crazy

um

used to always like sit like this and

and you just call it and said well done

okay right and that day I put upon he

said

foreign

that became so after fast forward a

month we used to be like 20 Mr sitting

there right and the typical outside of

the same in the peacocks he will call me

a cigarette

and he used to just poorly prescribe

all this change because relationships

understanding of the person and what he

wanted just and I I could be so into

just imagine

hearing 15 Mrs back to bank

in a robotic fashion versus somebody

who's actually having a some

conversation with you I think that stuck

to me that incident never gone for my

life understand the consumers

yeah

you know yeah he's busy he doesn't have

time this is a pain if he's the god to

it you break through that stuff

empathy I think it's one is to obviously

understand the customer

I think what I've also realized is the

value of understanding the the crying

that the sales executive on the ground

goes through and I remember uh many

years ago this was a very wake-up call

about 15 years ago I was doing a sales

visit with a woman sales rep in gwalior

in the middle of 46 degree you know heat

and when I landed up in the territory

they gave me a bottle of water which I

had

and I said what about you why don't you

have water and she said Nay it's okay

and I was wondering

the reason is restaurants

in the field because you know at that

time you couldn't just go into any

random place to go to the bathroom and

they would just not have any water or

food because we made it over time but

standard in PhD that every distributor

exactly so act to AB appropriate women

doctors used to sit from ten to one and

five to eight and it was 40 kilometers

of Calcutta right so I had a contract

with the tawa means I said I'll eat we

put on the fan I'll pay him 10 bucks

extra and I used to sleep yeah right

they're from two to five because there's

nothing else to do because the town used

to go to sleep and there was no way you

would come back to the Calcutta and go

back three in the evening

sales uh War Stories I mean obviously I

think product first kind of a CEO being

that and first time CEO an engineer

turned CEO at that right so

okay I remember we had this big client

Prospect in Dallas and I was living in

Silicon Valley at that time so my sales

team said we have set up a closing

meeting and they were very hesitant for

you come I'm like how come of course

I'll come and then they very hesitantly

told me that uh you know it's in a

gentleman's club half I said no problem

welcome we have to sell our product I

come now the tea totler that I was then

and now right I just assumed it's a

country club right so this can let's say

the better everyone is

what it's about so there can also be

comical situations we did get the

customer you go with the flow but you

know also but you know as a woman

selling in the field yeah it's so it's

all different absolutely you know

conical stories but uh but you know what

I always tell young girls that come to

me is uh you can still be yourself yeah

you don't have to be somebody else the

younger young guy doesn't matter a lot

of times the problem is you know just

like product and marketing have to be

somewhere based on actual right even who

you are when you're silly you may be a

loud person you may be a very quiet

person but you have to first learn to be

yourself and that can help you with what

you said earlier in the morning about

being genuine and authenticated that

works for everything yeah if you go meet

the doctor and you were not genuine

enough they take a relationship building

yeah and you figured out you're there

for some unauthentic reason yeah the

reaction what they say because it's a

very hard thing to do because one of the

things I truly believe in companies

since

if

he got the right person yeah man or

woman yeah and allowed them to be the

same person as their at home at work

right

because it's so hard to change yourself

at 9am and say now I am

exhausting it's exhausting and and not

only themselves the other state which

I've noticed happened is uh

in organizations

you hire people because they have a

certain skills and capabilities

right and then you sit on the head

rainbows right and don't let them do

yeah and they don't give them the feel

but if you release that now that's not

easy because it requires a two-way

approach yeah I trust you that's why I'm

letting you do that because that's an

accountable but we don't let them flood

it you know I write people who said my

my biggest hustle is that my boss is

asking me all these things and reading

is questioning he tested you know this

is leadership

yeah but

I think in one of the very one in not in

the present company previously one young

and very

brilliant girl very upset with the

manager leader and uh conversation in my

I think I was at fault saying that but I

did say that like Community right

as a leader and I think what it mean in

that moment seem a little bit of

pressure but it's wonderfully liberating

yes because it really will separate out

the leaders who can totally lead

from people who want designations and

think their leaders because they are a

designation when

um

I took

a risk with mind management

primarily because my subordinates put

pressure only yeah right I could not

face my subordinates if I did not do

that correct right and this is one of I

believe this friends of these younger

people so that their greater confidence

they have greater Independence they are

less worries about cabin yes

it leads to humility yeah and without

humility you can't grow right because

ultimately the power to accept feedback

to listen to people uh is so important

for any successful salesperson as well

right getting a few knocks a few punches

getting difficult feedback in some ways

allows true growth to happen because if

we don't do it then growth will never

actually have not taking it personally

it's not a personal attack but a lot of

people then I actually wanted to ask you

one question before we go to the game

how do you remain authentic where you

are out there so much and you are always

the same like your consistency is

actually quite quite yeah incredible I

I mean you like I had so there's two

aspects to me one is I make content

publicly uh across different mediums and

then I write for clients right uh when

it comes to writing for clients um

I I actually kind of disagree that you

you like authenticity to some degree can

be fake let me explain how uh authentic

to yourself comes naturally which is if

you are truly passionate about what

you're selling you'll automatically be

authentic but understand the motivation

of the buyer is super important like an

example is uh I began my career writing

scripts for television right and I

should write these scripts for award

shows right I was a 21 year old selling

to movie stars who were in their late

30s or 40s and the buyers were

production companies who've been around

for the last three decades

uh and I realized very quickly that

their apprehension was a con mail on

their way

so realize very early on that that's

their motivation is

so why are we very passionate about

selling history

I would then immediately start going

into meetings

we would reject some of our jokes

their motivation is they also want to do

something new and fresh yes

so you automatically start rejecting

stuff early on so I'm selling motivation

of the buyer is very important getting

on the same page as them so what would

happen when we would reject our own

jokes is people would be like oh they

also feel like they are custodians

we're all on the same team right so

being on the that same team is very

super important when you're when you're

doing when you're spending when you're

trying to sell and authenticity like how

authenticity that's what I mean by it

can be fake which is understanding the

motivation and asking yourself do I buy

this motivation if I buy it then you'll

automatically yourself yeah I know that

most people who want to buy they want to

try something fresh or in a lot of

Brands cases like they would just want

to justify the spends right so you as a

seller have to understand that they have

to justify their spends in some cases

they have to justify key you know I'm

going to buy this idea I need to sell

this internally because I work in a in a

hierarchy and a chain so very early on

if you understand that

justified

this is who I'm selling to this is what

they want all very posturing yeah it's

the third person it says you

understanding what they want and

realizing can I do this often times what

I would say easily listen you want to do

cookie cutter stuff and in the bandwidth

that I have I realize it is

reject it automatically because there's

no point working with someone if your

motivations are conflict motivations

your motivations are not aligning you

wanna you wanna

Etc

this understanding of the consumer the

decision making process of that you know

when you're buying a 10 million dollar

line or something

it's fully mapped out correct you know

this is the first person you meet this

is the role of the person there this is

what I have to provide this is his

influence uh this is you actually map

that role out and you target each

person's need in that man correct so you

exactly what you are saying you do

formally in in traditional every

industry of B2B selling one of the

things that I say in a meeting no no

sort of mentioned this angle one of the

things I would say in the meeting is

but actually the best CMOS I've worked

with well artist manager so I as a

creative person I'm actually artist

manager yeah

at the end of the day it's your job you

are spending the money you need to you

you know you have a right over what the

creative instrument so my joy is in case

so most marketing people are just

artists who are looking for the right

artist manager actually the right artist

manager can change everything I used to

be a comedians who love performing on

stage and the best Arts manager I ever

met said the same thing can happen on

YouTube

yeah I love working with CMOS who who

are just let me just channel the

creativity in the right place with the

right messaging and let them do their

thing I want to mention one thing when

you know Rohit was talking about uh

Pharmacy Healthcare and funmi with what

does that customer want you know

marketing has a little bit of color of

being a little frivolous okay but it

doesn't have to be I want to give an

example uh three years ago my mother got

diagnosed with cancer like and I went to

three of the best hospitals in Bangalore

because that's where I live

foreign

the cost

a little bit here and there it's

expensive so a little more little less

doesn't matter

But ultimately where we went to were the

only ones who pitched

in and out we will make sure every week

because remember this has to be every

week

a week two and a half hours right and

when I went to that and the other

hospitals I knew the founders I know

they said why did you go there and not

say I said the officers law Hospital

takes eight hours for the same therapy

because your billing is this store that

or that or that right your Ops

is yes forward head and you never

understood that for me the priority of

spending less time is the value

proposition yeah correct right it is a

healthcare service but it is really

operational excellence that I watch

because the drug is the sale that doctor

essentially is the same but see each of

the other hospitals were touting their

doctors this was the only one that

understood myself

right so even in a very serious product

correct knowing what does the customer

really want true motivation true

motivation and that's then I said let me

give you an example of how all these

things come together the marketing the

product and the creativity

we've all heard a factory I know where

it is now by one point in time I use it

every day

I can't tell you how this how did it

became the larger shampoo the NG bought

a small French vitamin oil company which

had a vitamin oil called panty

it's molecule name yeah no it's a brand

name of this thing was planted okay okay

discovered a product technology which

was combining a shampoo and conditioner

and they tried it for three four years

in various ways didn't really succeed

they took the Patty in brand name quoted

office

one marketing team in Korea

came up with the idea of healthy

beautiful hair the concert

another creative theme and this all

happened this all happened over a space

of three four years okay North Dakota

another team if I'm not mistaken I think

it was in Australia or somewhere

purely creative never stripped it never

boarded

whenever making a commercial came up

with what became the famous peacock shot

which you may have seen impacted

commercials now which was completely big

peacock China yeah peacock shot

internally right I love it but these

four things were then put together

um

literally within four years it became

the world's largest shampoo wow so it is

a combination of all of it coming as

together one no one thing could have

done it there was clearly unexpected

connections which happened so then of

course good execution and etc etc etc

hunting peacocks

it was called the peacocks this is the

hair coming out of the water thing no no

no no no just the drop literally all the

problems

it seems so it seems now it seems so

nice

creative ideas when they happen of

course

never

and I have

prompt okay all of you will have this

just pick it up and we have a few

questions you want to have a lot of them

first um I'm going to put honesty is

expected okay yes so never have I ever

cried after a client meeting

never have I ever I have

wow okay so one I want to know clients

have cried after meeting them

so

crying I use metaphoricity like it's

hiring emotion right okay

um

and you know there's a a client who was

really Under Pressure I I said I thought

he was doing exceptionally well for the

company but it was in the poor books of

the management right for some reason

and for reasons which are internal to

that company and and in a meeting I

remember the team worked with him for

about 10 15 days

uh and one of the objectives side

objectives was to make him shine

any presented idea got through he came

out and said that I've been working in

German 15 years like never I have heard

this book

as I did today because

you guys believed in me and invested you

know these last 15 days in nikkimi uh

look good I've been kindness for years

and um and I think that those are

moments where

you you're sort of

in the background

it was wonderful Duke in the background

yeah this is crying in a good sense

crying in a bad sense so you know

McKenzie meetings right so McKenzie

meetings are uh if you come out and you

say it's a the only great meeting is

when your partner takes you to uh drinks

yeah in the evening a gentle Bells Club

at least I have no other experience

the second interesting meeting is well

like the good meetings are well made the

things are okay an interesting meeting

here

right so those meetings are always there

where you escaped

no I cried all the time but so you know

my first 20 fundraising pictures as an

entrepreneur where is the bathroom and

cry you know first 10 board meetings

you know after so much preparation go in

the bathroom and cry and you know it's

fine if you feel like flying cracks but

you know client greetings I'll tell you

today I'm accused a lot by a lot of

people that I'm so much into detail and

that's not important it is you know

Perfection micromanaging whatever

whatever but I do not apologize for it

because I have scars that have made me

the way I am okay so I remember I was an

Enterprise uh software for uh first part

of my life and we were selling to UPS

right and we were the finalists and we

were just getting to the final proposal

site

so I get a message back from the CFO

sorry we have withdrawn and we will not

buy your product right this is six

months of intensity

so I said can I get five minutes with

you and we deserve to lose that sale and

that's why I tried for the stupidity of

losing that sales

we had sent our final proposals to them

in a FedEx package

so he said if you I'm not willing to

know who your client is wow you don't

deserve us and I agree with that yeah

right now I could say I was a CEO this

was a problem in the main house it was a

problem with the sales guy no it's a

problem that has to be owned at the top

because if you did create that level of

detail it's my problem that's how I see

it so I get you the details and I don't

apologize for it I don't care who gets

upset mad at school not cold doesn't

matter then

a small Second Story we did win Pepsi in

the same company and they were coming to

uh our first kickoff right

get into a lot of detail uh you know

including what's the food what's the

wine how are we very everything right

now I get into everything at home at

work whatever

so

they call us at four o'clock for a

meeting at 6 30 that they have canceled

it

okay they have what a product and uh

again because your relationship call

back and be humble and ask why

honest to God I didn't know that a same

restaurant can only serve either Pepsi

or Coke but cardboard I didn't know that

at that time like I told you I'm a

left-brained engineer what do I know

about my thing and sales and all of this

but somebody should know obviously they

the MBA is the sales guys apparently

didn't know so I went to that restaurant

met the manager and said what can we do

today to serve Pepsi versus Pogo he said

we have a contact we can't do that I

said there must be a way right

so he said if you take over the

restaurant and get a license whatever

you can sell whatever she says and it's

a private part yeah we're not

responsible for it right between 4 and 6

30 we solved that and I picked up the

phone and said you know I heard you

weren't coming because this restaurant

you your tea verified subscribe but of

course not you know we are going to

serve Pepsi and we took care of it right

and we wanted to take you to this

restaurant so details right you

have to get into the details as a leader

and when you were talking that's sort of

the story that came to mind yeah

along with the problem the solution

orientation also right you actually said

many people suffer from a problem but

you took it upon yourself saying come

help what may I'm going to try and find

a way to solve the the customer's

problem which I think is very powerful

in that story also and I think shayvon

has right how come I didn't know when we

are selling to that customer we are

saying software yeah right we are

sending a security software

products in the restaurant but that is

where we make a mistake it doesn't

matter what I'm selling I need to know

my customer this is the biggest lesson

that I have learned so I may be engineer

I may be selling by the way these four

million dollar products right that we

were selling Enterprise software but

doesn't matter

but I never understood that high

involvement requires you to know beyond

your product very true to the Dynamics

of that customer and across the person

and I am looking around the coordinator

of the Fest because

Indian leader CEO the Tetra from come

from

and used to promise to indicate about

visit all of that right so now for the

Mahindra folks we always had to say at

that time

Bolero yeah

of course

none of these guys can go for these

three people it has to be able to do so

yeah

this is something that they would

remember right so I think there's a

sales lesson in it but there's a greater

life lesson which is the obstacle is

always the way yeah so the obstacle that

you face a lot of times ends up being

the thing which is like what you talked

about Unexpected Delights that you can

change this in the restaurant yeah

Peak moments which has got some

fascinating details around this product

but I love the way mbas are bashed up

today right now

all right next question next question

next question okay never have I ever

dated or married a customer slash client

s

a lot right and for example in

Consulting foreign

I have noticed that because you have no

time for romance outside and Laura finds

the customer so my relationship becomes

but for example in PNG uh when we inform

beds they have very high number of PNG

people who marry pig people but they're

kind of the same age same background

they thrown together so I guess in my

case it's not ashamed but many it's very

many comments once applied according

woman uh

later I figured it was like a pitch for

marriage and then I had to escape

foreign

[Laughter]

I don't understand this at all right but

for me I've always been very clear my

home and my professional life see to be

very subtle in my case right I don't

want to go home I'll talk about all the

problems of work and just only have that

to talk about and nothing else and I was

also always very clear that in an

intense job that it is

if I have to take the same intensity

home and we both have to make that work

we will not be able to be married that's

it at least my personal life and

situations

yeah you know I want to be joyful at

home I want home to be a sanctuary I

don't want a therapist right I want

something who makes me laugh right so I

mean at least regardless but men don't

get to ask this question but women are

not always automatically ask very

intentionally you're right not that you

know you work with your husband that's a

given that's an assumption so I want to

break government

no no you're right it is one of the uh

not so pleasant things of our societies

if their co-founders of a successful

company the number of times I hear oh

it's because of her husband correct

there's an underlying assumption

assumption that everything was derived

from the identity of the spouse right so

what do you think it's changed

change is slow like stories like Mica

for example where the husband also like

very you know proficient and so on but

but they didn't pop together that's a

very different thing they didn't work

together they didn't work together

but it is a it's a common it's a common

perception not a pleasant perception

several husband wife companies now as

Founders co-founder of the England be

successful yeah yeah we have seven

common things

and I have nothing to do with it at all

anxiously I stay away from it completely

but sometimes when she is meeting for

example a landlord where she's renting a

space

or some supplier

right that comes to be a sort of

implicit unpleasant assumption in that

discussion if I have come that Purity as

a driver to drop her that wow that uh I

will be the right person to talk to

about you and that exists all right cool

not coming today yes which is right and

the whole concept of understanding what

the consumer wants telling them in a way

that is

you know that that feeds into something

which creates unexpected Delight

unexpected returns everything that is

spoken about at an individual level

all of us are now razerpreneurs and we

are launching Razer burner okay which is

basically

um

we're gonna get from college kids

to Homemakers to army veterans to

you know people in jobs to potential

entrepreneurs everyone wants to be an

entrepreneur

but no one everyone thinks it's about

the big you know the the big idea lives

and the fake idea of the fake vision and

the money and all of that but it's

actually about selling what we're going

to do is we're actually launching Razer

getting people

all around the country it's about

selling users yes they have to sell the

razor yes they have to sell the century

smart can can you demonstrate by selling

us the razor first okay can you try

that's a good idea I think this is the

uh

every center of the tsunami right um

okay so I'm going to actually stand for

my sales pitch and uh can you give me

the Applause

I'm actually going to use all the sales

principles and all the loadings from the

last couple of hours hopefully to be

able to sell Bombay shaving companies NC

range to the six of you

um and hopefully then

all the razor burners who are watching

this will stick that at the starting

point and go and sell uh in the you know

in their markets and their communities

and their ecosystem the new universes

and hopefully when Razer Runner ends on

30th of September the company also

learns a lot more about what the market

looks like so uh this is what I call the

epicenter or the starting point of the

tsunami hopefully it kind of becomes a

big one okay

so introducing to you Sensi range by

Bombay shaving company

um it is uh just to give you a context

of the category and you both know it

very well but for for the for the rest

resource is the center of the Grooming

World for men okay shaving is when the

core of two minutes everything from face

washes to deodorants or fragrances to

Face Wash to head everything comes after

shaving shaving is core but today

consumers are far more evolved consumers

are more digitally Sammy the first power

up that a consumer used to buy 15 years

back used to be a razor as a 16 year old

and I think all of us here would have

bought you know our first razor at 16 17

even gifted the gift it would have for

ourselves and you know kind of figure

out that mustache and so on but today

the first product at least in urban

India being bought is actually a primer

by a foreign

we wanted to always participate

meaningfully in the center of this like

if you're a cricketer and not playing at

Lords then Universal scoring century is

in 1K day and MCG and someone who still

want to play I take deep objections

what are you talking about this is our

Eden Gardens yes so that's better yeah

and uh

so yeah

um

so first is Sensi smart 3. if you're 17

18

sparse hair on your face you know the

first mustache is coming out acne

younger skin thinner skin they're also

probably dating for the first time

crushing on someone for the first time

super important how you look your

Instagram is important your Bumble and

Tinder feeds are probably getting

created so how do you elevate yourself

from a barber or from a disposable razor

which you're using or never used one do

a great product so introducing Scentsy

smart 3 okay sensory smart 3 has a pivot

head it is a product that also has a

lubricating strip which has aloe vera

gel Moroccan Argan Oil and vitamin E so

these are things that you see as a in

most of the rights right but the design

of the razor is such that the process of

Shaving becomes enjoyable one of the

most important things that happen when

younger people shave is their hair is

longer you know hair is longer it gets

stuck a lot more so when you shave you

try to take out the hair with your hands

like with the fingers like this or

across them face of the razor and you

end up cutting yourself and the

experience becomes frictional but

because the back of the razor is

extremely exposed under a flow of water

which may even be thinner or smaller the

razor anti-clocks very quickly so this

razor will give you a very good shape in

one or two minutes and take care of your

skin because it's sensitive on the skin

since this part 3 also comes at 99

rupees

um as compared to any comparator in the

market and this with the same features

we are a far more affordable far more

valuable racer I'm going to pass this

around so all of you can kind of have a

look

and gift it and gifted use it

Etc

result of the packaging now comes Sensi

flow 4. Sensi flow 4 is an evolution

over sensory smart 3. right four blades

mainly four blades

um it also comes in a metallic rubber

handle and the center of gravity for

people who make razors is the core it's

like a fountain pen the center of

gravity defines the health and the usage

completely for fountain pens the floor

being completely depends upon center of

gravity and the and the grip that's what

we've done so when you when you shave

right where you fold the razor where the

center of gravity needs to be which is

this and that's where it's been designed

so the weight balance Etc super

important I'm going to pass this around

again as all the features of the Sensi

smart 3 also has a back blade for your

bearded circles for example

all have beards which actually require

shaping you are the only clean shaven

person in the room

that's me too

so this is Sensi flow forward

Sensi flow 6 is

you know is India's first is

actually the river hit the real part

the Sensi flow 6 is 25 grams heavier

than the sensory 204 again waste is

important six blades back of the blade

is uh again to get the right to get the

right beard shape but

this is more for people who shave every

day after customers are more kind of

quick shaving before you go to the

office or you know you go on for a

wedding or you go for a date or Etc so

get your completely clean look I have

actually used the Sensi 406 today on my

head so hence I've got what I call the

billiard ball look it's a completely

gloss finish on my head and I'll head

shaving is a very difficult use case

because you can't see yourself you you

know there's a lot of skin and bone when

there's flesh living becomes easier when

their skin and bone shaving that's the

real test of a razor right so I got this

done uh with the Sensi flow six so you

know all products are priced comparative

to Market in fact even better and what I

love about are ranges all of them come

with what what we have designed in-house

proprietary it's called a razor

sharpener okay this is a straw it's

something that Barbers always use all

over India

um you've seen some other Nostra kind of

do this with on a on a long leather bed

is to sharpen the blade we've designed

this resin uh in a way that after you

share maybe seven eight and then you

feel the razors getting blunted all you

need to do is keep this on your Basin

and puts the razor against it five times

and you feel like a Shavers as what is

new this elongates the life of the blade

by almost 30 percent

which basically if you think about it is

a very anti-capitalist move as a band we

are telling consumers by lateral by you

know buy less from us in a way but we

believe that if we give great value to

you and we are friendly to your pocket

and we are friendly to the environment

as a brand and conscious about it it is

authentically the best way for us to

actually be meaningful participants in

The Hidden Garden slash Bombay Gymkhana

slash Lords of the category and whether

it's NC smart tree or Sensi flow 4 or

sensorflow 6 we genuinely believe that

we have given we've taken a functional

experience and we have given you a

pampering experience for those two

minutes in the morning when you take a

shave we've already taken it a step

further without luxury launch this is

very similar to Fountain pendants Pie by

the fountain pen and this is fits on the

sensitlow 6. it is almost 50 grams

heavier so the experience of our razor

that kind of goes by weight will come in

the sensitlow six luxury version I'm

just going to pass it around it also has

a name engraved on it other than this

one's for you all of you will get one

with with your names on it

and uh great for gifting great for using

and so on so I'm just going to pass off

and pass on the products like a fountain

pen yeah it looks like fun it has that

hands to go senses so the Scentsy floor

yeah yeah

I can't drink that water

shaving mug

yeah so this is our range also to launch

our range if you have noticed Bombay

shaving company has gone through a

complete Rebrand so we now have a bolder

bigger sharper version of our logo One

logo actually used to be need to see

online Friendly logo a thin razor thin

Wings thin font and you've taken it to

bold big in the Shelf because today we

have to compete in the shed and we can't

do that with a seven syllable Bombay

shaving company seven syllable to order

model limited uh and All Brands which

are successful in shells are small

single syllable double syllables big

gloco so sort of fights the real you

know battle being Gladiators on the

Shelf is important so new brand well

designed products consumer at the core

and hopefully after the last two three

minutes uh all of you will become razor

burner not only to help our asapreneurs

but also to kind of use these products

and let these products be a part of your

bathroom range as well

uh you just kept on talking features you

you topped everything that's important

in this way sir to you yeah you didn't

really talk about anything that's

important to me

I I don't know what I will but that's

for example price like like the main

thing around

a round of price being something which

activities that that may be but then

there was so much more that it does not

uh somehow I told him to be very

entertaining and a very good Storyteller

just to you know give a Counterpoint I

think you were very engaging

where I got a bit lost was that perhaps

you were trying too many messages and at

the end of the day people will not

remember more than two or three uh

messages and so that's when I was

getting a little bit lost in terms of

you know

um what are what are you trying to

communicate I got affordability you

talked about the metallic rubber handle

but what is that going to do sustainable

how would that make my life and you know

better and stuff like that so I just got

a little bit lost that perhaps you were

trying

too many messages without the Christmas

of an elevator but it means that people

were saying you had the experience

Dustin you know you thought talked about

going out but it was sort of just

getting lost in this whole speed but I

would buy it still picked my interest

enough to say wow

you know I would buy the Sensi flow

sticks actually right because the

personalization uh the uniqueness of

that stood out a little bit more and

perhaps more you know travel I might buy

Sensi smart 3 you know put a couple of

them in my Dollar Tree bag also in case

you never forget one reason there right

I would buy this one and which one is

that that's look at the field at night

yeah yeah it feels it feels right

because it's heavy but one of them I

think if you were to choose one message

with a very important point so what is I

think rain selling is difficult because

you're now selling three parts so

curious and I am attached to the founder

I am attached to what you have so you

want to tell everything tell everything

everything so I'm hoping after 10 or 15

pitches and tomorrow also then I are

going into Connaught place and selling

into stores there and so on hopefully it

sharpens in the way it happens uh but

if you were to pick one message of all

of them which one would it be would it

be I I actually kind of agree with uh

what something said was that you weren't

speaking to the consumer you were

talking about the products right like

when you support Scentsy smart and you

say okay this 70 year old uh consumer is

so fascinating this consumer wants to

become a man yeah right like okay first

time you're shaving is going to be the

first product I would play on the

identity another thing I would I would

probably talk about is

here and that is why it is specifically

for you and that is why it is special

and what's a cool thing it comes in the

price pocket for you buddy yeah I'm

saying like when you're a young person

it's not you don't want the you don't

want the you don't want the razor for

you know slightly bushier or out of this

thing your skin is special you're young

you're different and that is what is

made for you and I think it's an

important point

this is almost a certain amount of Envy

a man feeds to a woman in terms of all

the cool things they do in terms of

their makeup their cosmetics and the

beauty treatment this is one of the very

few things men can actually do yeah from

a grouping perspective so is there a way

to actually bring out

the joy and pride and that to be able to

actually find a way to you know groom

yourself in terms of we talked about

smoothness you talked about difficult

calls to us so you've been looking at

pain points to resolve but most races

actually end up doing that I probably

did what would do with his clipboard in

the doctor's office right right do the

script to the point without actually

talking about the impact of the person

who needed to come out because you are

the pitch very actual right and there

was no chance in this right it could be

that you know this is something uh you

created for I don't know your dorm mate

for yourself for whoever how do you use

it what is I used it and here is the I

wanted to see here is the reaction I got

from my daughter from my wife whatever

that may be right and I gave this to you

since you're not 16 or 17 I gave this to

my nephew or son or whatever maybe that

relevant but there was no story yes the

empathy and story was missing short

story right because you know my eyes are

on you yeah right so your story so how

what does this mean the only thing that

right so today look I you know I didn't

get any I so you know blah blah whatever

uh so I think you putting you into the

story

am I saying is important but you're

right you should not sell the range it's

this in like two three ways one make

this your first reason for for these

these reasons two is uh the consumers

are a very interesting point in their

life

you know don't pay to make this about

you know 399 499 versus 99 but you know

if I could afford all of them why and

where should I use which one yeah and

that's true it would be about why do you

use this versus that versus that right

so and something your experience does

Ray selling ever work on it and start

models with logic and I I really like

padma's idea because yeah you've also

got to think about

uh what what the person is using today

yeah right and you can avoid completely

that issue by going for this year I have

made this for you yeah and as a consumer

in their first experience of the most

important one correct and it because

that's you're going to be your entry

point it's going to be very hard to

shift a 40 year old uh socialite user

and why do you want to watch the new

guys

there's a visual that comes to that yeah

they've always seen older men shave in a

particular way you know it's always like

some really good looking macho man who's

shaving right so I remember the first

time I shaved I just really want to feel

like I'm like an adult like a roommate

you can like you you'll be you'll feel

like that you'll become the first man

you want to be yeah

this one there's another angle is a lot

of this razor is a first time gift from

somebody it's not bought by self

correctly is your Dad buying for the Sun

the mother arguing with her dad

yeah

I have gone through that right yes he is

the he meets his girlfriend he says

so it's a pretty much um it's a it's

it's a ritual learning event where this

first save happens in the household so

also getting the families he took a

whole Act

of the family

uh my understanding a random guess but I

won't be surprised 50 of the razors to

say 16 17 years old are gifted and the

first shape the first razor is

no 18 is an age where you drive a bike

or a car for the first time it's your

first drink it's probably the first kiss

your first girlfriend first time you

avoid voting

but for years in the US Gillette used to

send

on the 18th birthday to every male child

in the U.S on their birthday

well yours didn't that

yeah it's a point of Distinction and you

can make

wonderful emotional stories on it

they're multiple takes on which you can

make it this is so good right

now yeah I I had some inputs on how you

could make it and I think summarizing

some of the inputs as well I think one

is that selling is very specific and I

think taking a wide target audience like

this and just generally spewing out the

features will not get you anywhere

correct so perhaps what I would have

done is I may have picked one of us and

started with talking to them okay and

exactly what Rohit said right about his

medical detailing thing is that selling

is a two-way process a lot of times we

think it's a one-way process so we just

you know go straight at the audience but

it's to understand what do you want yeah

what do you get rid of shaving what is

missing in your life so gleaning out

some more insights you should leave

you're talking to a minimum or when

you're selling I think one of the golden

rules like one of my first managers

taught me is that you have two ears and

one mouth use it in that proportion when

you're selling so try and listen more

clean the insights and then use your

mouth in the proportion to your you know

one third of the tiger and and to do

that you know you've got to

you know same do what that message in

the sense you better get also more

focused on your order yeah what we would

call it Northern the design Target yeah

right this doesn't mean that other

people won't use it or it's not

accessible to them but your entire

communication is focused on about and I

in my own opinion the best design tablet

group for you to get into is the first

time yeah excellent I think the first

question I have here is a lot of the

feedback here veers towards

as very emotive way of selling yeah but

sometimes in certain categories the

functional pieces also equally important

so how do we balance because you were

you were going down a very functional

group of selling but that's a category

kind of

how do you make it more interesting and

more relatable through stories as Vani

was saying and more identity as you know

was saying I think yeah and I think as

you've talked to the person that you

would zero in on only one of the three

yeah this is the one and you only want

to sell that one to the person and say

by the way we from a range perspective

we have something for everyone so we

have ABCD also but this is the one that

I want to do that back shot show

arranged back short and you always have

the main one in the beginning and the

rest of the back right they always take

take a backstage so that I have

something and everyone and the other

thing I liked what what that might say

is

is

yes we designed a communication to Avail

to a large number of people

but the actual attraction is one by one

yeah you get one consumer at a time each

individual consumer has to make that

decision correct so this idea of its

grown skin yeah which is now ready to be

a man sort of thing correct but also the

more it becomes focused into that what

uh by the way you you've actually done a

this really interesting done really good

job with creating content online which a

lot of Brands aren't able to do which is

to create a format that comes naturally

to you that is scalable and that you can

remain authentic it's like rare that's

what actually attracted me to to you for

the first time but now that you know the

Playbook I would extend it further right

imagine creating in offshoot of

Barbershop as a Content play but you uh

it's a podcast about uh manhood right or

early manhood where you discuss all

things from grooming to Fashion to

Amazing Ideas dating to whatever it's

the same format you already know the

Playbook you know how to execute

podcasts you know what what works you

still get just like how Santa is a

character on yours you just need to find

three super relatable characters for

this target group and just make them

will automatically be able to double or

triple your distribution very quickly

because entrepreneurship

tan is slightly smaller than early

manual correct dam is much much larger

when you already know the Playbook

that's what I would yeah

and then this is the product this is the

product and advertising piece right

which is slightly different that's a

great idea in fact on the content page

all these themes can start reflecting in

in episodes naturally right like I think

uh my first shave hilarious story about

my first shaving is a great kit it's

like a 200 000.

and I suspect

people of that age

are seeking advice on these kind of

things and don't have too many places

correct right so you don't get that into

the way because you're not going to go

ask your best friend yeah

one of the products like explore the

shoes or phones or whatever you carry

them out so word them out even if it's

not verbal it's non-verbal but I think

men don't talk about this okay you don't

talk about this men discuss conquests

men don't discuss vulnerabilities yeah

right like creating a space for that

would be and I could I can assure you

nothing like this exists so openly like

a great grand is Zakir Khan okay Zakir

talks about men's vulnerabilities that's

why just look how wiry he is anytime it

talks he was remotely vulnerable imagine

a podcast with three male characters all

of appealing to a different age group

for talking about their vulnerabilities

or talking about stuff that they

actually do to groom themselves stuff

that they actually do to navigate life

it's a huge trigger transition Point

yeah

was when you showed that well

you know engineered uh peace something

fun leave that to my imagination you

don't have to but when you said you know

this is personalized we thought was you

were always struggling with what to give

somebody so for a man who has it all

right because you know 499 or 699 or how

much ever this particular 3.99 right so

it's not you can't really miss any price

point when you come to this right so you

know for a man who has it all what do

you want right this is just it maybe a

simple thing then when you actually said

that you know you're thinking oh maybe I

should just order this for srini that's

why husband but you know I said oh what

do I give him I mean you know hardly

anything to give so I mean so there is

other ways to just kind of also do this

and if you think about BMW yeah okay

it's the right but it's also that's

something about that weakness of the

engineering the engine the engineering

right so that also appeals to the alpha

right this is the alpha right to me me

right so I mean how do you then uh do

that personalization is what got Apple

going you know you can get it into 20

colors who thought we needed orange Mac

or whatever and they said yeah on the

orange market orange man the other the

other thing to play out this kind of if

you read that route is customizations

yeah right so pick the color you want

for your hand to pick the monogram you

want the customizations and for someone

who wants the best in everything in life

because this is your ultimate product

yeah until you come with another I think

like fraud ask and it has to be for

someone who wants the very best in life

of everything

like the first one the senses

yeah urban urban males will be okay

spending I think to 300 rupees

cost yeah

this one this one for example I would

like to like for this is roughly 1.5

they like to like would be guarded

depending on so one around 245

yeah the blade is 120 each depending on

if you buy yeah the key is the blade the

money is

three or four times you said you know

competitor I don't think you need to

follow it competitor at all in this you

know and all of this at the same price

as the competitor or lesser or whatever

I don't think so I am you know here this

is the best product completed

also let the stepping back

[Laughter]

okay but this one I can imagine as a

clear emotional position right apart

from the functioning one this one is a

tougher one okay because it's right in

the middle of

stuff out there yeah okay now you may

acknowledge you may not only you

consumerate knowledge of this right

because they actually show you every day

guess what like uh like and hint this is

a tough one in the process yeah this is

a tougher one in my mind

and if I want to think about

what is