Learn more about the guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhilm/ 

The best  sales advice from around the world - to share stories and strategies that helped them grow from zero to 100. On each episode, host Mohit Ambani - Unotag Founder - proves a theory about how people have reached the status of master of sales while guests share how they grew and what skills helped them grow.  Master of sales is a Sales Podcast that does not sound like Sales Podcast.

For our maiden episode, we had the absolute pleasure of hosting Akhil Minocha, the ex-Vice President of Sales, Asia Pacific at Persistent Systems. Akhil was responsible for sales of Persistent system’s software products covering infrastructure software namely security, analytics, cloud, and API monetization.

Having begun his long-standing career back in the year 1997, Akhil is indeed a seasoned professional.

In the early stages of his career, he took on revenue roles which included business development, partnerships and alliances. He took on a prominent role in sales in the year 2012 and has never looked back.

Akhil has been in the industry for over 24 years and he vouches that a career in sales is one of the most interesting roles that anyone can take up.

Here are the main takeaways from our conversation.

What are the 3 important traits that every salesperson should develop?

Based on Akhil’s vast experience, he believes that these are the top 3 traits that sales reps need to possess:

a) Never give up on an opportunity

This is one of the foremost attributes necessary in sales. Be persistent, look for the exceptions and find ways to convince your client and convert the opportunity into a deal.

b) Don’t be afraid to have conversations

Get into a conversation keeping your ego aside and not letting yourself feel insulted at any point in time. Instead, take the lead and drive the conversation.

“Keep your ego back at home… Be ready to have straightforward or straight-jacketed conversations”

c) Communicate effectively

Communication is one of the most important traits required in sales. Your lead will convert into an opportunity depending on the kind of message you put out. Give careful thought to your messaging especially if it is written communication.

How to overcome setbacks in sales?

Salespeople are expected to bring in business day after day and quarter after quarter; and if they fail, companies start losing confidence in them. On the contrary, Akhil believes that companies must treat sales reps as exceptional resources.

There are times when salespeople face rejection and failure. It’s important to analyze what went wrong in these situations, correct yourself and get back to building more opportunities.

As a sales leader, what’s the process to make a team successful?

Here are some tips from Akhil on how sales leaders can steer their teams to success:

• You should be exemplary in your contribution and lead your team by example.
• Let your team members know that they are not alone and they can reach out to you whenever required.
• Share your expertise that can help them in their journey.
• Create boundaries for your reps but encourage them to take initiatives and explore opportunities for success.

How has the sales process changed over the last couple of years?

The telecom, media and technology sectors have seen considerable change over the years. Akhil pointed out that there is a convergence of sorts now and they operate from a cohesive space.