Selling is an essential part of the human condition, an art to be embraced and honed rather than disrespected.

Let's understand deeper into what sales entails.

It is looked down upon as a skill and well-educated people have zero experience in this critical area that keeps the business afloat.

Great sales people are proud of what they do and excited to help people towards what they want.

Sales teach us about emotional intelligence and other attributes essential to both life and business.

Mix of verve, empathy, belief and optimism can take us further than any business program.

Best business leaders take time to meet their customers face to face.

Likeability, conviction, resilience and persistence - the exact skills a great salesman needs. Key skill: empathy. A smile and a story, conviction that what you are selling will benefit the buyer.

Great sales people don't avoid rejection; they welcome it as a vaccine against letting repeated knock-back get to them.

Sales is a percentage game; more unsuccessful portion we are using up, the closer we are to the win.

More a sales person hears no, the more money the end up making

Evey no takes us closer to a yes. The numbers don't lie.

It is a power that needs to be used widely.

Don't look at the wallet, look at the heart. It is about understanding the buyer. People are motivated by a personal hierarchy of needs. Adept at divining the hierarchy and working on it.



Selling is who we are as much as the prospect.

Sell what you believe in, and believe in what you sell.

Life's a Pitch by Philip Delves Broughton.



References:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23285438

https://twitter.com/AlexHormozi/status/1537193246677344256

I will be sharing my thoughts and frameworks to become a great operator and leader in startups. Follow @satyadileep for more such insights.

The Art and Importance of Sales

I love going through the unexplored corners of the internet and learning from other peoples' experiences. 

Recently read the blog of @sc13ts, scattered-thoughts.net. 

A few ideas that resonated with me: 

When stuck on a decision, go through this process:

Does it matter? Toss a coin instead of wasting time thinking about it.
Do we have enough information to evaluate the impact on my goal? If not, figure out how to get the information 

Which choice moves us closer to my goal?

In picking the right tools to use, prioritize by time saved or quality 
improved.

Work in blocks of 2-3 hours during which we should not do anything else. Keep the distractions minimum and then take a break. 

Shorten the feedback loops. 

The longer it takes between making a mistake and finding out, the harder it is to track down - the number of possible causes grows and the context fades.

Writing down what we are trying to achieve and the plan to do it helps in clarifying the plans. 

Reminding ourselves of the goal makes decision making easier. Writing the plan explicitly makes it easier to notice when we haven't thought something through.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/satyadileep/oYHg5cv

Interesting Thoughts

Did you know that there are many moments in life when trying harder makes things worse?

TIL about the Law of Reversed Effort and Wu Wei thanks to @bigthink.

First coined by the author Aldous Huxley, it suggests that the more we overthink, the more likely we are to fail.

If we overthink about riding a bike, the chances are that we lose our balance and fall. We need to step back once in a while. 

A related concept, Wu Wei is to appreciate and recognize that there are forces far greater than us. 

A few things in life need a lot of patience and space. 


There are good days and bad days in life. 

But when we keep replaying things in our heads and obsess over them, we get more and more anxious.

In such times, it is wise to step away and enjoy Wu Wei or inaction.


Wu Wei and the Law of Reversed Effort

How to Take Risks Easily (And Quickly)

Another of @sama's principles of success. 

Amazon's 1-way door 2-way door policy

One-way door decisions are irreversible. These decisions need to be done carefully.  Two-way door decisions can be reversed.

Focus more time on the crucial decisions and take quick calls on the reversible ones.

Convert irreversible decisions into reversible ones. 

Transform one-way doors into 2-ways doors by reframing the problem.  

Not sure about pricing. Call it introductory price which can be revised later. 

Regret Minimization Framework

It all starts with a question: In X years, will I regret not doing this? The thread by @SahilBloom explains this in a lot of detail. 

https://twitter.com/SahilBloom/status/1364579425522622468

Asymmetric bets

These are risks with a significant upside and very few downsides. 

Example - Job in an early-stage startup. If it succeeds, lots of growth. If it doesn't, lots of learnings. 

Great read - https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/take-asymmetric-bets?r=7g3kh

A good corollary to asymmetric bets is a portfolio of small bets. 

@dvassallo has popularized this concept. A tweet-sized answer from him on what it means

https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1492717839362367492

One place we have to take risks is our careers. Especially while picking the right startup. 

I like @thelindazhang's advice on the same. Here is a great summary on how to pick the right startup. 

https://twitter.com/anusha_243/status/1491390772830437379

In summary,
- Frame irreversible decisions as reversible decisions and take quick calls.
- Make asymmetric bets and diversify the risk with a portfolio of small bets. 
- One of the huge risks is joining a startup. Follow a framework set by others. 

On Taking Risks

How to get good at sales?  A few thoughts
 {{ img:cc6ec6 }}

First sales is not a bad word - Everything is selling. 

Hiring. Recruiting. Pitching. Funding. 

Even asking kids to do what is good for them. 

Let's get started.

Communicate Clearly.  

The best advice for this is to have clear thinking and use simple words and phrases to put your thoughts across.

Some thoughts:
https://twitter.com/satyadileep/status/1338326789467332608

@Kazanjy is someone I follow for anything sales related. 

This advice on discovery is spot on.

https://twitter.com/Kazanjy/status/1434167927620575239

The next part of the selling process is negotiation. 

Best negotiations are done with kids. Great advice by @anafabrega11 on negotiation. 

https://twitter.com/anafabrega11/status/1482021087047262219

Resurrect lost deals by following these wonderful tips:

https://twitter.com/Kazanjy/status/1433417339802845184

Also very importantly, like any other skill - Sales too can be learnt and we can get better with deliberate practice. 

Sales might feel distasteful at the beginning - but just think about it as helping people solve problems.

In summary:

- Be good communicators. 
- Discover the pain points. 
- Negotiate well. 
- Try to resurrect and close lost opportunities. 

Works well not just for business but other aspects like career, finding a mentor etc.

Get Good at Sales

How do we develop independent thinking?

When faced with situations with no solution, how do we think and find a way out? 

A few thoughts 👇

Independent thinking is a muscle that develops over time. 

The easiest way to start: Read other people's thoughts.

Find great thinkers and follow them. This list compiled by @heyeaslo is a good place to start. 

https://twitter.com/heyeaslo/status/1489780828741591048

For deeper learning, we need to have deeper conversations. So we need to network and make good friends.

How to network? Excellent advice by @joulee
https://twitter.com/joulee/status/1365331373314043905

To solve any problem, we can apply an assortment of mental models.  

For anything on mental models - one person to follow: @ShaneAParrish 

I also found this write-up by @SahilBloom and subsequent explorations to be very rewarding. 
https://twitter.com/SahilBloom/status/1426882712690962433

To think well, we need to understand human nature. 

The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene is the recommendation that keeps coming up. 

The study of human psychology is underrated.

Last step yet most important. 

Apply the various frameworks and practice them regularly. 

👉 The more times we do, the more we learn.
👉 The more we learn, the more we get better.
👉 As we get better, we find the right solutions.

We will get knocked down many times. 

Brush the dust, tend to the bruises and get back to work. 

Grit comes from learning you can get back up after you get knocked down.

I wrote about a lot of principles like this earlier. (Shameless plug 🔌 )

https://twitter.com/satyadileep/status/1344122335666843653

Independent Thinking

How to develop self-belief? 

Plucking my thoughts from others' wisdom.

The power of self-belief is underrated. 

The most successful people believe in themselves obsessively.

But how do we cultivate it?

The first step to self-belief is self-awareness. 

Knowing what makes us tick is extremely crucial to developing self-confidence. 

The 16 personalities test is a good starting point to understand who we are.

The next step of self-awareness is to talk to people with whom you are close. 

✅ Try to slide it in casual conversations and make notes. 
🚫 Don't bring it up suddenly like a questionnaire.

Match that with the personality traits you have discovered.

As shared by @waitbutwhy self-awareness brings about the right balance of self-confidence and self-doubt. 

This is the sweet spot of self-belief.
https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy/status/1473687939351785478

This quote by @peterthiel surfaced by @george__mack is also important. 

There is a positive/neutral upside to self-belief but a definite downside to self-doubt. 
https://twitter.com/george__mack/status/1334235656583831561?s=20&t=s4i_w7olsO-Vfp0zfCOpFQ

This advice by @HarryStebbings is top-notch. 

Control your learning and rate of development and the self-belief adjusts itself. 

https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings/status/1125532140169506816

Occasionally try things outside the comfort zone. Start with small things.

Instead of a marathon, try a little jog early morning. Embrace the win and slowly start doing more.

I love this profile brought forth by @polina_marinova on unshakeable self-belief. 

Compared to the peaks conquered by Nim Purja, our challenges seem minimal. 

Just go for it. 

https://twitter.com/polina_marinova/status/1471209832397123586?s=20&t=s4i_w7olsO-Vfp0zfCOpFQ

In summary, for cultivating self-belief

- Be more self-aware. 
- Be more positive. 
- Do little things outside the comfort zone.
- Have a learning mindset.

Self Belief

How do we compound ourselves in career? 

A few thoughts inspired by @sama and @profgalloway

The principle of compounding is the best. Little changes pay huge dividends. 1.01^365 = 37.8 >> 0.99^365 = 0.03.

Optimize for learning instead of earning initially. Explore the bold bets and take early risks in your career.

Identify the sweet spot at the intersection of

- What you like to do

- What you are good at doing

- What a company wants you to do.

Initially, only one or two might intersect. But with continuous iteration, we will eventually get there.

Like in the stock market, people with a long-term view of their career are truly rewarded. 

Don't let initial discomfort distract you from the learning that you can achieve.

I like Scott Galloway's thoughts which I would slightly modify.

Focus on what matters - your long term career.

Be a Stoic in the face of temptation - evaluate opportunities on trajectory too instead of compensation.

Use Time to your advantage - be patient and hold on.

Diversify your skills - there can be many engineers, but engineers with an understanding of marketing are fewer.

To summarize, compound yourself by learning new things, applying them and chasing opportunities that catapult you in your career.

Compounding in Career

The Productivity Conundrum: Why do we feel most of our days are unproductive? 

I kept thinking about this issue for quite some time. 

Went on a quest to find what others are telling about this.

1st stop: This excellent illustration from @lizandmollie. 

You prioritize well and but anyways work on the wrong things.

Anxiety follows every quadrant and make us miserable.

2nd stop: $10k work by @khemaridh. 

Identifying the task with highest leverage is tricky - the gains are not immediate.

Hence our brain picks work with immediate gains and we miss out on high leverage work. 

The realizations keep making us miserable.  

https://radreads.co/10k-work/

3rd stop: @AliAbdaal's thoughts. 

True work feels painful in short term giving gains in the long term. 

Doing what you enjoy can't make a career in the long term. 

Majority of things we do are not things we LOVE to do and so the resistance is normal. 

https://youtu.be/FbSNfj2S6Pw

4th stop: @noahkagan's chat with productivity YouTubers

This has been extremely revealing. 

Nobody is grinding 24x7. They have avenues to chill without feeling the guilt. 

Thinking of work systems instead of work output seems to be the key.

https://youtu.be/SX-7K5eM5VA

Takeaway 1: Set a threshold to define a productive day.

Though I don't work directly on product, I try to approach everything from the product lens. 

Like MVP, we need Minimum Viable Productivity. 

Define ONE imp task - Once done, define the day to be productive.

Takeaway 2: Chill guilt free

Keep rewarding ourselves with a timeboxed chilling schedule.

Sneak in things we enjoy in between things we work on. 

Only doing things we enjoy might not be practical.

Takeaway 3: Ok to be suboptimal

If you are able to operate at 80% efficiency and enjoying yourselves, that is good enough in the long run.

Always operating at 100% might burn us out.

Caveat: We need to work on ourselves to keep improving.

TLDR; 

- Feeling unproductive is more common than we think. 
- No need to feel guilt in occasional enjoyment. 
- Simple metric: Define a productive day if you can get ONE thing done.

Productivity Conundrum

Learn to execute really well and don't fixate on strategy in the early stages of PM career. 

My biggest takeaway from the excellent session by @lennysan and moderated by @vikramadhiman. Organized by @TheProductfolks. 

Sharing my notes from the session below 👇

Q - Who is a Product Manager?

Someone who delivers business impact by marshalling resources (means you are not authority) of the team to identify and solve a customer problem (figure what needs to be built).

Q - What is the Skill and competency map for a PM? 

5 skills in a pyramid, (from bottom to top):
• Communication - meetings, docs etc.
• Collaboration - coordinate and get stuff done.
• Execution - Ship stuff
• Customer insight - what ppl want
• Strategy - what to build

Q - How to identify the product culture in an org? 

Who has the final say in the shipping decisions? It is based on the competitive advantage that companies have. 

Example 
• Salesforce - sales driven
• Stripe - engineering driven
• FB - product driven

Another way to understand the product culture is see the background of the founder. 

An interesting question to ask - who are a few ppl who succeeded in the company and why?

Q - How important is execution skill vs strategy? 

Execution is extremely imp for it makes the team successful. 

A new PM must focus on this skill the most. Everyone wants to spend time on strategy but do work to ship the product.

Q - How to get the first 100 users? 

identify early adopters and craft a value prop that will appeal to them. 

Inserting a tweet thread from @_shahedk on the growth of the first few users on @loom.  

https://twitter.com/_shahedk/status/1364964378332823552?s=20

Example: 
• Dropbox value prop - replace your thumbdrive
• Robinhood - commission free trading. 

More ideas - DMs on Twitter, Online communities.

Dropping Lenny's article here - https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-the-biggest-consumer-apps-got

Q - What are the diff growth paths for PM?

5 paths 
• Traditional path to VP, and head of Product
• Principal PM / individual contributor (rare)
• GM (manage other functions like engg, data etc)
• Founder (start new companies)
• Pivot to other roles (engg, sales etc)

Q - How to grow as IC in product?

• Decide what field you are interested in (Security/Infra/Growth) and go deep. (There is a danger of being typecast.)
• Talk to the manager and make sure there is an official career path.

Q - What skillsets are important for PM nowadays? 

• Nocode - show prototypes. 
• Growth & Distribution - very imp esp for product-led growth. 
• SEO and Performance Marketing
• Sales

Q - Some companies push people too hard? How to avoid that bring a little mindfulness culture?

So hard to make a successful business. Only intense companies succeeded (so far).

Can't change the way a founder thinks/works so if not a fit move on.

Q - How much time to spend outside work on writing, etc?

In early career, value comes from actual work. Don't obsess about your following. 

Write/tweet to crystallize your thinking and find joy in work.

Q - How an early stage PM can succeed? 

Balance strategy with execution. Make sure you are doing a good job with shipping things. 

Build things but think why you will build those and write it out.

Ask the leaders why they did something or the decision they have taken. 

Young PMs optimize on execution and mid career ones on strategy n vision. 

A good book to read 
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B005331U7Q/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

BONUS: 1st PM at a company is difficult. Very difficult since you are sandwiched between the founder and team. Could be tricky/challenging. 

What Lenny wants to do - focus on newsletter x community.

Superb session overall. Might have missed few points due to internet glitches towards the end. Thanks to @MotwaniSuhas and @FittestGeek again for making this happen. 

And if you missed doing this, please donate to the Indian COVID effort https://donate.indiacovidresources.in/