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Please suggest motivational (not monetary) incentive techniques that can be used to retain sales and pre-sales people in a systems integration organization.
Sameer Mathur,
Quantum Net Technologies, New Delhi
Vinaya — The people employed in the pre-sales function are usually the most important resource especially in an IT organization. Systems integrators like you rely hugely on their competencies to break through into new accounts and new markets. They are the ones who are technologically sound and are very conceptual in their mindsets. This rare breed thrives on solving business and technology challenges. To motivate such people, you need to provide them with options that help them constantly upgrade their technology knowledge by way of seminars and workshops. Maybe you should even consider providing them with subsidies to enroll for new tech and business management courses. Pre-sales personnel also want recognition for their work. One way of doing this is to celebrate when they help you crack a tough deal, another way is to simply appreciate their efforts in front of their peers.
Motivating sales professionals through non-monetary means is a tough task simply because they are always focused on revenue and ‘think’ of money all the time. It’s hard for them not think in terms of “what’s in it for me?” Good sales people can be motivated by providing them with faster career growth.
Please suggest some cost-effective ways of getting the right human resources for sales and support engineer positions at reasonable salaries. With wafer-thin margins, it’s becoming difficult to hire good people at affordable salaries.
Sanjay Bhuta,
Sun Infotech, Mumbai
Vinaya — The HR talent crunch was accentuated over the last 2-3 years because of the way the Indian economy was growing. Hopefully, with the current global economic scenario, salary expectations will get more realistic, and retention will be relatively easier than before.
However, for the long-term, you should focus more on retaining talent. This requires constantly nurturing your in-house talent. There needs to be a senior person in your company assigned to mentoring in-house talent. Retention is always better than hiring.
Another point you must bear in mind while hiring is to always hire for attitude and not only for skills. Given two candidates, one of whom is brilliant but arrogant, the other who is not as brilliant but has the right attitude, I would hire the latter. Tech skills and sales skills can be learnt, but attitude is almost impossible to change.
You could also negotiate rates and terms of free replacements with search consultants. There are many small recruitment firms which work on flexible terms.
Ramesh — Sanjay, to be realistic, we all know that you can’t possibly hire good people at low salaries when your competition is willing to pay more. The competition is not only from your peer solution providers but also from large systems integrators, vendors and even customers. So even if you manage to hire a good person at a lower salary, the chances are that he will soon be offered a better salary by someone else. My suggestion is to keep an attractive performance-based variable component to the salary. If the person is really good and self-motivated, he will give you more business and keep customers happy to get his incentive. It’s a win-win situation for both.
Having said that, it’s important that you keep your pipeline for talent recruitment full. Forecast your needs at the beginning of the quarter or the year, and build a recruitment strategy that will ensure a constant supply of good candidates. Sign up with an online recruitment agency, many of which have attractive packages for small businesses—it’s more cost-effective than hiring through adverts or placement agencies. Employee referrals is another great way of finding people, and it works well if you have an incentive scheme for employees who help you hire good talent.
I am a custom software developer, and have developed various types of software for hospital management, school management and hotel management, as well as for automobile, logistics and real estate companies. I have several customers in and around Udipi in Karnataka. Please suggest how I can market and sell my products to customers across the country.
Yogita Bhat,
Chirag Inc, Udipi
Gururaj — Yogita, it’s good to see budding entrepreneurs like you who are aspiring to grow big. I suggest a few things.
First, identify 2-3 verticals that you want to focus on during your primary growth plan. Hotel management, school management and pharmacy software are a few segments I believe you should consider initially. Identify a few good hotels of the size for which you have already deployed your software in Karnataka, and make a compelling demonstration of how your software can help their business grow. Distribute trial copies to them so they can have a first-feel of your software. Based on their feedback, you can formulate a marketing strategy. But mind you, when you decide to go national it’s necessary to have products that are not me-too products. You need to closely study players offering similar solutions and build your story as to why your products are an ideal investment.
Another low-cost option is to make your products available on popular software download sites as trialware, or at attractive prices with service packs. You can also create your own portal for downloading software, but this would require you to market the portal. Start marketing with a small budget in and around Mangalore, and based on the response you get you can plan your future marketing moves.
Yet other method is to build alliances with IT resellers in your area or across India, and also with consultants who focus on specific verticals.
Two other ways of marketing are to run emailer campaigns, and to participate in conferences related to the verticals you are focusing on. Before you start any of these activities, you need to see how much growth you can handle, and what your short-term and long-term goals are.
Please do keep me updated on your company’s progress. I would be keen to provide further inputs if required.
I am about to start a proprietorship company to distribute electronic components. I may have to import components for resale in India. What are the formalities and registrations required? Can I get some contacts for the same?
Karthik,
Indus Technologies, Bangalore
Jayaraman — One has to get registered with the Customs to get an Import-Export code (IE Code) to import goods. To get the IE code you need to apply at the port through which you will be importing goods.
For selling, you need to get your company registered with the commercial tax authorities of the concerned states both for VAT and CST. Mind you, the registration has to be done with the concerned jurisdictional ward of these departments.
Moreover, you will need to register your company under the Trade Licenses Act, Shops and Establishments Act (as it’s a proprietorship business), and also under the Minimum Wages Act.
Please keep in mind that registration requirements vary from state to state, hence a wiser thing would be to get a specialist to help you with the establishment process.
I hope this will at least make you aware of the various procedures you need to follow for starting your business.
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