In conversation with Gaurav Bhagat, Founder, Gaurav Bhagat Academy.
What are views on business development and sales coaching market in India?
The sales training market in India has been continuously evolving over the last few years. Large corporations have always had access to programs from global leaders like Dale Carnegie, Mercuri Goldman and Rain and the smaller firms have relied a lot on in-house talent as well. There are a lot of smaller coaching firms and stand-alone coaches who have also come up over the years and played their respective roles in training and coaching as well. At the Gaurav Bhagat Academy we realised there is a lot of scope of improvement in both the content and the delivery of sales training in particular compared to what is being done globally. Keeping this in mind we tied up with Grant Cardone Enterprises in Miami, Florida, USA. Grant Cardone has been recognised by Forbes magazine as the world’s best sales trainer and his content has led to the acclaimed 10X movement. At the GBA, we are curating and delivering this content for businesses in India and helping them take their sales knowledge and systems to the next level.
What is the requirement of Sales Training post Covid?
The Covid-19 pandemic may have started as a health emergency, but it has now bared its face as an economic disaster. During the lockdown period, many young businesses perished and many had to resort to inducing salary cuts. Over 12 crore Indians lost their jobs, and 25% of start-ups are in serious trouble. Consumer behaviour has changed drastically during the pandemic phase and since most businesses do not have a flexible sales strategy, they are witnessing a consistent loss of demand for their products and services. Many have even reported zero sales during Q1 of 2020. At such a time, the importance of sales training cannot be overemphasized. Once the pandemic subsides, a new normal will ensue, and to make the most of the opportunities that present themselves, businesses will need sales training.
Please express your views on employee welfare and work from home.
Like I already mentioned, working professionals were put through the gauntlet during the lockdown period and since many organizations still haven’t recovered from the initial shock, their employees are still facing salary cuts. This is why organizations need to ensure that their employee morale stays high. It can be achieved simply by communicating and being transparent. If the executives are planning to bring in new policies, they should get the employees involved in the decision-making process to make sure they’re not betrayed. They should also focus on arranging training and workshops for their employees to help them acquire new skills that will be needed in the new normal. This will help the employees feel confident and motivate them to be more productive.
Work from home used to be something that was frowned upon, however, during this crisis, this model has emerged as a lifesaver. Some organizations have found it to be so efficient that they’ve permanently switched to it. It is now evident that work from home is here to stay long after the pandemic subsides and it will become an integral part of our lives.
How important is financial independence for businesses?
At the GBA we have a very strong belief that freedom from bad balance sheets is corporate India’s birth right and by delivering the best possible sales training in the country we will achieve it for all our clients. We have already seen that almost 90% of all participants who have gone through the academy in the past 2 years and achieving break through results and heading to a path of dominating their markets. Sales is the one thing that will be responsible for the bounce back from the COVID-19 recession and we are at the fore front of delivering the best in sales training backed by 35 years of legacy content and signature systems from Grant Cardone.
What is the future of economy post-COVID -19?
After having contracted by 24% during the April-June quarter, the economy is now gradually beginning to get back on track. However, given how disastrous the pandemic has been, the road to recovery will not be easy. The IMF has predicted that only by the end of 2022 will India’s economy be at pre-Covid levels. In the meantime, businesses need to realize that while the market is tough, there still are opportunities. The demand for some of the products remains low, but there has been a sharp increase in the demand for other products, such as FMCG goods, hand sanitizers, probiotics, immunity boosters, and other types of health supplements.
By being adaptive, innovative, and accepting of change, the businesses can explore new avenues when they open up. This will fast track economic revival and help the businesses to survive during these turbulent times.
Your views on usage of technology in New Normal?
The Covid-19 pandemic has catalysed the adoption of technology. We were forced to switch to the virtual space overnight to safely continue education, business, medical consultations, and whatnot. Now that people have had a taste of what technology can do for them, they have become more reliant on it. Shopping from the comfort of your home is much appealing than going to the market – where you may potentially contract the dreaded Coronavirus. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Blockchain, etc. will find their way into every business domain and make business more efficient and flexible. Entrepreneurs who manage to spot these changes early will be able to leverage these technologies to strengthen their organizations and will gain a definitive edge over their competition.
What are the future Plans of GBA?
At the Gaurav Bhagat Academy we have a very ambitious plan of assisting 100,000 businesses add an average of 100 jobs each and help 900,000 working professionals live the 10X life, which is a life without limitations. In order to achieve this, we are adopting a lot of cutting-edge technology for content delivery, we are also scaling up the number of coaches and trainers that we have at the academy. We have a very aggressive marketing and expansion strategy and have a tie up with several industry bodies and associations. All in all, it’s a combination of technology, best in industry content and aggressive marketing that will get us to achieve this number.
