I still remember that morning very clearly, it was my third trip to Mumbai, in my attempt to meet the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University to secure my transfer to the Pune Campus, during my engineering days. Pune had the reputation of a cosmopolitan student pool, better teaching faculty and a higher standard of education, which motivated me to seek this transfer. The previous two trips to Mumbai had not been fruitful and all I could build during those two visits was a relationship with the VC’s assistant. These multiple trips had also depleted my student finances so much, that I decided to sleep in the train station to save on money for my return journey.

I was at the reception of the VC’s office and saw him arrive in a white Mercedez. The assistant was kind enough to get me a minute’s audience, and the response I got from the VC for my request was a blunt No. I started moving out of his office, and in that moment of desperation, I turned back and said, “Sir, All it takes is one signature and you could change the entire course of my life”. I don’t know what came over him, he called me over and signed my papers for my transfer to Pune Campus. I still cherish the memories of all my friends during college who were far better than me and from whom I learnt a lot. As I think about all the work I am doing with various Sales Organizations, helping Sellers improve their Customer Engagement skills, through the art of persuasion and influence, I cannot still forget that single moment of persuasion, where I elevated the VC to help me change the course of my life.

Persuasion, Influencing, Negotiation and Selling ( PINS Skills) are more life skills than sales skills. What is your PINS story that changed your life? SalesSkillsAreLifeSkills #persuasion #influence #negotiation #selling #innovation #growthmindset #coachingsalesleadership #situationalleadership #situationalawareness