INKED

37The Next Chapter and the Race to Relevance

In the top-floor meeting room of a luxury hotel in Mumbai, India, the participants in my training session were growing restless. Through the windows behind them I could see the ocean stretching out into the blue horizon. The boats, tiny below us, were coming back from a day of fishing.

I was delivering a comprehensive Sales EQ training session to a group of Indian sales professionals. We’d been working hard for three days, trying to create a major shift in their mindset about the sales process and ways to approach the stakeholders.

They’d been eager and engaged earlier, but now that we were nearing the end of our time together, I sensed that something was brewing. We were deep into a conversation about how to gain consensus among the stakeholders on the business outcome map following the discovery stage of the sales process, when I was interrupted by a participant in the front row.

“Jeb, this all sounds good for America, but this is India. I don’t think you understand what buyers are like here. We can do all the things you are teaching us, but it won’t matter, because the buyers in India only care about getting a low price.” Naveen’s voice shook with frustration.

You Don’t Understand

Jeb, you don’t understand. I hear those same words every week, in every training session, wherever I am in the world.

When I’m overseas, it’s “Jeb, you don’t understand because you are an American.” When I’m in North America, I hear, “Jeb, you don’t ...