‘Embrace Mistakes As Learning Opportunities’

Amit Kumar Saxena, Senior Director & Demand Head, Battery Smart believes that embracing mistakes as learning opportunities and promoting a culture of creativity and open-mindedness are essential for driving growth and success. Leaders can cultivate healthy work culture by encouraging collaboration and empowering team members to take ownership.

At Battery Smart, the team works together to develop strategies that yield tangible results, with each team member acting as an owner. This approach, Saxena believes, leads to better outcomes than traditional hierarchical systems. 

He underscores the importance of regular progress reviews, saying that clear communication, setting clear goals and expectations are important. Additionally, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and encouraging feedback and innovation is also important. “Embracing mistakes as learning opportunities and promoting a culture of creativity and open-mindedness are essential for driving growth and success,” he adds. By working together, a dynamic, supportive and high-performing team culture can be created, exceeding project expectations. 

Citing an example of how overcame challenges at his workplace, he says that when his sales team was struggling with low performance, missing targets and declining morale, he took a proactive approach to address the issue. “We conducted a thorough assessment and feedback process to identify areas for improvement and held one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their challenges and concerns. Building on this foundation, we focused on training and development, providing targeted training sessions to address skill gaps and improve sales techniques. Additionally, a revised sales strategy was developed, targeting new markets and refining the value proposition to drive growth and success,” he says.

Saxena emphasises the significance of motivation and team building in the turnaround of the sales team. To revitalise the team, he introduced new incentive programmes and organised team-building activities to rebuild camaraderie and improve morale. Regular check-ins were implemented to monitor progress and provide feedback and recognition and celebration of successes were deemed essential for building momentum. By addressing the root causes of low performance and boosting motivation and morale, he was able to turn around the sales team's performance.

“Technology can significantly enhance productivity and efficiency within sales teams and organisations by streamlining processes, improving communication and providing data-driven insights,” he says. According to him, CRM systems such as Salesforce and HubSpot automate administrative tasks help sales teams to focus on building relationships and closing deals. Additionally, platforms like Slack and Zoom facilitate real-time communication and collaboration. Furthermore, data analytics and business intelligence tools provide actionable insights that drive sales strategies and predictive analytics can forecast sales trends and optimise resource allocation.

Apart from this, mobile technology enhances the efficiency of sales teams and e-signature tools streamline the contract signing process. According to him, by leveraging these technological tools and practices, sales teams can operate more effectively, respond to customer needs swiftly and drive better sales outcomes for the organisation. 

Meha Mathur

BW Reporters The author works as Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld