It was 25th January and just 25 days to go for Pragati and still just 1 stall sold. Nobody knew whether Pragati will happen or not. I was in prospecting team, which were the obvious reasons for my fear caused goose bumps. Will Pragati happen or not?? I repeat it here twice in three lines but the count is nothing as compared to the number of times the question hit me and hurt real hard.
A sunny day it was and 2 pm, I went out with the determination of doing something with lot of enthusiasm and passion to make it happen. The thirst of doing something was so high that the strength was at its best. I got down at the market place looking around the market thinking from where to start and how to start. There was so many questions with no answer like can I do it?? As I closed my eyes looking for an answer a voice from inside said “Yes you can” and with this determination entered the first shop. The shopkeeper asked “what do you want?” and I felt somebody has stolen the words from me and I didn’t had anything to say. Then I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and started speaking. I had my first prospect for Pragati when I was out of the shop. I felt for a moment the world was mine and I can make it happen. There started my journey for Pragati, a journey which added a lot of experience and understanding. I was all set to make my career in marketing. Trust me nothing was as compelling as those 25 days which I spent on road doing prospecting, fighting and playing with dust and learning from the prospects. Learning was never so easy and interesting for me but during prospecting it was interesting to understand the concepts with a much better idea which we learned in the marketing classes. It was difficult to convince the shopkeepers to take a stall and then to suggest them to take a bigger one. Many incidences were there when I went on going to a shop for many days but unfortunately was not able to convert. I never got demotivated because till that time I had a lot of confidence of doing it. The time passed and the D day came nearer, pressure increased the targets were high and it had to be achieved in the next 10 days. The other concern was that there were no tractor companies coming, which was very disappointing. I felt I should give it a try and again went out with a new determination of converting it from where many of my batch mates returned unsuccessful. I and my partner went regularly for the next 7 days doing a prospecting for around 10 hours each day. We never gave up and then within the next two days we converted six tractor companies and also Maruti Suzuki. It was a great feeling to convert the tractor companies like New Holland, Teffe, John Dere, Kubota, Sonalika and Mahindra. Also there was Bajaj and Ape Piaggio. I entered the college and suddenly people started congratulating me. I was confused and then I went to my Pragati representative and he told me “Congratulation for achieving a target of 1.15 lakh”. I just felt it was yesterday I started with my first achievement of Rs 1500 and today it was 1.15 lakh. I just had in my mind that- “I did it”. A tough journey of prospecting ended and the D day arrived.
I was on the field working for the three days along with the boys. I did all the work like arranging chairs, tables, putting banners, providing water etc which a few other girls can even think of. It was lovely to see the stalls which I brought with a hard work of 25 days. It gave a feeling of “I can do it and I did it”. “Dogs and sales person not allowed” this is what I read somewhere. The first thing what I decided in my career was “Never be a sales person” – a person being humiliated every time even though he/she is in the best of attequates and attire (no offence to anyone, but it was my perception till I did Pragati).
23rd February 2011, the closing day of Pragati. Prize distribution was going on and I was standing at a corner thinking of my whole journey of prospecting. Suddenly I heard an announcement- “Shikha Gupta the Best salesperson 2011 will receive the prize from the Assistant General of Police, Davangere.
And then I said to myself- “I am a sales person and love every aspect of it. I am proud to be a part of Pragati 2011 and thank it for changing my wrong perception about sales”.
Bravo!! Appreciate d hard work u'd put in...n Congratulations fr d amazing result :)
ReplyDeleteTrue..I myself thought not to do any more "Pragati" until I saw some of my batch mates working so hard to make it Possible and a huge success. Just want to say that "Pragati" is one of the best things which has happened to me in my life and the experience and the learning are totally intangible (a bit tangible also) and am so glad to be a part of it and it is helping me a lot in my internship also. it was total fun to be both in the prospecting and the promotion team weather it's about selling the stalls or designing the fliers or Pamphlet, it was total fun and learning doing all this. Once again congratulations to everyone who has made "Pragati" possible...
ReplyDeletewell u deserved it girl... u r the best..!!! u n rajesh along wid the batch r the ppl who made it!!! so proud of being a part of B-13!!! lotsa luv n wishes!! keep it up:)
ReplyDeletehardwork is alwayz paid...and you have prooved it shikha!! v all are proud of u:)
ReplyDeleteGOOD JOB............. and you expressed your journey of that 25 days very beautifully...
ReplyDeleteReason of writing, second line is, sometimes things which we achieve in life after so much effort and dedication is very difficult to express in words !!!!
Which you did very well, once again Congratulations !!!!
Realy shikha. U did a wonderful job i can never forget. I owe to u. U along with nitin and rajesh had made a worthful effort. I can never forget the exprience. It was my pleasure for me to Honor u the star performer of prospecting.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations......