And i decided to quit

Next Day

I woke up at around 4.30 am . I had never woken up so early in my entire life. But what made me left my bed so early on that day ..i don’t know. I fumbled my ING bag and checked the cheque and saw the figure of 10 lac . I came into the balcony. There was dark silent all around . Bangalore city was sleeping. Some dogs started barking without any reason and I was staring at them. I was not feeling sleepy .Glimpses of the incident were flashing back into my memory. I knew that every time luck had favoured me whenever I was at the brink (whether it was campus placement in B.tech or In MBA , I was selected in the last company ) but I had never thought of the doctor’s call .

It feels good among friends when we talk about any girl and claim that we can do everything. But most of us know the reality. We know that there are only few kind of boys who can go to that level and I was not one of them and never wanted to be like them. Whatever people say about me but somewhere I was happy. I used to love talking about the hot girls but those girls look good at a distance . People can call it double standard but this is what I am.

But that day I was ready to sacrifice all of this. Some where I was not ready to compromise with my job. I knew that God would not come always to help me. There would be pressure . My ASM would always ask for investment. So is this the way I would generate investment? Then what would be the difference between me and a prostitute. I would become a legalized prostitute. A sense of disrespect suddenly shook my identity. I knew I had to take a hard step.

I called my father at around 7 and I was ready for many questions . Why do u want to leave such a lucrative job.. how will u get a new job in recession … it is better to have a new job then leave the job .. and bla..bla..well finally I called my father and told him straight that I wanted to leave my job as I was not happy with my job. I didn’t have any other job in my hand and I wanted to do preparation for PO exams. He didn’t say anything for a minute then he asked where i wanted to do preparation for PO exam ,whether i would go to Delhi or i would be at Bharatpur . I was surprised to learn that he didn’t ask me any single question and that is why I love my parents because they believe in me and the do respect my decision . I booked my train ticket for the next from Bangalore to Mathura .( this time Sleeper ..of course from Karnataka express) and went to Regional office . I handed over the 10lac Rs cheque to ASM with my resignation letter. First he was shocked to hear about it then he asked me where I had got another job. I put it simply that I wanted to prepare for PO exam but I could figure it out that he was not very much convinced and even tried to convince me that I am a good sales person and very few people are able to get 10 lac rs investment . But this is only me who know how I got that cheque.

Well .. I called all my friends and told them that I had made my mind to leave ING. Some were happy with my decision , some were not . But I had already taken the decision .

Next day I reached the Bangalore railways station and took my berth . I was jobless and wishing that no one should ask me about my job . My seat was in RAC and had to share my seat with a boy . He was basically from Mangalore and going to Delhi . He started a causal conversation and finally he asked me that question of which I didn’t have the answer and I told him straight that I am preparing for Po exams . Then I asked about his profession . He responded in a very professional way …
“I AM JOINING ICICI BANK AS A RELATIONSHIP MANAGER “ 

Well…When one story ends ..another one begins….

Last words:

After four months, I have three job offers in PSU bank s and I know that now I wouldn’t be required to compromise with my values (a lot of thank to my father ) .what is more is that somewhere after 15 years down the line these four months wont matter at all but if I had stayed back in Bangalore as a relationship manager , my life would have been changed and I would not be able to ask only once question to my kid that why he is coming so late at 2’o clock In the night with a beer in his hand …completely slouched

Thank you…….

Part-15, Pleasure is completely mine

Well… today I am going to write something about which I have never told to anyone and I never wanted to write about it but without it my story would not have been completed.

I called that lady at 7 in the evening and communicated her that I would reach her apartment by 8. I told Nilesh that I would stay at chinmoy’s apartment. I started my bike and headed towards her apartment . Through out my journey I was thinking about my decision . is it worth to compromise with your valur for your job? Consequence of losing the job was scaring me as some of my batch mate were jobless so I knew how hard it was to get a job as recession was on and that too so lucrative job. I convinced my mind hard that it is a matter of one night only and my job would be secured but my heart was not ready to accept . In this dilemma when I reached the apartment I don’t know. I asked security guard that I had a appointment with the lady , he called her no and allowed me to enter.

I took all the application forms and reached her apartment, ringed the bell and waited for some moments . A servant opened the door and asked me to sit . After some time that lady came into the room in a very decent dress .I thought she would simply fill the application forms but all my happy feeling got disappeared ,when she sat near to me ( so called in my intimate zone ) and approached towards me.She whispered in my ear whether I was ready for it and said that she would be back in 10 min.

I was alone in the room for 10 min.. emotionless and feeling less. just wanted to finished off all the thing as soon as possible .. didn’t want to think anything . I Was completely dull at that moment.

Well.. after some time she came into the room . I don’t want to write about the details as I m not writing a porn story but yes, she was wearing a reveling dress. She sat near to me and some kind of peculiar smell was coming out of her body. She asked me whether I would have vodka or whisky . I asked for whisky as I had heard that whisky effects faster than Vodka and I didn’t want to be in my consciousness. I had 4-5 glasses of whisky ..Cause I wanted to forget that moment . But all my myth went wrong when even after having 5 glasses of whisky .. I was conscious . I knew what was happening around. Who says that drink makes u forget everything . I was aware of each and everything .When she had enough amount of drink , she came near to me and started unbuttoning my shirt –button . don’t know why but tears started rolling out from my eyes. But she was busy with her act. She didn’t notice it.

I took my cell –phone out from my pocket as I wanted to keep it silence mode because my father used to call me around 8’o clock and today,I just wanted to avoid this call. But as I picked up the cell phone .. I received a call . I knew it was my father’s call and was about to cancel it . But it was from the Doctor( London based ). I told that lady that it was an urgent call and I had to pick –up , I didn’t wait for her respond . I picked up the call and said “Hi” to the doctor. Doctor told me that he was going dubai on the next day and he wanted to make an investment of rs 10 lac today and asked me if it was possible for me to come down to his home today. It was the happiest moment of my life and I told that I was reaching his home in half an hour and I told that lady that I had to leave , without looking back to her I came out from her apartment.

I took my bike and headed towards the doctor’s home. I don’t know why but I felt like vomiting after 10 min. I stopped my bike and Vomited like anything. I was not feeling normal . I cried bitterly I was feeling like a pimp . Some people stopped near me and asked me if I needed any help but I didn’t say anything . .. don’t know how long I cried but when I felt normal , I approached to a shop and asked for a water bottle . I washed my eyes and face and reached the Doctor’s home. As soon as Doctor saw my red eyes he said “ sorry to disturb you “ . But I responded in a amiable way “ Sir, Pleasure is completely mine “

you do make compromises

Like any other day I reached to my branch sharp at 10 .I was aware of the fact that i should have been at 9.30 but how does it matter whether I reach by 9.30 or 10, end of the day I was not going to do any business so I myself extended the timing by 30 min. well.. nothing wrong in it as I am a part of Free india and a free indian should have right to decide when he wants to come to his own office . So I just used some of my democratic rights . Well.. I parked my Bike and entered into my branch . Suddenly I got shocked to see my ASM over there ( my Boss ). He was talking to my branch manager , and I was wise enough to know the topic of the discussion ( why business is not happening  ). He looked at me , I looked at him . I didn’t speak anything and tried to search some pages( just wanted to show him ..how busy I was and didn’t have enough time to talk to him ) . He came near to me and I knew the question he was going to ask so I kept the answer ready. Well… he asked very obvious question why I was so late and business was not happening Now I tell you billion dollar worth thing …how to handle these kind of questions. Whenever your boss asks about your negligence on duty ,just give him what he wants . so I did the same . I said that I was having a meeting with one of my client. But meeting needs to have some out come so he asked for the ask outcome .nothing came into my mind as I wanted to avoid the disastrous situation so I told him that the client was ready to invest rs 1 lac in reliance mutual . Now see the good part . you might be thinking that when I didn’t have 1 lac rs in my alms ,how would I able to make the investment . Now generally what happens that ASM asks for the investment and a relationship manager job is to say some arbitrary no., let say 2 lac or 3 lac. It is only end of the month that ASM can realise whether true investment has made or not through MIS because MIS is prepared at the end of the month. So if if an ASM is asking about the investment in the first week of a month then you can say anything and get investment in the rest of the month . This was the only learning I learnt throughout my job . So I was able to convinve my ASM as I used Bram-Astra( who have seen Ramayan knows that Bram-Astra never gets fail but it can be used only one time ). So it also worked for me and I was able to postpone the disaster. But I Knew I had taken the one more tension of getting rs 1 lac’s investment. Me who had not earned the 10k rs investment, how would I ever be able to get 1 lac rs investment. What kind of mess I had got myself into. well it was like Munna Bhai-MBBS story when sanjay datt told the lie that he is a lecture and to prove himself right he had to read all the books . I thought a lot what I should do . Finally like the movie I convinced myself that I had to get an investment of 1 lac. So again I picked up my client’s list and as per my expection I got the same routine answers. I knew I would not be able to get investment by this method.
When nothing works for me , I always think of having tea . So I went to a tea –stall and asked for a tea. But even after having cups of tea I couldn’t find a way so I came to the branch. There I saw a lady ( age would be around 30-34.. fair young lady , north indian ), she was asking for the Balance enquiry . it was told to us that we were supposed to pitch walk-in customers but it was against my reputation as I was a manager. But the consequences of my lie encouraged me to pitch the lady. I approached to that lady and didn’t say that I am a relationship manager but asked why she was there in the branch. She told me that the person on the counter is not helping her and she had been waiting for the last 30 min to get her balance statement . I took her account No and went to the senior relationship manager ( Kya karu.. matlab ke liye to Gadhe ko bhi baap banana padta hai .. my father’s only advise ). I don’t know what mood he was into but he took the account no and gave me the statement as he had his own personnal computer not like me a manager without any desk . well I handed over the account statement to her and I asked for the investment . She looked at me and asked how much invest I want. I said rs1 lac. Ohh god it was like those kind of scene in hindi movie when heroine is in truble ( because her father is sick or his brother got paralysis or whatever) and she needs money . Then villain asks her how much money she needs. And she pretends that she does not understand anything even a child can tell the villain’s intension. I was standing on the same condition. Well nothing was in my hand so I said plainly 2 lac rs investment (when I am going to be sold why should I earn some profit) . She told me that she was interested but she wanted to have more discussion about the investments as branch was over crowded so she suggested me to come over to her own apartment at 8 PM ( don’t know whether it is 8 in the evening or 8 in the night ) and left the premises .
I knew what was going to happen but I was ready for that sacrifice even though my father was not ill , my mother didn’t need money . All my sisters are married and well settled, my brother is earning enough but still I needed some money. what I can do when my situation was not as worse as in hindi movie’s actress , still I needed my job and money .Finally god shown me a way but it was me who had to walk thorugh that way . I called nilesh ( my roommate ) that I was going to chimoy’ room and I would stay there. But it was me only who knew where I was going.

Proud to be a part of Bangalorean culture

Salesman’s life is not always full of frustration as Management provides lot of opportunity to rejuvenate him but to recreate yourself; you need to fulfill certain conditions. Which I understood when I got an opportunity to be a part of so called bangalorean culture .
One fine morning my branch head called me and told me that the Reliance mutual fund was giving a party at century club as they want to give a presentation on their new product. Now I tell you why these people give parties because even they are given targets to assemble certain No of people and introduce about their products to them. So if they don’t through a party in a luxurious hotel, who would come to listen to their shit. In sales everything including party is driven my targets.
I was asked to invite at least 4 HNI clients and I was extremely happy as I got something to pass my time. I took my client’s list and thought that everyone would eager to come Well my whole presumption went wrong when none of my clients agreed to come and I was surprised why people can’t come even at free party . Finally I asked one of my staff whether he knew any HNI clients .By that time all the staff members had become my friends, not because of my nature but because of my condition. He gave me a contact No and asked me to call the client by giving his reference as expected the client accepted my invitation and told me that he would come along with his wife. In sales everything works on recommendation or references, whatever you do .Even to invite a person , you need to have some recommendation. Finally I was satisfied with 2 clients
We all assembled at 9’O clock at century club and no client had come yet from our branch. By the time I had called 4 times to my only dearest client to remind about the party. My branch head was staring at me and asking me mootly about my 4 clients .In sales even if you are able to achieve half of your target you become a hero . Suddenly two unknown face (A Couple ) appeared at the front door and I felt some vibe that those were my clients . I confirmed it by asking their name and they turned out my clients. I felt so existed and happy that I introduced them to my branch manager and reliance mutual fund’s people . First time I was able to draw the attention of my branch head. Everyone was appreciating me as it is not a simple deal to call the clients and I was able to do that . Reliance’s people gave a short presentation as they were aware of that no one was going to listen to their presentation . After a brief question-answer secession, Real party or true Banglorien culture started .
In Bangalore, everything is started with drinks. My branch head asked me that I should always be with my clients just like a waiter and i was quite ready for it because they made me proud .After some brief conversation , I asked from the male whether he would like to have something and he asked for the wine . I called the waiter and arranged for the same then I asked from the lady whether she would like to have something .She told me that she didn’t like wine and I was not surprised as in my so called Bharatpur city women generally avoid drinks ….so I thought I should ask for a glass of juice but again my whole presumption went wrong when the lady told me that if I could arrange for a Vodka. Wake up Deepak Wake up, you are in a metro city and that too in Bangalore .Well… drinks is followed by Non-Veg dish so if you are simple Bharatpuria kind of kid who doesn’t drink and a vegetarian , you don’t have any place here .
People wait for dance floor to be opened and once the dance floor is open then Kon Apna kon Paraya .Well I appreciate this kind of culture because people mingle with each other like there is no barrier and why their should be any barrier . But I who was from a tiny city , finding it abnormal . First time I was evidencing some real moves which I had seen only in movies or magazines. Who says metro culture is bad, I was just loving it and enjoying it. Well everything was over by 1’o clock and everyone started retuning to their home, With the help of their drivers
When I returned to my room, I felt some kind of changes in me . India is really becoming a developed country and today I became a part of its development

..And i was completely lost

Nothing was going like the way I had planned and I knew if I was not able to perform I would be thrown out from the organization. The fear of throwing out from the organization used to motivate or compelled me to make some calls but responses of all those calls used to be same. People advise that to be a successful salesman one needs to keep his self-respect aside but we should not forget that even salesman is a human being and he has some self respect too. I won’t blame to my client either because they were not responsible for it .why would they buy my products if they didn’t feel like buying it. Gradually I realized that people don’t feel any need of buying insurance product because they are not ready to accept that they will die or they have an option to postpone it for some other time. But whatever was the reason, I was not able to sell even a single product. I started begging(Read: asking) from the staff for leads .I offered them some commission from the sell also. I was ready to share some part of my salary. I wrote letters to all my clients. but nothing worked .People say one needs to be optimistic and give the example of half filled water that one should not see emptiness of the glass but should see that it is half filled, but to see it half filled , there should be some water in it . How long a person can motivate himself, one day he will accept his defeat. I tried to push myself to the last mile .But nothing worked. I tried to make me happy in some peculiar ways.
Finally I started using my cell for my own purpose as I was not getting any lead so Rs 1200/- were going useless. I Started sending group SMS to all my friends in Bangalore. I don’t know why but that used to make me happy at least it was a nice way to let people know that there is a guy called Deepak Khandelwal is present in the city .I started talking to all of my friends every day. Some or other way I tried to pass time as I knew I had to spend 8 hours which becomes quite long when u don’t have anything to do . The whole life was a mess. I was surprised that how come people were able to sell insurance products. Whenever my colleagues used to become successful in selling the insurance, I used to call them and enquired about how they were able to sell and the answers I got were more discouraging. Some time their branch managers helped them or some time customers asked for the product which forced me to curse my own destiny. Why can’t i have the same type of customers who come and ask for the products or why can’t I have the same branch manager who can get the customers. Well… I accept that the work pressure from management side was not so much but it was my self- respect which used to make me sad. How long can I continue like this. One day management will ask for the policies. The moment I used to leave for the branch, I was aware that I would not be able to do any kind of business. Well thanks to internet, I was able to pass my time by seeking stock market fluctuation unlike my life which was pretty smooth. I won’t say that all 30 days were bad. 28th of every month used to make me happy as it was our salary day .But after some time even that day didn’t motivated me anymore. With keeping smile on the face, i was completely lost.

God's indications

I accepted finally that i wouldn’t be able to sell insurance product but even though i knew about it , i could not convey the same to my ASM. Every morning he used to call me and asked about the policies i would sell in the day. Earlier i used to say that i would not be able to sell any policies, which led me to get scolding two times, first in the morning then in the evening. so two times in a day was routine for me but my creative thinking converted it to one time in a day as and when he used to call me in the morning, i used to say i had plenty of leads and expecting two-three plicies which led me to get appreciation in the morning at least but when he used to call me in the evening , i told him happily that i was not able to sell single policy . That is how i used to get rebuke one time in a day ( How SMART I WAS:) )
So even after being understood that i would not be able to sell single policy, i was not ready to accept it and god perhaps was laughing at me and might be angry with me as so many times he had given me indications but i was so stubborn that i was not ready to listen him.
First time:-
I called a client and asked for the appointment by using the way No.2 .He told me that his office was quite far and it was not practical for me to come over there. But i was not ready to lose an opportunity and told my client that i had no problem and i would come comfortably. Well... he gave his address. Even a trainee who was with me told me many times that we had no need to go over there but i an MBA post graduate was not ready to listen to him and reached over there in two Hours .
Outcome of the meeting :- My client was 82 years old guys, now you tell me what product you can suggest an old guy because insurance policy can be given under 60 years of age . i thought i should pitch to his family but his whole family was residing in USA.
Second time:-
One of was my client was a London returned doctor and made a lot of money in India. So i thought if i was able to impress him, He would give me some policies in return . He was Illiterate in computer and trying to learn it so i thought it was a good way to make relationship. I started giving him 2 hours in a day to teach him computer and able to do so but that doctor was really a smart guy and never gave me a single policy
Third times:-
I tried to figure out where i was going wrong and found out that perhaps i was helping my clients out of the context and should help my client in financial products only . So i started helping an entrepreneur in his banking need. He was quite happy with me and used to call me whenever he required my helps but when it came for insurance product .He refused me plainly
Well after being understood god hints , i found it useless to call my clients but when you don’t have any task in the branch it becomes more tough to spend 8 hours in the branch and you need to be really creative to spend those 8 hour.. well you know How creative i am ......

Job profile of a relationship manager

So First of my task was to understand my role and let the client know about my role. So in persuasion to achieve this, I called all my friends but even they were as ignorant as i and provided me plenty of their advice based on their own knowledge. i understood finally that there were few people present in the world who knew about my profile and one of them was my ASM ( my reporting head ). But I didn’t find it practical to ask him directly as my reputation of being MBA was on sake. So after using my entire education, I found a way out and called my ASM and asked him that how I should be more beneficial for the enhancement of the organization except doing a routine job. It was like a mentee asking a question to his mentor and my strategy worked right on spot. He guided me in a very humble way and told me that I was supposed to generate revenue through life insurance products and mutual fund products keeping sequence in mind as first generate more revenue .In order to sell the product I needed to have good relationship with the clients. That is why we are called relationship manager. Now let’s understand the implicit meaning of this definition. A relationship manager is a salesman who calls the people so many times that he finally gets an appointment (but how would he get the appointment, there comes his true skills). After getting the appointment ,Just forget about client’s problem and sell life insurance products first then mutual fund .If he is able to sell any of the products , then call has been converted otherwise he is not a good relationship manager .
Now after having understood about my role , I needed to convey the same to my clients . but I was smart enough to understand that if I say direct to them that I want to sell the life insurance products, no one would give me appointment . But I needed to get appointment so how should I get appointment. So I tried following ways…
Way No.1:-
Deepak :- Hi Sir, I am Deepak Khandelwal and I am your newly appointed relationship manager and I want to introduce some new products to you …you will like them certainly …
Client:- Fuck you .. who gave you my No..
Outcome: - Mission failed
Way No.2:-
Deepak: - Hi Sir, I am Deepak Khandelwal and I am your newly appointed relationship manager. Some set of customer have been assigned to me and you are one of them. Sir, I want to meet you to introduce myself so that I can serve you in better way
Client:- No need to come to come. Whenever I will visit the branch, I will meet you
Outcome: - client never came…. Mission failed
Way No.3:-
Deepak :- Hi Sir, I am Deepak Khandelwal and I am your newly appointed relationship manager. Some set of customer have been assigned to me and you are one of them. Sir, I have to hand over your cheque or payment or your account statement or something
Client :- Ok come but after taking the concerned thing, Boss I need to go or I have a meeting
Outcome :- Able to get appointment but not able to sell the product. Wasted my 2 hours and half a liter petrol plus lots of frustrations

Me and My clients's list

Next day i woke up at 8'o Clock, even though i knew that i should get ready, somewhere in my heart I dint feel like doing it as i knew that even if i reached early , no one was going to wait for me . I had no seat and as usual a visitor seat would be provided to me. well.. some how i tried to waste my time by reading a newspaper ( any way as a financial advisor , i was supposed to be updated with current financial news .. well.. truth i found out later that to sell a financial product, you don’t need to know anything ). Finally i started get ready at 9 and reached to the branch at 9.45 as i knew that there would only be a sweeper before 10 and i was right . I said Hi to the sweeper and sat on the visitor's chair in front of the Sr. relationship manager's chair. I started looking at the chair and i don’t know, what compelled me to sit on that chair .I touched the computer as if Meera is touching his Krishna and loving him. How complete i was feeling ,is impossible to describe in words. I had never imagined that i would be so eager for a chair . Well.. after having Billion dollar worth of pleasure, i left the place and sat on my regular chair
15 Min. later, My Sr, Man entered into the branch in a very arrogant manner and expected me to say good morning .i did the same like a obedient son. Well.. Finally I made my father happy and as a thanks giving note, He handed over a piece of paper to me .Some names and Phone no were mentioned in it . He told me that those were my clients and i was supposed to introduce myself .These were the golden words for my ears.. how relaxed I felt ..ohh god .. finally...finally.. FINALLY I GOT MY CLIENTS AND THAT BUGGER WHAT DOES HE THINK OF HIMSELF..now i would generate my own business and once i would get the business, first of all i would through away this bloody Sr. Relationship manager .. i would grab his seat .. I would take his computer i would do everything whatever i wanted to do ..
So what should i do first ."First of all i should have a tea" ( As my friends know that i prefer to have tea before starting a task ). I went to a tea stall and felt more relaxed. I pulled out a blank paper and started doing many kind of analysis( as an MBA , i was supposed to do every kind of analysis like Gap analysis , Right analysis , Wrong analysis .. everything) and after doing all kind of analysis , i found out that first of all i should call my clients and introduce myself ( Even a simple 12th grade student would have come to the same conclusion without doing any analysis , but i didn’t want to go my MBA in vein ) i called my Client and after some rings my first client picked up . i said hi to my client and conveyed that i am his relationship manager and waited for his response. after a brief pause .. he replied me back and started asking that WHAT A RELATIONSHIP MANAGER SUPPOSED TO DO? AND WHO HAD APPOINTED ME HIS RELATIONSHIP MANAGER?. seriously what a relationship suppose to do and that time i realized my first mistake that people dont know anything about relationship manager including me.

My First day in my very own branch

I was able to feel so many changes around me and that is how happily my training period which we all salesmen say honeymoon period ended. I was asked to join Sadashiv Nagar, Bangalore branch . I asked about the locality and it was told me that it was one of the best colony in Bangalore as most of the politicians and industrialists leaved there. High expectations were on our shoulders as we were the first batch of ING bank being recruited as a relationship manager . More over people had high expectations on me being a topper . well .. I was not concerned about their dreams , what more bothering me was that whether I would be provided separate cabin in the bank. For me why this important was because in my previous job I had never been given a separate cabin and I needed to sit with the other people. But this was the separation occasion as I was joining the bank as a relationship manager with a hefty package , I would be considered at least next to manager not equal to manger and a person having such a high authority would definitely be given a separate cabin. And mind you, this time I was not doing daydreaming but these all things were quite practical. So having so many practical things in my mind I reached my branch.
My first day in my very own branch
i reached the branch sharp at 9.30 as i wanted to show my branch manager that even though i would not be efficient ,i would be punctual. But i got surprised when i found that not a single person was present in the branch except a sweeper. After seeing me he told me something in Kanada ...well....Fcuk... welcome to real word.. because in India, English is limited to corporate world only but when it comes to field , you need to know the local knowledge otherwise u will be treated like an alien even though u are in your very own country ..with your very own people. But who give a dame to these things if you don’t know the local knowledge. Forget about buying a product, they wont talk to you. Well.. somehow i tried to figure out the language of the sweeper and sat on a chair . I asked him that when the branch manager would come ( First in English , then in Hindi, finally in my creative language ), But when nothing worked i found it better to sit calmly.
After half an hour, a person came in the branch . He was the employee of the bank so i made my mind to talk to him as it was taught in our prestigious management classes that we need to have friendly attitude in our work culture as it increases the efficiency of the organization so to increase the efficiency of my very own organization, i introduced myself as a relationship manager . I put more emphasis on manager as i was going to be the next manager after branch manager and in hierarchical order, i would come next to the branch manager .Since he was not the branch manager, definitely my rank would be higher than his rank . So before he spoke a single world, I wanted to realize him that he should keep in his mind that he was talking to a senior.
But my whole expectation went wrong when he introduced himself as a senior relationship manager and obviously he put more emphasis on senior. He was happy that a subordinate had come under him as it was quite evident from his face . well .. somehow i found him the most repellent guy in the world and after making an excuse, i left the premises at once.

I consoled my mind that i didnt need to get tensed as we would be assigned separate clients but my whole assumption went wrong when my branch manager told me that we would not be assigned separate clients as our branch had very limited no. of HNI ( Financial jargon for High Net Worth Individual means Motta Bakra ) clients and whatever branch had , already been assigned to my so called Senior relationship manager. In precise, I didn’t need to go out anywhere , My main compititor was already there in the branch. When i asked about my own seat in the branch, it was told me that i had to sit with the senior relationship manager and when i contacted him , he told me to take the visitor’s seat as relationship manager's seat was already assigned to him . Me, who was considering himself as an inevitable part of the organization, became as a useless visitor in my very own branch. After having such a bad day , i left the branch with a heavy heart.

Shiv Khera’s unforgettable lines

I had already given so many exams without knowing anything , that it was not a new experience to me but this was the first time my job was on sake and by that time Amir’s 3 idiot was not released so I was not able to sympathize my heart by saying that “All IS WELL”. The Invigilator was instructing many things to follow and I was thinking that to follow all these things, I should know something. Well..finally I clicked on the start button . it was displayed on computer screen that 2 hours would be given to write the exam and I was thinking how I would pass the time . well.. first question appeared on my screen and I was not able to understand the question itself . I moved to the second question , even that was unknown to me. I told to my mind that Chachu, all is gone . without being aware of any question , I glanced through the options and I was surprised to find that the options were familiar to me . Ohh shit , all the questions were from objective type of questions which were there in the IRDA book . For the first time, without knowing the questions , I knew the answers. I started answering the paper and was checking the options only without seeing the questions . In the history of my education, it had not happened with me .I was able to finish the paper in half an hour . I clicked on the submit and started waiting for the result . My heart was beating like anything. In college or school we give the exam and by the time result comes , we forget the exam. So we get some time to enjoy but this fucking technology has made all things faster. First time I was cursing the technology. Finally, my result came and I tried to find the block of my score and after some difficulty I found that block and it was showing 89%. 89%*89%. Boss 89%. I scored highest mark of my career without doing anything. I came out from the exam –centre and waited for the other students. Obviously when you achieve something, you want to show it off. After half an hour a student came out and without wasting a single moment I asked about his score. He told me 76% and asked about my score. I tried to pretend that it was not as good as I was expecting. But he forced me to revel it . I said dejectedly that it is 89. He got surprised and said that it was a good score. I told him that I was expecting more. First time in my career , I got an opportunity to show –off and why I should deprive myself off from this opportunity .one by one students came out and asked about the score and I realized my score was the highest. I thanked to that agent and realized how true were shiv khera’s those lines that” winner don’t do different things , they do things differently”. First time I was able to understand the true meaning of these line.

Dilemma of clearing the IRDA exam

My tension was getting bigger and bigger as the day of IRDA exam was approaching. It was told to us that if we were not able to clear the exam, we would be sacked from the bank. Whenever I used to see an insurance person, a sudden sense of respect came into my mind. That time they were the most intelligent people for me and I used to think that if they are able to sell insurance products, why these people don’t write CAT and get admission in IIMs. Finally I thought it was better to asked from a salesperson himself and get a way to clear the exam. I called my home and asked my father if he knew any insurance agent. He gave me a contact No of an insurance guy. Loaded with many questions, I called the insurance agent and introduced myself. After listening to my query, he tried to pretend himself as the most intelligent man in the planet and I had to accept it as he was an IRDA certified. After giving some useless thoughts like one needs to work hard to clear the exam, He shown me the exact and simple way to clear the exam. He asked me if a book was given to me from IRDA. I said yes, thinking that now he would ask me to read the book which I found impossible. But he surprised me by saying that there is no need to read the book and that was the happiest line I heard in those recent months. He told me that there would be some objective questions at the end of the book. It would be sufficient to memorize those objective questions and that would be enough to clear the exam . After chatting with the insurance person, I felt more relaxed and thought that I would read the book along with the objective questions . well… I am always known for better planning. Without being realized , how come all the days passed in completing my first priority ( visiting the Bangalore) , the night which we call dark night appeared i.e. the night before the exam and you are supposed to do everything in that night . I took the book at 10 pm ( of course after dinner) and divided 10 chapters for 10 hours . Everything was running smooth till 11 before I realized that even spending one hour of my precious time of my life, I was still on page no 1. I was not able to understand a single word and I gave up finally . I knew I wont be able to complete the book. I left the plan of reading whole book and thought of having a round of my cluster .I found that everyone was reading the book, which encouraged me to read the book again. So I returned to my room and picked up the book again, but without being realized when I got slept, I woke up at 7. 30 in the morning. Exam was at 10. By that time the idea of reading the whole book was gone and I found myself helpless. Suddenly I thought of implementing the idea of insurance agent. I turned down all the pages and finally found 100 questions at the end of the book. Without having any option , I started mugging up the answer . Everything was done by 9 . I rushed to my exam –centre and after one hour, I found myself sitting in front of a computer screen without knowing anything .

My first day at ING

Having so many dreams in my heart, I reached at CDC ( training centre of ING ). I introduced myself to the receptionist in a very arrogant way as I was about to join as a Manager but she didn’t give any Bhaav to me and told me to go to room No 238, which was in 2nd floor. I thought it would be a room of vice president or some executive . So I along with my roommate reached at room no238 . I was shocked to see the crowd over there as around 30 people were present there. After talking to them, I go to know that all of them had joined as relationship manager from various institutes and I was just a part of crowd. I conveyed my happy feeling to them and tried to pretend how happy I was after having so many new trainee.
Well.. After sometime a guy entered into the room and asked us to take the seats. He introduced himself as an HR person and handed over a peculiar type of note book. Our training program Schedule was mentioned in it and we were supposed to clear two tests in two weeks. One was AMPHI and other was IRDA .later my friend told me that to sell a financial product it was required to clear these exams and our training would be based on that. After knowing these facts I was cursing my luck as I had full plan to see Bangalore in those two weeks . Even though I knew I was not going to read anything but once you have a burden you find it difficult to enjoy even your good time. We were asked to deposit our certificates and documents. After documents verification , we were asked to leave . How good my first day was ,with full of fun and enjoyments. Who says selling is the worst profession one can have and I was unable to realize why people hate selling. Who would pay you rs1000/ day for 2 hours of duty. I was feeling lucky by being a part of sales profession.

Other days during training:-

As the time was passing, my days were getting bittier and bitter. How you can seat continuously for 8-10 hours without understanding anything. They were teaching us about the insurance products and I was surprised how come ppl who are only 10th or 12th are able to sell these products. I was finding those products one of the most difficult products to sell. Me who Was an MBA , B.tech were finding it difficult to understand those product . Hats off to all those insurance agents . I was confused if I would be able to sell the products after following all these rules .

Leave selling, how would I ever be able to clear IRDA exam because I was not getting even a single shit? Those 8-10 hours went like hell to me and I was surprised how come all other trainees were able to understand all the shit . It was not new to me as it was quite common when I was pursuing MBA or B.tech

Part-4 , My honeymoon period as a salesman

After 4 months , I found myself in a 2nd class AC coach of Rajdhani express. Since it was mentioned in our call latter that the company would reimburse 2nd class A.C. fair , I decided to utilize it completely . I sat on the internet and searched for the most expensive train from Delhi to Bangalore within in the realm of my right and it turned out to be Rajdhani. So for the first time in my life I was in Rajadhani, ( Till then, I used to travel in sleeper class only) and started dreaming about the training period . I was sure that I would be provided a complete A.C. SINGLE room in a kind of five star hotel and would be treated like a prince as I was going to join as a manager ( who gives a damn to "relationship") .
Having these thoughts in my mind, I got down at Bangalore station and took a cab to reach the mentioned address in the call letter. After half an hour, the cab reached at a place where I was not able to see a five start hotel . Well, I thought that five star hotel would be hidden somewhere and it is better to ask someone . I went to a shopkeeper and enquired about the address .He lifted his finger towards a big old building . After seeing that building I found my dreams starting to get scattered. Somehow I was able to control my feelings and reached the reception ( if this is the word used for a man sitting on a chair at the entrance ) . I mentioned my name as if I was a prince for whom they were waiting for years . He asked me to note down my name in a register. I glanced through it and found already 30 names were mentioned over there. I was asked to follow . Well.. the hotel was not that bad and the expectation that at least I would get a single room with AC, consoled me. We stopped at room no 179 .The Door was looking good and again I started fantasizing about my new single dream room but I think God was in bad mood when I found that instead of using the keys to open the room he started knocking at the door and I heard the voice of door being opened. A fat boy was standing in front of me and I was told that he was going to be my roommate . After realizing that fact, I went inside the room and found that it was worse than my own room at my home . If any room with a T.V. can be called a five star , then ya.. I stayed in a fivestar room.
I said hi to my roomie and communicated that it is always good to have roommate as you don’t feel alone. He reverted back in the same line to me because he didn’t have a choice and it is taught to us that when you cant do anything , you have to be happy with the present situation . After sometime a paper was provided to us ,stating that we all need to report at 9’o clock , next day at CDC . I asked Manoj ( my roommate ) about the CDC. He told me that it was very near to our hotel . Well.. after having a bad day, I started dreaming about my training and started waiting impatiently for next day to come.

part-3

I don’t know why people become so excited even if they are not involved at all . One person came to canteen and announced that the results would be announced shortly. Since it was my first interview, i thought its better to go to the placement cell. All shortlisted candidates were asked to assemble in the cell . I was the last person to enter the room.The environment inside the room was worse than GD room. All faces were tensed and deadscared. I don’t understand why people get tensed every time even after having the experience of getting rejected so many times. Finally one person from ING team came and repeated the same old lines that the performances of all the candidates were good but they had limited number of openings and so they were going to recruit only 5 students. We were 16 and everyone was wondering who would be those 5 lucky people.(except me, of course as i knew how my interview was). After a brief pause he started announcing the names . My friends were out, waiting for the result . Even theyhad the confidence that I would not be selected but as they were my friends , they had to stand beside me . Well… the names were being announced one by one and I was thinking why they can’t announce all names in one go . But human body has its own restrictions and a mouth can spell only one name at a time. I was pretty sure that ING people had wasted my whole day but my whole assumption went wrong when I heard my name … Fucking Deepak Khandelwal !!!! I was standing astonished and even my friends were astonished . How come my name !! . is It possible? “How come they announced my name” as if they had committed a crime .
All my friends ran towards me . After getting many GDL, our placement coordinator announced that we had to wait for some time as ING people were offering the joining dates and confirmation letter also. i was informed to join on June1,in Bangalore. After getting the joining latter I called my father and informed him about my placement. He didn’t know anything about the relationship manager post but after
hearing the package, he congratulated me, without knowing the fact that his son had been trapped in the net of selling illusion by the word marketing and I was on cloud no 9 without being aware of the upcoming disaster . I was happy that I became a relationship manager and at least I was a manager . But I realized later that it was not the "manager" part which plays a large role in my profile , but was "Relationship" and it was the first step of me being in sales

part-2

The climate of the GD was quite peculiar .The students who never used to speak a word in the classes or presentations, were roaring in the GD. Everyone had killing eyes and was ready to kill each other for a chance to speak. People didn’t want to leave even a single opportunity to speak . Even I used to be the same in the previous GDs,because that was what my colleagues had told me. But this time I didn’t feel like doing the same thing as I was pretty sure that I would be eliminated . But being a part of GD , you are supposed to speak something .Otherwise you would be asked to speak . So I thought it was better to speak by my own and I repeated the same words which were spoken by others. It lasted for 30 min. and everyone was happy because everyone got the opportunity to speak. I , one of them was thinking about new movie loaded in my treasure land i.e. my laptop . But I thought it would be ok to wait for the result. Then I would be able to watch movies, more relaxed. After half an hour , a volunteer appeared with a list and started announcing the shortlisted candidates' name one by one . Suddenly he called my name. I was confused whether he called out my name or someone else's . I checked the list again and found my name was really there. Well…. I who was from finance background, who never learnt anything about the selling was going to have a marketing interview. Moreover I was worried that my second half of the day was going to be wasted. But I was lucky as my no was 2 in the interview list. I felt more relaxed because it is always better to finish off the things early on which you don’t have any control. First interview lasted for 40 min and I was thinking what these ING people are asking because even if they ask me about my whole life , it would be finished in 30 min . Finally my No came and they asked me to sit down . My interview started with the most repeated question in the history of the interview. “ TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF” and I was thinking that when everything is there in my resume, why these guys are asking me. We engineers/ MBA people are so prepared with this question that even while sleeping we would be able to give the reply . So I vomited all the things from my native place to current education . They asked me about my area of interest . I don’t know what made me say that, but i said my area of interest is watching movie.. First he was shocked because you are supposed to say some thing heavy like reading novel or writing but then he asked about my latest movie. After hearing the story he asked me if I had any question to ask and again I repeated another blunder mistake by not asking any question because you are supposed to ask some hi – funda questions,if given a chance. I came out from the interview room and felt relaxed because I was sure that I am not going to be selected. How can a movie story get you a selection ! I went to my room and started watching movie. After 3-4 hours I woke up without knowing that I had got slept. I realized that I was supposed to go for the result . I woke-up half heartedly and moved towards the college. When I reached there , i got to know that still last candidate is giving the interview . Some one told me it would take another one hour for the result to come out . I went to the canteen and asked for tea . Suddenly I heard the voices .

part-1

I am wondering how I should start my story . The story of me becoming a salesman. Let me go into the past and find out the inception of my journey . I think all things started with my placement.
Somewhere in Oct., 2009
Placement season was on and even students like me who stood last in the so called CGPA parameter wanted to get placed in the most prestigious company. I suddenly started believing in god and visiting the temple became a part of my life. Many Companies visited but all left me asking "MERA NO KAB AYYEGA". But in spite of all these, my frequency of watching movies became intense as before I used to watch movies when I was happy or normal but during placement season I started watching movie when I was sad also. Placement season was a quite boring time for students like me because the same routine was being repeated every day . You need to get up on time, attend the PPT talk (you have to show the company that students are quite interested in them ). You need to clap during the PPT to show them that you were not sleeping and listening to them with much attention .After that they would conduct some written exam or Group decision. If you are fortunate, you would get eliminated in the first round only to enjoy the rest of day but if you are unfortunate, you would clear the first round and get eliminated in the second or third round . But some time students whom we used to think were equal to us , were able to crack the final round also.( Might be they visited the temple more often) . Well, for me every day was the same as I was being eliminated in the first round itself. It used to make me sad for a short span of time but finally the idea of watching new movies loaded in my laptop used to motivate me to start my laptop and once the movie is on, who gives a damn to the placement !
But everything got changed on 4^th Feb 2009. By that time I had made my mind for returning to home without a job. But I was not tensed as recession was on peak ( thanks to USA ) which gave me an excuse. So I was sitting on the last bench and listening to the PPT of ING Vysya bank . They wanted to recruit some students for relationship manager post and finally they announced that they needed students from marketing back ground only . Me having Finance background, felt relaxed as I didn’t need to waste half of my day either and I put off my blazer and tie. But some nurd students approached the ING Vysya people and convinced or begged ( don’t know which one is more suitable here) to allow Finance students also and after half an hour I found myself sitting with other students for group discussion

This is how my sale life started