On this episode of the Thrifty Titans Podcast, we have an engaging conversation with Harnish Shah, the Founder & CEO of 3 Minds Digital, a prominent digital marketing agency in India.
With a strong background in design, Harnish has successfully established 3 Minds Digital as one of the select funded digital agencies in India. In just six years, his creative entrepreneurship journey has seen the company grow from a humble co-working space with a team of three to boasting over 100 talented members.
During our discussion, we delve into topics such as creative entrepreneurship and the contrast between the creative freelancer and creative entrepreneur mindsets. Additionally, we explore pricing strategies for creative work and talent management for those embracing their inner creative entrepreneur – plus so much more.
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Saikat Pyne: Hi, I'm Sekar marketer, creative and media nerd. Welcome to
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Saikat Pyne: the you incorporated podcast On this show, I catch up
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Saikat Pyne: with some of the most bad ass founders, business leaders
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Saikat Pyne: and content creators in the whole wide world. Whether you're
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Saikat Pyne: a marketer, creative or a budding founder, if you want
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Saikat Pyne: to build your brand your voice your way, you are
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Saikat Pyne: in the right place.
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Saikat Pyne: Join me on the you incorporated podcast and start building
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Saikat Pyne: your empire. Here we go.
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Saikat Pyne: Please join me in welcoming Aneha, the founder of Three
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Saikat Pyne: Mines Digital, one of the few funded digital agencies in India.
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Saikat Pyne: Three mines. Digital has worked on branding packaging U i,
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Saikat Pyne: u X and marketing projects for multiple leading brands like Xiaomi,
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Saikat Pyne: Geo and CBC.
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Saikat Pyne: A designer at heart, Harish founded three mines at around
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Saikat Pyne: 23 years old from a co-working space with a team
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Saikat Pyne: of three and has since grown to 100 plus member
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Saikat Pyne: team over the past six years. Welcome to the show.
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Harnish Shah: Thank you so much for having me here.
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Saikat Pyne: So tell me Harsh. How did you stumble into entrepreneurship?
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Saikat Pyne: So
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Harnish Shah: how I stumbled into being an entrepreneur is an interesting
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Harnish Shah: story in itself. So I come from a core creative background,
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Harnish Shah: as you mentioned having done my bachelors specialising in fashion communication. Surprisingly, however,
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Harnish Shah: visual and u I was something that always intrigued me
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Harnish Shah: the moment I stepped into the shackles of a design
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Harnish Shah: college and fast forward. Four years I backed a college placement,
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Harnish Shah: and my first job ended up being Deloitte Digital as
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Harnish Shah: a visual designer and three MD. And that's how I
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Harnish Shah: would refer three mines digital, as happened in the most
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Harnish Shah: unexpected ways. It began with a phone call from a
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Harnish Shah: UK n number when I was holidaying in Manali in 2040.
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Harnish Shah: It's a typical case of one phone call that changes
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Harnish Shah: your life. It was from Mr Sanjay, who would become
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Harnish Shah: my future investor and mentor. He found my profile on
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Harnish Shah: LinkedIn and got in touch with me for freelance work
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Harnish Shah: that started my freelance work with him with some of
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Harnish Shah: his companies where he was an investor. One fine January
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Harnish Shah: evening he was in Mumbai and we met for the
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Harnish Shah: very first time and got talking
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Harnish Shah: now coming from a core textile background. And that's the
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Harnish Shah: reason why fashion communication was my choice. I always aspired
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Harnish Shah: to be an entrepreneur. If not, then maybe in the future.
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Harnish Shah: And Sanjay was looking to invest in a digital agency,
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Harnish Shah: and that's how three and D was born. We started
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Harnish Shah: with a team of three with no clients, no contacts,
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Harnish Shah: no sales, no networking experience in the August of 2016,
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Harnish Shah: while I was still serving my notice period. In fact,
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Harnish Shah: and then there has been no looking back since. And,
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Harnish Shah: like you said, I think I've been lucky enough to
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Harnish Shah: have found a great mentor and investor because not getting
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Harnish Shah: investors in the service industry is rare. You will find
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Harnish Shah: a lot of investment in product side of things, but
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Harnish Shah: service industry it it doesn't happen too much. And I
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Harnish Shah: also believe that my creative bank
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Harnish Shah: crown helped me a lot as an entrepreneur because I
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Harnish Shah: always focus on problem solving rather than sales, which help
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Harnish Shah: us back a lot of our initial clients. So that's
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Harnish Shah: the story. It was completely unexpected and started with one phone.
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Harnish Shah: How
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Saikat Pyne: did Sanjay find you? What led up to that one
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Saikat Pyne: feed call from that UK number?
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Harnish Shah: So, in fact, one of his trusted executives who was
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Harnish Shah: working for him found me on LinkedIn. In fact, the
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Harnish Shah: surprising thing is that I was never active on LinkedIn.
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Harnish Shah: I was a college student then and I don't know
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Harnish Shah: what he saw in my profile. And he passed on
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Harnish Shah: my number to Mr Sanjay
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Harnish Shah: and he, in fact, after a few months when he
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Harnish Shah: got talking, Sanja did mention that he had approached a
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Harnish Shah: lot of people for this and he called a few
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Harnish Shah: of them on some profiles that he liked. And we
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Harnish Shah: had a good 45 minute call when he called me
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Harnish Shah: and when I was in Manali. Now I when I
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Harnish Shah: think packet it, there was a very good choice
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Harnish Shah: chance my phone would have been out of network or
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Harnish Shah: not reachable. And he anyways had photo by other people
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Harnish Shah: to call after me. And he would not have called
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Harnish Shah: me back if my phone was unreachable. So the call
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Harnish Shah: connected and we had an amazing conversation. And right now,
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Harnish Shah: when I speak back to Sanjay San just says that
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Harnish Shah: those 45 minutes the conversation I had with you,
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Harnish Shah: I know that you had no work similar to what
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Harnish Shah: I was looking for. But those 45 minutes conversation gave
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Harnish Shah: me the confidence that I see potential in you, and
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Harnish Shah: that's why he decided to risk his investment in me.
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Saikat Pyne: Wow, you are a designer at heart, right? In some
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Saikat Pyne: ways you are the specialist in the domain that you
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Saikat Pyne: are operating in. So if you had to look from
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Saikat Pyne: the eyes of an entrepreneur, how do you do things
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Saikat Pyne: differently from a freelancer or, let's say a bunch of freelancers.
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Saikat Pyne: So can
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Harnish Shah: I answer this in one word?
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Harnish Shah: I would be mindset with a little Sprinkle of luck, because, frankly,
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Harnish Shah: the mind is the only thing that is stopping one
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Harnish Shah: from really tapping into their potential. Also, freelancer is not
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Harnish Shah: a word I like. I would probably call them as
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Harnish Shah: a solo prone. So being a sore one has already
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Harnish Shah: taken the first step into being self sufficient and being
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Harnish Shah: open to risks without a fixed monthly income. When the
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Harnish Shah: mindset changed for me individually,
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Harnish Shah: initially it was all about me. It was all about
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Harnish Shah: her niche. What's the work he is doing? What's the
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Harnish Shah: work he can show in his portfolio? The moment three started,
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Harnish Shah: the entire mindset was about the company. It was not
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Harnish Shah: about our individual client. And secondly, as a freelancer, there
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Harnish Shah: is not a lot of marketing that you do of
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Harnish Shah: yourself as an entrepreneur. A number of times, I've seen
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Harnish Shah: people just being rejected
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Harnish Shah: when they have seen some of their important team members leaves.
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Harnish Shah: But I can 100% say with my experience that, yes,
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Harnish Shah: it will create a small dent, but not big enough
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Harnish Shah: for it for things to come, crumbling down and finally
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Harnish Shah: investing in an HR. Because if your HR as a
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Harnish Shah: company is not strong, things are gonna start crumbling down.
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Harnish Shah: So investing in a great HR since the very initial
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Harnish Shah: period is something that's gonna help you sort a lot
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Harnish Shah: of problems that might arise
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Harnish Shah: the future. So,
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Saikat Pyne: haneesh, what did you really look for in the first
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Saikat Pyne: couple of people you hired? Let's say the 1st 10
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Saikat Pyne: people you hired at three mines what were the couple
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Saikat Pyne: of checklist items to?
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Harnish Shah: In fact, it was the other way around.
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Harnish Shah: I had to sell myself to our usual journey. We
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Harnish Shah: had no clarity. I was 23 right after college, so
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Harnish Shah: the first thing I had to do was sell myself
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Harnish Shah: and then sell my vision had to look for certain
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Harnish Shah: individuals that met our criterias in terms of where our
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Harnish Shah: skill sets were falling short.
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Harnish Shah: So when I was hiring for the initial few people,
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Harnish Shah: I was not looking for something that I was already
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Harnish Shah: good at. I was trying to find complementary skill sets,
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Harnish Shah: and that is one thing that I still stay true
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Harnish Shah: to you. It's funny, but so many times a lot
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Harnish Shah: of my team members. So I don't get involved in
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Harnish Shah: the hiring for the teams. My at three m b.
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Harnish Shah: They have
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Harnish Shah: they hire their own team, so I don't get really
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Harnish Shah: involved in much of hiring these days. But when actually
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Harnish Shah: he is not sure they just send a person to
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Harnish Shah: me for a wipe check. So that's literally a 15
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Harnish Shah: minute conversation I have with the person just to see
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Harnish Shah: if our wipes match. So the first 2 to 3
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Harnish Shah: people who we
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Harnish Shah: looked for, I wanted to ensure that they had it
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Harnish Shah: in them to build something from scratch. They had that passion,
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Harnish Shah: that zeal to build something from scratch. But the first
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Harnish Shah: three people who joined us at three m. B the
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Harnish Shah: those three are still with us. So you can imagine
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Harnish Shah: it's been six years and they they have stuck around
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Harnish Shah: with us. And I'm glad about my own judgement and
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Harnish Shah: their judgement because it was as risky for them to
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Harnish Shah: join a company which had nothing.
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Harnish Shah: So I give them all the credit for truly trusting
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Harnish Shah: three and B and truly trusting me as a
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Saikat Pyne: person. When does the brand become bigger than the founder?
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Saikat Pyne: And how do you then negotiate and really drive leads
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Saikat Pyne: for your brands? How does that sales funnel then work
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Saikat Pyne: for
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Harnish Shah: you? So the first thing over here is that if
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Harnish Shah: you are doing marketing, you're gonna have a steady stream
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Harnish Shah: of leads which gets passed on to the sales funnel.
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Harnish Shah: So that's what I meant. A. As to why sales
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Harnish Shah: and marketing work hand in hand
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Harnish Shah: and regarding converting cold leads into paying clients. Frankly, I
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Harnish Shah: would like to give a small analogy over your
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Harnish Shah: It might sound a little absurd, but what I always
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Harnish Shah: feel as a salesperson for get getting more clients, you
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Harnish Shah: need to become a doctor. Now what does a have
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Harnish Shah: a doctor have to do with this? But let me explain.
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Harnish Shah: So what does a doctor do when a patient visits him?
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Harnish Shah: He asks questions. He understands the issue.
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Harnish Shah: He eliminates possibilities. Another suggestion I would give is keep
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Harnish Shah: sending prospects personalised messages. Once in a while. Do email
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Harnish Shah: marketing be in touch with them constantly. These are all
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Harnish Shah: the things that are combined that's gonna play a big
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Harnish Shah: role in converting your cool prospects into actual paying clients.
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Harnish Shah: LinkedIn is a wonderful tool for sales
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Saikat Pyne: haneesh. You started
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Saikat Pyne: three mines at the age of 23 but now, six
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Saikat Pyne: years later, you've grown it to 100 plus member team.
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Saikat Pyne: What are some of the key insights you now have?
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Harnish Shah: I think if I have to sum it up, it's
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Harnish Shah: about focusing on the quality of your work, because that's
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Harnish Shah: what's gonna hold clients so that if you are genuinely
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Harnish Shah: giving a client their money's worth, they will keep coming
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Harnish Shah: back to you for repeat business and, on the other hand,
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Harnish Shah: also become your indirect sales army by referring you to
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Harnish Shah: all the prospects that come their way. In fact, we
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Harnish Shah: just did a small
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Harnish Shah: others inside that has really worked well for us as
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Harnish Shah: a company is
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Harnish Shah: to help clients on multiple things that where you are
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Harnish Shah: not even expected to be involved. So helping a client
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Harnish Shah: on S C O when you're building your website, that's
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Harnish Shah: a clear link. But a client is not gonna directly
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Harnish Shah: expect you to helping out over that because he's come
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Harnish Shah: to you for a project A. Similarly adding more value
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Harnish Shah: to a client's business from what they've approached you is
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Harnish Shah: something that's gonna help you retain the client and also
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Harnish Shah: gain it trust.
00:10:53
Harnish Shah: And other than that, the investing in some great tools
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Harnish Shah: that are gonna help you in your business, I truly
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Harnish Shah: believe that it's important to be outcome focused over time focused.
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Harnish Shah: So the client wins by getting the work he's satisfied with,
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Harnish Shah: and the company wins by making enough profits to support
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Harnish Shah: the team. If this win becomes a reality, I think
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Harnish Shah: that's the safe place I would want to be, because
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Harnish Shah: in a lot of organisation
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Harnish Shah: there's maybe two people who win. A client wins. He's
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Harnish Shah: getting good work. The company wins. They are making profits.
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Harnish Shah: But the employee is not winning. They are not paid well.
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Harnish Shah: They are not paid on time. There are policies are
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Harnish Shah: not so well or vice versa. Even being in a
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Harnish Shah: situation where the employee is winning, the client is winning.
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Harnish Shah: But the company is not winning by making a profit.
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Harnish Shah: That's also not the right way to be. And
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Harnish Shah: another suggestion I would also have is to build a
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Harnish Shah: culture of rewarding employees with small perks. It could be
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Harnish Shah: sending a small cookie or a muffin or a team
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Harnish Shah: member who did great on a certain project as a
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Harnish Shah: small bit of motivation. It could be giving unexpected bonus
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Harnish Shah: over and above the salary, and we've done that to
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Harnish Shah: a lot of great performance in the team having monthly awards,
00:12:00
Harnish Shah: bringing in the motivation, you need to also create a
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Harnish Shah: at most, and you are encouraging learning. So we have
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Harnish Shah: biweekly seed sessions in which we give new learning to
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Harnish Shah: the team members.
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Harnish Shah: So I think, to sum it up as a service
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Harnish Shah: based entrepreneur, you need to keep your team involved in
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Harnish Shah: important decision making. You need to keep yourself grounded, not
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Harnish Shah: take abrupt one-sided decisions and be with me to make
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Harnish Shah: women a reality in all organisations across India.
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Saikat Pyne: Lovely, that was so insightful. Herne. And with that, it's
00:12:34
Saikat Pyne: a wrap Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
00:12:38
Saikat Pyne: Herne guys, please tune in next week for the next
00:12:42
Saikat Pyne: episode of the U Incorporated podcast. See ya.
00:12:50
Saikat Pyne: Thank you for tuning into the U Incorporated podcast with me.
00:12:55
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