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Why I started Asbiverse Group – A Salesman’s desire

It was April 1993, I was 15 years old and on the first day of my first ever summer job selling soft toys door to door in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi during school vacations.

Amongst my fair share of snubs, partial interest, bargaining etc. I managed to make my first ever Sale. The biggest toy in my bag, a 4 foot Teddy Bear for a cute little girl who was playing in her courtyard. As soon as her father bought the teddy, it was the biggest and sweetest burst of happiness I had ever seen. That is where my love for sales was born.

I felt I had played some role in bringing joy to the girl and the family.

That feeling stayed with me which led to more part-time sales roles at Uni and even resulted in me leaving a coveted gazetted officer position with the Government of India, all for the love of sales.

I was fortunate that my Sales and then subsequently Strategy, Marketing and Consulting journey took me to roles with ICI Paints (Akzo Nobel)India, Procter & Gamble Europe,
and Accenture Consulting Global.

It was when I started my Consulting journey and my exposure to multiple clients increased that I realised that there were “ Ways of Working” or “Sales Transformations” being undertaken by Consulting/Client teams with an extremely limited participation of Sales people with actual selling experience. What really bothered me was that the Sales professionals were then expected to fully adopt these new processes without proper incorporation of their role perspective. It led to some very emotional discussions in the project teams I was part of (I was still learning the art of diplomacy 😊) but I felt there was a huge gap. That was the moment I decided to set up our business to give a proper voice to the Sales profession which has now taken the shape of Asbiverse Group.

We were very lucky that in our initial years until 2014 we found like minded partners @Consulting by Kantar and we did some great work together.

In more than a decade of our operations,the best feeling in the world is when fellow Sales professionals share their happiness on feeling more equipped having attended one of our training programmes or as a result of a project outcome. Personally when I see dots on the global map increasing where we had the opportunity to work with Sales and Commercial teams (more than 50 countries on last count across 6 continents) I feel extremely humbled that I have had the opportunity to work in the field I absolutely love across the world and hopefully have been able to make a small contribution to the happiness quotient of my fellow Sales professionals.

A Sales professional takes on a lot of responsibility and pressure in the process of helping clients fulfill their needs and deserves to get the best support possible.

I hope to play a small part in that and continue pursuing my purpose of “Empowering Sales Professionals and Profession”

Aek Life- One Chance to Live: A perspective by Ankur Shiv Bhandari

I think I heard while watching a TV series once, that the day we are born, the day we come into this world, the countdown starts of us leaving this world one day. This is the ultimate truth for everyone, it is just that the duration of our time here is different for every individual whether it is days, weeks, months, years, decades or maybe a century for some. Unless someone has a secret stash of Elixir hidden somewhere or until the fountain of youth is truly discovered, this is the reality of life. I would not call it a hard, rough or crude reality as is heard sometimes as whether it is hard and rough or smooth and enjoyable is to a great measure dependent on each one of us.

The undeniable fact is that this particular innings that we have is “One” or “Aek” composed of moments that might be of joy, sorrow, exhilaration, depression, wonder, surprise, enlightenment or just pure fun. An effort to live each of those moments fully is “Aek Life- One Chance to Live.”

I would like to think that I try to live my life with this principle of “Aek Life”. Yes, I cannot control everything and yes, I have many moments of despair, frustration and sometimes complete annoyance but as life has taken me on its rollercoaster , I have come to realise that it is not what happens to you that defines you or how you capture that as a moment of your life, rather it is how you respond to it that can largely result in the type of feeling you retain or the memory you capture. In my recent readings, I came across this Stoic’s prayer which I think helps me greatly and I try my best to incorporate it into my daily life. It goes like this: “ Dear God- Give me the Serenity to understand the things I cannot change, Give me the Courage to change the things I can and Give me the Wisdom to know the difference”

Through this medium of “Aek Life”, I will try to share my own experiences and thoughts on trying to live this “One” life as fully as we can, in spite of and with everything that this journey brings. Where possible and relevant, I will try to get others to join me in the conversation. I would welcome thoughts from all of you on your experiences and perspectives as well.

Life is not always what we want it to be, or let me rephrase, Life is not always how we think we want it to be. There are many mysteries which life reveals only at the right time and it might be that if you don’t get what you desire might be the best thing that happens to you. We will try to form perspectives on some of these mysteries as we go on this journey and try to augment every moment we have in this “ Aek life- One chance to Live”

Thank you

Conversation with a tomato blog

Conversation with a Tomato – The Positive Charge Talks by Ankur Shiv Bhandari – Podcast Episode 08

What are the conversations you have had in the last 24 hours? Maybe with your partner? with your kids? parents? friends? Anyone else? And should I also ask with anything else?

#ankurshivbhandari #thepositivecharge #purpose #shopper #shoppermarketing #FMCG #retail #consumergoods #leadership #innovation #conversations #conversationsandpurpose