“Congratulations Rohan Shukla! You have been selected for Summer Internship with Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (WCCLG),” read the email in my inbox and I jumped with joy.
I had always dreamt of a career in sales. This summer internship was the first step towards achieving my dream!
I was hired as a sales intern by WCCLG, Bengaluru, after my first year of MBA studies. My project was aimed at increasing the distribution for all the brands of the company in the specified territory of Bengaluru, under a single distributor. On an average, I was expected to visit about 40 existing outlets per day as well as explore new outlets in the area that could be added. The work was exciting but my primary interest was in competitor analysis. I wanted to find out how well the competition was doing in the same territory, what sales strategies they were using, and prepare a gap analysis for my company.
This required me to spend extra time outside the ten hours I was already spending everyday covering the outlets. I also had to devise innovative ways to find the required information about the competitors (such as speaking with salesmen of other companies over a cup of tea). I really enjoyed the whole experience.
Soon, a mail arrived from the HR confirming the date for the final presentation to the management. And there I was, standing in front of Wipro’s vice-president, sales and head, sales development. As the constant question-answer-discussion went on, adrenaline surged through my veins every second of the 30-minute presentation. Although they did not express that explicitly, they seemed happy with the competitor analysis.
My friends and seniors had warned me before my internship saying, “This is not everyone’s cup of tea. Most of your college mates would be interning in a comfortable air conditioned office and you would be rubbing shoulders with the salesmen in the summer heat. You would start hating your life. Are you sure you want a career in sales?” I just smiled at them and said “Probably more than anything else.”
I’m glad that I’m still smiling because I know my answer to their question still remains the same. Sales, my love, thou shall not be betrayed!
The writer is an alumnus of Goa Institute of Management and works at Dell International as Territory Manager (Sales) for Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
