Not Giving into Peer Pressure

I am so incredibly inspired by my new job. I know that I am working for the same company, but it is a whole different ball game and I am so intrigued by every little aspect of it. It was exactly what I needed, a new challenge thrown in my face. I just want to learn as much as possible so that I can excel. I am going back to the basics and I feel like such a nerd. My room is filled with books about India. I play with Google maps every night and stand in front of my Delhi city map on my was pronouncing the names of the markets and areas. My roommate has already told me on multiple occasions that my Hindi pronunciations are horrendous and I should be ashamed.

I just read the Namesake in three days, I am looking into Rosetta Stone to learn Hindi and tonight I decided not to go out dancing and drinking so I could stay in and read articles on negotiation and business to business selling…like I said, I am really cool!! (I thought that deserved two). But it’s strange; I just can’t get enough learning about it all. I want to know the culture; I want to figure out the art of bartering and being able to completely connect so I can get the sale. How am I supposed to teach it, and at that – confidently if I don’t know that I myself can do it. So here begins my journey.

Many of the schools are for-profit businesses and they see every thing that is presented to them as an opportunity to make money and better their business. Principals want to know what they can get out of it and management wants to make sure that the tours are really going to make them more marketable to the students and the parents who pay the tuition that they are all competing for. This is different than in the states, where “it’s for the children” In Boston we trash talk the greedy teachers who are doing it to make money, secretly admiring their gusto. Here in India where it is expected that everything is negotiable, it is expected that when we present a price, the school will push back saying, "okay I see that. Is this the Price that you give to all of the schools? Now what can you do for me." What is the answer to this? Well what I am quickly learning is that it does really depend on the school, their prestige and how we can use their name in our next sales pitch.

After going to the market for the weekend with my new roommate I am learning that she is a fierce negotiator - and Hindi isn't even her first language. I now have a goal to have her come work for my company. Either that; or she will have to teach me everything that she knows. I asked her what her secret is. She said that she just says no. I followed up by saying well what if you don’t know what the cost is, and she said that you just have to learn over time and trust your judgment of whether they are cheating you or not. The only problem she continued, is that when they are being honest and you try to bargain too much it will teach them to have a higher price at the start. It's a vicious cycle because everyone thinks that they are being cheated and no one trusts anyone. That's why relationships and referrals are so important here.

Okay, well I am off to read my “Getting to Yes” book by Fisher, Ury and Patton Second Edition that I bought at the Harvard Coop and brought all the way here with me just in case I found myself in a position like I am in tonight. Feeling like a nerd!