At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week we invited Chitra Singh a Community Nurturer and Sales Mentor for an exclusive interview with us. She is the Founder, Chief Mentor & Sales Inspirer at Saleswomentoring which is India’s first & only community inspiring women to succeed at selling. Let’s read more about her incredible journey so far and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Chitra:
Talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
I studied in St. Joseph’s Convent, Nagpur, further pursued my graduation in Biochemistry. I’m also an alumni of SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies which is where my passion for Sales & Marketing flourished. Times Bank being my first job in Banking, is where I found my love for numbers and finances.
I spent over 3 decades leading high-performance sales teams in the BFSI vertical towards sustainable Sales success.
As I helped people, especially women in my team to be more confident & assertive, I realized the gender gap that existed in the corporate world, especially in Sales. This led me to start SalesWomentoring, India’s first and only community inspiring women to succeed at selling.”
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Along with being my own boss, I made a shift towards an entrepreneurial career path after 3 decades in the corporate world as I wanted to work towards creating & multiplying impact while combating the gender biases that traditionally dominate the complex hierarchy of the world women live & work in.
Our community, SalesWomentoring works towards amplifying the collective voice of women to create transformational change both in the entrepreneurial & corporate world.
‘SalesWomentoring’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
SalesWomentoring is India’s first and only community inspiring women to succeed and lead in sales.
Our purpose is to provide an ecosystem to enable 1 million, women, to sell with confidence and lead with conviction. We address a threefold problem: –
1) Lack of a talented pipeline of women in sales.
2) Very few women in sales leadership roles (12%).
3) Women entrepreneurs and solopreneurs are not confident about “selling” and “negotiating”.
The solution: Our network of sales experts and leadership coaches encourages women to become confident sellers through our upskilling webinars, specially curated sales boot camps/workshops, digital content, podcasts and interviews with inspiring women leaders, one on one mentoring sessions and an inclusive networking forum.
We also work with partners to increase the available talent pool and provide enriching career progression opportunities.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Having started SalesWomentoring in the midst of the pandemic in June 2021, I have worked towards establishing an online community that adds holistic value through immersive webinars/workshops and our signature one-on-one mentoring sessions with global sales experts/Leadership coaches.
Believing that meaningful connections can be created in an online space and learning to enhance and leverage on my professional network played a significant role in the growth of SalesWomentoring.
Setting aside time for ideation and reflection while prioritizing a portion of my time to review, align and revive our strategies along with effective communication with my colleagues facilitated our progress towards adding long-term value and sustainability.”
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I am inspired by working with the mentors & Leadership experts who add so much through their contribution & expertise.
Being a lifelong learner and moving past doubt & failure has kept me going.
We all have our happiness boosters, some of the things that make me happy:-
> Running and exercising
> Visiting Cubbon park in my home city, Bangalore
> Books & podcasts
> Singing
> The love and appreciation I get from the SalesWomentoring community
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest motivation is the rewarding feeling of contributing to the community of women, who have given me so much.”
Being able to help even one person get over their fear of selling to sell better & sell more makes it worthwhile. I believe a true leader rises by helping others shine.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
Focusing less on the past and more on the road ahead. Being less afraid of the unconventional and seeing adversity not as a stumbling block, but as a stepping stone and finally enabling more women to succeed at selling have helped my growth. I believe that we must not compare ourselves to others and minimize our value. Instead, we need to expand our vision to maximize our worth.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
The biggest key to success is not focusing on success itself, but on making the world a better place with your contributions.
Believing that I am making a difference and imagining outcomes others cannot are the biggest contributors to my success. If money is your end goal, you become mediocre.
If the impact is your end goal, you become inspiring. The true measure of success is not money or fame. It is the value and meaning we add to others lives.
For me, success is measured by the impact our community makes and the lives we touch.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
(a) To be successful, you need to be humble, curious and ready to learn
(b) Find a balance between academics/work and your personal growth goals
(c) Work towards holistic development – mind, body and energy
(d) Start building and leveraging your network
(e) Become and remain the best at what you do
(f) Failure is the fuel for success. Continue to believe in yourself and learn from your failures to keep moving towards your goals.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
