I have learned to “let go” – to let go of the need to be “right”, to be perfect and to not make mistakes! I allow myself this now. I am more forgiving – of myself, and of others (or at least I am making a conscious effort to do this).
1. Tell us about your upbringing, background and early career.
Born and brought up (and spoiled, I dare say!) in the suburbs of Mumbai, in a proverbial “middle-class” joint family. Having a Punjabi father and a Roman Catholic mother taught me to be open to different perspectives too.
Schooled and Colleged in Mumbai suburbs. Managed to complete my B.Com, then M.Com & finally CA and plunged headlong into the family business of flexible packaging – of which I knew nothing.
Realised that CA, at that time, taught only Direct Taxes, while in business one needs to know Indirect Taxes (Sales Tax, Customs and Excise) too. So did a Diploma in Indirect Taxes from NMIMS to get a hang of the nuances of business operations.
Took charge of Sales, again, something of which I had no knowledge. But within a few years was helping leading Food Processors like Haldirams, Al Kabeer, Zantye Cashews, Kubal Spices, Chitale Bandhu by moving them to the latest packaging!
Started getting deeply involved in their new product launches and package design – and ended up making artworks and layouts using Corel Draw and Photoshop – all self-taught!
That’s what kicked off my interest in Computer Graphics. One day I decided to buy dedicated graphics machines called Amiga and set up a small studio to do 3D animation – again, of which I had no knowledge! Ended up doing some animation and graphics for Television serials – and this was way back in the early 90s! I even became a small time distributor for an American software company.
Was invited to join Rolta India – to do a job! My first one for another company, and that too, after already having worked as an Entrepreneur for almost 10 years! Worked my way up – selling all kinds of Enterprise IT solutions including CAD/CAM/GIS, eSecurity and even Internet Services, called RoltaNet.
Quit Rolta to join a small company that was developing video solutions for Wedding Videos. Helped them tweak it for Broadcast TV and made distributors around the world, including in China!
Went back to Rolta to head the Business Operations for Defence and eventually formed and led the Homeland Security team and also played a key role in the Operations of their Indo-French Defence JV.
One of the high points of my career, at that point, was making a presentation on Homeland Security at the All India Police Conference, which was attended by senior Police Commissioners of various cities, and States. Soon after, I also presented at CNBC’s Defence Conference in New Delhi where the audience comprised Senior Defence officers!
Finally got my own startup going in Broadcast Video, focusing on interactive live streaming and built the 1st Indian software to be approved by Facebook for FB Live. Ended up providing services to Corporates, NGOs and the Government. Learnt a lot about Digital marketing and Social Media.
Now I’m a Consultant – for Strategy & Business Development taking up only select assignments.
2. How did you rise to the highest echelons in your career and what advice do you have for our readers?
To be honest, I didn’t have any “grand plan” of rising up the ranks. I was more focused on doing well, whatever it is that I was doing, wherever! I think that’s the key to “rising”.
My career is not an ideal model to follow! It’s been very checkered. I moved from studying CA to doing Packaging to Computer Graphics to CAD/CAM software, Enterprise IT, Defence, Broadcast Video and then live streaming and Social Media!
I also went from being an Entrepreneur to doing a job and then to becoming an Entrepreneur again – and again did a job before becoming a consultant!
No one can plan this! I certainly didn’t! And therefore, I’m probably not the best person to give advice to anyone on “planning a career”.
What I can share is what I’ve learnt. I’ve learned that one needs to be open to accepting new challenges. This “getting-out-of-the-comfort-zone-is-equal-to-growth” theory is right!
I would also like to share a few more learnings. Listen to your soul. She tells you things that your loud, distracted mind doesn’t allow you to hear. For this you need to discipline and “quieten” the mind. Sounds all esoteric – but it’s true and it’s worked, for me at least!
Another thing: Learn HOW to learn. The WHAT will keep changing. Yesterday’s Physics is being overturned by Quantum Physics. Hey, even yesterday’s Excise and Sales Tax, is today’s GST!
The “subjects” will keep on changing, but if you learn HOW to learn, that will help you take up everything with a fair amount of confidence.
3. How do you analyse whether your marketing activities reached your intended TG and communicated the right messages?
In one word: Action. That’s it. What ACTION did your TG take? Was it the one intended by your marketing? Did they call, or mail, or click, or buy, or share, or comment, or RT, or run to the store, or do whatever it is you wanted them to? If yes, your messaging has succeeded.
In order to get this right, the measure of the action has to be clearly defined at the start. Ask yourself: What do I want them to do? And then design the marketing with that in mind. For this, you also have to have a very good understanding of human nature and behaviour.
Often we feel that people behave very strangely. The funny thing is, it looks “strange” to us, but it’s “normal” for them!
So an understanding of the behaviour and nature of your TG is the first step. Be also aware of your own personal biases that will affect your decision-making.
4. How do you think marketing will evolve in the future and how are you preparing for that leap?
Marketing is constantly evolving. There’s a saying: The more things change, the more they remain the same! Human nature is pretty much the way it is. We are now merely “expressing” ourselves differently.
What is changing rapidly is our ability to notice, observe and measure human behaviour, better. Technology can even detect where our eyes are looking and whether our pupils dilated after seeing something we like, or fear!
We now have authentic, granular information on how much time users are spending on our app, how many seconds they spent on a web-page and how many seconds they watched our video!
With this information, we are able to do a better test and a better tweak in and of our marketing. Each of us involved in marketing must understand this and be able to leverage it.
We need to learn what information can be made available, how do we go about getting it, when to use it, where, with whom – and why! This is also what I’m trying to do – for myself and for the companies I work with. Data Science, Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence – I’d love to dive into these!
5. What would be that one thing that you would do differently now than before?
I have learned to “let go” – to let go of the need to be “right”, to be perfect and to not make mistakes! I allow myself this now. I am more forgiving – of myself, and of others (or at least I am making a conscious effort to do this).
It is this need to be “right” that gets us all judgemental and opinionated – and that doesn’t allow us to experiment enough to do new things. Keeps us in the status quo rather than venturing into the unknown, because of the fear of failure – and public ridicule, which would be damaging to our ego! It’s a downward spiral!
Well, now that’s what I consciously make an effort towards. I consciously challenge the status quo. Still slip back sometimes, but I’m at least immediately aware of it now and take corrective steps.
6. What are your future plans?
To go with the flow. I’m currently working with a few companies on some specific assignments. Need to make sure we take the appropriate steps to get there.
Not everything is a Science experiment which can be repeatedly “proven” over and over. One can’t be sure of the results – only of the intentions and the efforts we put in.
I’d also like to share my learnings with as many as I can who can benefit from my experiences – commercially or otherwise.
I conducted a few webinars on Leadership and am thrilled when I get an opportunity to teach college students – I love it! I also hosted a number of live streams, interviewing people from various walks of life.
Writing a book could be on the cards. Podcast maybe! Basically, exploring various methods to reach out to people and share ideas, learnings and experiences with them.
7. What are your thoughts for sponsoring ads during IPL? How do brands measure ROI?
Aah, something very specific! Like I said earlier, the sponsoring of Ads would be towards some end objective. Sometimes it’s only for brand awareness and sometimes it could be for increasing revenue.
It plays on the natural human tendency of association. When we see a product or logo a few dozen times, while we’re experiencing the thrill of the match, the thrill and excitement gets “transferred” to the product. When we buy it later, we’re actually sub-consciously associating (re-living) that thrilling moment!
So sponsored Ads, esp during IPL, is a great idea – because cricket is more than a “religion” – it actually brings people of diverse religions together! In fact IPL is the Mecca, Vatican, Golden Temple, Jerusalem, Shirdi, Tirupati, Kashi – all put together!
The ROI metrics have to be thought out clearly before. As I said, measurement techniques have grown greatly. Data Analysis can go really deep and Artificial Intelligence can give us some really good models to work on.
Any company intending to spend on IPL ads (and they’re not cheap!) must spend probably at least as much, on analytics and measurement, or the ad spend would really have been wasted.
8. Which is your favourite book and why?
Many books have influenced me at many different times – depending on my age and the stage of life that I was in. If I had to pick just ONE as my favourite then it would be “Your Sacred Self” by Dr Wayne Dyer.
It opened up my own life to me – and turned it inside-out. The one thing I can’t stop telling myself now is this: When choosing between being Right and being Kind, choose being Kind”.
This one sentence has profoundly changed my life.
After living in Mumbai for over 50 years, one fine day, my wife and I just decided to move to Bengaluru – just like that! Our friends and family couldn’t believe it! She and I spoke about it, mulled over it for, maybe, 2-3 days and we decided to go ahead!
I think it’s the 2nd best decision that I’ve taken in my life.
The best one was choosing her!
Sandeep Ohri
M.Com, CA, PGDip Indirect Tax
www.linkedin.com/in/sandeepohri
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Present Roles:
- Exec VP Business Development, Global Delight Technologies Pvt Ltd
- COO (South) Refcon Refrigeration Pvt Ltd
- Managing Partner, Gladwin International Company
- Head Digital Strategy, US India Importers Council
Earlier Roles:
- Founder & CEO, April Broadcast Pvt Ltd
- VP Business Operation, Rolta India Ltd
- Sr. Divisional Director (GIS & Homeland Security) Rolta India Ltd
- CEO, Monarch Innovative Technologies Pvt Ltd
Bio
Spent half my career in Sales, Marketing & Business Development and the other half as an Entrepreneur. Over the past 30+ years, I’ve gained a good understanding of what works, and what doesn’t, for which type of product, service or company.
I’ve sold products, services & solutions across very diverse domains: Enterprise IT, Broadcast Video, Defense, Homeland Security, Packaging, eSecurity, Internet Services, Office Equipment, Social Media & Live Events.
Handled a variety of functional roles: Sales, Marketing, Digital Marketing, Business Development, Operations, Accounts, Finance, Production & HR.
Worked in various type of organisations: Family Business, own Start-up, Pvt Ltd Company, an Indo-French JV & a listed Public Company.
Led teams of all sizes from 4 to 400 and handled national & international business running into 100s of crores.
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