Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu believes professionals from technical and scientific backgrounds can become better business leaders by doing something that may feel far removed from their expertise – making sales calls. In a recent post on X, Vembu advised engineers, scientists and doctors who move into business to spend time speaking directly with potential customers. He is basically saying they should be willing to face rejection, keep trying, and learn how difficult it can be to explain an idea to another person.
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“If you are an engineer or scientist or doctor turning to business, the first thing I would suggest is ‘Please go on a lot of sales calls, face rejection if necessary, but persist’,” Vembu wrote.
According to Vembu, talking to customers can improve communication because it forces people to explain their ideas in a way that others can understand. It can also change how they view the sales function inside a company.
“You will develop better communication skills as you realise that explaining your ideas is not so easy,” he said.
He also argued that repeatedly dealing with customers can create greater respect for sales professionals. For someone building a business, the experience can eventually translate into a better understanding of how companies actually operate.
“You will develop respect for sales people. You may even become good at business!” Vembu added.
His point is that selling is not something a company can simply avoid. “There is no such thing as a business without selling something. Sometimes the most obvious thing has to be said!” he wrote.
The post struck a chord with several users, who shared their own experiences of learning communication and sales through practice.
One user said they had called random toll-free customer care numbers across India for weeks to become better at handling different responses and explaining things clearly. Another said their previous experience in real estate, advertising sales and selling fire extinguishers had helped while building micro-SaaS products.
A separate user said rejection had helped them become more humble and patient while changing the way they approached success.
Vembu also warns businesses about rising AI costs
The sales advice comes as Vembu has also been speaking about the growing costs associated with the AI boom. In another recent post, he highlighted the sharp rise in memory prices and said it was making business increasingly difficult.
“For a long time, programming languages were designed with the assumption that memory is ‘free.’ That era has now ended,” he wrote.
Vembu argued that developers may need more memory-efficient programming languages and smarter compilers, particularly as AI workloads increase demand for computing resources.
He has also warned that the massive investment surrounding AI could create a market bubble, even though he remains positive about the technology itself.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
