We spoke to Sayantan Mookherjee, founder of 221B Baker St. in an interview with MostPopularStories.
Cyan(Sayantan) comes from a family of stock experts and he was always inclined to sales & entrepreneurship. His understanding of global politics & economy has made him a part of top organizations and business ventures. Today Cyan mentors startups and provide management, sales & technical solutions to companies.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an
entrepreneur
On a cold morning in January 2015, I survived a near-fatal accident, overcame a sciatic nerve transplant, and over 100 stitches, and a year later in 2016, 221 B Baker ST. was born.
Am a big fan of behavioral sciences and try to recognize patterns out of anything. This has helped me to give birth to the idea of EQ based B2B Liaison Service, which helps in generating Highly Qualified Sales Opportunities for diverse industry verticals like SaaS, Chemicals to Light Sports Aircraft Manufacturer from four continents.
I’ve previously been one of the youngest Operations Manager in Wipro Technologies handling 64 accounts with quarterly revenue targets around USD 16.5 million and propelled franchisee business across 8 states in just 4 months with a base ticket value of 500K USD for Telehealth Major GoTelecare from NYC.
I’ve been nominated by SBI for Youth for India Program and Commonwealth Scholarship and have chaired the Jury for Regional Hult Prize and Tata Social Enterprise Challenge.
I spend my leisure time with pets, learning strategies from football (Força Barça ! ), and mentoring Inside Sales Team and promising startups.
2. Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Good question. I was not getting the freedom to implement my ideas while working for other organizations. Entrepreneurship seemed the only silver bullet left at that point
3. What was the vision behind it?
The society always looks down upon the sales role.
B2B sales roles are still time-warped in cold calling although numerous technologies/platforms like LinkedIn have sprung up.
However, I have seen Sales reps dialing 80-100 cold calls daily and facing 90 percent and above rejections all the time which creates a soul-sucking experience.
Hence we thought to put a thinking cap on B2B Sales and transform it into a more intelligent and less exhaustive job.
4. Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what
way they are unique?
Our clients range from cutting edge SaaS platforms to a Light Sports Aircraft Manufacturer. We understand our client’s product thoroughly and find the exact keywords which map the features of the product. Using those keywords, we try to map the buying intent of the potential buyers of those products, triangulating companies, and relevant decision-makers.
Finally, we investigate what those decision-makers are thinking through their official social media posts on LinkedIn/ Blogs/ website and we customize every marketing message of our clients to them. This reduces the sales cycle by at least 38 percent.
5. What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
Finding the right talent has been the primary pain point for us so far. The pandemic situation, however, has helped us in a way as many talented individuals are now looking for jobs since layoffs have happened across the globe.
6. How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I do not overthink and try to keep a clean logical head. Secondly, I look upon the bigger picture and not get distracted by petty issues.
Last but not the least, a hug from my pets, and watching football on weekends keeps me sane.
7. How do you market your business?
You might be surprised by my answer: we spend zero money on advertising on Social Media Ads or on SEO. The clients have been our ambassador and the persistent hard work of our team members for the last 5 years has created a good name in the market.
8. How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
16- 18 hours 5 days a week. I divide my day into 3 quarters.
The first quarter of the day is allocated for answering queries of my team members and strategizing plans. The second quarter in overseeing recruitment plans and handling client calls. The final quarter is spent on answering all the emails of the day!
9. In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Persistent smart work, strict discipline, and keeping an open mind for learning from every aspect of life.
Keeping an open eye for innovation/ business strategies and new technologies evolving every day. Lastly, humility is the major key as we are just a speck of dust in this universe.
10. What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
You need to find out about which business problem you are personally passionate about.
Diligently find out what’s the market demand for that business problem and try to customize your solutions accordingly.
Focus on hiring, training, and creating a great team as that’s the highway to the success of your organization. Never compromise on the moral fiber as well.
Put yourself in the shoes of the customers as well as employees and listen to them diligently.
Lastly, the battle is long so spend your time in a constructive hobby/ habit and workout as much as possible.
Connect here,
Website:http://www.twotwo1bbs.com
Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyan-mookherjee-90510
Also read,