EPISODE #084

Why Small Teams Beat Industry Giants

With Guest Anand Sheoran

Why being the speedy problem-solver in a world of slow-moving giants could be your ticket to business growth

The How to Sell More Podcast

September 17, 2024

In this episode of "How To Sell More," host Mark Drager chats with Anand Sheoran, founder of Current Instruments. Anand breaks down how his two-year-old company is shaking things up in the world of industrial measurement.

He shares some real-world wisdom on why putting customers first isn't just a nice idea – it's the key to standing out in a crowded market. Whether you're running a tech start-up or selling to big factories, Anand's tips on building relationships and using LinkedIn smartly are gold.

Plus, he gets honest about the ups and downs of working with your spouse. It's a down-to-earth conversation packed with ideas you can use right away to boost your sales game.

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It's not about the numbers; it's about the quality of the call that matters. You can do just one call in a day, and then you can be really happy and satisfied. -- Anand Sheoran

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Listen to The Episode!

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Top 3 Reasons to Listen

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Learn how a small, agile company can outperform larger competitors: Anand explains how his six-person team's quick response time and personalized service give them an edge over slower-moving large corporations.

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Follow Anand Sheoran on Social

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Website: https://currentinstrument.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anand-sheoran/

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More About Today's Guest, Anand Sheoran

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Anand Sheoran is the founder and CEO of Current Instrumentation & Automation Inc., a 100% Canadian company based in Hamilton, Ontario. Established in 2022, the company specializes in providing customized solutions and integration services in the field of instrumentation and automation56.

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As a passionate leader in the industry, Anand heads a small, agile team that competes effectively with larger players. His expertise spans instrumentation, automation, level measurement, and engineering solutions. Anand's approach emphasizes customer-centric solutions and innovative problem-solving in industrial settings6.

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Current Instrumentation & Automation Inc. focuses on empowering clients through tailored instrumentation and automation solutions, with Anand at the helm driving the company's vision and operations7. His hands-on leadership style is evident in his direct involvement with clients and his commitment to delivering specialized services in Canada's industrial heartland.

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Key Takeaways

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Customer-centric focus is crucial for business success - Understanding customer pain points, prioritizing service, and maintaining a constant focus on customer needs are essential for differentiation and growth, especially in competitive B2B markets where responsiveness and quality of service can set a company apart from larger, slower-moving competitors.

Relationship building and employee training are vital for sales success - Shifting focus from mere visit numbers to building meaningful relationships, understanding customers' businesses, and providing comprehensive training to employees on customer understanding and relationship building are key factors in achieving sales success and customer satisfaction.

Leveraging LinkedIn as a powerful, free marketing tool - Consistently using LinkedIn to share valuable content, engage with the community, and build personal and company brands can lead to significant business growth and sales opportunities, despite being often overlooked by many professionals.

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A Transcription of The Talk

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Mark Drager: So I have a really special conversation and a really special guest today because one thing that I learned years ago—I'm lucky enough to have started my business back in 2006, and over the last 17 years, we've worked with hundreds of customers. We've worked in 29 different industries. And the thing with sales is, when you have hundreds of customers, it means that you've actually spoken to thousands of different business owners in different companies, in different industries. And one thing I’m going to share with listeners—a little secret—is that when you learn something in one industry or one vertical, and let’s say that you’re in engineering, and let’s say that engineering firm has grown through acquisition, and let’s say that engineering firm that’s grown through acquisition is finding that it’s really hard to bring all of the staff members from the different companies together into one culture. Now, when one engineering firm has seen this, and then you speak to the next engineering firm, and they’ve grown through acquisitions, and they’re having the same problems, then you speak to the next engineering firm, and it’s the same. As soon as you move out of engineering to somewhere else, but they have also grown through acquisition, and are also having the same challenges, you realize that what happens in one vertical or one industry is just as relevant in another vertical or another industry. But you come in and you look like a total genius because suddenly you are bringing something from one vertical industry to another.

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And so today, I’m lucky enough to have the founder and CEO of Current Instruments, Anand Sheoran, on the podcast because we are going to do a bit of a breakdown, a bit of a shakedown. I’m going to ask him some really personal and challenging questions. Is that what you promised to reveal to us, to the audience? You’re gonna open up your books, you’re gonna explain all of the trade secrets. Is that what you agree to, Anand?

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Anand Sheoran: Yes, I did.

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Mark Drager: Well, anyway, we’re gonna do a business real, anyway. We’re gonna do a real-world business case study, and we’re gonna break down how Current Instruments goes—they’re three years into the business. Wait, is that right? How far into business?

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Anand Sheoran: So this is our second year in the business.

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Mark Drager: So we are going to do a real-world case study. We’re going to shake down this business. We’re going to look at Current Instruments, at how they go about their business—they’re two years in—and what they have learned along the way so that we can pull these lessons out. We can apply them to our own companies, our own sales, and our own marketing teams. Anand, I want to really thank you for stepping up and being willing to jump on the podcast.

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Anand Sheoran: It’s my pleasure, Mark, and thanks for inviting me. That was a totally surprise call from you, and I was not expecting somebody to have me on the podcast this soon, early in my business venture. So I’m really happy—

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Mark Drager: I recruited you. I recruited you for this episode. So if you can, help us understand—what is it that you do, what type of companies or clients do you have, and what kind of services do you provide?

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah, sure. We are a highly specialized company in the technology world. So many people might not understand, but we work in B2B instrumentation, mostly specializing in measurement. Let’s give an example. Let’s say you have a tank, and you need a level measurement, like how much water, oil, or anything else, or even flour, is inside a tank. So we automate that. We also do flow metering, then there’s temperature measurement, pressure measurement, and gas detection. These are all essential parameters in any industry, to optimize the process, to get more throughput, and basically, to run their operations safely. So in a nutshell, we are an instrumentation company, and we help other companies like food and beverages, steel industries, chemicals, petrochemicals, and even building products. So plastic industries, water, wastewater, automobile-like any mining, you name it—any manufacturing industry. Wherever you see tanks and pipes and pressure and temperature, and almost every industry has these kinds of things. So we help them to make their process more efficient, improve their existing process, and make them more money.

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Mark Drager: So there are a lot of companies out there that do what you do. And so there are many local competitors, national competitors, and international competitors. There are people competing with you on the product side. There are people competing with you on the service side. Why do people pick you?

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah, that's a great question. And, I mean, it wasn’t easy to differentiate ourselves in the beginning, but in our space, there are so many instrumentation companies, but you really don’t find the good ones. but we didn’t look at the companies or competitors. We looked at our customers. So that’s how this story started. What are the pain points of the customer? What do they want? What are they really missing?

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In our B2B world, you know, things move slowly. Let’s say you’re dealing with a bigger, large company, and then their large company, things are moving slowly. But if they associate with another big company, then things move even slower. So, let’s say they partner with another big instrumentation company. They’re already slow, and the other company is also slow. So you mean slow plus slow is, you know.

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Mark Drager: Equals turtle.

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Anand Sheoran: And large companies, they have large projects, so they’re initially engaged with the larger companies, but then soon they realize that they’re not able to get service on time because the other large company also has a large customer base too. And when things start coming easy, you know, the service starts falling through the cracks, and customers—no one listens to the customer’s voice then, because the money is coming easy. So we started really focusing on the service side of the business. We saw that customers were really struggling. That’s why our approach was—even if you don’t have our products, we will service the product you are struggling with. And that made a huge difference in our growth since the beginning.

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Mark Drager: That’s a really good point that I don’t want to gloss over too quickly. Because when you are working with medium or larger organizations, as you mentioned, they tend to move fairly slowly. But when they need something, they need something. When something breaks, it’s very important. And if you are able to respond with better service, even slightly better, but with a faster response time, if you’re able to fix it the first time without having to be called back, if you have better QA—so if just simply your work has a better outcome—that is huge. One of the truths is, that the larger your organization, the more that you scale, the more bureaucracy, the more communications, the more structure, the harder it is. And so if you are a single person or a very, very small team, but exceptionally good, then you will win every single time if someone wants something done right and done fast, and they’re not so caught up in the brand. But in my experience—and I’m curious about in your industry—in my experience, the really small, one-person, two-person teams, they’re typically not that good. In fact, they might be great at their skill or great at their craft, but the reason they’re so small is that they’re maybe not great at communications or great at follow-up, great at admin, or great at other things. And so having a small, tight team that’s not too large, but also not too small, having that really right size is a huge competitive advantage. Is that where you play right now?

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Anand Sheoran: That’s correct, yes. So I started myself as just one person, then, you know, my best friend came in, and he took over half of my load. And then I started moving forward, taking the lead and not focusing on day-to-day tasks. So as a team, we are now six full-time people. We get together often just to talk about what went wrong how we can really improve and where we really shine so we can make that our strength and focus more on the strength part. We may not be able to change someone else’s approach, but we can change our approach to make things better. So I heard from the customers “your service tech did a great job” or “your technical specialist was really fast in responding to my questions,” that’s how I feel like, yeah, that’s our competitive advantage, I think.

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Mark Drager: And so, as it relates to growing your company, to generating new business as it becomes focused on delivery, you mentioned that you have an extreme focus on response time, doing what’s right for the clients. Are there a few lessons that you’ve learned along the way? Maybe there are some wins, but typically, the learning comes from times when things don’t go quite the way we were hoping they would. I’d be interested in hearing a story or two in terms of how you were able to figure this all out.

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah, so I’d like to highlight something from early in my career.—no one had told me in the beginning that relationships are really important. At that time, it was like, here’s the catalog, here are our products. Just go in, and visit the customers. Just visit, visit. The focus was more on visits. But when you’re focused on visits, you just build trust points. You don’t really add much value. And then your focus becomes, which is not really client-focused. It’s more self-centered—not thinking about the person you’re selling to. I think that was a huge mistake. And I still see many new salespeople making the same mistake—they really do not think about the customer. And I tell my team, to think 90% of the time about their customer, and then 10% of the time, when the time comes, think about which product would be right, which services or solutions would be right for the customer, where we need to improve. Think about that during that time, but 90% of the time, you need to keep thinking about your customers. Think about what problems they have, think about where their organization is going and what they’re struggling with, and where we can add value. Understand their business. So I think that was a big thing I learned later in my life. And then the second thing I want to highlight is the training part. Many organizations take training lightly, like, “Okay, you’re a sales guy, you go with the seasoned sales guy in the beginning, like one week, two weeks, and then you’re on.” That’s a good motivation in the beginning because, you know, that’s like your honeymoon period, and then the pressure starts coming to you. And you really don’t know how to handle this kind of pressure. So, product training, field training, those are all great. But beyond that, companies really don’t teach you to understand the customer, their personalities, and how to build relationships with them. I think that’s a huge part.

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Mark Drager: I’ve heard you say “understand the customer” about 10 times during this conversation, and that is a remarkable piece of insight. I mean, I can see why you’ve had a successful career when you were working for large companies. I can see why you chose to step out on your own, and why in the last two years you’ve been able to grow from being, you know, the sole operator, to a six-person team, and presumably, over the next three to five years, you’re going to continue to grow the company. I know how I go about understanding my customers. Did you create some kind of formula or some kind of approach? Do you have tips or tricks in terms of how you were able to better understand the customer’s problems, where their businesses are going, or what have you? Do you have an approach to that?

Anand Sheoran: Definitely, yes. To understand something, you really need to work hard. That’s the number one thing. You really can’t just leave the office and show up in front of the customer. You need to learn about them and pay some attention to what they really do—like just the basics, just going on their website, learning about them. Nowadays, you can go to meet Mark Drager, and you can find him on LinkedIn or any social media account, and you would know what Mark thinks based on the posts he likes or the type of content he shares. That’s a huge plus that wasn’t there years ago, but now salespeople can be really successful in a short time just by implementing a little preparation before making calls. It’s not about the numbers; it’s about the quality of the call that matters. You can do just one call in a day, and then you can be really happy and satisfied. You will not be happy if you do 10 calls, but your manager will be happy. Your CRM will look great. The top management will think, “Okay, this guy is doing awesome, like 100 calls in a month or week, whatever,” but who can tell the quality of the visits? That goes unnoticed.

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Mark Drager: You have a salesperson on your team?

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah, that’s my wife.

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Mark Drager: Okay, so when you’re checking up on her, on her activity levels, are you looking at the numbers? Are you looking at the time? Are you looking at the quality? How do you quantify that?

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Anand Sheoran: We, as an organization, really don’t focus much on numbers, so we may not be at that level right now. In fact, like I said, my wife, but also our inside people, technical specialists, or even a service person—they talk, and you will feel like they also have some sales qualities. They also care about the customer. They also listen to customers, not just fix the problem. So that kind of culture we are trying to create is that anybody you talk to in the organization will not direct you to “Okay, talk to that salesperson.” No, they can also help you out with whatever you’re looking for, or at least to a certain extent. That’s a huge plus point for us. And yeah, to your question, yeah, I do look at activity levels, but not in the CRM. I see it in front of my eyes.

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Mark Drager: And I think we talked a little bit about this before we hit record. I think you are a brave man for working with your spouse, and I know many entrepreneurs work with their spouses. I'd love the idea of my wife working for me, and she does not. So, I'm not sure if you can ever really lean on your spouse that much for like, "Hey, where's your activity report? I didn’t see it."

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Anand Sheoran: The beginning is always harder because it’s like a new phase you are entering as a husband and wife, and then there is really no line—this is our office time, and this is our home time. This is learning. Actually, there was no script for it, no formula that we had to follow this way. It’s like an everyday thing. Still, we mess up. Still. I mean, the more you say sorry, I think the better it is.

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Mark Drager: I've been with my wife for 24 years. We've been married for 19, and the last few years have been great because I've just been much quicker to apologize. I don’t know what I'm apologizing for most of the time, but I've been much quicker to apologize. And yeah, marriage...

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But that aside, I did cut you off. You were speaking about, originally, some lessons you learned along the way. And so, yeah, I think there was a third that you had in the hopper that I’d love to hear.

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah, the third one is a big one, which I ignored. And till now, I would say 95% or 99% of people ignore that. It’s free. It requires less effort, and it yields remarkable results. And you know what I'm talking about—I'm talking about LinkedIn.

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Mark Drager: I didn’t know where you were going with it. I was hanging on; I couldn’t wait to hear—LinkedIn. LinkedIn?

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah. I mean, until like five or six years ago, I had an account, and I made some connections and all that. But that’s all I was doing—just making these connections and doing nothing. And then, whenever we change jobs, you get a different position. That’s the only update I used to do.

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Mark Drager: Yeah, have you ever—I've heard people say, like, “Oh, I'm thinking about getting a new job. I better go update my LinkedIn,” like it’s this thing that they have to do every few years.

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Anand Sheoran: Yeah, and now I say, if I hire anybody, I say, LinkedIn is not optional. This is mandatory. This is the same as your sales goal or the same as talking to a customer. Here, you’re not talking directly, but you are talking to someone who is your potential audience. And it’s not just because we need more sales. Here, you’re building your brand. You’re creating a legacy; you’re creating your future. And LinkedIn is not charging anything—it’s free. Still, why not? But still, people don’t do it. But I’m fortunate—my team is getting much better. And then everybody’s mindset is always, “Oh, we need to do something. Share on LinkedIn. Share on this thing. We have this thing. Why not share?” It’s a free platform. Say something, share something. And because of that, we get lots of sales, too. Our business is growing...

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Mark Drager: So you have been able to attribute sales to stuff you're posting on LinkedIn?

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Anand Sheoran: Yes. And it’s hard to measure the success on social media. It’s not like you can say these many clicks, these many impressions, okay, you can see all that, but it’s not measurable in a way where you can directly link a click to a certain amount of business. This is like an ocean—the more you do, the more you get. But you have to share, not just products, features, and these things. You have to share your own thoughts, and you also have to share someone else’s. You also need to support other people in the community. You need to cheer for others. It’s not just about you; you are a part of that community. So be a voice, and you will see the results.

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Mark Drager: Does this come naturally to you? Do you tend to like social media? I know that you also do photography and a few other things, but does this just come naturally to you because you love all of this stuff, and it’s easier for you?

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Anand Sheoran: I don’t think so. I was not that outgoing or a social person, but I had to force myself. I said this is the right way to do it. Sometimes it’s not really that something comes naturally, but as you do it repetitively, it becomes natural. It becomes your nature. How you do something develops as you do it again and again. It becomes your nature. You become that person—that’s how repetitive things shape you. So, I thought this was the right thing to do. And it’s not just merely for making money or something. I think you’re sharing valuable stuff that’s going to help somebody. The customers are not only there just to buy a product; they’re also there to gain knowledge and learn something. And now, if you look at LinkedIn, there are podcasts, articles, blogs, videos, and leadership lessons, and those are all free. There’s a lot you can do on LinkedIn, but you have to be active. You have to invest some time there.

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Mark Drager: I just want to really dig into this, though. Are you confident that your customers—for example, a manager at a pulp and paper mill—are on LinkedIn doing their thing? They get connected with you somehow, through groups, or they see your content, or somehow they find you, and they’re spending time there. The reason I'm pointing this out is, I mean, I connected with you on LinkedIn. I believe in LinkedIn, you believe in LinkedIn, but our audience might be listening and thinking, “What are you guys talking about? What a waste of time.”

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Anand Sheoran: A lot of people do think that. I mean, you won’t find everybody liking the good things. It depends on where they are in their career. Someone might be retiring, or someone might not be interested in their career anymore. There are millions of reasons, millions of excuses, for people not to be active on LinkedIn.

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Mark Drager: So if you had to summarize what you believe is the most important factor in your success in growing your company from a revenue point of view and a sales point of view, what would you attribute that to?

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Anand Sheoran: If you ask me, the number one thing, it’s pretty simple. There’s no strategy or complex thing—just be in front of your customers, whether it’s in person or remotely. If you’re in front of the customer, keep your ears open. You will hear them, and if you hear them, that will lead to success. That’s simple. My rule is simple—just be in front of your customers and pay attention to them.

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Mark Drager: And this is such great advice. I mean, I think more people need to spend more time doing it. I think it’s fantastic advice.

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Anand Sheoran: Don’t think about numbers, like having these many visits. Have one, two, whatever. But if you spend more time with the customer, that’s how you build relationships. You spend more time and more attention, and then you build the relationship.

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Mark Drager: So I've been speaking with Anand Sheoran, who is the founder of Current, a Hamilton-based instrumentation company. I do have one final question for you. It’s a question that we wrap up every single conversation with. You may have already answered it, but let’s see if we can give it a shot. What would be your number one tip to help listeners sell more?

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Anand Sheoran: Stay consistent. Whatever you do, stay consistent. Do you want to see your customer? Stay consistent. Do you want to show up on social media? Stay consistent. Do you want to improve your knowledge? Stay consistent. You want to build relationships? Have consistent meetings.

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