My ‘Imcrede’ble Experience Part 1

Frustrated with my present job which was not at all challenging and had me sitting only at one place and banging on the keyboard, I decided to quit my job and sought refuge at my childhood friend Vimalesh’s own company, Imcrede Solutions. He was my friend right since we were in 1^st grade and we were the thickest of the friends and knew each other in and out. I happened to ask him if there was any vacancy in his company and incidentally, he was also searching for a marketing guy and had put up a requirement for the same in newspapers and job sites. Since our friendship went a long way back, he was aware of my engagements with my vocal cords and my interactions with people coupled with the diplomacy that I exhibited during the interactions. He was quite confident that I would play the role decently, if not the best. The work that he had offered to me was both, a challenging one and also a good medium by which I could gain experience in interacting with clients on a one on one basis.

My first day at work was something which I can never forget. I always had it in mind that though Vimalesh was my friend, I was indebted to him because he gave me a chance to work with him when I had nothing with me. For that matter, he had given me the choice as to what job would I like to do instead of predefining my responsibilities. He took me to his office and introduced me to his colleagues and employees. As it was my first day, I was shown their work culture, the basic and important documents, clients and their contacts, the works that they have been doing at Imcrede and so on. Throughout everything, I couldn’t help noticing that Vimalesh was no longer the person I had known. He had changed a lot. He was very friendly yet clear with his intentions and requirements and from what I could grasp, he was a shrewd businessman. He treated his employees as if they were his own long lost friends. The creative designers who happened to be his friends did actually fit the title and their creativity was par description.

 Initial few days were my revision lectures in which my colleagues helped me with the facts about marketing, what is it all about, the ethics and etiquettes to be adhered to while having interactions, the Do’s and Don’ts of marketing and so on. I was enjoying all this considering we were having demo sessions and mock client interactions with employees I had not interacted with, at all. I was so brilliant with all of them that I got over-confident about myself, though Vimalesh, who knew that I do get carried away soon, made me aware that it’s a human tendency to be relaxed in home atmosphere but it is not the same onsite albeit he never meant to discourage me. Despite his cautioning words, I was feeling like the Tendulkar of Business Development but little did I know that I would actually be the Sreesanth on field.

Then came the day when my first client meeting got scheduled. Vimalesh said that he would accompany me though he would let me do the talking. I was super excited till the time he said he would accompany me. The moment I got to know this, I got apprehensive. All my over-confidence went for a toss even before we could leave for the meet. It was as though I had become Bruce Almighty for a few hours and suddenly all my powers were lost when Vimalesh said he would accompany me. I was quiet throughout the journey which never seemed to end, with Vimalesh speaking to me to make me relaxed and cracking jokes about his past experiences to lighten up the atmosphere but in vain. At the same time, I was determined not to let him know that I am nervous, though he was smart enough to conclude it. At the penultimate second, I got to hear the golden words from him. “Do you want me to talk to him as this is your first time and you could grab some knowledge too, just by plainly listening to us”?