Why Indian agencies face resistance to remuneration revision

𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭? On the surface, a client paying $10,000 per month looks great, but when you factor in: - Acquisition costs (sales + marketing) - Servicing costs (account management, support, delivery time) - Discounts or special terms - Retention/churn risk …you might realize that some clients are actually cost centers, not profit centers. This is why leading companies break down unit economics at the client level—not just at a product or company level. A few questions to ask yourself: - What is the true gross margin per client? - Do some clients take 5x the resources for the same revenue? - Which clients have the best lifetime value vs. acquisition cost ratio? - Are you optimizing for “logo count” or for profitable growth? The uncomfortable truth: Not all revenue is good revenue. Some clients drag down profitability, strain your team, and prevent you from serving your best-fit clients better. The opportunity: By analyzing client-level unit economics, you can: ✅ Spot high-value clients early and double down ✅ Identify “unprofitable” clients and reset terms—or let them go ✅ Improve pricing and packaging to align with true costs ✅ Build a healthier, scalable business model 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧: 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐮𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐭? 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭, 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴. #ProfitableGrowth #BusinessStrategy #RevenueVsProfit #ClientProfitability #ScalableGrowth #BusinessInsights #Leadership #coachishleenkaur #businesscoach #internationalbusinesscoach LinkedIn News LinkedIn News India LinkedIn for Small Business

True Motivation in Sales Roles In any sales job, real motivation does not only come from incentives or recognition, it comes from fairness, consistency, and trust within the organization. Whatever the compensation may be, it should always be disbursed on time. Equally important, policies must remain uniform for all employees, without bias or favoritism. Unfortunately, in many organizations across India, compensation structures and policies often vary from person to person. This inconsistency creates dissatisfaction, lowers morale, and directly impacts employee retention. As a result, organizations struggle to meet their goals and, ultimately, fall short of achieving their larger vision. For a company to truly grow, it must ensure transparency, equality, and fairness in its policies. Only then can employees remain motivated, committed, and aligned with the organization’s mission and vision. 🧠⏳⌛🪂

When considering investments in business, it is important to remember that they serve different purposes. Some investments build your future over years while others are based on gaining wins in a short period of time- Nidhi Jain Jain. 🔹 Long-Term Investments are investments that will continue to create value for you for years to come- setting up a plant, investing into machinery, opening a new sales office, building out a strong team. These are big commitments that lays the need for sustainable growth. 🔹Short-Term Investments are tactical investments- running a marketing campaign, seasonal promotions or short life initiatives to drive immediate sales. These yield faster time frames, but do not always have a lasting impact. Both are important. One secures the future and one drives the present. The art of business finance is about balancing them appropriately. In my next video I will take this a step further and show how Revenue, Cost & Investments connect into a simple Profit & Loss framework to see the whole picture.  Because the right form of finance is not just about growth, but about building leadership in business. 🚀 [Investments, Business, Purposes, Future, Wins, Long Term Investments, Short Term Investments, Value, Marketing, Growth, Team, Sustainability, Promotions, Initiatives, Impact, Finance, Balance, Pursuit of Finance and Leadership, Revenue, Profit, Skill Nexus Inida, Sales, Commitments] #Investments #Business #Purposes #Future #Wins #LongTermInvestments #ShortTermInvestments #Value #Marketing #Growth #Tearm #Sustainability #Promotions #Initiatives #Impact #Finance #Balance #PursuitofFinanceandLeadership #Revenue #Profit #SkillNexusIndia #Sales #Commitments

Most SMBs track revenue in silos - bookings in one sheet, billings in another, and cash flow left to finance. The result? Gaps between what’s sold, what’s billed, and what actually hits the bank. That’s where revenue waterfall modeling changes the game. A well-built waterfall model creates a rolling view of: a. Bookings: What’s been committed. b. Billings: When revenue is invoiced. c. Cash flow: When money lands. For sales ops, this means bridging sales and finance into one forward-looking framework. Done right, it: Gives leadership visibility into revenue timing. Improves cash planning for growth investments. Helps sales leaders course-correct pipeline targets before it’s too late. In India’s B2B services market, where delayed payments and unpredictable cash flow are common, this model isn’t just a forecast - it’s a lifeline. If you’re scaling, ask: Do your bookings, billings, and cash flow talk to each other - or are they still running in silos? #salesoperations #B2Bservices #forecasting #alignment #growth

“A 5× Pay Gap Is Not Cost-Arbitrage—It’s a Leadership Choice” We spent the last week finalising FY-26 compensation benchmarks for our clients. One slide has stayed on our desk: Same full-stack engineer, same experience, same OKRs Silicon Valley: USD 280 k Warsaw: USD 120 k Dubai: USD 110 k Bengaluru / Gurugram: USD 45 k The differential is not 10–20 %; it is 2.5–5×. “Cost-of-living” is no longer a credible explanation when the same talent pays global prices for education, devices, cloud credits and mortgages. For example, an Indian company—1200 people, >70 % of revenue from outside India—has decided the gap is no longer acceptable. May we: 1. Align every customer-facing role to the 75th percentile of global peer compensation, irrespective of geography. 2. Publish internal salary bands quarterly; no confidentiality clauses on pay ranges. 3. Grant ESOPs at a dollar-denominated strike price to protect upside from rupee volatility. 4. Decline contracts that cannot sustain the revised cost structure; talent is not a negotiable line item. We expect three push-backs: margin dilution, competitive under-cutting, investor resistance. Our view is simple: a business that relies on under-pricing its own people is a commodity in disguise. We can correct the market—or watch our best minds leave for those who will. Questions for fellow founders, CHROs, CFOs and board members: 1. Why do we benchmark Indian salaries to “local standards” when the output is priced globally? 2. If foreign system-integrators bill USD 100+ per hour for Indian talent, what prevents the Indian parent firm from doing the same? 3. Are we building national champions, or national staffing agencies with flag stickers? 4. When do we replace “cost-arbitrage” with “value-creation” in our investor decks? 5. Which single policy will you change this quarter to close your own gap? Please tag a leader who should join this conversation and share the one action you will take before 30 September. The next market leader will not be the firm that raises the most capital—it will be the one that refuses to under-value its own DNA. #GlobalWages #TalentFirst #PayTheIndianRate

Operating leverage is all about how a company’s costs behave. Some costs are fixed like rent, salaries, or machinery, and some are variable like raw materials. If a business has more fixed costs, it has high operating leverage. That means once sales cover the fixed expenses, profits can grow super fast. But the flip side is risk – if sales drop, losses hit harder. On the other hand, low operating leverage businesses have fewer fixed costs and more variable costs. Their profits don’t skyrocket in good times, but they also don’t crash badly in bad times. Think Netflix (high leverage) vs. a local food stall (low leverage). In short, operating leverage tells us how sensitive profits are to changes in sales. Let's decode........... #LinkedinIndia #India #leverage #finance #profits #company #operatingleverage #cost #capex #losses

Your Sales Team Should Be Industry Thought Leaders, Not Just Product Promoters I see too many B2B companies wasting their biggest credibility asset: employee expertise. Your sales leaders interact with 50+ companies annually in specific industries. They see market patterns, operational challenges, and strategic trends that even industry analysts miss. Yet most companies treat their sales team like walking brochures instead of market intelligence goldmines. The typical approach (that doesn't work): ❌ "GCCs are growing rapidly in India and we're here to help!" ❌ "Manufacturing is evolving-let us support your digital transformation!" ❌ "Healthcare faces challenges-our solutions can address them!" What smart companies do instead: They position their sales leaders as industry intelligence sources. Example: Instead of generic GCC promotion, their sales director posts: "The GCC explosion in India is creating a perfect storm most companies aren't prepared for: Short-term challenge (6 months): Talent acquisition bottlenecks. Demand for skilled developers grew 340% while supply increased only 80%. Companies face bidding wars inflating salaries 40-60% above market. Medium-term challenge (12-18 months): Operational complexity from distributed teams. Most companies set up GCCs thinking it's just cost savings, then realize they're managing complex cross-cultural operations without proper frameworks. Long-term challenge (2-3 years): Retention crisis. Early GCC employees become flight risks as competitors poach them with 50%+ salary bumps. Companies built around specific individuals face massive knowledge drain. Here's what the most successful GCC setups are doing differently..." The strategic difference: ☑️ Generic posts position you as a vendor chasing trends ☑️ Intelligence posts position your people as advisors who understand market realities Your sales team already knows: Which challenges keep prospects awake at night What operational mistakes they see repeatedly Which strategic approaches work vs. fail How economic pressures are changing priorities This isn't just content marketing-it's strategic positioning. The compound effect: Prospects follow your employees for market intelligence Your team becomes the go-to source for industry perspective Sales conversations begin with "I saw your post about..." You attract higher-quality prospects who view your team as experts Your people are sitting on market intelligence gold. Help them share it strategically. What industry insights is your sales team capturing that could position them as thought leaders? #B2BMarketing #ThoughtLeadership #SalesStrategy #EmployeeBranding #IndustryExpertise #MarketIntelligence

For many service-based SMBs in India, sales targets and financial forecasts often run on two separate tracks. Sales teams chase quotas, while finance teams wrestle with unpredictable cash flows. The result? Planning mismatches, delayed investments, and unnecessary working capital stress. This gap can be closed by designing a Quota-to-Cash framework - a structured approach where sales targets directly inform cash flow forecasting. Here’s how Sales Operations can make it work: ⦁ Integrate pipeline data with finance models so that deal stages and expected closures translate into realistic inflow timelines. ⦁ Factor in payment terms and collections while setting sales targets to avoid inflated revenue projections. ⦁ Create visibility across functions by aligning sales, finance, and delivery teams on what targets mean for actual liquidity. ⦁ Build rolling forecasts where targets are continuously updated against collections and customer payment behavior. When quota-to-cash alignment is done right, SMBs don’t just chase top-line targets - they create predictable cash cycles, reduce financial risk, and unlock growth capital with confidence. This isn’t just financial hygiene - it’s a growth enabler. #salesoperations #SMBs #misalignment #visibility #growth

🌐 NLB Services Makes a Strategic Leap into GCC-as-a-Service NLB Services has announced its entry into the GCC-as-a-Service business, aiming for a $200M revenue milestone in the next 5 years. To lead this ambitious journey, the company has appointed Abhilash Raghavan as Chief Business Officer (CBO). With a strong background in building and scaling global capability centres, Abhilash is set to accelerate NLB’s growth in sectors like Fintech, BFSI, Retail, and Pharma. This expansion marks a major step in strengthening NLB’s global footprint with upcoming operations in India, North America, Asia, the UK, and Europe. 🔗 Read more:  https://lnkd.in/gwTfxaTW #Leadership #GCC #BusinessStrategy #GlobalExpansion #NLBServices #AmazingWorkplaces #LetsCreateAmazingWorkplaces #9PillarFramework #9PillarFrameworkofAmazingWorkplaces #workplace #surveyandcertification #certification #employeesurvey #pulsesurvey #employerbrand #employerbranding #culture #leadership #awards #HR #HumanResource #HumanResources #employeesatisfaction #DiverityEquityInclusion #Diversity #Inclusion #BestPractices #Learninganddevelopment #employeegrowth

🚀 Big Business Moves = Big Sales Opportunities A few headlines from today that got me thinking: • Maruti Suzuki India Limited slashes car prices by up to ₹1.29 lakh under new GST 2.0 — small cars now come at much friendlier rates. • FMCG giants like P&G, Emami & HUL are passing GST benefits to consumers: essentials like soap, shampoo & baby-diapers are now cheaper. • India’s Finance Minister urges businesses: Invest now, scale up. The policy slack is loosening up. • ₹5,700 crore project to build the first private strategic petroleum reserve private sector leading big in infrastructure & security. What’s common in all of these? Value, timing & scale. From a B2B sales + tech perspective, these shifts tell me: ✅ Customers will expect value—not just features. Savings + price benefit will help close more deals. ✅ Operating efficiently (or offering solutions that help costs go down) will be a selling point. ✅ Policy & regulation matter more than ever—if you align with govt reforms, there's momentum you can ride. ✅ Big infra / energy / automotive sectors are getting active. That means new business for services, cloud infrastructure, supply chain tech. My takeaway: in 2025, if you want to win in sales / consulting / tech, you must be not only product-oriented but economics-oriented. If you’re working in B2B or tech: What move are you making today to align with these shifts? 🔖 #B2BSales #BusinessTrends #GSTReform #PolicyImpact #ValueSelling #TechConsulting #Opportunity