FARUKH SHAIKH

• B2B Sales & GTM Strategy: Owned end-to-end B2B sales cycle — prospecting, qualification, proposal, negotiation,
closing — across the US, UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. Executed multi-channel GTM
through outbound prospecting, referrals, and direct enterprise sales to brands, agencies, media production
companies and commercial photographers and 3D artists.
• CRM & Pipeline Management: Designed and operated a CRM-based pipeline system covering lead generation,
opportunity tracking, sales forecasting, and performance analytics to drive consistent conversion improvement.
• Deal Negotiation & Vendor Governance: Independently negotiated and closed multi-year enterprise contracts,
governed a global vendor/supplier network with SLA compliance and quality benchmarking across sales, production,
quality and accounts.
• Cross-Cultural Client Relationship Management: Established and sustained client relationships across six
international markets, navigating diverse business norms and decision-making hierarchies to earn repeat mandates
and position the company as a trusted partner, not just a transactional vendor.
• Team Building & Talent Development: Recruited and developed dedicated sales, retouching and quality-check
teams; built SOPs & training programmes that measurably improved conversion, turnaround time & quality output.

• Digital Marketing & Revenue Growth: Grew print and digital subscription revenue by 20-25% YoY through SEO
strategy, CMS optimisation, and social media engagement, diversifying income across subscriptions, advertising,
and crowdfunding.
• Brand Positioning & Audience Growth: Scaled the magazines digital transformation and multi-channel visibility,
establishing The Companion as a credible national voice in student media.
• Programme Development: Pioneered Campus Journos, a scalable student-led contributor programme spanning
institutions across India and abroad, expanded editorial capacity while reducing production costs.
• Team & Stakeholder Leadership: Built and institutionalised the Editorial Board and contributor pipelines;
maintained stakeholder relationships across academia, policy, and community networks to amplify brand reach.

• Consultative Sales & Client Acquisition: IRDAI-licensed consultant; analyzed client financial goals and risk profiles to close advisory-led sales of Life Insurance and ULIP products.
• Retention & Referral Growth: Achieved client retention materially above team benchmarks through proactive advisory, policy reviews, and systematic referral cultivation.

• Inside Sales Excellence: Earned rapid promotion by exceeding daily, weekly, and monthly targets for a US market with a conversion rate above team average; later transitioned into US-based payroll processing operations with 100% accuracy and compliance.
• Sales Coaching: Facilitated mock-calling sessions for trainees, improving cold-calling confidence, objection handling, and call-to-close efficiency.