HERALD: What is your field of speciality?
KANAN TANDI: A field of non-verbal communication (that indirectly encourages study of behaviour, expressions, body language and gestures). In layman’s term we can say, how a person behaves, talks ( voice pattern), uses his/her hands and body while talking, everything says something about them. We specialize in not only reading a person fully in few minutes but also train people on how to maintain their own gestures, postures and voice.
HERALD: Why settle upon a niche field?
KT: Firstly, it was my area of interest. World over companies are using these trainings to enhance the employee competency. Compared to developed countries , non verbal communication is yet to gain its importance as a strong tool in India. Keeping in mind the effects of body language in various industries are immense, we have chosen this field as this is field for tomorrow.
HERALD: How does your company help Goans. Example please.
KT: We have personality development course for locals, where in we cover a holistic approach to actually developing a person’s personality in terms of body language, expressions, networking skills, how to give striking first as well as lasting impressions, self motivation, dress sense, what to wear, make up and much more. We do this, by the help of various activities and video clips. After complition of training, he/she is given his/her before and after video clips to show the difference. Our students are from schools, colleges, entrepreneurs and homemakers. We keep on conducting focused group paid workshops.
HERALD: Who are your major customers?
KT: Our customer segment varies from school to corporate. We have delivered sessions for school students to top level management. Actually, the implications of this field are huge. If you are a five year old, we can teach you how to identify a bad person (a paedophile), if you are ten, we can teach you how to make new friends, if you are 15, we can teach you how to come out of peer pressure, depression and suicidal tendencies; if you are 20 we can teach you how to form an excellent first impression; if you 25 we can teach you how to deliver a good interview; if you are 30, we can teach you how to impress your client, and the list goes on till top management.
HERALD: What issues did you have to face when you thought of launching this company? Any help from government?
KT: I started as a freelancer and then joined BNI. And BNI helped me a lot in gaining the contacts and initial business. But thankfully, Goan market is a place where I can tell you, I felt virtually no difficulties at all. Given that almost all the departments have the purpose to fill up the form online, we didn’t have difficulties in registering the company as well as applying for the licenses.
When you ask about issues, the only issue that we faced is getting that one appointment with the companies, because when we say we are a body language training firm, they think, we deal with personality development and focus on skills like etiquette, communications and maintaining one’s posture. We are much more than that. We can train people on how to identify the right potential partner, how to have a successful negotiation, how to click with anyone instantly, how to do the sales without being pushy, and most important, deception detection.
HERALD: How do you see the Goan market for your product? Is there a demand for it?
KT: Currently trainings are available only in terms of verbal communication and motivational skills. But it is time to focus on “how to say” rather than “what to say”. If we do not know where we are lacking in terms of productivity, merely any training will not help. We on the other hand, sit with the in-charge and discuss the problems to offer them the best solution.
Future of “corporate training” is good as nowdays companies are trying new training areas which are actually beneficial for not only the employers but also the employees, Goan firms are really looking forward to trainings as a positive investment for the employees. So, yes, there is a good scope for corporate training in Goa.
HERALD: Security agencies and some corporates may require your help, but are they professional enough to take your services in Goa?
KT: We have approached few companies and casinos. As this is something very new in India, the team who will understand it’s value, will have the first movers advantage. We have a few early adopters though, for example, companies like Dyna Developers, Quadros motors, Rajdeep builders, Xtra Eye and Institutes like Agnel institute of Food Craft & Culinary Science in Goa with whom we have conducted sessions and there will be more. If you consider pan India we have bagged clients like SAIL, Air India, and recently Colorcon.
When we come to government departments, we deliver sessions for CISF, Goa and NISA, Hyderabad. Yes, We recently conducted a session for Goa Police on identifying deception during a normal conversation or interview. They were shown few celebrities and public figures videos of talking to public, journalist and the interrogator to make them understand the value of it in daily life decoding. The officers were from the Dy. SP level to IGP. The training was not only appreciated but also a suggestion was put forward to have the same training at Inspector’s level.
HERALD: How does it benefit an organisation to have its staff trained in this field?
KT: We offer various training topics like behaviour analysis, social and networking skills, emotional intelligence, core competency enhancement, selling skills, leadership, female power dynamics, trust building, customer handling, interview skills, body language decoding, team building, inter personal skills, employee behaviour. So, all these training areas are designed to improve employee’s performance. Imagine a company having all the employees performing equally good, wouldn’t that benefit the organisation in terms of productivity? To sum it up, investing in programs mentioned above, will save the organisation a lot of time, money and energy. We also customize our training according to the company’s requirement.
