Memoir....Musings of a Sales guy at heart!!

Never say Die!!

Episode 11.

Friends, i know many a guys scaling new heights from a very humble 'sales jobs'! The first quality for a salesman is to be 'pushy'. He is the one who would not take 'no' for an answer! He would start his day by asking his customer 'how's the day?' and would complete the question with 'isn't the day beautiful'. He would not give a chance to the customer to say anything -ve! (Many a times, from what I had experienced, when you ask a customer how's business,  the answer would be 'not great'. You get stuck with such kind of answers. When the customer says its not good, you can't counter him by some weird answers or examples). So, A true salesman believes in building relationship with the customer and even with his consumers. He would ensure the relationship he builds is maintained irrespective of his relocations. 'Net working' is very important for him. He would be 'passionate' about his products. He would believe that he has to walk the talk!! Can you imagine a Coke guy drinking Pepsi or vice versa? He would never talk ill of competition brands but would always convey that his brands are a notch above! He would learn all the intricacies of his product and keeps throwing his knowledge during his sales pitch. This is to ensure that customer's interest is kept alive. He would be 'action oriented'. He has to be in the thick of action! Man on roller skates! He wants to see his volume, facings, depletions going up in every account he handles!! He would deliver his promises. Against all odds!! For him 'deliverance' is key. 'Never say die' is his mantra!! He would never give up!!! 

Sharing here a real life experience on 'Never Say Die'... 

This happened in 90/91. It was Diwali time and the market was Tamil Nadu in India. The situation was that TASMAC, distributors of adult beverages in TN, subsidiary of TN Government, was to release an order for BP Gold, a product we just launched, but the MD of TASMAC was not in HQ and order cannot be released without his signature. And we were desperate and have to get MD to get this order signed. Those days there was no mobile or internet facilities (only telex machines). We deliberated and with some luck on our side, found out from MD's office his travel itinerary. We figured out that the MD was to take a particular train from Trichy to Tirunelveli that night, that originates from Chennai. Series of discussions on how to get the job done without upsetting the apple cart. Our sales manager, opted to take the same train originating from Chennai and travel in the 1st A/C coach which the MD would board at Trichy and make it to look as 'coincidence' and request the MD whether he could give him an appointment next day morning at Tirunelveli!. All went off well till the MD saw him while boarding the train at Trichy. The MD, a smart IAS officer, immediately realised it was not a 'coincidence' and was a plot. He called him to his coupe and probed him. Our sales manager, didnt want to bullshit him and told him that he was desperate for this order as he has given commitment to his bosses and the stocks have to hit the depots ahead of Diwali for him to get it to the retail. He also confided in him that there was no way he could wait for one more week for the MD to come back to HQ. MD of TASMAC was overawed by this guys commitment and told him to see him next day first thing in the morning at Tirunelveli in TASMAC office. Our guy could not sleep whole night and at sharp 9 'o'clock he was there to meet up with the MD. The moment MD saw our friend, he called the GM of TASMAC in Chennai, on phone, and requested  him to release the order immediately. My guy was speechless! The MD, summoned all his colleagues in the Tirunelveli depot, narrated the whole story, paid all the accolades to my sales manager and told everyone that how our company set standards in terms of commitments to numbers and perseverance. This is a true story and you can call KS Raghavan on +919840771486 and he would be too glad to share with you his experience and how he felt when MD released the order on phone!!! 

The learning here is 'never ever give up'! Always look for ways to get things done and not for excuses for non-performance. And do not be apologetic!! We need to confide in our customers how important is his contribution to our business!!! 

 Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode (10)

Madurai Days...

With a heavy heart and without any understanding of Madurai market, I left Salem and reached Madurai, the Temple City.

Madurai is a different kind of place compared to other places in TN. Difference in terms of everything. A city that never sleeps.  ''தூங்கா  நகரம்''. 24x7 food is available and people on the move. The reason being that Madurai is the trading center and right from Cumbam people come to Madurai for trading purpose. Also one of the biggest attraction is the Meenakshi Temple...such a huge temple with a very rich heritage and culture.

And people are so lovable and affectionate. I reach Madurai and after a couple of days in a hotel, move to SS colony. A single room on the second floor of an independant home. My first floor neighbor was a lady-Tamil-Citizen of Malaysia with her son and daughter to pursue their studies in Madurai..(could not understand why from KL to Madurai for studies)..and the second floor was just a room with huge terrace but for bathroom and toilet I have to climbdown and use the facilities at the ground floor. The owner of the place also ran a flour mill (for Dosa and idli atta) facility at the ground and on top of it another room where Kumar of Sandoz was staying....

That's the time TN has opened up further the liquor trade. They had given license to around 7 or 8 wholesalers and also opened up the retail trade to private. So its action time. My WS in Madurai was catering the entire Madurai (Dindigul included) district, Ramnad (Virudhunagar included) and Tirunelveli district. The Madurai WS was of MSR group and in Nagercoil the WS was of Nallaperumal and Sons...

MSR group-in 81, were well entrenched in Yanam and Pondy and slowly getting in to AP.  Madurai Ambika Wines was their foray into alcohol business in TN. While the chains were pulled from Chennai and Nellore, the operation in Madurai was managed by their trusted employees but all are from AP. Nandakumar, Venkatram and Prabhakar Reddy. MSR was known for his loyalty to the UB group. 

Shankaran my boss, did a decent induction for me but the focus again was more on Dipys as we had lots of issues. HL just changed the distribution in Madurai from Meenakshi Agencies to Amaran Traders. We had distributors everywhere...Dindigul, Rajapalayam, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and also in Nagercoil.

Its similar for Dipys like any other place in TN (Coimbatore and Chennai were exceptions). Tough market conditions added to that was the change in distribution. Amaran, my distributor, young guy and after his graduation, his dad pushed him to get in to distribution. He used to live in Aruppukkottai and come to Madurai by bus-an hours journey. Very sweet guy and absolutely had no clue about distribution. So, I have to start from ground zero again...but I had good distributor in Rajapalayam (Gnanam-very enterprising and friendly distributor) and Mani in Nagercoil. So first couple of months on market familiarisation. I realised I have to get maximum from KK district as due to its Kerala influence, the awareness was better on food stuff and also people were used to jams, squashes and sauces. Kodaikanal was good for this category but didnt contribute much to Dipys. Rajapalayam was also decent due to Gnanam. Tirunelveli was quite tough. Ramnad was small and the only market we could sell some was Virudhunagar. Barring KK district rest of the areas really sizzle during summer time. 

I had a good start there. Professionally, I had to get the numbers done on Dipys and used the same strategy ie 20:80. Targeted the biggies and hotels for Dipys. Pandiyan, ITDC, TTDC, Madura Club et al supported me very well for Dipys range. I got a long term deal done with Kodai school, Kodaikanal Club in Kodai and Meenakshi agencies there. The problem with Meenakshi was delayed rather very delayed, payment but we managed it well. When in Chennai, I got to know of the very fizzy and great concoction called 'cricket' a soft drink, served in MCC. It was a mix of Orange squash with Limca. Tastes great! I, kind of introduced this concept in the clubs in Madurai and Kodai. This clicked there and paved way for Dipys orange squash. Also Sweet corn did well, surprisingly. I appointed door to door sales girls for Freedom in Madurai and Nagercoil and made them to give discount coupons to the homemakers for redemption in select retail on our Dipys range. This worked very well in both the places especially in Nagercoil. There was a retailer by name Veta Stores where I introduced this scheme and got a big push from him. Also in KK district places like Thakkalai and Marthandam I used the same strategy of Salem and pushed good quantity of Freedom in the hospitals there (Marthandam had around 4 or 5 polyclinics in 2 kms vicinity) and with that pushed Dipys in their canteens. Caught hold of a ship chandler-Cashmere Fernandes-in Tuticorin and got consistent business from him. Very unassuming customer and the shop situated in the midst of the vegetable market. He had his own way of pushing stocks in to the ships and despite competition from biggies like Alankar and Zeenat International. I played a lot with my liquor giveaways and it clicked. In Tirunelveli I got good support from Kavitha Stores. I developed some loyal and good customers for Dipys across all the districts. Some markets where it was waste of time, I ignored them. Also Dipys had, apart from Squashes, syrups too. Their rose syrup was world class but sadly Kissan and Rex along with Roof Afsa were the prefered brands. But later I realised Syrups were just flavours and today I dont waste my money on flavoured drinks...this awareness was missing with consumers those days and exploited fully by the brand owners like Rasna and Tang. Today's consumers are well informed thanks to the media.

Also Dipys ATL budget was zylch and hence heavily dependent on customer relationship and push strategy. As mentioned earlier, I exploited my 'liquor guy' tag very well in these markets too to gain confidence and entry in to retail shelves. It was quite tough as I was covering geographically a big market. But never got tired of travelling. I used to cover Nagercoil ex Madurai and return same day. Morning take the 5am bus, reach Nagercoil around 1030-11, finish the work by 6 and take the evening bus and come back by 12 midnight. As mentioned earlier, food was never a problem in Madurai, the city that never sleeps!!!

I realised very soon that HL was losing out in liquor in Madurai due to maximum of our time getting consumed with Dipys. So, I motivated the distributors to push Dipys and just managed the key outlets for Dipys myself. 

My task was to get entrenched with Ambika wines the WS for my market. It was tough as none of them spoke Tamil and also.very bossy. There was a guy in Phipsons, my name sake, who was able to get things done with them. Also Krithi and Shekar from McD, Kannan from MBDL gave me a good fight. This is where I met Krithi, Shekar and Kannan. (Sadly Kannan died at a very young age). Krithi's family became very close to me and so as Shekars. Shekar was Krithis boss. Krithi, despite being in McD used to work very hard.  I figured out the Phipson guy's closeness with the Ambica guys were due to the liquor parties thrown by him so I decided to do it differently. By the time, due to some issues I faced with the landlord and especially with one of his children, I shifted to a nearby place in SS Colony itself which was in the first floor of an independent building belonging to a Dr. It had a bedroom, attached bath and also a nice drawing room with a huge terrace both in the front and back. Very ideal for parties and the owners had absolutely no issue with visitors and parties. So, I organised for a get together with the Ambica guys and it turned out to be the mother of all parties. The beauty of the party was, I served JW Red Label (the bottle was that of JW but liquid was substituted by me and no one noticed it!) and the food I ordered from Arulanandam mess which was quite popular for their non veg. As the Andhrites were fond of rummy, I organised a card session too!! I also pulled in some of my friends to help me out and the party went on till 3 in the morning and some of these guys stayed back and slept in my place. Instant bonding, the purpose of the get together, was achieved in one night!!! 

So got Ambica thing cracked but I have to crack the market and the retailers. The system worked differently. In the morning time till around 1, retailers would arrive at the WS office and all the sales guys would swarm them the moment they arrive. Ambica had an indent sheet and the sales rep would grab literally the retailers by their side and would start pushing their products. And most of these guys had their second in command to manage things in the market. But I was all alone and had to manage both at the WS and also at the retail. So, I have to do something and fast also. So I approached MSR at Chennai and told him this practice of indent filling by reps, helping Shaw Wallace a lot and if he doesn't stop it, the loser would be UB group. I somehow hammered this point very strongly and he immediately passed a directive that no sales guy should be allowed inside the WS and can only come in the afternoon to collect sales figures. This strategy of mine helped me immensely as I was a market oriented guy and was confident that I can manage it better in the marketplace. While I could pull Bagpiper to No.1 position in its category it was quite tough for Honeybee except Kanyakumari. So I have to do something and get some numbers for HBB and hence exerted lots of pressure on my bosses for a scheme-first time in the trade. It was a 11 cases 1 case free and of this 3 cases has to be HBB. KC Kapoor was the GM Sales and he made the scheme a very complex one but somehow I convinced MSR to contribute from his WS margin and introduced the scheme with Ambica. The competition was shocked but by the time they came in to terms and came out with their own versions, I had a head start and the very first month HL crossed two truck loads in Madurai which was a big number for HL. And HBB was 250 cases out of that. I have to compromise on the HBB combo with some key retailers as otherwise I would have lost BP too. But finally the scheme was a huge hit but it was for a short duration only. But this helped as the retailers gave a big push which created awareness. But next couple of months there was utter chaos with all and sundry coming out with their own versions of 10+1 and MSR called me to discuss this and was given a nice dressing down by him for being the culprit of this 10+1 version. I played my cards well and requested him to ban these kind of offers and he obliged...so this 10+1 was scrapped immediately. So WS became peaceful and this paved way for companies to think differently and come out with something different. We introduced the monthly scheme circulars and settlements directly from the company. And HL was always prompt in settling the market claims. Shankaran my FSO helped me a lot in getting the claims passed at the branch office level. Things have started working well. I also worked out a dealers get together, first of its kind, in Madurai. Navratan Dugar, joined HL as RM and Tomy was his assistant. Abraham left HL. That get together became talk of the town for other reasons. The dealers got drunk and completely gone out of control with food plates flying around and people falling in the swimming pool. Dugar and Tomy ran for cover and I have to cut a sorry figure. But the silver lining was the next day my key customers felt so guilty and the next few indents topped HL brands (!). After seeing this fiasco most of the companies decided to keep away from dealers get together.

So many learnings and interesting episodes...

to be contd.....

Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode (9-B)

 Salem is well known for its small eateries. My stay was at the center of the city. Just 5 minutes walk from Salem Town station and it had few wonderful food joints around. Krishna Bhavan, with authentic Udupi cuisine, Siva sakthi Vinayaka Kantha (what a name) a pure local veg joint, Vilwadri Bhavan (authentic brahmin cuisine), Modern Vysya hotel, Malabar cafe (the best ghee roast I have ever eaten in my life) and above all the road side eateries-its known as 'kai yendhi bhavan'-one has to stand and eat here...hold the plate on hand and you would be served and hence this name) in Sevvapet. Great non veg food. The rep community and the traders would visit this place after finishing their work ie after 10pm...this place would be buzzing till early hours. Movies were another major attractions those days but for us, night shows only. In theaters where the Hollywood movies were shown-outside on the wall-there would be a synopsis of the movie-written in Tamil for those who watch the movies only for its 'stuff'. Also Salem theater guys were known for their quirky translation of the hollywood movies titles in Tamil...for example Its hot in Paradise was translated as 'சொர்கத்தில் சூடான சுந்தரிகள்' means hot women in heaven....Dirty harry was translated 'அழுக்கு ஹரிஹரன்' ....

The best thing to happen to me in Salem was the kind of guys I got acquainted with and many who became my friends. I met Raman first time in Salem in 81. We are friends for the past 40 years. Raman used to be based at Chennai and his territory included Salem..he was with Blue Star, looking after their Nikhita gas stoves Jana from Voltas-great guy-we are still in touch, Jairam from Elder pharma, Ramesh of Biological E, Ramesh of Colgate, PRC of German Schering, Ramani from Micro labs, Srinivasan, Mushtaq hassan, Murthy of Canara bank, my roommate Soori (lost touch with him...if anyone knows pl let me know), Chandrasekar of Hindustan Lever-still in touch, Sundaresan of Popular Tyres, Selvaraj and Raghu from Godrej...(What a great guy he was...gone at a very young age), Kalyan of Alembic and Ramanathan(anna to all of us) of RCI....Raghu moved to Salem from Chennai and initially it was all alien for him. He was in Godrej office furniture division. Very smart and a cricketer too. Never used to touch alcohol but Devaprakash changed him. His family members became very close to me too. When I was in Chennai between 83-86, most of my Sundays would be at his home in Anna Nagar. Lovely family. One incident I have to quote here...on one of the lovely Sundays, after lunch in his home, we were chatting and the phone rang (only land line and no mobile those days)..As i was sitting closer to the phone, I took it and said "this is Varadha's residence'....everyone burst in to a huge laughter...that was the time Nayakan was released and Kamal Hassan played the role of Varadha, the don. Raghus fathers name-Varadhachary.....

The typical evening in our lodge would be assembling in Ramesh's room around 6 for our rummy session. This was almost every day. Strangely at the entrance of the lodge a guy would park himself  and his bicycle at the side-selling booze, all brought in from Pondy. He was our liquor supplier (I mentioned to you that liquor was only for permit holders in supermarkets). It was knockout games always with decent stakes. But lots of fun, free flow of alcohol and great food. Week ends the sessions would go on till wee hours.

The pharma guys way of working was different. They have certain norms in terms of no of doctors visit per day. Unlike the FMCG guys, pharma guys never bothered about competition-dont know why and hence they would combine their market/doctor's visit by hiring a cab and making 40 to 50 calls in two days time and the rest of the week would Work From Room (WFR instead of WFH now). The cost of travel is shared and hence its not out of pocket for them. Also the pharma MNCs were known for fat paypacks. But for the Sales reps things were not that good. One has to really slog it out as there were daily targets to achieve and also activities, distributors stock and sales report, spot selling et al. And it is very difficult to combine few markets also as the the universe is larger than pharma. Another factor is the pharma guys need not visit the chemists as that would be, in most cases, taken care by the wholesalers. 

I used to visit Vellore twice a month. Take Kovai express at Salem at around 4 and reach Katpadi at 8 and to Vellore. I met RD Mani of Raptakos in Vellore along with Balachandar of IDPL. Raman during his Vellore visits used to stay with these guys in their room. My stay was in Venus Annex. Vellore was not a good place for food due to lesser choice of eateries. The only decent place was Palace hotel for its world famous Idli n Sambhar. Otherwise some mess but hardly anything to write home about. Lost touch with Mani and if someone who is reading this, knows Mani's whereabouts, pl share his contact details.

Salem was total fun with the lodge mates. We had an unwritten rule. Anyone gets married, should provide  one room for card session along with booze. Most of the times we would get stuck in the room either with the cards sessions or completely tanked and miss the wedding Muhurat...no one bothered as the objective was to have fun together....When I got married in 86, I booked a cottage in Woodlands for my Salem gang for the card session. We also had another rule which is called the 'kitty' money. After every knockout, the winner would contribute around 10% of his gains to the kitty. Once the kitty becomes decent the entire gang would travel to some nice destinations, stay there and play cards. I remember our trip to Yercaud....lovely time we had. It was lots of work and lots of fun but my system got completely jacked. Salem had given me lots of amebiasis...thanks to the food from the road side restaurants..

I bought my first two wheeler when I was in Salem. Yezdi Road King. In those days the waiting for any bike except Rajdoot and Lambretta scooter, used to be a few months or even a year and that too after paying the full amount as advance. So, I have to use some influence to get my bike cutting down on the waiting period. I approached the HL distributor in Pondy-Dharmaraj, a very influential guy-who got me introduced to MOF, the dealer for Yezdi in Pondy. I got my bike in 3 months time. Self and Mushtaq took a bus from Salem to Pondy, got the bike registered and Mushtaq rode it with me as pavillion to Salem as I have never ever rode a bike till I got one...My Yezdi was maroon in color and very sexy looking. I removed the muffler in the exhaust to get that vibrating sound and also never ever attached a carrier to make the bike look lean and mean....Once I familiarised and got the confidence, I stopped taking the bus and covered nook and corner of the markets with my Yezdi..I could, not only reduce the travel time, but also cover more outlets in a shorter span. 

My brother used to live in Bangalore and a visit once a month was mandatory. And Blr stay was always enjoyable with lots of booze and great food. Peacock and Topkapi were most popular joints in Blr those days with dance floor and wonderful crowd. My journey used to be by bus to Blr and go reach home with a couple of bottles of booze.  And Kalyan was there. Anand, Jaisree's (my sis in law) cousin was doing his masters at TIS in Blr would come down to Ravi's home during my stay and it was total fun...Anand migrated to US long back and is in teaching profession. I can write pages on my Blr days...

Kalyan whom I had mentioned in my earlier post, got a job in my brothers company and was based at Blr but that job was just a stop gap for him.

Once I got Kalyan interviewed in HL by RSR but RSR rejected him. When I asked RSR the reason,he told me that he would lose his job if he recruited Kalyan. But I knew well that Kalyan would do a great job and waited for the right moment. Right moment came when RSR was asked to resign in end 82...i managed to get another interview for Kalyan and this time it was Abraham who interviewed him and Kalyan could charm Abraham and got the job but to be based at Hubli/Dharwad. 

An incident both Jana (of Voltas) and myself can never forget was when Kalyan came as my guest to Salem and stayed with me in my room. Soori had gone on tour and hence Kalyan could occupy his cot. One evening we started drinking, self, Jana and Kalyan and after a few pegs he got completely tanked and we kept him in the room, locked the room from outside and when we returned with food packed for him-hold your breath-the room was covered with cotton and Kalyan gave us a deadly look and in a fit of rage that he was locked down, he tore off the pillows and the cotton with in got spread across the room. Also once we opened the room he barged out and started running on the corridor...oops...it was tough getting him in and making him to sleep...in the morning when he got up, with such innocence he asked 'Rajah what happened? why the room is in such a bad shape?' He got a mouthful from me and Jana...what an experience. This and many more on Kalyan...but he was one in a million....such a great friend...more on him as the rest of the story unfolds... I had mentioned that Jana used to work for Voltas consumer division. They had all and sundry in their portfolio but never seen Jana stressed at all. He and his room mate along with Chandru formed a gang as they speak fluent Hindi. We used to get maha irritated as none of us could speak a word in Hindi those days but always first day first show of any Hindi movies and also listen to Hindi songs.

One Xmas day, myself and Chandru of HLL, polished off a full bottle of Old Monk and with the plum cake as the side dish (!). We started around noon and went on till evening....

Salem also had lots of other attractions too...

Another very good friend and colleague also from Salem was Panneerselvam...he was headquartered at Madurai when I was in Salem and used to frequent Salem as it was his native. A charmer, well dressed but addicted to alcohol. Great fun to be with. His father taught me Yoga but I didnt take it seriously those days. Lots and lots of friends Salem had given me.

Also two regional conferences when i was HQd at Salem. The first one was at Hotel Banjara in Hyderabad. Our TN team went by train from Chennai. HL pioneered in conferences and it was all about training n development with focus on 'themes' for the annual conference. The train journeys used to be full of fun with our team. One incident during the trip...this is for Kandaswamy...RSR travelled with us and we were all in AC second class. Fast asleep after a couple of drinks and good food. Suddenly RSR wakes us up around 4 in the morning and starts reading a letter which was written by Kanda to his wife...Kanda was in tears and begged RSR not to proceed further. Kanda was just married...RSR didnt obviously get sleep and hence opened Kandas kit and saw this letter on top...such a bad behaviour by RSR... And it was the first time we were introduced to buffet. And like someone who had not seen food for days, many of us used to fill our plates with huge quantities and Ashraf told Kanda: " Kanda just lower your plate pl....cant see your face(!)"....that trip our dear Kanda was at the receiving end. SS Gandhi was the CEO of HL and known for his short fuse. I have seen him tear apart people in public...if one gets in to his bad books, it would be next to impossible to come out of it. But he knew the business well and with a towering personality could command respect (out of fear than out of love). 

I also met some very interesting personalities in Salem during my stint. 

When we were in Srirangam, our first migration from Village, we used to stay in the first floor of an independent house and the owners at the ground level. I became, within no time, part of that family. The owner lady had 3 sons and 4 daughters. All of them that time were married off and living in different places but used to come to Srirangam often. They adopted me as their brother. One of the sister used to live in Salem and again, shamelessly, I used to visit her often for home made food...and she was always receiving with a big smile. All the sisters, Babu, Vasantha, Radha and Vatsala treat me even today like a brother. I am in touch with all of them.

I think I did a decent job in Salem and slowly the alcohol business in TN was gaining momentum. TN announced opening of retail shops on license basis and also gave license for WS in most of the cities and bottling plants in TN. 

Tomy got transferred to Kerala and Abraham took over TN and RSR had left. HL promoted V Shankaran from AP and appointed him as FSO based at Chennai. 

His first visit to Salem...very nice guy...after two days of market visit, in the evening we sit in his room for a drink. After a few he quietly tells me it's time to move....I was a bit shocked as i was enjoying Salem and somehow thought of it as my second home. But he convinced me that I am required to be in Madurai and should move asap. There is no question of one handover et al. As a bachelor just a suitcase- that is what to carry....So one last session with my wonderful Devaprakash guys and a goodbye to Salem....

Plenty of learnings as stated in my earlier post, professionally. Grown also in stature in terms of understanding the business and market dynamics and to be creative. And gained fabulous friends forever....yes...

Bye bye Salem....Madurai calling....

 Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode (9-A)

Salem Days....

True to its culture, I go to Salem on my own and asked to just find my own way. Salem HQ was carved out of Coimbatore region and I was given Salem, Erode and North Arcot districts.

A friend of mine introduced Soori to me who was working for Vikrant tyres as their TSE based at Salem and he immediately offered me to be his room mate. So I move in with Soori at Devaprakash lodge, a bachelor's den-rather Sales/Medical reps favourite. This place is ground + 2 floors and Sorri was in the second floor right side middle room. Very spacious room with two cots and attached bath. There are 6 rooms in each floor. We had a guy, Sundaram, who was everyone's man Friday. A very elderly person Nair, was the security and there was a manger. Come evening the fun starts in Devaprakash. ( I will come to this part later). The TN government relaxed a bit with the permit rules and also allowed select cooperative supermarkets to open a liquor retail in their premises.

In Salem there was Ponni Supermarket, Swarnapuri Supermarket and in Erode, Chinthamani Supermarket and in Vellore also a couple of them. Number of outlets were restricted but the business was decent. The permits were given only on health grounds (god knows what actually that meant!) but within few days the super markets started managing the permits by applying huge lots of them on their own and selling alcohol to non permit holders at a premium. The consumers demand was for mostly Mohan Meakin brands viz Black Knight, Diplomat Deluxe, Triple Crown brandy, Doctors Reserve and of course, Old Monk Rum. And McD brandy was also quite popular. Shaw Wallace brands were also on demand but HLs were not at all popular and hence I had to look at ways of promoting our brands. 

The first thing I did was to get VMR on my side and made him to understand the importance of 'push' strategy for HL brands and with some kind of offers to the super markets. He, being a very shrewd businessman, understood and gave me a carte blanche. I chose him as I didnt know anyone that much in Prince & Co and they were also not very HL friendly. It's all about deals and how effectively you establish rapport with the key guys and also timely supplies and settlements. The deals have to be very clearly explained, understood and executed. As HL brands were not that popular and I also wanted to push some High Society Gin and Royal Treasure Rum, I devised a quantity based offers to the super markets and ensured they placed orders based on that. While my distributor was okay to supply to Ponni and Chinthamani he was very hesitant to supply to smaller players like Swarnapuri. I took the responsibility of collecting the payments and also linked the discounts/deals to the payments. As I was based at Salem and living a great bachelors life, contacting me and coming over to me was never a problem for my customers and I could soon become their favourite. I put across these points to RSR my FSO..though he was not happy about VMR but agreed as I shown him how we can garner business...1) VMR inplace of Prince&Co and the rationale was customer preference. 2) Specified quantities of trade giveaways to manage the CSM and also for consumer promotions. 3) Absolutely no interference from office as I should be given free hand. I made it clear that my time would be 75% on alcohol and only 25% on Dipys and he should not insist on 25 calls per day and also travel to Chennai every 15 days to ensure orders executed on time. He was confident of me and hence agreed to my requests. 

I secured HL space in the super markets across all the 3 markets and one thing I realised during this time, which is a key learning, was to introduce HL to the Dipys trading partners, as a liquor company having some food brands than as Dipys company. As most of them were very naive about liquor brands as alcohol was only bootlegged till then, were so excited to know and deal with someone who is connected with liquor. So first few minutes of my calls, it's all about Bagpiper and Honey bee than Dipys and others. I also got them introduced to the key sales guys in the Supermarkets to get the access. I used the giveaways of alcohol to entice key retailers to stock and sell Dipys. 1980 was still very early days in places like Salem, Rasipuram, Namakkal, Erode et al for jams and sauces. Squash was better off but only in summer. Vellore had some decent demand due to probably CMC and so many big bakeries on Officers lane. Also HL did something stupid then by taking distribution of Freedom Sanitary napkins which became added to our nightmares (HL was quite popular for these kind kind of stupidities), competing with pioneers J&J (Carefree) and Helen Curtis(Comfit). Dipys itself was a big task in these markets and added to that were Freedom and Viva Toothbrush (!). 

It became a serious nightmare for me to sell both these Freedom and Viva toothbrush. The problem with Freedom was the size of the shipper carton. It was huge and my distributor had space problems and was reluctant to stock it. Also in 1980 the awareness of sanitary napkins was at its very nascent stage. I should complement J&J for creating that awareness.

First couple of months I really struggled hard to get placements and even in shops it was placed the movement was almost nothing as those who ask for it, either ask discreetly or thru chits. So my good friends at the retail could not use their skills to push Freedom. It was heading nowhere as it was the first year of distribution there was also huge pressure from HO and the principle. 

My neighbor in the lodge-Raghavan from J&J and one day over a drink I probed a lot about his volume and how he manages business. He was non committal and could not get much out of him. 

Once I went to congratulate a friend of mine whose wife delivered a baby at a nursing home in Salem. While sitting with them I saw a big carton of Carefree coming in to the hospital. I dug deeper and figured out they use the sanitary napkins a lot during and after delivery. Eureka!!! 

So through a contact of mine, met up with the chief of the hospital, a lady gynic and using all my charm and also some nice BP Ice Buckets and trays (more than my charm-people always fall for these giveaways is what I had noticed), got an entry order from her. But with a condition that if it doesn't move she would return it to my distributor...so, I have to ensure Freedom is given preference over Carefree. So, our Malayalee sisters came for rescue...again some nice key chains and glasses did the trick. They started pushing Freedom even from their pharmacy and my first cartoon was sold off in just 2 days. Got a big order from this customer immediately and I made it direct with an overriding commission to my distributor. This made Freedom commercially more attractive to the hospital. I identified few hospitals across my markets and this strategy worked well. I also supplied few stocks to CMC (!). So Dipys and Freedom were set...Viva Toothbrush (?)...haha...another strategy...I convinced VMR to buy 250 dozen of Viva Toothbrush in one go and I offered it as an in pack on every bottle of BP and Honeybee in the smaller supermarkets. In Swarnapuri it became a huge hit and I was so happy that I could get all sorted out. Guys these didnt happen overnight...I have to struggle every bit to make it happen in every step. Convincing the supermarkets and my distributors was very tough. But what worked in my favour was my constant follow ups and the support I got from my distributors. All these things between 10 o'clock and 5 only. Initially I used to spend the evenings in the supermarkets and help the salesmen and in the process push HL brands. Once I set the deals, things started moving better. Still collection was an issue but somehow managed it. 

Business was regular and not much of interference from office or RSR. Once RSR called me to Coimbatore and introduced me to the distributors and also to some key liquor guys there. I had established a very good rapport with him. HL wasted lots of time with these distribution brands in consumer division and because of these distractions lost a lot on alcohol business too, initially.

My strategies really worked well in the market especially with the alcohol business with the super markets and also for Freedom. I ensured that the supplies were continuous and stocks were also moved out of the shelves. My rapport with the purchase guys and the CSM really worked well and also focus on the smaller cooperative stores yielded great results. The big example was Swarnapuri Supermarket for alcohol where HL garnered maximum in terms of market share. I ensured every single market was covered and gave lots of importance for visibility and spot sales for liquor and major 'push' strategy for Dipys in select outlets and for Freedom in the hospitals. 

to be contd......

  Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode 5

The action starts.....

It was sometime in Sept 79. I was with DIL and in Trichy. I used to stay in Everest Lodge next to Hotel Jayanthi on Salai Road, Trichy. This Everest Lodge was salesmen paradise. Almost 90% of the residents were either Medical or Sales reps. In fact, my brother Ravi used to stay there during his Avery days before shifting to Srirangam. Paras, who is the eldest son of Amar Jewellery in Trichy became my friend when I was in Everest. On the ground level of Everest, just outside the gate, there was on General Merchant, (Gnanam Stores-my stockist, one dry cleaner and some other shops)....Paras used to visit the GM to have a cigarette. His house was on the 1st cross of Thillai nagar and his smoking was kept a secret then and used to come to my room or inside the Everest to have his quota of cigarettes...We were contemporaries and very first meeting itself we started jellying well. He used to look like Vinod Khanna of those days...such a handsome guy...I attended his wedding too and we continue our great friendship. Trichy days were excellent....And I have a special place for Trichy...

One day, I get a call at Gnanam stores (no phone at Everest and no mobiles those days), and it was from my sister in law. Gnanam stores, was at the ground level of Everest lodge and also my distributor for Regal. She called to inform me of my interview with Herbertsons. I was quite surprised as I didnt apply for the job. I spoke to my brother then and he told me his ex colleague and good friend Abraham has joined HL as Asst Regional manager and he has requested him to look at me...Didn't know nothing about Herbertsons...but as DIL was a struggle, decided to just attend the interview.

So I figured out from my brother, that Abraham is his good friend and when he mentioned to him that they are recruiting, my brother had sent my CV to him and hence the call from them.

Herbertsons was on Edward Elliots Road (Dr. Radhakrishnan Road now) opposite to President hotel on the ground floor of DMK ex minister Vezha Vendhan. Interview was conducted by KP Tomy and Abraham (really a very handsome guy) and I was asked to sell a pen to them. Think I did a good job but wasn't sure whether I would get the job...I left and it took almost for a month for them to revert with the offer letter. With a consolidated salary of 550 per month and daily allowances of 15 and 25 or something like that. I was given Madras as my HQ. So resigned from DIL-Khan was not very happy but convinced him with some stories and they relieved me. Had a great send off by Paras, Vasu (he was Paras's neighbor), Gandhi, Madan Makhija, Shekar and a couple of them. Party those days were sans alcohol and a card session in the room and dinner at Kavitha or Ananda or Padma Cafe. Padma Cafe WB Road in Trichy was iconic for its coffee. Balu of Padma cafe was my good friend. Trichy had some simple but very special places to go to. One of them was Michael Ice Cream parlour, where an ice cream was sold at some 50 paise or something. Padma Cafe, the road side eateries opp to Chella Stores and opp to Janakiramans, Aristo restaurant if you are a Non Veg, Kavitha, Ananda to name a few. Also the cabbage vada served at Plaza theatre (mostly English movies) during interval-no match to this divine stuff. The best theatres were Aruna, Padmamani and Gaiety (only Hindi movies). Yaadon ki Baraat was released at Gaiety and Bobby was at Aruna simultaneously and both ran for 175 days in Trichy(!). So bye bye to Trichy and to Everest Lodge. Oh, forgot to mention. Its at Jayanthi hotel I met Manoghar, my dear friend, who became my younger sister's husband later. Again cards united us. Once we all assembled in my room-self, Paras, Vasu, Sehkar, and Radha Krishnan, the adopted son, of Mahadevan, the owner of Hotel Jayanthi'. Shri Mahadevan was also a popular musician and used to play a tough instrument called Morsing, in concerts as an accompaniment to main performers. It's a very difficult instrument to play and it could cut or scratch the tongue if not properly handled. Coming back to cards-we decided to move from rummy to 3 cards and big gang in my room. The game was going well and for me it was a decent evening. The stakes could not be high as we all decided to just enjoy and not make it as a money making thing. But one game changed everything. I got a Q triplet on deal. I went gang ho...Many scooted and it was finally between me and Radha. Radha also went no holds barred and Paras who was sitting next to me also thought my cards were unbeatable. The stakes went up to some 1000 bucks (it was really a lot that time) and finally someone intervened and asked us to go for open show...,I was so ecstatic and I opened my cards with a twinkle in my eyes....Radha saw that and with his poker face....heart break...it was K Trippiee....I went in a dizzy....all my excitement got punctured but Paras started laughing adding salt to the wound....Didn't know what to do as I was so dumbstruck-I told Radha, I would settle it next day. He was kind enough to agree but with a parting word 'Rajah do not run off'. 

So myself and Paras got in to a serious discussions after burning out a pack of Wills Filter, and finally I told Paras that I have no option but to seek this guys pardon. Didn't want to delay it till next morning (it was around 2 in the night)...so go to his room in Hotel Jayanthi, knock at his doors and fortunately he was still awake. I was very open and told him that I had absolutely no money and have hardly 50 bucks and that's for my ticket to Chennai. He listened patiently and asked me whether I have any gold chain...I said no and told him I have nothing. He asked me what would be my reaction if situation was reversed...Like a fool I told him if you had lost to me I would have taken the money from you as you are a rich guy and owner of this hotel. He started laughing extended his hands, gave me a hug and said ' dont bother-all the best'. He offered a coffee to both of us and what a relief it turned up to be, finally....my farewell turned out to be so eventful!! 

I just can't forget this episode as it is very rare to see such kind of people. Sadly I never met him at a later stage as I wanted to return his generosity with some thing in kind. I started crying and thanked him profusely and came out and hugged Paras...we blew off few more cigarettes and with this episode behind me, I left for Chennai. Paras keeps pulling my legs quoting this whenever we meet....he once asked me, what I would have done had Radha didnt agree--I told him that I would have made him to pledge his gold ring(!)...after that he stopped asking me this...

Lesson...Gambling is not good but gambling without money in your pocket is worse. You dont get people like Radha often.

I reach Chennai and go straight to my brothers home at KB Nagar, Adyar Chennai where my brother with his wife, my younger sister Sumathy, my dad and my brother's first baby boy Viju were living on the first floor of an independent house, with the owner lady staying at the ground level. The house had just one bedroom, a living area, kitchen, balcony in the front and a nice terrace at the back with a bathroom and toilet.

Next day morning I take off to HL office, 1st of November, and to my utter disappointment it was closed due to ' Eid ul adha '. no one there to enquire and return the next day 2nd of November 1979....My life as a real sales guy started this day...and what a journey it was...From Sales Rep to Field Sales Officer to Area Manager to Branch Manager to Regional Manager to Sales Controller. 14 years in total. Some great bosses and some great colleagues turned life time friends. What an experience it was. Whatever I am today, the foundation was laid in Herbertsons. The organisation had its own flaws but it was an exhilarating experience....

Okie....There was Tomy as RM, Abraham as ARM and RS Rajendran as FSO...this guy RSR was one typical character...Tomy-difficult to read his mind and Abraham was friendly but not well grounded with the nuances of FMCG...he came from Avery's. So on my first day, RSR gives me a brief about my territory, the area I would cover and sent me to my distributor. Met Dattatreyan aka Datta, Sheigar Kanniah, LT Murthy-three of them managing different functions in the office. Datta was the head constable there with a penchant for quitely sliding it in....so first day, I was asked to work with V Parameswaran aka VP....he takes me around Chennai market in his lambretta and lunch at Ashoka-Egmore...very sweet and wonderful guy....not much about products but more of introducing to customers. VP was in HL for some time but left to join Mohan brothers and later JIL and from JIL to Shiva where he spent almost his entire career...We became good friends and always kept in touch. Very nice guy and I came down from DxB to attend his daughter's wedding. But we lost him recently...Just a day of induction and next day was pushed to the market on my own. First call is the distributors office in Mandaveli and later I came to know the distributor was Tomy's Brother in law (compliance???)...again no product briefing...nothing...so the tricycle was loaded and i was asked to cover the Arcot Road area starting from Kodambakkam. Dipys was the umbrella brand and we had, squashes, syrups, jams, ready to cook soup, exotic sauces like Worcestershire and 8 to 8 apart from Tomato sauce and ketchup. I load the tricycle to its brim as i didnt have any idea of what would sell and hence even a case of 4 kg jam was loaded. I asked this distributor guy about sweet corn soup and he told me you have to just heat it up and drink it....product knowledge...so the journey of a true salesman with FMCG started...I take a bicycle and travel along with the tricycle guy....reach Kodambakkam and the first call itself was a big grocery shop. General introduction and the owner ask me for a case of W sauce but sadly we didnt carry that...so i booked my first order for HL with that stores...but when asked about our squashes the response was it would sell only in Summer...what about jams? No sir, Dipy's doesn't sell here....oh...on the way we bumped in to Gurucharan, Kissan Sales rep...he was so cool with just an order book on hand and a cigarette. He looks at me and the cart with disbelief....you are carrying 4 kg jam to sell in this area? You cant even sell the normal pack...your bosses didnt brief you? went on and on...i realised that it's going to be tough selling Dipy's...the other competing brands apart from Kissan were Noga (Maharashtra) and Rex....Rex was always premium but more in to squashes and syrups and not in to jams...Noga and Kissan in to Jams and Squashes...So we go up to Vadapalani Bus stand and the sale was hardly anything....and I met Vijayaraghavan an ex HL and working for Balsara...another cool guy...he used to always wear a smile....he looks at me and tell my tricycle guy to wait there...give some money to have tea and snacks, ask me to be his pillion and takes me to his home which was close by....First meeting and we became friends....tea and snacks at his place and he straight away took me to a shop, introduced and forced that guy to buy something...so 1 case of MF jam...thanks to Vijayaraghavan and told me to call him in case of any help required...(only thru landline)...So I come back wondering what and where I got in to. On the way back, I stopped at a Malayali restaurant to have tea and casually introduced myself and asked them whether they use jam and sauce...to my surprise that guy said yes to jam but no to sauce as they use cheaper version of sauces made from pumpkin with a small portion of tomato added. Okie...opportunity now....I converted that opportunity by selling him that one case of 4KG I carried with me and also collected full amount...,big sales!!!!

Felt so good not because that i could sell a case of 4kg jam but because I proved the Kissan guy wrong....hahaha

Life went on like that in Chennai for some time....selling was tough but I have to find new ways to push Dipy's....have to figure out friendly outlets and sell...In T Nagar, Bombay Stores Harish became my good friend and could push some stocks....some restaurants where I could push some 4 kg jams....some quantities of exotic sauces but the problem was with squashes and Tomato sauce. The problem with squashes, especially with Lemon, Lemon barley and orange, the shelf life. After 6 months the top portion of the squash turns darker and consumers would not touch it..Kissan and Rex didnt have that problem may be due to the consumers preference but we had lots of issues. The company never had a replacement policy. We were all given something called a 'recommendation voucher'-(RV). So we need to fill that with details on unsalable stocks and destroy those unsaleables by draining them in a bucket found at the shop or at the drainage. When you open those bottles the smell comes out of that would be horrible...and when you submit the RV to Rajendran he would take the shit out of us...he would normally say, we dont have any business to provide RVs....then how do you replace as the customers can't sell those which means no more business from that outlet...the answer would be 'that's why company employed you...you have to manage that! How, from my 550 salary i have to pay? No answers...I still remember once in an outlet opposite to Meenambakkam old airport, when i visited first time, another Malayali shop-he almost kicked me in my but....as he had lots of expired stocks of squashes....it was around 120 bottles...I patiently emptied all these in a drain next to his shop issued RV took his new order and submitted the RV to my FSO Rajendran for his approval. He took it, gave a glance, and tore it off....I just could not believe it....what do I do? 

HL also had brands like Bagpiper, Honey bee, Royal Treasure Rum, RT Beer, Herbertsons Beer et al but we were never given any brief on that and also were never taken to the distributors. Once RSR took me to V M Raghavulu Naidu and Sons, one of our distributors in Chennai for alcoholic beverages and was introduced to Dr. Madan Mohan Reddy the owner....he had so much of issues with HL and started arguing with RSR....I had no clue on what kind of business was that and how to go about it....but made a note of everything....Prince & Co was another distributor and he had cream of HL brands that included Bagpiper, though Bagpiper was not popular that time. Though VMR also had Bagpiper and Honey Bee he was not considered as the distributor for these brands. There were few more distributors in Chennai to cater to the select outlets. But the retail was restricted to service against permits only. There were very limited bars serving alcohol and these were primarily 5 and 4 stars. The liquor business was not huge in TN in 79 as it was very restricted but overall for HL the money made from the small volumes of alcohol was much more than whatever brand Dipys was churning out. And the process of getting the stocks in to TN for the distributors was also very cumbersome. Lots of procedures. Relationship with these limited distributors played a huge role.  Didn't know why only Tomy and RSR were involved and not others in the team. To some extent VP had a role but he left and joined JIL and after that it was all KPT and RSR....but that's not possible when I am around, right?

So one day I go to Mahabalipuram, 50 KM from Chennai, a tourist place on a market work. It was mid of December. Mahabalipuram is a good place to sell some premium brands of Dipy's portfolio and the business is from all the resorts and hotels there. Temple Bay by ITDC and TTDC were two big outlets. So first I visit TTDC and got some volumes for Dipy's and my next call was ITDC. Meeting with the purchase guy and once Dipys was through, I asked him whether it is possible to get some order for our IMFL, with out knowing any abcd of what I am supposed to sell and where from? he asked me what brands of beer I have on stocks...The meeting with VMR was fresh in my memory and I grabbed the opportunity and pitched for Royal Treasure beer. But he was all for UB and Kalyani or Golden Eagle as these were the most popular. But I gave some BS stories to him on RT Beer and believe me guys, I got a 100 cases order. I could not believe I got this huge order and didnt even know how to react...it took some time for me to come to normalcy... It was on HL order book. First order and that too from one of the biggest customers an unbelievable quantity too (10 cs was the maximum one could get for this product, is what I came to know later) and for a product which was not well known and tough to sell. Overjoyed and I wanted to enjoy the moment and straight away hit a restaurant for my lunch...pl do not run your imagination wild...for the kind of allowances I used to get, only the budget restaurants were possible. Enter this place to have the full meal, pay cash and buy the token, settle down on a table...the restaurant was almost empty and suddenly lots of noise and I see a swarm of girls and boys descending on the restaurant...chatting in a different language...later I came to know it was Kannada...They were all from Mysore University on a trip to TN...Few of them shared the same table and one girl in that crowd, attracted my attention..They all boarded the same bus to Chennai and the bus was fully crowded. This girl was standing next to me, very beautiful but shy....I wanted to introduce myself and talk to her but as she was surrounded with her own clan, though she was standing close to me, I could not gather the guts to start the conversation. But before the bus pulled down at Adyar, I gave my card to her and asked her name and she promptly responded with a beautiful smile...made a note of and got down and when I looked back she was still looking at me with a smile....as usual love at first sight...My excitement was more on the first order and rushed straight to Nungambakkam to VMR and to meet Dr.Reddy. 

I meet Dr. Reddy and hand over the order. As he opened it, his eyes became wide with utter disbelief...I have to do a lot of convincing that the order was real. The moment he realised it, after making a phone call to the purchase manager of Temple Bay, he realised I have pulled off some unbelievable stuff. He immediately called his brother and said something in Telugu and within 15 minutes I got some special sweets from his home and also something to munch. You must know that Dr.Reddy was very rich guy and it's difficult to get up close and personal with him. But with this one stroke of luck, I got in to his good books. And believe me guys that no one tutored me on this and to be very frank it was an opportunity which I converted in to a possibility. But Dr Reddy was so frank he told me that no one could get such huge orders for RTB from its launch. That smiling face of Dr Reddy is still etched in my memory.

I go to the office next day morning (in today's context, this news one could have flashed in the WhatsApp group but I had to wait till next day to share this with RSR) to inform my boss but to my bad luck he had come to know of this from Dr Reddy's brother previous night itself and was seething with anger that I didnt tell him before handing over the order to Dr. I realised my mistake and profusely apologised to him. He cooled down immediately and to my surprise, he took me out for lunch to Woodlands....wah!!!! We had a long conversation in Woodlands where he told me that I should start visiting these hotels and restaurants and start looking at other range of products too. He made it clear to me that I should support Prince & Co than VMR.....for whatever reason...didnt ask him as my focus was on eating and also the girl I met in the bus....RSR used to speak fluent Telugu and both VMR and Prince & Co also Telugu speaking people....

So my image/rating in the office and company went up and KPT and Abraham acknowledged this great feat. 

One evening Dr Reddy called me, I think it was before Xmas that year, and gave me a bottle of Herberts Gin...those days it was like a lottery as getting a bottle was only for the privileged. I gleefully accepted it and took it home. 

We opened the bottle that evening and that was the first time my dad tasted alcohol in his life...initially there was some kind of hesitancy but later that disappeared. At our place alcohol was never a taboo...My dad knew all my friends, colleagues and almost with most of them had a drink. Even my uncle Nagu. But Nagu stopped drinking few years back but my dad continued till his death. So I have the pride of introducing alcohol to my dad, thanks to Dr. Reddy. 

Just before new year, during my visit to the office one evening, our dear Sheigar, comes to me with a sheepish smile and hands over to me a greeting card....new year greeting and signed as 'guess who'.....for few minutes I could not decipher it and then looked at the stamp to figure out where it was posted...I saw 'Madurai' then realised it is from that girl whom I met in the bus on my return from Mahabalipuram...I overheard their tour plan and one of the place of visit was Madurai....So we started corresponding....another story.

My HL days I would split it as Chennai days (5 months), Salem days (2 years), Madurai days (2 years) Chennai days (3 years) Hyd days (2 years) Chennai days (2 years) Mumbai days (2 years) and again Chennai days (1 year).

Let me work this out and share the gist of it.

So I started working out on how to get the business ticking in my territory and focussed on the 20:80 principle...20% of the outlets provide 80% of the business. I was incharge of South Madras and the big retailers were Ambika Appalam Depots, Nilgiris, Bombay Stores, McRennett, Some Malayalee Restaurants in Adyar, Samco in Alwarpet, 5 star hotels et al. 

When I got the first RTB order, RSR called Datta, who was the 'all in all' guy in our office and totally trusted by Tomy and RSR, and asked him to provide some giveaways for free distribution to ITDC and other clients. Datta was the in charge of the giveaways and nothing could move without his consent. We have to give a requisition slip, get it authorised by RSR or Tomy and then Datta would provide the same. And getting those items, key chains, trays, openers et al, was not an easy one. So I decided to use them very judiciously and kept something for managing key outlets of not only alcohol but also Dipys. Park this aside now.

Datta was excellent with his typing and shorthand skills. He was also great with the command of English language. So there was so much of dependency on Datta by Tomy and RSR...

Once I was about to start my market work...just a few days in HL...it started raining heavily...I call up the office and Datta picks up the phone...'Datta its raining heavily...what do I do?'...Datta quipped immediately 'in Herbertsons whether it rains or shines, you have to work'....I still remember this and keep telling Datta how he used to bully us those days....But guys, people like Datta are organisations strength...full of energy, passion and doer. Later on Datta.

Ambika Appalam Depot was a great story. They had stores in Adyar, Mylapore and T Nagar. Visits to these places yielded nothing. All the managers were Malayalees only...even now...to get in to their good books is quite tough as most of them respond in monosyllables only. And sadly I didnt know Malayalam. After a few visits, I somehow manage to strike some kind of friendship with one of the managers and persuaded him to give me some leads to get placements for Dipys. (guys, HL was not new in Chennai--they were there for quite some time-and KPT was a hard core Malayalee but still they could not get an entry)...So after so much hesitation, he calls me aside and tells me to make an attempt with the owner of the chain...and he tells me that he normally doesn't entertain any business visits at home but if I go around 7 in the morning, I will be able to get his audition. So, one morning I reach his home in T Nagar, Dr Nair Road (coincidence-name) and he was sitting outside reading some Malayalam news paper. He looks at me and asked me 'Entha'....tough nut to crack...somehow I managed to get his attention for 10 minutes and told him about our brands and also quietly slip in the Malayali connect of my distributor. That worked, I think. He smiled....but he wanted to consult his shops before placing an order....which I was very skeptical though. As our brands were not 'pull' based. I tried my level best for the initial order but he didnt budge and he told me to come next day at 1000. So that's a positive sign. Same day I visited all his outlets, gave each manager a BP Key chain (the metal key chain of Bagpiper those days, people would give anything to possess it) and requested them to give some positive response. I also told my 'informer' in that outlet to put in a word to all his managers. Next day, I reach at 0955 but with some key chains of Bagpiper and one big jackfruit which I got it from Mylapore market the previous night. I carried all these in an auto and the owner was quite surprised. The Jackfruit thing was told by my 'informer'. So he accepted them gleefully and when I gave the key chains he was all inquisitive about Bagpiper...he came to know Bagpiper and Honey bee are also our company, he realised that he is dealing with a big company and not some small Dipys guy...(this is a big learning for me too which I started exploiting totally)

I got an initial order of 10 cases of jam assorted, 25 cases of squashes, 5 cases of Sweet Corn and 20 cases of Tomato ketchup....This is a fantastic breakthrough and my distributor could not even believe it...

I presented this story in the next regional conference which SS Gandhi presided and got a pat from SSG (more about SSG later).

So Chennai started liking me and one day RSR calls me and tells me that I need to be shifted and to Salem...When I asked him the rationale he told me that its a kind of jump for me as I would be handling independently all these markets and also the liquor outlets as TN started slowly opening up the alcohol with permission to sell to the cooperative stores. Didn't know how to react as I was just settling down in my job. This happened in March 80. But I had no issues of shifting my base and said immediately YES to him....

I had hardly met anyone else, in those 5 months I was in Chennai, apart from VP, Fernandes and Thomas (they all left HL sooner). KS Raghavan, Ashraf and E Kanthasamy-met them later.

So the first transfer....keep counting....bye bye Chennai and hallo Salem!!!

 Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Village life....contd....

Part 4.

There are few things which I felt were left out in my earlier posts on my village life....

There is our village deity Vathulai Amman temple (at the entrance of our village) and also across the river, Draupadi Amman temple...

Our villagers, every year, between April-June, this is across TN though, celebrate the summer festival, mostly the Ellai Amman (Devi). Every house contributes to the kitty and its done on a grand scale. The temple would be totally decked up and there would be Abhishekam and Aradhana every day and on the day of culmination, the Amman beautifully dressed (alankaram), kept on a chariot and taken around the village stopping almost outside everyone's home. This starts around 8ish and the chariot would return to the temple only in the morning. The village committee would bring some star performer of traditional 'karakattam', a kind of folk dance, and this troupe would obviously have some nice looking girls too. The music is very peppy and the lyrics are very topical and flavoured with a good amount of vulgarity too....as most of the local folks would be under the influence of illicit alcohol (it was prohibition time and hence), it would be total fun. My paternal uncle who used to work with NLC would come down for this festival every year and enjoy himself totally with the local brew. We would stop the buses, get in and collect money for the festival. This is quite a happening thing those days and the driver/conductor and passengers wont say a thing. 

Another festival is the Draupadi Amman festival where it would be dance dramas staged by artists from nearby places. The show would start around 9 in the evening and close at 5 in the morning. Mostly the plays would be of Mahabharat and Ramayan. The characters of male and female characters would be donned by men with good voice along with accompaniments on Harmonium and Tabla/dholak/mridangam with an assistant to sing along. The play would be full of songs and lesser of dialogs. We go there with food packed for the night and also with a mat on hand. These plays are made for village audience with lots of slapstick humor to keep the crowd cheering through out. The Mahabharata play would go for few days so as Ramayana. 

On the last day of the festival the men would perform 'fire walking' as a kind of surrender to the Goddess. I have done this once.

During the summer time, we would also sleep on the river bed as there would be no water. It used to be a different experience as when you get up in the morning the whole bed sheet/mat would be moisturized which means there is some hidden water under the sand(!).

Need to also mention about our village Nadaswaram (equivalent to Shenoy but tougher instrument) vidwan family who were very close to me and learnt from them a bit of thavil. Once when the guy who normally plays Tavil fell sick, they took me with them to as substitute and somehow I managed but for the next two days I suffered some major cramps on my shoulder joints. 

The village vendors were so simple. In our village one of the big families were Ramu Konar's-contemporary of my grand father and his sons managed the agriculture lands of the brahmins in the village on lease (its called 'kuthagai' in Tamil). Ayodhi one amongst them, used to run a grocery stores and Narayanan was the government employee-the postmaster. Ayodhi still runs a small grocery stores in our village. The Tea shops in the village were very popular and always with a minimum of 5 to 10 villagers anytime of the day hanging out there....that's their time pass...we also had a Malayali running a Tea shop in our village...his snacks were out of the world...This guy, Nair, also administers some kind of herbal medicines for snake and scorpion bites. I was bitten once by a scorpion while trying to steal some coins from my grandma's cash box (the scorpion was around that box probably guarding it from people like me!), and he treated me for it successfully. Another tea shop owned by a guy called Chinna Thambi...this guy was known for his quirky and quick wits...once an outsider who came to visit our temple, went to his shop and asked him what's available and this Chinnathambi guy, spontaneously quipped...'We have idli, chutney, sambhar and Thayanayagi's Sandu (sandu is piss...Thaiyalnayagi is his wife)...the consumer ran off from the shop. Another shop was run by a guy called Karuapplakattai...god knows why he got the name. Any shop you go, the idli and dosa were just divine...and not at all expensive and tea...they used to make the tea using the boiler and filters made of cloth. 

In our home, we have encountered poisonous snakes and scorpions. I just can't forget this incident..once I was about to enter the kitchen to get a glass of water and my grandma was busy cooking and as I was about to enter, I heard a 'hissssss' noise...startled I looked around and believe me, there was a snake settled well in my tiffin box (which I used to carry to my school) with its head fully open and tongue coming out making the 'hissssss'.  I ran inside the kitchen, got hold of my grandma, quietly came out of the kitchen, ran out again of the house and got the snake catcher...that guy, went thru the back door with a huge stick and a sharpnel tied in one end, and in one shot, got the snake in its neck....oooopppp sssss....we donated the tiffin box to him...

In most of the village homes, there would be a swing at the center of the living room and we had a beautiful one too. My grandma, after lunch would lie down and rest...she never used pillows but a wooden piece to rest her head. 

The village Ganapathi temple was built by our forefathers and the 'Utsava moorthy' was made by them...Ganapathi in standing position...once some robbery took place in this temple and when they were about to escape with the Moorthy, villagers caught them and the next day, they told my dad to keep the Moorthy in our home only and from that day onwards, he is with us...Our family is blessed by him. The temple is still there and it is on the bank of a beautiful pond.

I mentioned about my maternal side uncle and aunt (mother's sister) and I have to mention here my paternal side uncles too. My dad was the 1st in the family, and after him, was Jagatham, Nagu and Cheenu...All of us used to call them by their names only...never called them chithappa (uncle)....dont know how it happened. Jagadam used to work with NLC and even for a two day holidays he used to visit our village to spend time with us. He normally reach around midnight and in the morning he would be in the midst of us cuddling..he used to smoke beedi and that smell would wake us up...and we would not leave him at all...such a fun loving person. An incident has to be narrated here...My grandma left for her heavenly abode and her last journey to the crematorium started from our home. She died at the age of around 80 and the whole village was there...the 5th house from ours where another elderly but rich lady used to live...Kannamma mami...she came down to the street and started yelling 'Ayyo--you are leaving me and going!' She was all in tears but my uncle Jagadam immediately quipped 'why dont you also join her if you are going to miss her so much' and we all burst into laughter...forgetting it was our grandmas funeral...such a quick witted person. His son lives in Chennai.

Another person is Nagarajan aka Nagu....another great chithappa for us. He was employed in Tata Nagar and was single. He used to visit us once a year and spend few days and go back. He was the one who took care of my grandma sending her money every month. He used to send her INR 50 and probably it was enough for her. When I went to my village to pursue my school, he increased it to 80 and later when all the three of us settled there, he increased it to 100. The Money Order used to come around 5th of the month without fail. The moment it comes my grandma would just sign the acknowledgement and give us all INR 1 as pocket money and the rest would be handed over to my dad. He is 90 now and lives with my brother. Many of my Chennai friends know him well. Another fun loving person. 

Cheenu is the youngest of the brothers and was working in Simpson in Chennai....Cheenus daughters are all well settled and live in Chennai.

All the brothers did their schooling in our village and Ayyampet...

My father's side is full of fun irrespective of their financial status.

And they mix easily with the younger generations so well....

One more incident which is worth sharing here. After my college stint in Trichy, I came down to my village and my sisters also joined. Some fight happened between me and the rest (Grandma was always on my side) and in a fit of anger, I left home with a small bag and hardly any money, in the night, without telling anyone. I went straight to Kalyan who was studying in the Madras Film Institute, Tharamani. It was early morning and he received me with open arms. I stayed in his room which was already over crowded. He was pursuing acting course there. I realised later that Kalyan was struggling to make the ends meet. So I started looking for a job and one day, walked in at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai...it was brand new then. And got a job in housekeeping. Didnt know what it was. The interviewer asked me, before offering me the job, whether am okay to do cleaning of the floors et al. As I desperately wanted a job, I said yes, without realising what was in store for me. I was given the job to clean one entire function hall all by myself. As I was not used to that, it became a very painful affair. They provided good food in the night and I decided to sleep in the dorm as it was very late to go to Kalyans hostel. Next day morning when I got up, realised someone had stolen my footwear....I left the job immediately...got another job at Woodlands Adyar, as supervisor. This restaurant was premium one compared to others and a well laid out place. My job was to attend to the tables and speak to the customers for feedbacks...it was going well. The food was great and money was not much but manageable. But I left it as the manager of the place created some problem for me....so job less again. Once I had not a penny with me and asked Kalyan to provide some to me and as usual he was running on negatives....and he was leaving for Dalmia...so he gave me a letter to be given to his friend in Mannady and told me his friend would give me some money to manage till he comes back. So I took the bus to Mannady and goes to this friends place...a long walk...but his house was locked...I had hardly some 25 or 50 paise with me...so got in to a bus and was dropped near Gandhi Statue on Marina. I walked from there to Taramani and by the time I reached, I was completely famished....no paisa and was hungry...behind the hostel, we used to frequent on tea shop and I rushed there..went to the owner, and requested him to provide me some biscuits and tea and banana and money would be paid once Kalyan is back...that guy, didnt even hesitate for a minute...he provided whatever I asked for..(probably hunger was written all over my body)....We have such helping angels across...

So nothing was happening in Chennai and Kalyan's financial mess continued...so I decided to go to Tata Nagar to be with my Chithappa and look for a job there...So one day, with the same bag which I carried from my village, boarded Tata Nagar express at Madras Central and occupied a seat in the unreserved compartment. The train was empty...i dozed off...sometime in the night, i think it was Vizag, passengers swarmed the compartment...Till the train reached Tata Nagar, it was unmanageable...i remember drinking the tea en route, served in mud pots...an experience. I proceeded straight to my uncles office in Telco and when my uncle saw me it was shock of his life....But I enjoyed the month long stay there and my uncle informed my dad about my arrival but he was not keen on me settling down there...so after some time, he packed me off....and the day I returned to my village, I still remember, my house was filled with smoke emanating from the havan which was being done to perform the 'srardham' of my grandfather. My grandma, the moment she saw me, started crying....She was the one who missed me the most...it took some time for my sisters and dad to be okay with me....but guys it was my fault and rush of blood...but my stupidity gave sleepless nights to my sisters, my dad, my brother and grandma, till they got the letter from my uncle....I profusely apologised to them...

My village life...from birth to LKG...back only during holidays...from 8th to 11th in school...later back from Trichy....my grandma's death put an end to our village life and we migrated to Srirangam....

I make it a point to visit our village once a year minimum. When I stand in front of the barren land where once our home was, I get these flashbacks...the best of times and the toughest of them....

But we all love our village. 

My father especially used to love his trips. Fortunately before his death, we could make a trip to our village and he was overjoyed....

Till next,

Stay safe and enjoy this beautiful life....

Yours lovingly

 Memoirs......Musings of a Sales Guy at Heart!!

Training and development....

My first job was a door to door selling job for a floor cleaning disinfectant liquid product and people used to call this phenol. I was looking out for a job and just knocked the door of this company near the Town Rly station in Trichy. My friend whom I used to hang day in and day out, Murthy was also with me that day. The name of the company was Nabora, we go in, meet the boss and ask him for a job...to our surprise he told us that we could start immediately and gave a quick brief on the product, price and just go and sell....So we decided to knock on the doors of all the known people first and hired two bicycles and went around...I think we sold few bottles that day and in the following days and one day we sold a dozen bottle to a known retailer too....the boss was very happy and one incident was unforgettable. We went to my relatives house and we did a complete sales call. The lady asked us whether this can be mixed in the water to bath the baby....Murthy didnt hesitate for a minute...he nodded his head and that lady bought a bottle...we came out and laughed our heart out...when I asked him why he bullshitted, pat came the reply-"it would kill all the germs on the body of the child as the child was looking dirty". Oh, forgot, i got a job for my father in that company as accounts manager...

Anyway I moved on and joined Win Pharma a local pharmaceutical company with their manufacturing facility in Thillai Nagar, Trichy. I got this job, thanks to my brothers friend Krishnan who was with Himalaya Drugs as their Medical rep. The owner of Win Pharma Sethuraman a B.Pharm graduate but settled in Trichy. He gave me some product briefing and told me that I would be based at Tirunelveli and cover Tirunelveli, Ramnad, Kanyakumari districts....So, Murthy came to see me off in Trichy. Murthy was a bodybuilder and very conscious about his diet and a non smoker. I used to smoke those days. While boarding the bus, I handed over my cigarette to Murthy to hold it as I wanted to keep the bag in the bus and come down...oh, when I returned, I was surprised to see my friend puffing to glory....I gave up smoking as soon as I got engaged, thanks to my wife but my friend still smokes...fate, as we call it. I have to mention Murthy, Shekar, Meenakshi Sundaram, Ganesh and Ravi....all from Trichy....we built such a bonding...Murthy is one guy whom the girls would fall far as he had a slight resemblance of Kamal. We are all still in touch...Murthy well settled in Hyderabad, Meenakshi in Delhi, Ganesh and Kaduks in Trichy and Ravi in Chennai....Love these guys from the bottom of my heart....A lot more about Murthy later....

Okay, coming back to the main story....

So, I reach Tirunelveli, take a room at Nellai lodge (INR 5 per day) and dont know what, completely broke down...didnt know anything or anyone and the fear of what I would do in a place which I felt was very alien...but that lodge was full of medical reps and with in the next few days, got in to my groove and settled well. Win Pharma was just making some basic stuff like B complex and iron tonics and cough syrup...competing with biggies...I realised that it's impossible to convince Doctors about my product and hence started making deal with the chemists which clicked massively as those days, (even today) the Chemists played a major role in promoting a product OTC. I built a very strong relationship with many Doctors and chemists in smaller towns and could achieve my targets. My salary was just 125 per month and daily allowances of 8 for HQ and 12 for upcountry...but believe me guys I could live a good life with that money. The beauty was that my company never sent my salary. My boss told me to take my monthly salary from the collections and send the balance(!)....Life was such fun...the bachelor accommodations  were called mansions and so popular and I lived in some nice mansions in Tirunelveli...once a month a visit to the office in Trichy and a day with my family (my brother was with Avery's based at Trichy) and go back. My friend Murthy still was without a job and every time, he used to be with me to see me off but before that dinner at either Kavitha or Ananda's....

A friend of mine who used to be with Chemo Pharma, set up an interview with his boss as he thought I should not waste my time with Win Pharma but I failed very miserably in the interview as my product knowledge was Zilch....i was only selling thru deal making...so where is the question of gaining knowledge!!!

Travelled extensively in these three districts...the best market was Kanyakumari district where every small town used had poly clinics those days and am sure those would have turned in to big hospitals now. Marthandam and Nagercoil had some wonderful poly clinics and again I struck some deals for regular business....

The tough part was travelling in Ramnad district especially the coastal....used to stay in Karaikudi and travel to places like Kamudhi, Thondi, Ramnad et al by the local buses...

This has taught me how to look at business differently. Had I been a typical Medical Rep, I might have gained good knowledge about pharmacology but failed as a sales guy...

One day a guy from Micro Labs bumps bumped in to me in some place, looks at me and tells me that am wasting my time with Win Pharma and arranges an interview with Narayanan of Selco Marketing Pvt Ltd, the Jackpot bonus stamps guy....After the success of Reman bonus stamps, Jackpot was introduced and I was given a job there with Trichy as my HQ....What an experience it was...it was all about selling a concept....the concept is to identify shops in every area in each category, show the big picture to them on how the bonus stamp would increase the foot fall in to their shops, collect some advance and sell them the stamps. They would in turn give the stamps free on every Rs 5 purchased at their outlet. For example you take a bazaar where there are 10 groceries, 10 textile shops, 5 utensils stores, 10 jewelleries and 10 chemist. We select one in each category and advertise these shops giving free bonus stamps....with our boards, leaflets, promoter girls et al. We give a small booklet for the consumers to stick the stamps if they want to go for continuous numbers or use the options of redemption of stamps for gifts. For the customers it provides increase in foot fall and for the consumers additional gifts. But the catch was on collectables. The consumer has to collect 1 to 100 in terms of number. As the stamp is a peel off one, the consumers mostly would get duplication of same numbers and they strike deals and exchange stamps with fellow consumers. But the company had the final laugh as they would hold few numbers with them and wont release it in the general pack. So they strike a deal with some biggies and quietly release those elusive numbers. My salary was around 250 p.m with some kind of incentives. But I remember that getting the incentive from the owner was a task.

So it was actually 'concept selling' which was not only unique but also unchartered territory for the traders...loved it....Narayanan recruited only women to manage the showroom and the spot canvassing in the shops. It was really fun working with so many of them under one roof.

I need to talk about Narayanan here. Its very difficult to see a person/boss like Narayanan. Such a cool and composed guy he was. My brother got transferred to Chennai and shifted the base and I have to manage myself. And Narayanan accommodated me. He used to stay at Mayavaram Lodge in a small room. He occupied the cot and I slept on the floor using a mat. He used to feed me literally. Such a great soul. I pulled Murthy and another dear friend, Shekar aka 'kaduks' also in to that company and we really had a ball. The relationship I built with Narayanan is just unforgettable...A great boss with a big heart. And the girls loved him. We launched the product in smaller towns and also in Pondicherry and that gave me lots of exposure  and proximity to booze in Pondy. Sadly the owners of the company were not great professionals and fortunately for me, got an offer from Detergents India retaining Trichy as my base.

From pharma, to bonus stamps to selling Regal detergent cakes. The market in TN was of washing bars made with vegetable fats-called in village 'savukkaram' with 501 from Tatas and Sunlight ruling the market. Hindustan Lever changed the game with the launch of the first detergent cake, with Rin closely followed by Det, from Promar (a division of Sarabhai).This changed the market dynamics as the washing became easier due to the chemicals used in the detergents. Bala Iyer the CEO of DIL launched Regal. The launch price was INR 1 per cake which induced so much of trials. I was based at Trichy and was incharge of Trichy and Tanjore districts. We gave tough fight to the biggies initially but they had deeper pockets and hence the going became very tough despite decent advertisements budget from our company. But we could not crack the wholesale as the biggies had full control on them. I need to elaborate on the WS market here...in many places in TN and across the country, the WS play a huge role in feeding the small retailers. The WS helps the retailers in two ways. 1) They get most of their stuff under one roof and 2) Even on smaller quantities they get lower prices than what the companies offer, as the WS game was volume based and they would undercut and sell. The WS make smaller margin on fast moving items and build good margins on their 'push' brands and average it out. As DIL was a one brand company, we struggled to break through with the WS but still managed to pull off the targets somehow. Spot selling was the order of the day. My selling activity used to start at 9 in the morning with a visit to the distributors place, fill up the tricycle with stocks and with their salesman and invoice book, the journey starts. We used to make around 25 to 30 calls a day. Certain areas we used to go on van sales for better coverage. Tough and challenging but enjoyed every bit of it.

Learning from DIL carried me further as it gave me the roots and understanding of how to sell 'non-popular' products. More of 'push' brands than 'pull' brands. Managing distributors with small turnover was another task. Reconciliation every day after the route sitting with their salesman and the distributors manager and closing the account. Tea and cigarettes....DIL came out with brilliant TVC those days for Regal. it used to start with a caption 'if you have a kid like Tinku, you need to have Regal at home" Tinku was depicted as playful who comes back home with dirty clothes after playing with other children and the mother would give one look at the cloths and with a smile take a Regal cake on her hand and say 'if you have kid like Tinku, you need to have Regal detergent cake at home'. As we could not afford TVCs at Doordarshan those days, the commercials were run mostly at the cinema halls....those days we had agencies running the commercials at the theaters. Blaze was one of them. And there would be minimum 20 to 30 commercials before the movie. I remember, using my relationship with the Blaze guy in Kumbakonam ran the commercial just before the start of the movie....that left lasting impressions with the consumers. The fundamentals of consumer product selling for me was sowed and well grained during my DIL days though it was just for 2 years. DIL didnt do well due to lack of money power. I think finally they sold the brand to someone and it just vanished. 

Guys, if any one knows the whereabouts of Narayanan ( he was married to the sister of Kaviyoor Ponnamma husband), pl share his number. I want to go and meet him and touch his feet. My love for him is unconditional.

In DIL I had a boss called Khan who used to live in KK Nagar, Chennai..no idea where he is...another great fun loving guy. Those days when the boss comes it is market visits only....no laptops, no WhatsApps and no other way of communication.....Evening after the market work go for a movie and dinner. Work is over by 5 as the no one would entertain you after 5. 

After DIl the big breakthrough for me professionally, when I look back....

Till next blog.....

Yours lovingly