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

Episode 33...

Whyte&Mackay...3 years

Visa was an issue...I didnt want to go under UB DxB visa or AnEs visa...Didnt know till I joined, W&M had a guy on their pay based at DxB...this guy, an Australian, earlier was with the Heineken distributor and wasn't, obviously, happy that he is being made redundant....Alok Gupta spoke to him and finally he agreed but after a proper handover to me...his knowledge was confined only to Gulf and nothing beyond that....I was to join on 10th Sep 2007 and was to be inducted by him before that but he disappeared suddenly without a word and came to know from Simon of AnE that he had gone back to Australia....

I was asked to come to Glasgow for an induction and I was so excited to be part of this new beginning and was there to take charge...10th of Sep 2007.....

Reached W&M office at 0930 and I was the first one to be there...A decent sized office in the center of Glasgow, just walking distance from Hilton....

Alok introduced me to the team there...and almost everyone was a Scot there....Their accent is different and I always felt they sing the language and not speak(!)....also dialect...I found it very difficult to understand and actually I felt a translator was required....no jokes.....Met the head of HR....Val aka Valerie, very nice lady and told me that the next day I have to go to the distillery (Dalmore) for an induction with Richard Peterson....Richard was the master blender and distiller of W&M and inherited the skills from his Dad who was also a master blender. Richard is one of its kind...a true Scot and loved his profession....very friendly, open and ready to share everything he knew....Valerie, the HR lady gave me a car key and told me that I have to use the car to go to Dalmore which I think was around 3 hours of drive....I told her that am not comfortable to drive...she was quite taken a back...but got me booked by the morning train..Oh....didnt like one bit of my induction....absolutely clueless and unprofessional...In HO, no one to take me thru the strategy and also on whats expected of me....Alok spent some time with me but I found him involved in many things and was always on phone.....And added to that my trip next day to Dalmore by train.....completely different from the Diageo days....W&M was small and was more of trading....no strategy to build brands though they had huge potential in Dalmore, Jura and even WnM blended scotches....on the very second day, I felt like quitting the job...it was more out of frustration due to lack of proper induction...but Richard made my day with his indomitable style and the time spent with him was invaluable....every second...he also was known for his consumer interactive sessions - a la 'journey of taste'. Will talk about that later....

Induction got over in 2 days flat and came back to DxB.....it was an one man army for WnM....Diageo DxB was putting pressure on my to surrender my visa....I convinced Alok on the importance of our own office and visa and got his approval. Got hold of an advocate who assured me he would get an office space in Jebal Ali Free Zone (JAFZA). JAFZA has already become the most sought after place for business houses....Free zone is the place where you can set up a company without any local partnerships...if you set up a company in the city, you need to have a local (Emirati) as partner whereas in freezone is exempted...but Free zones had their own rules and space constraints...they also had virtual office licenses...this means, you would get a license to operate but without any office space but would enjoy all the facilities of the free zone...but I wanted the office....though Pernod Ricard had a full fledged office and warehouse there and also Flemingo, when we approached the authorities they hesitated to give license to a liquor company but we told them it is only a management office for the entire region and Africa and convinced them. The beauty of UAE was that they listen and they were always for increasing the revenue....JAFZA was known for its customer friendliness...we got the license from JAFZA but to get the visa I have to get out of Dubai (heard they changed this clause now)....So went to South Africa on a market visit - my first trip to SA....what a beautiful country but they instill so much of fear in you before you land about the crime in Jo'berg and Durban....W&M was operating thru a distributor based at Jo'berg...apart from this distributor we were also supplying directly to a super market chain....one exclusive brand called John Barr...a look alike of JW Red but much cheaper....But the volumes are not great....despite huge potential in this market. SA is driven by consumer pull and also the retail chain stores play a huge role as every chain has their own brands to push....but Diageo, PRG and some local companies enjoyed great business.....During my time, circa 2007 to 2010...Jameison was a very fast growing brand....JW Black was well established....but the policy was a bit complex as no whiskey other than-made from grain and  matured ones were allowed to be sold...Only Vodka made from grain was allowed without any restrictions....my trip was primarily to understand the market and also come out with a strategy.....I had to stay at Cape Town for a couple of more days as my Visa got delayed...finally got the visa from JAFZA....and W&M finally to set up office in Gulf....great milestone...

We got a small space....and created a feel good office. Recruited Ramana as office incharge to manage logistics....Got my wife and my home assistants visa also....The driver who was with me from my Diageo time left for Chennai to pursue other opportunities.....W&M got a different policy for vehicles and they got me a Merc (first time in my life) on a long lease basis....So all set and business has to start...I committed to Alok that I would double the business as I felt W&M brands has potential but there was no proper 'pitch' for the brands....also, I felt, I can use my relationship, crack some hard nuts and get entries...this didnt happen as W&M decided to increase the prices....

It all started in 2006....the scotch industry started witnessing shortage of Malt spirits....U need to understand the crux of this....As explained earlier there are different categories in Scotch 1) Blended (blend of matured-minimum ageing of 3 years to be called Scotch-grain and malt spirits 2)  Single malts (from one source...only matured malt spirit 3) Pure malt ( blends of different malts) and 4) Single Grain (single source of matured grain-but no takers for this). Take JW 12 yo...its a blend of few grain spirits and few malts....from different regions of Scotland....and every single spirit be it grain or malt, should have been aged (matured) for 12 years minimum....Forecasting and inventories play a major role. If the demand goes up suddenly, the inventories esp the raw materials would start depleting....and you have to plan 12 years in advance.....a very tough job indeed....Global demands have started growing especially for 12+ and single malts and the manufacturers realised that there would be raw material issue....Diageo known for their proactiveness and being the market leader fired the first solvo......they introduced JW Double Black without any age statement and priced it more than that of JW black 12 YO.....Its nothing but marketing gimmick as the consumers were made to pay more than the 12 YO for a product where there was no age statement but better presentation....Double Black was first launched in the DF sector and consumers fell for it....basically the great presentation and a stronger blend...The pricing was great...in between JW Gold 18 YO and JW Black 12 YO... Diageo also launched JW Gold Reserve slightly lower to JW Gold 18 YO.....Gold label 18YO was an amazing product and was quite popular in Indo China region.....as Diageo could not fulfil the demand due to depleting stocks of raw materials, they quietly replaced the 18 YO with this new variant.....Around early 2000, William Grants-another leading scotch manufacturer known for Glenfiddich,  opposed tooth and nail when Diageo launched Cardu pure malt, in Spain. Cardu was a popular single malt in Spain and one of the major malts in the JW Black blend....as Diageo foresaw issues with malts, they launched this variant but William Grant took the battle to Scotch whiskey manufacturers association and made Diageo to withdraw this variant.....sadly,William Grant didnt practice what they preached...today William Grant sells Monkey Shoulder which is a pure/blended malt whiskey....Also they have in their portfolio 'age not mentioned' malts...Moral responsibility takes a back seat when it comes to filling up the coffers....

So, there was shortage and hence all the manufacturers upped their prices and started focusing on variants....but the price increase by W&M didnt go off well with the customers as they felt that the Indian boss wanted more money as he paid exorbitantly to acquire W&M and hence upped the prices....also we were not a powerful player like Diageo or PRG and hence lost quite a few customers....

As always, I was inundated with all these issues but have to come out with some quick wins....

1) Knowing the demand for 1.13 lit pack of blended scotch, focussed on W&M in Northern Emirates and pushed its way thru with some biggies.....

2) Used all my good relationship with Dubai Duty Free and got almost all the Dalmore range, Jura and W&M blends.....And started heavy push for W&M blended scotch and got some big volumes.

3) AnE was under pressure from Diageo and hence told me clearly they wont be in a position to help with our portfolio....Took a call and changed the distribution to MMI....though it didnt go well with AnE....

4) Got entry in to Beirut Duty Free and our premium malts and W&M 40 YO started doing well there....W&M 40 YO blended scotch is one of the rarest and the best in its segment...I have never ever tasted anything even closer to that in my life yet....if you can get hold of one, pl try it...

5) Got the entry in to Alpha, Colombo duty free.

6) Used my contacts in Gulf and got some break throughs....but the entry level scotches were a big issue due to the price hike....

W&M was a trading company and hence never focussed on anything other than executing the customer orders. We had a good business going with RTM channel based at Jordan....the business was transacted by a Lebanese sitting in London....the customer was based at Amman....and W&M was giving unsecured credit....I realised this channel can compensate for my lost volumes from Kenya and some other parts of Africa and went after this customer. Made a trip to Amman and met up with the customer....wonderful gentleman but absolutely no English....managed to strike a conversation thru his secretary but he was not happy with our price increase. His volumes were primarily W&M 3 YO....I made it on cash in advance with a 2% CD...tough one but cracked and secured the money and incentivised the person who was based at UK....but it was never easy business and the RTM was dependent on lots of factors.....The stocks were shipped to Mersin in Turkey and from there found its way to the traders...the stocks never ever entered Jordan......Middle East is mystic.....one has to go deeper to understand the route to market to be successful.

Initially recruited Chris Pillay a South African as TMM for my region....but it didnt work out well....he stayed for some time and quit. Got Ashish Monga my ex colleague from Diageo India...he was working with some trading house in Nigeria and he grabbed the offer but took some time to understand the nuances......but for me a good support....

We were doing some business in Nigeria but again the customer was operating from UK....Indian origin...good guys but were not upto speed....we were also supplying to Israel thru a trading house based at UK....I found everything strange....but in hindsight, I should have left it the way it was instead of changing it.......

My mind set, I should admit here, was that of Diageo....having come from big volumes and highly respected background, the need to prove myself and with very little interference from HO.....I made few mistakes or miscalculations.....

There were changes in HO too....Ashwin Mallik who was the COO of USL North was posted at Glasgow as CEO of W&M....this upset Alok and he quit....Ashwin also didnt last long and was replaced by a Scot as the CEO and VJM appointed Nick Garland as head of Marketing and sales.....These guys were good but focussed on correcting lots of things in US and in Europe....W&M was also big in own labels business...this means they used to manufacture for super market chains, labels owned by the super stores, but with very thin margins.....and their supply prices of own brands were rock bottom in Europe and Nick's task was to correct them....Somehow I was holding the forte in my region by doing some unthinkable....

The NE customers were of great help to me....at the Barracuda outlet we put up a gondola, first time by W&M....our malts have started dong well across...Dalmore got some great visibility in DDF and was a major source of revenue for my region.

We opened up Lebanon domestic, Syria and Jordan.....All were small markets for us but we started getting some numbers from zero base. Richard came down to Lebanon for a master class and also did a couple of them in Dubai-one exclusively for DDF floor staff and one for the select consumers and customers in DxB...His shows were great hit...my friends in Diageo and PRG started noticing these and started wondering what we were up to....but W&M seriously didnt have any money as their revenues, that time, were from selling own labels and cheap scotch and also bulk to select customers.

One of the great customer for bulk scotch was Balgobain of Mauritius...We stopped supplies of bulk as the retention was nothing great and W&M wanted to focus on brands....but Mukesh Balgobain's daughter, a young and bubbly, Kareena didnt want to take 'no' for an answer....She called me when I was in DxB and initially with her Brit accent I thought some French customer from Mauritius....but it turned out to be Mauritians of Indian origin....they were buying our bulk and bottling their own brands but small timers....this was their bread winner and they needed it desperately. I went and met up with them in Mauritius and such wonderful family and people....but could not entertain their request on the old price and they reluctantly agreed to pay extra....I have to also do lots of convincing at HO....but needed the cash register ringing till we establish our premiums....We also had a local distributor for Mauritius but of no great shake....shifted the domestic portfolio to Mukesh....but they also could not do much...Its a small island but what a great place....Got our Dalmore listing at the Mauritius Duty Free.....

MMI, as our domestic distributor for DxB was not great at all....They had PRG and some great brands and were quite happy with incremental despite a very aggressive CEO....They were clueless and just stocking up without any focus on depletions.....

Used my relationship with ADNH, Abu Dhabi and got direct supplies for them....

We did some great in shop training for their staff....and we started getting some regular business from them.

Meanwhile, my ex contact from Diageo, a local Iraqi who was running the duty free based at Baghdad and supplying to the consulates and to permit holders of foreign nationals...He was claiming big about his business and I felt we should visit his operations at Baghdad and decided to visit Iraq.

Myself and Ashish travelled to Baghdad - Iraq....scary one though...We stuck a deal with him exclusively for his duty free operations only. The flight to Baghdad from Sharjah took around 2 hours and it carried mainly the business community. We were given great welcome by Ahmed and he really took care of us...we visited his warehouse, shop and also he provided us a bullet proof vehicle and we visited a club in Baghdad and a retail outlet....(it was foolish on our part as were told later that we were lucky and normally word spread and people get abducted...We visited the club around noon and left by air to the northern Iraq capital, Erbil by evening flight....This is called Khurdistans....and bordering Iran.....our guy whom I had mentioned in the earlier paragraph was quite strong in Erbil as he used this place for transporting to different parts. Erbil is like any European town completely in contrast to the war torn Baghdad.....really a beautiful city...The first supply to the Iraq duty free operator upset my domestic distributor and he opposed it tooth and nail. Our defence, that he would supply only to DF, failed to convince him....I too got carried away with the tall claims of this person from Baghdad and gave the distribution to him....one of my worst blunders.....we have to undergo lots of ordeal because of this including collecting our dues from him....finally the stocks have to be transferred to our old distributor.....

My gut failed me in this.....

Similar thing happened in South Africa too....We had a distributor for the entire country but he was just happy selling some very small quantity. We were approached thru an agent based at Cape Town to look at Midmar, a super stores chain based at Cape Town and having shops in Cape Town and Durban...belonged to a South African of Indian origin....George Naidoo....he was a practicing Hindu but like many South African Indian Hindus had a christian first name....took him to Glasgow and to Dalmore.....wanted him to get impressed.....but as it turned out, he was not easy to deal with.....I even took him to UB house in Bangalore....but didnt work out well....money was difficult to get and finally he have to exit.....

These were my two major blunders when I was in W&M.....I kicked myself for not thinking enough on the RTM channel of Iraq and also the South African business.....The lesson is that to be patient and give a clear perspective of what the company wants from the distributor and give them time to come on the same page....I was a bit impatient to achieve numbers.....Also hired a local guy for South Africa based at Jo'berg.....half his time went managing Midmar and getting the money....I was not getting excited with what I was doing.

VK Rekhi and Samy Lala met me in DxB during one of their visits, and asked me what I would do if I were made incharge of the USL Indian brands for UAE? This thought had come to me many a times during my stint but having access to the internal intricacies I didnt open my mouth...in fact this would have helped in many markets to get entry and push for W&M brands as the USL brands would have been leveraged for W&M....they asked me to come to Blr with a clear strategy....

I did lot of research, work, detailed discussions with the NE customers and presented a way forward for USL brands-they were suffering from the onslaught of ABD's OC whiskey that time..along with the all powerful Royal Stag, Imperial Blue and Blenders Pride....I strongly felt that we should split the portfolio and offer each one to the 3 main WS there in NE and adopt the same strategy for DxB domestic and Abu Dhabi....I presented my strategy to VKR in Blr but it didnt sail thru due to the intricacies involved....USL selling to UB Global and UB Global in turn selling to the NE customers. But a few years back Diageo India split the portfolio and broke the monopoly enjoyed by CeeCee for ages...(!)...this is not to undermine the efforts put in by CeeCee in the initial years but USL should have changed the strategy and followed the footsteps of PRG....

I was sort of getting bored with Dubai in general and W&M in particular.....Thought I should get back to India......Atul of Flemingo convinced me to join Flemingo as ED....in fact he wanted me to be based at DxB but I decided to shift to Bombay and be part of Flemingo.....The Iraq and South Africa blunders were also played a role in making me to look at leaving W&M and Dxb....more than anything else it was sheer boredom of doing just trading and nothing on brand building except the activations in the DF area.

We did quite well in Lebanon with our premium and also in Syria...but our distributor in Syria got in to some problem with the administration and shut his business....I visited Damascus a couple of times and what a place it is....winding alleys....and lovely night life with great bar and restaurants....it used to be fun in Damascus and so was Beirut....My domestic distributor of Beirut, bought a good quantity of our aged Dalmore and also W&M 40 YO....Guys if you ever see a bottle of W&M 40 YO anywhere pl try it...its real value for money.

So finally I took a call after accepting the job with Flemingo....Nick wasnt happy and he asked me to stay back but I was convinced that DxB life was enough....Also interestingly my wife didnt say a thing....probably she was missing our son so much and Bombay is closer to Goa than Dubai.....we had a great get together with all our friends before we left Dxb...in our villa...that was one 'halluva' party...I have lots of fond memories of DxB....some great friends....also from my trade...Mohandas from Truebell, Mani from ADNH, Ron from Gulf brands, Bahrain...Colm, Ramesh and Sharon of DDF......Ashish Monga and Ramana......

Dubai....a great place.....makes all those who come there, go back with better savings....that land has the touch of goddess of wealth......

I also applied for a trading license with Fujairah Free Zone and got a license....the idea that time was to keep my visa alive and that was one way I figured out.....

will catch you in the next episode.....

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

Episode 32...

It took some time for the 'redundancy' factor to sink in.....my guys at the HO and Roland were all taken by surprise as they expected major rebellion from me, considering my 14 years of 'top notch' performance and also the results in Gulf....but as mentioned earlier, divine power showered me with all the 'redundancy' package and I felt relieved....I was asked to work till June 30th, the year end of Diageo and continue with all my visa and home till Sep end....So that gave me the breather and I started mulling over the options.

There was one on my hand though which was to be part of Flemingo international, a trading house in DxB with DF operations across India....but completely run by a family....and there were some other options but I didnt want to disclose to anyone on my 'status'......One day while on a casual chat my wife told me to speak to Dugar who was my boss during my HL time and later on as CEO of Balaji Distilleries....I nodded my head but VJM during that period put a ban on recruiting back those who had left UB with Deepak Roy.....Anyway, I spoke to Mr Dugar and he asked me to send my CV which he told me he would forward it to Samy Lala the CEO of Herbertsons....for your info a little bit of what was happening with UB those days....VJM acquired Shaw Wallace and merged it with McD. (Herbertsons and Carew Phipsons were already merged with McD). The problem with McD as a company was their premium brands never performed to the expectations of the management ...somewhere McD has failed to create a huge premium brand like Royal Challenge or Blenders Pride....So the acquisition of SW has helped them in creating a portfolio, envy of competition. The new entity was named United Spirts Ltd (USL)...Also they have created Regional Profit Centres....

Diageo India formed a JV with Radico Khaitan-Stuart Fletcher was instrumental and he was overawed by the wealth displayed by Sr Khaitan and with Asif Adil pushing hard this JV, it happened. They launched Masterstroke a premium whiskey on par with Blenders Pride and roped in Shah Ruck Khan as their brand ambassador....huge money was spent....But the product failed on day one.....and after some bitter fights the JV was closed down....

My HR person, I understood, spoke to Asif Adil CEO of Diageo India exploring possibilities of my return to India....And Asif made this public (what a professional)....And people in India came to know of my redundancy before I announced it to the world....This happened on a day I was on my way to Bangkok to attend a conference organised by my region-I came to know of this when I boarded the flight in DxB...I sent a mail to Ron, HR and Roland expressing my utter displeasure and also anguish....The moment I landed in Bangkok there were around 20 calls from Ron n others.....They were very apologetic of what had happened and assured me that they would not let this happen again.....Anyway damage has been done....I met Mahesh at Bangkok (he was looking after Thailand then-Bacardi) and hinted him but he didnt do any....

Came back to DxB and started the hunt...As mentioned earlier, Flemingo offer was there but I wanted to explore more...

I had mentioned about Gaurav Sabharwal who was my colleague in Diageo.....He was not happy with Diageo and was considering joining PRG India (joined)....He told me during our conversation that his wife, Gopi, having mentioned about an opening in World Diamond council....Spoke to Gopi to find out how to go about it.......she struggled a lot, took some time and finally got the e mail id of the CEO of the company. ( talking about 2007 and google search was either not there or in the nascent stage)..I shot him a mail with my CV.....Got the response the very next day saying that the CV has been forwarded to the HR but in the same breath he also mentioned probably I missed the bus.....nevertheless, got a call from the HR for an interview in their HO if London....I think I did fairly well in the interview...didnt know anything about the industry and they also didnt ask me much about the industry but the person who interviewed me said they had offered this to someone else and if he doesn't accept the offer within the specified time, the job would be mine....I didnt get it thought but the moral of the story here is that one should not give up till it reaches the logical conclusion....but was happy that I attended an interview outside my industry and thanked Gopi profusely for the trouble she had taken in getting me the lead.....

Meanwhile Samy Lalla called me and told me that he shared my CV with VJM but was not certain on the possibilities. 

The hunt was on and along with my son's IIT and BITS entrances.....Travelled with him to different places in India....Once I went to Blr to attend a wedding and upon reaching DxB (was still with Diageo and purpose of the trip was official)...there were few missed calls and one of them from Bangalore. Missed call from my wife too....She told me there was a call from VJMs office asking for me....to cut the long story short, got a call from VJMs secretary and she connected me to VJM....after the 1994 exit, spoke to VJM....the moment he came on the line I told him 'that I flew KF airlines and heard his welcome address on flight'...he was so happy hearing that and told me that he bought Whyte n Mackay and wanted me to come down to Glasgow the very next day and his office in DxB would organise the tickets and the rest....I could not travel the very next day as I had visitors from Diageo UK but travelled the day after and landed in Glasgow....I was booked at the Hilton and as I entered the hotel, VJM was standing outside and having a smoke along with someone...went and introduced myself to him and he asked me to speak to his secretary.....the press conference got just over where he announced his take over of W&M how he fulfilled his fathers dream....the press in Glasgow liked him and for the first time an Indian buying a Scottish (scotch) company!!!! Bravo....

Met Rekhi, Samy Lala, Ravi Nedungadi and all VJMs leadership team. Many of them were not even aware of my coming....Alok Gupta a very young and energetic guy who was looking after marketing in USL was transferred to W&M and he kind of spoke to me....that night was some dinner with the top guys and next day I was told that VJM would meet me....My flight from Glasgow to DxB was around 4pm and I had to be in DxB next day as I had to accompany my son for some entrance in India....I told Alok that I cant extend my stay due to the prior commitments and hence requested him to push my meeting hard with VJM....Waited till 1400hrs....nothing happened....was getting restless....Alok called me and asked me to come to W&M office and wait....Finally around 245 I was called in and met VJM for a few minutes....he told me that I have to focus on their premium range and make it big....the job was a regional one....Middle East, Africa and South Asia....Regional Director....big designation...he told me I fit the profile and Alok would contact me to take it forward....so job pakka.....

Rushed to the airport and got in to the flight satisfied with the turn of events. 

Reached DxB with some nice feelings....VJM also told me that he was breaking the rule for me (not taking anyone who left)....I was obligated....I also know that they needed someone whom they could trust and also knew the way of working of UB.....

But the wait was long as the HR lady was on leave....W&M has never done any overseas appointment and it took some time for them to figure out the terms and conditions...Alok was also busy and very difficult to get hold of....

Finally sometime last week of June 2005 when I was in Blr to attend friends daughters wedding the appointment letter was received. I asked my son in DxB to open the attachment and read it out....every thing was fine except that instead of mentioning the total remuneration p.m it was mentioned per annum....again a bit of wait and finally the package was delivered.....I told them I would join only on 10th Sep as I want to take a break for around 2 months.

Meanwhile Flemingo was preparing to welcome me on board but I told them that I could not say no to my ex boss....

Also I got couple of more offers but decided to continue in the same industry (alcohol wanted to stick with me)....

Whole lots of things to do in DxB...change of home...fortunately got one across the road....this is another story....we saw one day someone vacating the opposite villa and I approached them and took the number of the owner...when I approached the owner, I was told that was promised to some one else...didnt give up...impressed upon them and got the villa....I had to also take care of my care taken and drivers visa and also get my visa changed.

Since W&M didnt have an office in DxB...I have to either be part of their UB office visa or AnE, their distributors or get an office.....

Didnt want to be part of UB and also AnE....so started working on the own office in one of the free zones....

Rest and more later......

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

Episode 31...

Diageo n Gulf.....

Things were going smooth....the domestic, Duty Free and RTM were all cleansed, healed and started giving us fabulous returns. 

One of the major issues, I faced, was the poor quality of our give aways as offers in the Duty Free channels on JW Black. The travelling consumers liked the trolley bags as gifts as they could, in turn, give it to their friends in their native land as a memoir...PRG-Chivas Regal- managed to get better quality Trolleys than us.....though we did well with our trolleys during promos, there were huge complaints on the quality of our gifts...we have to also stay with in our budgets and hence to catch hold of a good supplier was important. I met up with a good soul and when I asked him whether he could help me to figure out a source, he offered to do it himself and at a very affordable cost...slightly higher but the product turned out to be much better than that of Chivas Gift....and he became our regular supplier of many things...(so do not just look at conventional things...tried and tested....look around and you will always find something or someone who can provide you what you are looking for).

Also introduced the 20ml JW Blue as an offer on JW Gold....this has helped us to improve our sale of Gold and Blue....the 20ml was a trial pack and the sale of trial pack also went up....the added cost is the creation of gift carton to 'in-pack' the 20 ml....this has to be done at AnE and the additional cost but it was worth...The logic was to up-trade the consumers....

As a marketeer one need to understand the duty free consumer much better before designing the promotions. When I took charge of Gulf it was all about bags and bags and bags....nothing else....I used to spend lots of time on the shop floor be it Dubai Duty Free/Abu Dhabi/Sharjah/Doha/Bahrain et al.....Sharjah is different as during my tenure, this airport was mainly for low cost airlines and the fliers also were looking at value for money. The duty free operator at Sharjah, Du Fry, a Swiss based organisation, was very receptive to ideas to improve their business as, most of the manufacturers spent all their monies in DDF as it was huge...this irked Du Fry and the moment i proposed to up the activations in their departures and arrival, they took an instant liking towards me.....there was a problem too as the head of procurement was based at Basel, Swiss and it was always an issue to put our ideas and logics to them to improve their ordering pattern due to the promos....so, decided to visit the head of procurements in Basel along with Pramod, my finance guy and Syama who was managing logistics at our DxB office-This helped us to a great deal as they could put a face to the names they were dealing with and they really appreciated our coming all the way to meet up with them. This trip went a long way to improve our relationship with Sharjah Duty free and we were given 'the best supplier' status by them. We got some great visibility in SDF and also doubled our numbers. Considering the consumer profile, we introduced on JW Red 3 for 2 offers and it was a run away success....And we always reimbursed, the cost of  promos, as goods only hence our cost was just the cost of goods plus transporting....

Travellers across globe can be divided in to the following categories...1) Business/Frequent Travellers-these are the ones who travel across globe and use the lounge and know what they want...as they are regular travellers they try and spend little time browsing thru the items and with a very clear understanding of what to buy....They just go to the shop, buy things and leave...whether departure or arrival...since they travel frequently, anything missed in one visit can be bought in the next one....also in UAE the arrival allowance is 4 bottles of spirits and even if someone travels four times a month, its 16 bottles...unless this person is throwing huge parties every week....why should anyone buy alcohol every time? And the other items in DF are primarily chocolates and tobacco.....so in arrivals you dont find queues..2) Tourists....they spend lots of time in the departure shops browsing thru and also looking at the offers and competitive prices....so displays, offers and attractive prices are most important for them. 3) Labour force....they visit their native land once a year and for them there is plenty to take home....alcohol, chocolates, cosmetics et al....offers are so important for them and price....Dubai boasts of world travellers and every nationality is different.....Tourists from Russia and China buy very expensive stuff....Chinese expensive Cognacs and Russians everything....Kuwaitis and Saudis....expensive perfumes and jewellery as they cant carry alcohol when they land. You have to profile the consumers and run offers which would attract the TA and get you results. Also DDF has all the data and they would be too glad to share with you if the purpose is to increase the foot fall and revenue for DDF. Dubai Duty Free celebrates their anniversary in the second fortnight of December and offer huge discounts....I think they capped it at 25% now......not on alcohol but almost on all the other items....you can pre book what you want to buy and collect it at the counter...so much for consumer friendly......

Dubai Duty free has a general stores serving all kind of general items....I used to wonder why items like yogurt and water bottles at the DF shops? But believe me guys they have demand for these too...

In Europe and US there is no Duty Free.....they are tax free shops.....So the prices are high compared to Middle East and Asia...For internal travellers from one country to another within Europe this is attractive as they save on local taxes....and they are not mad shoppers....they buy mostly alcohol and tobacco. If you travel thru Heathrow terminal you will see exclusive shop for Single malts. And it really sells well as almost all the brands are available and even the prices are quite competitive.

In India the face of Duty Free changed only after the new terminals inaugurated in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Bombay....Today these shops are world class...Chennai has to go a long way.....you need big time players in Duty Free and its an experience....

In many airports there is last minute shops...small but keeps mainly alcohol for those who are in a rush....every single inch of space in the airport has to generate revenue.....

When things were going so well, they created a new division and merged it with Global Duty Free of Diageo...our region was re named Middle East North Africa (MENA) and came under Ron Anderson....A great guy and grew from the ranks of IDV...And our divisional president was a Stuart Fletcher.....

And these guys introduced something called Break Through (BT) thinking thru an agency and went hammer and tongs after this. Though it was introduced when I was in India it went berserk under Stuart F.....maximum time and money were spent on inculcating this BT way of working but down the line many didnt understand this concept at all.....How this BT has to work....Breakthrough is something you come out without any logic or rationale.....Its a thought, if given shape and inputs, can take the business to a different level....wonderful concept but somehow fallen on the wayside.....lots of money was spent on this by our division....

As mentioned business started hitting high with all the activities and aggression in place. I have also expanded the team by bringing in a manager to manage domestic business (Sahar Maniar), a Customer Activation manager in Roy Diab from Diageo Lebanon and they appointed a HR head to manage our region...another Lebanese lady from Diageo Lebanon based at Dubai...So lot more in our office and lots of action.....

And around the beginning of 2007 the Beirut airport bombing happened and Lebanon was back to its chaotic past.....things became so bad Diageo told their employees to sit at home or those who were keen to leave the country and come to DxB.....Diageo was very concerned and was there to help the needy....

And around April or May 2007, Ron announced that the Middle East-North America region's HQ would be Dubai and a Regional Director would be appointed. This was announced during our review meeting in Dubai and I was told Roland Abella has applied for the position....without battling an eyelid, I also informed the team I am throwing in my hat...I didnt realise that Ron had already zeroed in on Roland....and I somehow felt there was something going wrong for me....and somehow I also didnt like too many Lebanese getting in to our DxB office as I felt they were parochial.....(sorry, this is how I felt that time)...they were friendly fun loving and party animals but they stuck to their own clan....we had a guy who was incharge of marketing-Tony Amin-another great guy but their marketing was woven around the Lebanese consumers and they failed miserably understanding the Gulf DF and also the domestic markets...this irked me a lot and am sure it was vice versa...

Sometime in June 2007, I think, we had a review meeting in DxB with Ron and the dinner was fixed at the Budha Bar....I was getting choked with this new environment and was getting troubled....Ron was a non interfering boss but I felt he was getting carried away by the Lebanese folks....and also they, probably thought, that I dont comply with certain fundamentals-like-no interactions with the traders in NE...also there were whispers that a new scotch strategy was getting developed and Roland was in the leadership team....And also their interference in DF promos irked me majorly....Ron once wanted to visit DDF and meet up with the biggies....I fixed up an appointment with Colm, George Horan and Sharon....but Ron, to my utter disbelief, behaved like a big boss....totally different from how Ivan used to...and Sharon was not happy and she told me in so many words....Also with AnE there was no inputs or anything....I personally had great admiration for Ron from my IDV days when he was heading the world class selling and later as head of the Miami region...So I decided to call it quits...no job on hand but I was emotionally drained.....I wrote my resignation letter (didnt discuss with no one....not even with Nalin), kept it with me and went for the dinner. At the end of the dinner I told Ron I wanted few minutes with him alone and he asked me to meet up with him outside...in another bar....when I went in, I was shocked to see Roland there and I could not believe myself....but I kept quiet....I looked at Ron quizzically and he asked me to sit down and he started the conversation....it was something like 'Rajah, Roland is going to shift to DxB as head of MENA and at this moment we feel that you will have no role in this division....we will try to fit you somewhere else but if we dont, you would be made redundant and whatever is Diageo's policy in terms of severance would be given to you...He was nice, polite and very compassionate....but very matter of factly.....I didnt know how to react....Roland butted in and told me that we would discuss it in the office the next day....and he also told me that the head of HR of DF region would speak to me....no discussions-nothing....I didnt know how to react and hence I just nodded my head and told them bye and left....

Guys, when am writing this, I realise that it was divine intervention that day that I didnt submit my resignation and instead Ron volunteered to tell me about the redundancy.....Oops....what a welcome relief it was....the next day, in our DxB office, Roland was all apologetic and told me that they expected me to react aggressively and were quite surprised my cool composure....The HR lady called me and explained what I would get as severance....I was told that I can continue till June end and I would be compensated....my visa would continue till I want and I can continue my travel attend all the meetings et al....and no one would be told about this till I decide to inform...very considerate Diageo...and the severance money was hefty and good......but I lost my job.....second time in 3 years....both the times, someone has taken away, what was mine.....

Rest and more.....next episode.... 

 

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

Episode 30...

I wrote about the issues and also the tasks ahead....in my last episode.

I looked at DxB airport to start with. 

Folks, DDF is the best run duty free, as per me, in the world....I say this because they are not the typical DF operators like some of the global players and do not squeeze the suppliers. They are friendly and always there to help. 

I looked at the numbers of DDF. The perception in HO was that JW Black was the leader there but it was not so.....DDF had a policy (though I was totally against that) which allows either Johnny Walker or Chivas on promo...the promo in departures were a trolley for every two bottles of Black and Chivas also operated similar stuff. But the difference was in quality....ours was a poor second to what was given on Chivas. We had promoters-they are DDF employees but seconded to us) and their major complaint was the poor quality of ours vis a vis given by competition especially Chivas. This I changed immediately by changing the supplier and brining in new ones. Also I requested DDF to allow both of us on promo at the same time to figure out whats the consumers choice which was turned down by them citing the difficulties in managing both. But I convinced them to allow us to operate during Xmas time at least and I succeeded. I built a good rapport with the DF staff and also the floor managers....Went on a full offensive as due to the issues with the domestic and RTM, I felt I have to make up the volumes from DF. 

Also in the Gulf the arrival allowance of spirit was 4 lits and no one bothered to promote there as it was taken for granted consumers would lift the 4 lits. Yes consumers lifted but they bought assorted stuff...Unlike the departures where the consumers spend some time to browse thru in arrivals they are in a hurry as they have to exit asap to reach their destinations....so one has to do something which attracts their eyes the moment they step inside. Also the arrival shops are not all that spacious compared to the departures. Always cramped....And DDF was dead against any free bottles in arrival as it would affect their revenues....and there was no 'one month for you and one month for Chivas' conditions...so we came out with stunning promos at arrivals and one of them being JW 4 lits packed in one without any discounts. This was an instant success and our depletions started going northwards....

Due to space constraints DDF was very clear that the supplies have to come from our local distributor only (for all the volume brands-companies) and hence the local distributor has to manage the inventories well and keep meeting the demand 24x7. They were given a service charge for this but there were always stocks outs.... and I made it a point to reach the airport with an extra grace time of an hour to spend time with the staff and also address issues and most of the times it was stock outs and shelf space....this was also addressed by getting one exclusive person to look after the logistics of DDF from AnE....

Dubai Duty Free was the major contributor followed by Abu Dhabi (ADDF), Sharjah, Qatar, Bahrain and Muscat. Abu Dhabi was in tie up with DFS and Qatar, Bahrain and Muscat with Aer Rienta....But DFS role in managing the ADDF was limited to only procurements. Diageo stand was that Gulf/Middle East to be left alone and didnt give in to any pressure from the global DF operators on pricing. This has helped us in terms of profitability.

The allowance across UAE was the same (4 lits of alcohol or wines or 4 boxes of Beer). In Qatar both the DF and domestic were managed by the Qatar airways and hence the allowance was just a lit. Same in Bahrain and in Muscat it was 2 lit. All these allowances were in arrival only but in departures you can take as much as you want provided the airlines didnt have any objections. In Muscat and Bahrain during the month of Eid, the alcohol section in arrival were covered for religious reasons. 

One has to first take a note of the local and religious sensitivities before getting in to any strategic thinking. 

So the priority for me was to build relationship with the key stake holders across the DF and also domestic. Domestic business across Gulf was different.

UAE....

DxB..circa 2005. The off trade was managed by African and Eastern and MMI....they were the only two given license to run retail of their own and also supply to local bars and restaurants (the permitted ones)...total monopoly. There was also some local tax and coupled with restrictions of who can buy and how much...hence the retail business was not a very attractive one in DxB local. The on trade were doing great business - across categories....The bar in Emirates towers....I think it was on the 24th floor....what a place it was and Black Label was just 24 AED those days for a peg....Budha Bar another happening place.....the bar on the 32nd floor of Grovenor's house... and every five star hotel....plus the dance bars where the max business was coming from. And these outlets were divided between AnE and MMI....this means that if the outlet had tied up with MMI, it would be Chivas all the way and if it was of AnE it would be JW Black....and Chivas was growing silently as the travellers from other gulf countries were going for Chivas....and the team of both AnE and MMI were focussing on discounts for pouring and major promo was some snacks free....nothing major.....I went around, figured out that the volumes were nothing great and left it to the AnE team to manage the activities well and just focus on the market share.....

Abu Dhabi....better than DxB....we had ADMMI as our distributor and the difference in this market was that there were more retail outlets than DxB....there was also no local tax....there were primarily ADMMI, Spinney's, Abu Dhabi National Hotels, AnE and one more....these distributors also had their own outlets.....but there was restrictions on locals buying from these outlets....but the off trade business was much better than that of DxB....

My first visit to ADNH was a miserable one....they were very upset with Diageo as just before my arrival they had removed the distribution of Guinness beer from them and handed over the same to ADMMI to consolidate the distribution. This didnt go well with ADNH and I was given a complete dressing down by their boss...Mr. Khoory....and Mr.Mani a fellow Indian who was heading their purchase, was very kind to me. They stopped promoting Diageo totally including the spirits. I spoke to the bosses at ADMMI and transferred back Guinness to ADNH....that paved the way for a fantastic relationship with them and that helped me later....I still enjoy a great relationship with this outlet.

Northern Emirates....

Sharjah is a dry state....RAK, Fujairah, Um-al-Quain and Ajman were open.....and the business was majorly by the Indian community....Diageo used to supply directly to these customers but just a year before I got shifted they stopped it citing some vague and stupid reasons....and they directed AnE to supply to them. This upset them much more and they vented their frustration and anger by buying Diageo spirits from the parallel traders. Diageo, sadly that time, kept changing things-the one which were going right and without any complications-very often. This is one such major change. The reason by the legal team of Diageo was these customers were not authorised customers and were in bootlegging. It took some time for me to understand the nuances of this trade in Northern Emirates. And am summarising my understanding here...1) Most of the traders are Indian businessmen. 2) They are licensed by the local governments (I took the copy of the license of one of the customers which was in Arabic and got it vetted by a recognised and senior lawyer in Dubai and sent to my HO and legal team but they didnt bother to respond to me)....3) They all have huge retail stores and also do trading in majorly African and middle eastern customers. Customers from Africa were dependant on this NE channel as the prices were attractive and the genueinity of the goods. Also the customs in UAE were customer friendly, professional and quick. Alcohol, food, spices, dry fruits and nuts et al. Alcohol used to go to places where it was banned but the UAE dealers were only providing goods and service. Where it goes and how it is transported was not their concern. 4) And they were servicing to license holders only. 5) And payments were never an issue as Diageo, when they were servicing them directly were getting the money either in advance or against LCs. 6) By denying direct supplies and telling them to buy only from AnE at an increased price, they completely alienated the trade. Since there was demand for Diageo brands the customers started buying from parallel traders but the loss was of Dubai hub of Diageo where I was the boss and tasked to deliver the numbers. The RTM channels numbers were almost like 30% of the volumes and highly profitable...This became a major challenge for me. Also despite representing the genueinity of the customers, the legal department of Diageo, not only refused to entertain direct supplies but told me very clearly to stay away from NE customers. I got a directive that I should not visit their shops and the customers as it would be construed as facilitating illegal trading. I felt it was illogical as Diageo was okay for AnE, the authorised distributor to supply them where as the GM of the market should refrain from transacting business with them. They should have ideally taken off the targets set for this channel but the targets were kept as same....look at the irony. So I have to think differently and get the business....and with AnE's poor understanding of the channel (they looked at NE customers as their competitors and also they were new as Diageo distributor)...it made things worse. Meanwhile Pernod Ricard, the makers of Chivas, exploited this situation and started pumping in....to every single customer in NE directly....I sat down with AnE, made them to realise how important this channel for us and cut down their margins and announced some incentives - thru their GM - for the dealers in NE and with my continuous follow ups and interactions with AnE team,  the channel started contributing. But we lost some business in the process. And this channel is known for cut throat competition. While DxB Duty Free was selling JW Black at around 130 AED, some customers in Northern Emirates were selling at 110 AED and this irked DDF.....and it came as a blessing for me and I pressed the accelerator and made DDF to agree for aggressive promos in arrivals (this price issue was affecting their arrival only)...this is a bit complex situation and hence so much of detailing. 

I need to also put a disclaimer here....The legal department of Diageo went with their own understanding of this channel and I felt my predecessor failed in his job in convincing them on the genueinity of the customers in NE....some of them specialised in consumer friendly retail stores....the retail space in some of the shops was just mind blowing. Consumers from DxB on weekends visit these shops and pick up their requirements as 1) it served them as a good get away trip and b) the savings compared to buying from DxB retails of AnE and MMI. (As am writing this I heard the DxB government has removed the local tax on alcohol paving way for lower prices in these shops in DxB). I convinced AnE to go for major branding activations in NE as some of the pubs and bars there were doing phenomenal business during week ends. Lots of work went in to this channel which was never done before I arrived. I am not stating this to tom tom what I had done but to make you to realise how sometimes the biggies goof up on big bucks and waste time on brand building in insignificant channels....and both MMI and AnE were masters in painting the NE as 'untouchables'.....

Sharjah Duty Free:

Though Sharjah was a dry state, this never hindered the DF operations - except during the month of Ramadan.....they used to cover the arrival DF with some kind of 

Qatar...

Smaller in terms of size. Qatar Duty Free, run by Qatar Airways-procurement by Aer Rienta - Qatar Distribution Company (QDC) run by Aer Rienta....There was a lady of Indian origin was the GM of the Duty Free....a real terror and she never bothered about Aer Rienta and ran the DF on her own terms.....we jelled well from day 1. Aer Rienta tried to control the promos and slots but she just sidelined them which made my live easier. Her team was great - Jude was the incharge of procurements and the shop floor).  Qatar Airways in flight service and DF was also brought under control.

The domestic sale..just one retail stores but a huge one....QDC...all the companies wish to sell in Qatar need to go thru only QDC....there was also on trade but limited-attached to the 5 stars-almost 90% of the business was from retail only. The retail business was on some kind of quota based on the income of the consumers...for the local Qatari's no entry in to the shop....established great rapport with the GM of the operations-Colin Boother - a Brit....

Customary visit once a quarter to review the stocks-promos and displays.....

QDF was new compared to DDF and learning the tricks...the big boss of QDF and QDC - ambitious a Qatari -who was also heading the Qatar Airways - knew well how to run the business.....never met though....Also carrying alcohol in to Qatar was prohibited and hence no booze in the arrivals.

Bahrain:

Compared to Qatar and Oman this was bigger in terms of volumes and also was very pragmatic with their alcohol policy. There were stand alone bars serving alcohol apart from retail stores-the stores were few only as only the importers-around 5 or 6-were allowed to set up retail and run. So these importers, in their retail stores gave preference to the brands which they were distributing but the over all business of domestic was good. But things changed a bit after the 2005 Ramadan....

BMMI was our distributor and like any other gulf distributor were just managing the distribution. Thursday evening to Saturday the bars would be abuzz with lots of cross border traffic. The retail stores were huge and churning out good volumes....

The Bahrain Duty Free was run by the BDF, a government arm but the procurements and promotions were managed by Aer Rienta...Initially all the gulf operators wanted some big foreign operators to get best deals from the suppliers but later developed understanding and skills but still continued with their logistics partners.

The allowance in Bahrain was just 2 lits of alcohol or 12 cans of beer....so the arrival was not a great attraction. Gulf Air was their national carrier and it was not doing great then. The departure shop was contributing almost 80% of the overall business.

Oman-Muscat...

This is the smallest of all the Gulf markets. Duty free and Domestic. DF was known as Muscat Duty Free and run by the local businessman with great guys taking care of the shop floor. The procurement and logistics were managed by Aer Rienta....Allowance for arrival were two lits and hence around 25% of the volumes were from the arrival shop. The departure was catering to overseas and transit passengers.

The domestic business was small due to the local taxes and small populace. We had AnE managing our business and also the licensees were importing from UAE due to its proximity and also cheaper prices....

Saudi and Kuwait also had their duty free shops in the international airports but sans alcohol.

The format across Gulf was the same. Also how the business is transacted. The distributors and the DF played major role and one has to take care of 1) great rapport with the operators 2) Attractive offers and perfect executions 3) Managing logistics....The DF shops are so important to get the volumes and hence great understanding with the shop floor staff.

Once the above is understood easier to manage business and deliver the KRAs....

But Diageo is different right.......

We will talk about this and more in the next episode.....

 My experience with Southern Railway.

Folks, I have taken a place on rent in Srivatsam, Kalyanapuram near Kumbakonam. This apartment belongs to my lovely friend GMS.

I want to spend lot more time there as I love the place, the people, the staff and the temples around. It's run very efficiently by the promoter, Shri Seetharaman. 

Earlier I used to go by road but in the last few times changed to Cholan express which, if runs on time, takes exactly 5 hours to reach my destination-the only problem is it leaves at 715hrs, Chennai Egmore.

I had some issues with this train - first being the freezing chillness inside, the perpetual delays and also the menace of vendors. (the AC has issue has been addressed though)

I used to tweet to the Rly minister but didnt bother to respond to the reverts.

This time (3rd of this month) I boarded the train at a place called Papanasam. It is a single platform station and fully dug up. If it rains one would get completely drenched as the shades are not continuous. Also its very difficult to lug your baggages. For elderly people and physically challenged, I would not recommend this station. Whoever is the incharge, should work on some time lines and get the platform and station passenger friendly or else the SR should skip this station and start services only after the civil work is completed.

The train was supposed to arrive at 11.16 and I reached the station on time though I knew, thru the app I had installed, the train was running a bit late. From the entrance to my compartment it was a good 10 minutes walk with very little manoeuvring possible. Fortunately it didnt rain the sun was kind....by the time the train arrived it was a good 40 minutes delay. 

I boarded and settled and in 10 minutes time the train reached Kumbakonam. There I started hearing the vendors noise inside the compartments....

I tweeted the railway minister on the perpetual delay of this train (onward too my train was delayed and also on earlier occasions) and  also on the vendors movements. Within 10 minutes the concerned TTE came in to my cabin as he was asked to address the grievance. He was quite concerned and told me the delay was due to track work (doesnt made any sense to me - it must have been with the knowledge of the railways and they should have considered this delay and advanced the train or adviced the passengers on the expected delay)...and also he told me that he would do something about the vendors.

Within few minutes I got a call from Trichy control room asking me whether my grievance on the vendors was addressed. That person (Bagiyaraj) was very apologetic and assured me action would be taken.

At Cuddalore/Villupuram station 3 RPF police came to me and told me the vendors were evicted. 

1) Am not against vendors but there is always a possibility of some bad elements slipping in and creating issues. I told this to the TTE too.

2) The version of the TTE was that many travellers need food which was provided by these vendors...fair enough but isnt it the job of the railways. A train journey which lasts for 7 hours-day time-with so many stops-should have a pantry....this is missing. Also they should have chair cars instead of standard coaches....(Rockfort and Pandiyan are run as Cholan up and down every day hence standard sleepers in all classes)...And travellers should bring their own food as allowing unknown and unregistered vendors is a major risk factor...

But this blog is to appreciate the quick response by the railway authorities in addressing the issue and taking action.

My sincere appreciations to the Railway ministers twitter handle, the southern railway incharge (whom I had ccd) and the very efficient TTE, Bhagyaraj and the RPF.

Well done Indian Railways....way to go.....

 Food n Bengaluru.....my take....

I spent around 5 days recently in Namma Bengaluru. The purpose of the visit was to attend my partners daughters wedding but we decided to spend a couple of more days to visit some friends and also enjoy the weather in Blr...

When ever I visit Blr I made it a point to have a meal/Tiffin at either at MTR, Adigas or any other local joints.

This time too, I visited different places - Krishnam n Rameshwaram Cafe...

Guys, these guys offer the best of Dosas and Vadas....We, the Tamilians, are very proud that Dosas were invented here but let me tell you - the Kannadigas have mastered it....Nowhere, I repeat nowhere, one can get such brownie exterior-rusk like-crispy dosas....TN has lost it....I dont find the dosas in TN mouthwatering anymore...there may be some exceptions but in Blr every single joint serving Dosa, its just great.

Rameshwaram Cafe is probably a year and half old but today its the happening place....I tasted their 'Thatta' idli, Dosa, Vada and 'akki' roti....every single item mentioned here were out of the world....no wonder they have such huge fan club.

And tiffin is not at all expensive. 7 of us had dinner at Krishnam to our hearts content and the bill was less than 1000.

All these joints are highly hygienic. And the staff are courteous and serve with a big smile....

Compared to this, I find Chennai very expensive and the food is not all the great and most of the restaurants, the staff are a bit rude too....

I had given up coffee some 36 years ago but tasted a bit at Rameshwaram Cafe the other day and fell in love....

Someone should replicate this Blr model in Chennai and at prices as low as Blr.....( Eating Circle on CP Ramaswamy Road but thats a poor cousin to Krishnam....)

You would also find 'Darshinis' across Blr....its stand and dine joints - a la fast food-serving south Indian snacks...hygienic and tasty...( Nothing in Chennai)....

I hope one of the aspiring chefs read this post and start the KTK style tiffin room with the same quality, quality price and service sooner in Chennai....

Till then I have to keep visiting Blr to satisfy my taste buds.....

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

Episode 29...

Forgot to mention in my last episode, a great getaway meeting when it became certain that I would be moving out....We planned a trip to Kumarakom backwaters in Kerala and it was, self, Nalin, Sudeep, John, Sridhar and Ravi....Krithi to join next day....we played a prank with Krithi (this is something we used to do often....once with Deepak and then with Amar and it was executed so well that in both the instances these guys almost got a heart attack!) and asked him to come prepared with a presentation to be made to Ravi on DF business and his thoughts/ideas on how to double it....Krithi burnt lots of midnight oil and next day he arrived. We all assembled and asked him to start the presentation....he started off very seriously and in all earnest and in just 5 minutes, Nalin got up and told him, 'Krithi, enough of this nonsense....we are not here to discuss business....let's have a beer!' Krithi didnt know how to react and we all burst in to laughter....it took some time for Krithi to realise it was a prank....and a great sport he is, he enjoyed the fun too.....Ravi R left next day and we all had great fun sans the presence of Ravi.....that was my last official togetherness with the guys in India....

I narrated the above episode to drive home how important it is to have a wonderful bonding with your colleagues and how important it is to have better understanding between the members of the leadership team. If you ask a military man, he would say drinks and women bring them together.....The leadership team in a company is the driving force and are responsible for strategic thinking and execution. The 2002-5 was a fabulous period for me in India and for all of us....

Now over to Dubai....

My son was not happy to shift to DxB as he just moved to +1 and wanted to get coached for IIT entrance and he felt shifting to DxB would not help him to achieve this objective as the coaching centres in DxB were, at that time, no match to anything in India. Also he started liking Podar in Bombay....

We went to DxB....all 3 of us and looked at many options in terms of acco but finally froze on my predecessors villa in Umm Suqeim....excellent location and in close proximity to the beach and  Jumeirah Beach resort....

Next was to get my sons admission...+1...lot tougher...I approached the Indian school through a contact and met the principal....he said he would give the admission after going thru my sons credentials but they were ahead by 3 months and he insisted those missed portions the student has to manage with his classmates....My son was okay with that...

I have to also get my sons and wife's visa...since mine was a clear (Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority viz DAFZA) one, I applied for the visa and paid all the fees (quite a lot in DxB)...went to the immigration and when my turn came, the person at the counter, looked at the visa application of my son and told me that I have to get from the school a letter confirming my sons admission...this was a shocker...I tried to reason that I would be stupid to apply for my sons visa if I wasn't sure of his school admission and he didnt like that at all..He was a bit rough and told me that he cant do anything and I have to come back with the confirmation letter from the school. So I rushed to the school...fortunately for me Keerthi, the PR guy at our DxB office was with me and hence moving around DxB was not an issue as he knew the topography well....met the principal and he turned down my request saying that he has given the word and once the visa is approved we can pay the fees.....he said convening the board meeting for this insignificant and routine thing wont go well with the board members....I pleaded but he was unrelenting....I spoke to some of my contacts and they also said if the immigration guy wants that, I better get that....and the Principal was unrelenting and kind of shut the door on me....Since i didnt know what to do, I thought I would go the Immigration and plead once again...rushed back to the immigration and went to the same counter with all the papers....but the guy who was there in the morning, was replaced by another..Krithi told me that we should come back the next day as if this guy rejects, then nothing could be done...I thought for a moment, prayed and decided to proceed....I gave him all the papers and told him the school refused to give a letter confirming admission but assured admission after the visa is stamped....he looked at me, puzzled and asked me who told me to get the letter from school? I said it was his colleague who was sitting in the same chair a couple of hours ago...he muttered something in Arabic, shook his head and told me in English "not required' and stamped the visa and gave me.....for both my wife and son.....I didnt know how to react...at one point, I thought it would be a long battle for my sons visa but within hours it changed....what do you call that? divine intervention....same immigration office but different persons and different stand...

All sorted in DxB and we returned to Bombay, packed our stuff and left for DxB....after spending more than a decade in Bombay in IDV/Guinness UDV/Diageo....with a heavy heart to leave the city which really helped me to grow professionally and personally....the trade and the team....Thanks to the Almighty for the lovely team he provided me which made my life easier. Some of my customers came home to bid farewell....and some amazing friends too...

We were put up in a nice hotel in DxB for 15 days...It was mid of Ramadan and my first experience during this fasting period......it was September 2015....everything was slow in the day time.....immigration, business, government offices....but evenings would be fun n frolic across DxB.....DxB was full of fabulous restaurants and world cuisine....I would leave my wife and son and would go to office and come back around 3 as every office closes by then....

Jeff did a good job inducting me and introducing me to almost all the customers across Gulf...and a brief on the business we do with them...it was very formal....I tried to grasp whatever I could....there were some shockers too....the first one being the new rule imposed by the Bahrain administration banning sale and serving of alcohol during Ramadan...till that time, Bahrain was seen one of the progressive countries in Gulf when it comes to alcohol as it was the only country where stand alone restaurants were allowed to have bar and sell. This news was broken to us by our distributor as soon as we met them (with a sarcastic look of 'this guy has brought bad luck to our business!'...but the shocker came from Bahrain....

We visited Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Dubai Duty Free, Abu Dhabi Duty free and our local distributor African n Eastern.....Jeff didnt bother to take me to Northern Emirates...no introductions to any of our Northern Emirates customers....our office was in Airport Free Zone...a decent office....Apart from me, we had the head of finance and three   (Venky, Pramod and Pradeep) assisting him. Syama as office receptionist/secretary, Felicity Sparrow as another secretary and marketing was looked after by, Peggy, a Lebanese..

This girl was the secretary to the ex GM-Gilbert another Lebanese, and dont know what kind of potential he saw in her, he transferred her from Beirut to Dubai to look after the marketing for the entire Gulf ( am not against bringing people from different areas and trying them but this one was unexplainable as the Beirut office also felt the same)....I found this person wanting in many areas but most of the time, she was on WFH mode (even in 2005) and it made things difficult. Keerthi was the PR guy in the office and 'go to' man for many things. 

The finance guy was a Brit and he was the head of finance for the entire gulf and north Africa region. 

There were few major issues which I inherited. Just a few months  before I took charge, Jeff changed the distribution from MMI to AnE...Let me explain this to you guys....MMI and AnE were the only distributors licensed to sell in Dubai Emirates....(Dubai is one of the states in United Arab Emirates...others being Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Umm Al Quain, Ajman, Ras Al Khaima and Fujairah ). And MMI and AnE were given licenses to operate retail stores too in Dxb local....But the major share of business in Dubai domestic used to come from on trade only as the retails were to pay some local taxes apart from the 50% import duty + can sell only to foreigners with permits + their huge margins. These two companies held the market between them very tight and never allowed outsiders to set up shop. But the beauty is, both of them were managed by the government. MMI was wholly owned by Emirates airlines whereas AnE was partly owned by the person who was the chairman of Emirates + Fosters + another partner....

And changing distribution from one to another was never heard of in DxB, earlier. Before the change of distribution AnE used to distribute PRG (Chivas Regal) and after the change, PRG went to MMI. Both MMI and AnE were the kind of CnF for Dubai Duty Free as due to space constraints DDF preferred this model and Diageo + PRG controlled more than 50% of the DDF business. And both MMI and AnE did this service with a thin margin but the volumes were much higher than the domestic business they were doing.

This change of distribution has affected Diageo with their inflight business with Emirates airlines...Emirates Airlines is one of the large buyers of alcohol as they serve generously in-flight and also in their in-flight duty free business. We lost pouring status of JW Black and Red and many other brands except Bailey's. The boss of MMI was the CEO of Emirates Airlines too...

And another stupid mistake Diageo did was to make AnE to distribute to the Northern Emirates customers discontinuing direct supplies to them. This made the NE customers very unhappy as they lost their special status. Obviously AnE would not sell at the same price but would keep some margins. All the other manufacturers including Diageo's major competitor PRG were happily supplying to the customers in NE sans Diageo.

Also apart from Duty Free and Domestic there is another very important, highly volatile and price sensitive channel called RTM (Route to Market). This term RTM is quite common but in Gulf, especially in UAE, this has a different meaning. Jebal Ali, Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah ports are the ones used for trading to many African countries as these ports are very professionally run and completely digitalised. Since UAEs import duties are the lowest in many categories (alcohol 50% compared to India's 164%) many customers from Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East throng UAE to get best deals and lift stocks from here. Alcohol is also majorly traded thru these ports to different parts of the world including Europe. Also since major brands in alcohol and beer are price sensitive, the UAE customers especially the ones based at Northern Emirates always look for the best global prices. Whatever the manufacturers do in terms of stopping these parallel trading, no one has every succeeded as it is only illegal from the manufacturers point and not from governments side.

So coming to the issues which I was handed over...

1) AnE, based on certain forecasting model devised by them, had ordered some huge quantities and opened with almost 5 months stocks.

2) Diageo increased the prices just before my arrival and the market got flooded with stocks as everyone encashed on the price advantage.

3) AnE's stocks which included the RTM (they were given exclusivity for UAE) were stuck as RTM channel started buying from other global players where the rates were still cheaper.

4) The NE customers were quite unhappy with Diageo's decision and hence started supporting Chivas Regal big time.

5) Aer Rienta another operator (primarily DF) was based at Bahrain and they were also, god knows why, given the RTM channel to supply. My predecessor who was looking after these RTM business based at Cyprus (see how Diageo was managing their business) has dumped some of these customers and one of them was Aer Rienta....And sadly their RTM was based on one customer and that customer stopped buying and hence they were stuck with huge stocks. Inundated with so much of problems...

And guys, I had numbers to deliver and no one was interested in stories. First couple of review meetings with Simon as head (these nuances never could get in to his head, sadly) this RTM issue and the overstocking at AnE and Aer Rienta was brushed aside...

So, I have to fight my own battle...clear the stocks first and then start getting the numbers. 

So clean up operations and aggressive push was required, which I think is my forte....

This and more in the following episodes....