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....

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

Episode 28...

As mentioned in my earlier post, things were going so well and we as a team Diageo India were on cloud 9. 

The leadership team jelled well and connected great with 8, HP, London.

Stuart Fletcher replaced Andrew Morgan as head of our divsion. Andrew was non interfering and a great guy to work with. As we realised, the corporate house keeps changing the heads often and the process of reestablishing ourselves start all over again.

One major issue cropped up meanwhile. ITDC-a GOI run company-under tourism ministry, was the major operator in India controlling major airport's Duty-free across the country. Though Flemingo-a small time DF operator then, sneaked in with their first entry in to Trivandrum airport and Calicut, ITDC still continued more than 90% of the business. ITDC was a typical government run corporation with major focus in their hotels like Ashoka in Delhi, Kovalam beach resort in Trivandrum, Temple Bay in Mahabalipuram et al-had no clue how to run the DF business n shops and how to increase the foot fall. The shops were controlled by the unions and the employees were never bothered about attending to the consumers and were only focussing on a different kind of RTM (Route To Market). But, we had no other operators to fall back and hence were totally dependent on ITDC. After I took charge, spent a good amount of money on increasing our visibilities across their shops and also conducted awareness sessions with their counter salesmen-imparting product knowledge and also soft skills. We also established great rapport with the HO in Delhi. RC Gupta was head of purchases and Majumdar was his deputy. But despite best efforts, changing the WOW of ITDC was a big challenge. We changed our way of working and started direct interactions with the shop managers and the counter sales guys and started offers to compete with the Dubai DF and Singapore DF which was a major competitor for ITDC and our business (Diageo India). Diageo announced a price increase, which is an annual affair, and before it came in to effect, we wanted to push in some stocks to ITDC. We represented to ITDC and RCGupta and his team understood the impact and logic and agreed to take some good quantities. Most of the companies, as we all know, take the impending price increase as an opportunity and pump 2x stocks. We agreed on the quantity to be lifted by ITDC and advised HQ  to reserve the stocks under old price. We had some deadlines to meet to lift the stocks before the price increase, but ITDC, like any other government sector suffered some major red-tapism, resulting in delays in releasing the purchase order but as we were sure of getting the PO we gave the green signal to despatch the stocks. The invoices were raised and stocks were sent and ITDC cleared those stocks too and the POs were also released.

Amitabh Kant became the MD of ITDC. Very dashing and with clean hands. That time Mrs. Renuka Chowdhry was the tourism minister and ITDC was under Mrs Chowdry. Some one who was against the existing system and us, highlighted this anomaly about the whole transaction and it hit the headlines. The issue was the date of invoice were ahead of the date of PO. The reason was as explained earlier. There were no hidden agenda or any transactional benefits to anyone. I met Mr Kant and explained the whole business logic and he completely understood the commercial angle and sided with us but not openly. We were convinced that we havent dont anything wrong and we explained this to all those who were involved. And our payments were put on hold...it was a huge amount. Amar also used his good offices but we headed nowhere....

While all these things were going on, one evening Sridhar and Nalin barged in to my cabin and informed me (in disgust), that Ravi Rajagopal was appointed as the CEO of Diageo India replacing Amar Raj the incumbent CEO. Ravi was our CFO before he got transferred to London. Very intelligent and a great finance guy but had no prior experience in sales or marketing or strategy and the leadership team was completely taken aback. Amar was also very upset. The moment I heard this from Nalin and Sridhar, I completely lost it and broke down. I was uncosoleable, and took some time for me to come to terms of this new development. Trust me no one in the team had even 1% of liking towards Ravi, for whatever reason.

We were trying to handle the ITDC issue and sorting out as huge money was stuck. When Diageo announces any change, it gets in to effect immediately. Ravi took charge sooner than expected and in our first meeting, he informed me that Diageo India cant have a CEO and COO and hence the HO would try to get me a job outside and if it fails, I would be made redundant.....so first time a major blow....it took some time for this to sink in....anyway I didnt bother much about it as I had the backing of Nalin (our HR guy)....meanwhile Ravi R was a bit supicisious about the ITDC episode and felt we must have done something to get the business and probably wanted to implicate me but when he met RC Gupta, it was a slap on his face as RCG made it clear that it was just a PO related issue and nothing else. 

One opportunity came up in Nigeria to be the head of sales..Keith Taylor was the CEO of Nigeria and it was a big market for Guinness stout. I went to Lagos to attend an interview...it was not an interview but was a kind of workshop, with many aspiring candidates being part of the workshop and many of them from Africa itself. Nigeria was considered a 'tough terrain' and hence instructions were given not to venture out alone and not to leave the hotel. The adventure started before I landed in Lagos. I flew by Emirates and the flight was to land in Lagos early evening but just before landing the captain announced the flight is diverted to Ghana as an aircraft was stuck on the runway in Lagos. First jolt....could not communicate this to the HR in Lagos. We landed in Ghana and the chaos started. The local Nigerians were just bothered about their baggages as they feared someone would knock it off as the baggages had lots of stuff they bought and brought from Dubai. Total chaos in the airport. Finally the accomodated me in an Air France flight and I landed at Lagos around 9ish. Fortunately for me the company PR was waiting and he made all the efforts to get me out of immigration and customs asap. The instruction given to me was not to lose sight of my bag and also not to handover my passport any unknown person. Got out and headed to the hotel. We were accommodated at a place in Wellington Island-a safe place. One evening we were sent on a market work...visiting some local joints to understand the trade. The whole process of workshop went on for around 4 days. My participation was well appreciated but I didnt get the job....it was one way good as I dont think I would have enjoyed that place. I came back to Bombay and Nalin became desperate to fix me somewhere. I was also getting a bit edgy and started sending feelers to competition. But by the grace of god, Simon Lenton sent a message to Nalin that the head of Gulf was getting transferred and my name has been suggested for that position. But I have to be cleared by Ron Anderson, head of MENA. (Middle East North Africa and Global Duty Free all under Ron.  Ron was ex IDV and had visited India during our initial days and worked with me. He was head of Global sales division who awarded me the US trip for our great sales initiative. Was sent to London to meet up with Ron and the interview went off well....I was asked to meet up with the HR head, Nikki, too. Came back to Bombay without knowing whether I was in or out. A week or so passed---tension times....Nalin informed me that Simon Lenton would call me that evening and discuss the job....

I was at home and around 7pm that day to speak with Simon. Simon called with Jeyanthi and my son around me....I picked up the phone and the first thing Simon said was 'Well Done Rajah and congrats....u can pack your bags to move to Dubai"....what a joy it was.....and he asked me whether my family would be happy to move and for which I said, without thinking, in affirmation....

Diageo had certain principles. Before one takes up the offer, he/she to visit the country, spend a couple of days, understand the living conditions, possibilities of their children's education et al and confirm only when the person is absolutely clear....So, I visited Dubai with Jeyanthi and my son. Spent a couple of days and came back and informed HR am all game. My appointment was confirmed and I had to move. 

Guys, I never dreamt of any overseas posting but this was something which had fallen on me and thanks to Nalin for the efforts he had taken to get me an assignment outside. The region was called MENA (Middle East and North Africa). Entire Gulf, Lebanon, Syria, Jordon and North Africa. I was incharge of Gulf for both Duty free and Domestic business.

Went and stayed at Dubai for a week to finalise the acco and other things. Jeff Biggs, a South African, my predecessor, took me around and introduced to all the customers. Mostly Brits and Irish.....I also said yes to the same villa he was staying and the same car.....

And India was part of the same region and the same boss. The boss was Simon Lenton ( he was head of HR for the same region but someone in HQ thought he should get some commercial exposure and made him the business head). 

From 2002 to 2005-the time just flew....it was different way of working and with full freedom to experiment. The entire team jelled well and apart from work, we all had fun together and still in touch and continue to be friends.

I had mentioned earlier too that Amar was a great boss and he always insisted that the leadership team is together whenever there is any important things come up and a call has to be taken.

During this time, Flemingo started sneaking in to the DF arena in India but the 8, HP were very suspicious of this company and was not ready to blindly support them. The reason being that Flemingo was just a small trading company based at Jebal Ali Free Zone, Dubai and were in to parallel trading too. Viren took a major stake in to Flemingo as there was a pre condition while bidding for the DF shops in India that the bidding company should have some DF presence somewhere...but the beauty here was Flemingo ran DF only for diplomat channels and not in the airports or seaports but Flemingo managed this well and became a force to reckon with in India. Also they got some international airports. But what they got in Trivandrum and other small airports was very small but there was no option. The airports those days were small and Airport Authority of India had no clue on whats duty free business in the airports are for and what kind of revenue those shops can generate for the operators and the owners. Their eyes got opened up after seeing Cochin Airports shops and they started slowly opening up but still the space problem continued. Consumers somehow never had the confidence of stepping in to the Indian DF shops, as happening now due to its size and availability of range compared to Gulf, Singapore, Bangkok and KL to name a few....Today (2022) things are different when you look at Blr, Hyd, Mumbai and Delhi airports. From necessity shopping to experiential shopping....So I carried with me this impression of Sub-continental DF images to Dubai....(!)

Diageo India organised a great farewell for me and it was one of the best I had attended...sheer love and affection....it happened in our dining area in the office with full attendance....I was still part of the same region...so I could visit Bombay officially too.... 

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

Episode 27...

Diageo India....month after month, the performance started getting better and better....

There are some areas worth sharing here....

As mentioned in one of my earlier post, the GOI that time announced 5% roll back allowance for the hospitality sector on their forex earnings....this means if some one earns a revenue of say $200, they can buy things for $10 completely duty free...they have to just pay the local taxes..(there was no GST then)....the idea of GOI was this would attract more tourists to these venues and they can provide imported alcohol, beer and wine at a lower price. While the idea of the GOI was good but it didnt happen that way as the hotels looked at it as an additional income and never bothered to cut down the prices and there was no nodal agency to monitor this too....but we the manufacturers started enjoying better business for our imported brands. Wherever we could, we impressed upon the hotels to part a major portion of the benefits for their banquets....and it helped them to improve their income from the banquets...this was circa 2001/2...do not know whether it is still continued...if it is, the GOI should stop it now as it only drains their exchequer and benefits only the hotel industry....

Also many of these hotels and on trade, strike deals with the manufacturers and get their brands at a discounted price and make those brands as 'pouring' brands. What this means? When a consumer goes to a bar and ask for JW the consumer would get JW but if the consumer asks for scotch, they would get the brand which is the hotels 'pouring' brand...while the manufacturer has to shell out some additional (some time huge depending upon the power of the brand/company) money for making their brands to enjoy the 'pouring' status, it helps the manufacturers to get some decent volume plus greater visibility and trials.

Sudeep did a great job in getting Taj group and Oberoi as partners for us....he is a great negotiator and hence after lots of personal meetings with the F&B and purchase team, we signed off with these two...but the logistics were a nightmare as the supplies have to be effected from the respective distributor situated across the country....it was also a problem when the WS was controlled by state government run corporations....but Sudeep managed this well with his team. This had given us some great visibility across the country and also image and appreciations from HO....SMV and JW were the pouring brands in these chains....We took this model across and tied up with many hotels for pouring..Delhi where we were weak traditionally, went for a course correction and we cracked some great deals....

In the DF sector, Krithi got settled well and with his focus on numbers, we achieved our goals month after month.

But there were always issues with Alpha/the Colombo DF operator.... issues kept cropping up very frequently....

We felt, the domestic market of SL should be strengthened and decided to go for local bottling of SMV. We tied up with ID Lanka using my relationship with Mohan Dissanayake and set the ball rolling. The problem was SL did not have local grain ENA and hence it has to be imported from India....we managed things well and John G cracked every single issue and within 3 months we started bottling SMV in SL at a very affordable price. We wanted to give the distribution to ID Lanka as they had a better distribution set up across the country vis a vis Alphas Colombo centric but Paul T didnt want to let go....so we went for a compromise formula and in the process made all the stake holders happy.

We had a fantastic launch party and the entire Colombo glitterati was present in our party...it became the talk of the town...so another mile stone achieved...

In another get together event, Krithi invited Mahendar of Flemingo for the party and Paul T got very psyched seeing Mahender and threw a tantrum at Krithi and also called me on phone and complained....the reason being, Flemingo was trying to get some port DF business in SL and that has upset Alpha....but as the Karma would have it, Paul T, few years ago joined Flemingo as a consultant!!! Karma at its best.....Apart from these kind of occasional outbursts our relationship strengthened as we were always there for any upliftment of business with our partners. 

CIAL, where Alpha was their logistics partner only, was one area we struggled to get the business improving. In India Cochin Airport DF was the best those days as others were managed by ITDC and in places like TVM and Calicut it was Flemingo....small and dingy and not consumer friendly...but Cochin Airport was global standard but the problem was continuous availability of stocks...Also as a company, we were not getting the best price possible from CIAL due to the tie up CIAL had with Alpha as we need to supply at the same price of Alpha and Alpha would build in their margins and supply. We wanted CIAL to buy directly but despite number of attempts, that didnt materialise at all.

Dhaka duty free was small but managed well by our agent Babu there...Nepal continued to pose problems but we managed to get Alpha and our agent Pramod to tie up on some kind of payment guarantee understanding....this helped us in the short run...the domestic business was excellent....

Bhutan is one area we didnt have to do anything....we just made one trip there to show our faces to the operators.....2 containers a year...nothing more and nothing less....and we were the first ones to visit the DF operator from UDV/Diageo (!)

But we built our RTM very well by tapping the best of bonders....and channelising the demands well. Nandish was brilliant and with proper management of stocks in his bond, things have started going well.

We had few overseas trips (the leadership team) and it was always fun. Half a day review and balance of time just moving around together and bonding well.

As mentioned earlier, Nalin Garg was one of our best HR guys....I remember, once I was home alone (folks were off on a holiday to Kerala) and I got a viral attack....Nalin came one evening around 4ish and spent time with me till 9.....just to give me company....he watched some stupid movie on the TV, ordered food, ate with me and left....such a wonderful gesture....

We as a team jelled very well....regular outings and leadership meets....and our reviews were crisp and to the point...

We had Nira (our own) and USL plant at Nasik but had to shift as we sold off Nira and we didnt continue our JV with USL....and fortune favoured us....Vishal Jaiswal set up a plant to bottle only Diageo brands at Aurangabad....and totally to Diageo standard.....we all went for the Bhoomi puja....and it became operational in 6 months flat....thats the efficiency of Vishal and his team. This plant helped our manufacturing team to produce world class without any compromise....

We started bottling Black & White, Vat 69, Entire SMV range, Gilbey's gin et al at this new plant.

Also built a strong relationship with the Maharashtra excise. Mr. Ramakrishnan was the excise commissioner during that time and what a wonderful bureaucrat he was.....always welcoming and ready to extend a helping hand and clear the road blocks....I feel Maharashtra excise department is one of the best in the country.

We also tied up with AABL at Indore, during this time to bottle our SMV there....we used to buy grain ENA from them and they had bottling facility too.....the idea being to supply the entire north and some parts of east from AABL... Anand Kedia the owner, young and energetic....wonderful guy to deal with....

UK was looking at a break through, in terms of business growth and as I had mentioned earlier, the agenda was to grow the super premium in India...the sale was coming from DF shops but that was not commensurate with the potential of this segment...Andrew Morgan and team were after us to come out with some concrete plans....they called us to 8, HP London for a review....the leadership team decided to send me and Amar Raj....and I was mandated to do the presentation....we wanted UK to see the potential in India for local bottling of JW Red and also the lobbying required to bring down the prices of BIO brands.....also look at local bottling of J&B with our world class facilities at KAM in Aurangabad....

If you are not used to the way of Brits working and also how the reviews are conducted, here the brief....

The meeting, mostly starts at 0800hrs....and everyone is there...there would be simple and nice BF spread in the conference room itself....and everything is as per the timelines....lunch is normally at around 1230 and goes for an hour and in our case it was in the ground floor of 8, HP....a beautiful bar with snacks.....and meeting gets over at 430....then to a pub nearby for a beer and straight for dinner....

Andrew Morgan chaired this meeting.....and there was some initial butterflies in my stomach as it was a huge opportunity for me to showcase my potential as a strategist and a potential CEO material...Simon Lenton was there too and other HO guys....the show started and went off perfectly well.....and all the questions were directed at me and Amar took a back seat and allowed me to hog all the lime light....it was one of my best days and our guys in Bombay office was anxious to know the outcome....so during the breaks a call to Bombay office...no whatsapp those days....whether things progressed on the dotted lines? 1) They realised lobbying is the most important thing and reduction in duties would make our brands affordable and coupled with our distribution strength in terms of availability the projected volumes can come thru...2) They were not keen on bottling either Red Label or J&B outside India but agreed to bottle some other scotch brand.....3) They agreed to release some funds from the central kitty for ATL and also send one of their master distiller/Blender to conduct the 'Journey of taste' sessions...part of the  experiential marketing.....Ian Williams was the guy assigned to India...Master Distiller at our Cardu unit.....This journey of taste was a huge hit with consumers....to cut the cost we started doing this consumer direct contact program with local talents. Another improvisation by team India. Santosh Kanekar as the marketing head was a relaxed, cool and easy to get along guy....he did a great job with initially Ashu as the BM and later Mohit.....

The leadership team jelled so well and Amar was a great boss to work with. Sridhar was a great support as head of finance and so as Nalin as head of HR. Nalin had a great equation with Simon the HR head of our cluster....

And we got Keith Taylor as our boss. Keith used to be part of Nigerian operations and got shifted to UK to manage India, Africa and ME....Another great boss to work with. 

When the UK team comes for review, initially we used to take them out to some nice joints for drinks and dinner but realised it would exceed our budgets and changed the venue to our guest house where Amar was staying. And it turned out to be a great idea as everyone appreciated this private setting and the expenses were cut down...

Krithi and Sudeep did a magnificent job and those 3 years were the best of times in my career. We all bonded so well and there was no back biting and there was so much of bonhomie and the targets were achieved in the 11th month itself and things were so smooth. 

Diageo keeps coming out with something or other. They introduced something called Break through thinking and appointed this two member team who promoted this concept to conduct sessions on this...our divisions boss, Andrew Morgan got transferred to manage the Europe cluster and we got Stuart Fletcher in his place. Stuart a great guy but I didnt see any major contribution coming from him (!)....Team India were the Heros from 2002 to 2005 as we kept delivering our numbers...the going was so good....but....

One fine evening, at the closing time, Sridhar and Nalin barged in to my cabin, shut the door and broke this heart breaking news.....

Next episode..... 

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