Let this
mail find you getting inspirations from stories around you and being live
inspiration for others!!
In one of
our recent workshop, people expressed about how unreasonable targets given to
them pushes them into a low energy mode. I remembered this story. You might
have read this earlier.
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This is a true story as told by Dilip Upmanyu
about his Edible Oil days!
It was way back in 2004 when one fine morning
his boss told him, “Pack your bags and park yourself at Gwalior, where you will
start work from tomorrow. Your objective is to establish our brand in Gwalior.”
The brand as they say was then in doldrums at Gwalior. His company’s brand is a
heavy premium brand. Curiously no distributor was interested in dealing in
their brand. And worst, no one was able to explain the reasons for such an
utter failure of a well known premium segment brand.
Dilip was quickly able to find a party and
appoint them as a distributor for his brand. His real difficulties were to
surface when he started launching his product in bazaar (market). In his
first month at Gwalior, he did not get any response from the market. Each
passing day, he became more depressed. The boss was constantly bugging him for
business. The distributor who had invested money as a result of Dilip’s
pitching, started feeling he had made the mistake of his lifetime.
In such circumstances it was natural that that
they frequently sat together to discuss the market scene. They discovered
that there were many brands of packed cooking oil that were engaged in
malpractices. Dilip’s company packed one litre of oil at standard temperature
so their pack weighed 910 grams, where as many unscrupulous re-packers packed
only 750 grams to 840 grams of cooking oil in 1 litre pack. These brands sold
their pack at Rs 36 to Rs 40 to the retailers. Retailers were then selling that
pack to consumers at Rs 48, the price charged by Dilip’s brand. But his company
sold the 1 Litre pack at Rs 46 to be sold at Rs 48 to consumers. This unethical
arrangement between unscrupulous re-packers, traders and retailers had
completely blocked the entry of Dilip’s brand in Gwalior market. Almost similar
difficulties were being faced in marketing of 15 litre packing.
One day over a meal, Dilip and Distributor were
discussing their woes and same questions kept coming up before them, “What to
do? How can we break this unethical nexus of re-packers and retailers? Where to
make a beginning?” The Distributor casually commented, “Sab brand bik rahe
hein, sirf apna wala nahi bik raha hai. Marriage season aane wala hai. Tumne
mujhe marwa diya! ” (All brands are selling, except ours. Marriage season
is coming up. You have got me stuck!!)
Dilip suddenly had a flash, a few months back
he had helped a close friend at his sister’s wedding. Being from FMCG
background, the friend had requested Dilip to make purchases for Halwai
(Master Chef) who was hired to make food for guests. The halwai arrived
and came armed with a list of groceries to be bought. When Dilip saw his brand
of oil didn’t figure in the list, he asked his friend if he could change the
oil brand. Suddenly, his friend’s mother, who was passing by & overheard
the conversation, interrupted and told Dilip not to make any changes, and he
should buy exactly what their halwai had prescribed.
After this flash, a new idea emerged in Dilip’s
mind. Why not approach all the halwais who are in catering business at
Gwalior, Datia and Dabra? The Distributor did not know how to locate these
people. What happened next was even more surprising. Dilip suddenly quipped,
“If you do not know how to locate them, it means they were never approached by
any one. May be here lies a solution for us.” Dilip then went from one marriage
venue to the other until he was able to locate a very low profile and elderly
President of Halwai Sangh (literally: Chefs’ Union). With his
help he obtained a list of members and went on to meet each of them and
personally invite them for a gathering of halwais.
Halwais of Gwalior were in for a new experience. Being
from hospitality trade while they understood the invitation process and the
rest, yet they were pleasantly surprised that someone had taken pains to invite
‘a poor me’ to an organized gathering and be a recipient of someone else’s
hospitality. During the gathering the guest halwais were shown
their lunch being cooked in the Dilip’s brand of cooking oil. There was live
demonstration of all good qualities like no surfing, no odours, no fumes etc.
Then came the clincher - Dilip said in his address, “Anyone who buys a pair of
shoes, walks a few steps in the new shoes to see how it feels. But we take the
matter of cooking oil very lightly and casually say, ‘Give any oil!’ We
conveniently forget that cooking oil is closely connected with our health. He
then went on to establish importance of a product trial and invited them to
carry back a no-obligation 1 litre pack for their personal trial at home. A
very few of them, not all of them, did carry a trial pack later on their way
out. A scheme was also announced for those halwais who cared to
prescribe Dilip’s brand. On the whole, the gathering was a great
success. Halwais were very happy that they were recognized as
responsible people with important task of preparing and serving food that would
delight the guests wherever they went to work.
In that marriage season many shopkeepers were
surprised by buyers asking for 15 litre packs of Dilip’s brand of cooking oil.
The embarrassed shop keepers were now telling the customers that, it just got
over and will be available in an hour or two. There was a mad scramble to find
who the distributor is, and finally orders were flowing to the distributor like
never before. It is often said, “One good thing will lead you to another!” And
it happened in Dilip’s case and happened soon enough.
The success of 15 litre pack though brought
relief to both Dilip and the Distributor yet their smile was miles away. They
were still facing the blockade created by unethical re-packers. The break came
in the shape of a famous Gwalior Trade Fair. That year a local television
channel had undertaken to telecast a few evening hours of the Trade Fair, live.
When they came to Dilip’s stall and asked him, “What is your message to the
public of Gwalior?” A hypnotized Dilip found himself speaking to the camera in
somewhat this way, “Every pack of honestly packed cooking oil weighs 910 grams.
So when you buy your next 1 litre pack of cooking oil, just ask the shop keeper
to weigh it for you and if it is less in weight, demand from him a pack that
weighs 910 grams!” The honest appeal and sincerity of the message hit the
consumers. Next day the shop keepers across Gwalior were in short supply of 1
litre packs that weighed 910 grams. And Dilip’s distributor had an ample supply
waiting to be dispatched. Rest as they say was history. Gwalior soon became a
huge consumption point for Dilip’s brand of cooking oil – a town with zero
sales was consuming 180 metric tonnes per month when Dilip was called back
later from that territory.
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May this
story inspire you into facing your life challenges head on and setting a
benchmark of excellence!
Warm
regards,
