Rajasthan Diaries # 2 - Northern circuit

No - I did not get to ride a camel to work !

Here I share some interesting incidents I remember when I was working with Crompton Greaves in the Jaipur Branch - year 1986.

The Northeast part of Rajasthan is largely dry country but very interesting from business point of view. Small businessmen dream to expand and work hard to attain those dreams. I found people with a keen business sense and to think on a long term and not only go for short term gains. In fact many of India's largest business families - have their origins there. They were usually modest and simple in their appearance and by looks one could never make out the wealth they owned.

Dream big but keep feet on the ground (er.. sand ) - Appearances can be deceptive

Churu is located on the north east of Jaipur, surrounded by a dry countryside with farms and ?some sand dunes. The Industry Department was encouraging setting up of small scale units, and selling plots in the new industrial area being developed on the dry sandy land outside the city and small entrepreneurs were starting small mineral and agro based factories. ?We had recently appointed a dealer and I was surprised to find that he was very young. On enquiring as to why he wanted to be a company dealer, he said that he used to work in Kolkata for a seth ji while his family was in Churu. He decided to return home and open his own business as he saw new opportunities coming up. He was confident that he will prosper in 5-6 years and be recognized in his social circles as a big businessman and my company provided him that opportunity. We often don’t realise that small town entrepreneurs who dream big are highly motivated to fulfil them. It is a win-win situation if we can work together and fulfil those dreams.

?I told my dealer that we should visit the industrial estate to do some cold calling. As the dealer was new to the business I felt that I should teach him some ‘sales pitch’ ( not that I had any experience but growing up in a large city probably makes us more confident). There were many small scale industries coming up. ?He came to my hotel and while having breakfast I asked him how are we going to go and he said that we can go in his gadi. As we came out I asked him to get his gadi and expected him to come on his scooter. Thought it wasn’t a camel cart but I was amused to see him bringing his moped. With two of us, his poor moped struggled to overtake the bicycles and we had a good laugh. First stop was the Industries office from where we wanted to get a list of new factories but the officer wasn't in. We started driving around the industrial estate to check on the buildings under construction & hunting for new sales prospects. We stopped outside one plot where some men were sitting on a charpoy. By their appearance they looked to me to be the construction workers, so with a big city swagger I shouted at them to call their seth. They looked at me sheepishly and asked why and what was that we required. I told them to tell him that company se aaye hain……… after looking at each other one of them said they were the owners and they were setting up the factory to make spices & other food stuff. I felt very embarassed and sheepishly apologized for my arrogant manner…and sat with them on the charpoy and requested them to consider our motors and starters for their factory. ?It was a lesson for me never again to go by appearances only….

Andu Ram’s Dhoti and a glass of tea

In one of the mandi towns probably Sardarshahr or Sadulpur we had a small dealer who was selling?flour mills ( aata chakkis), and would sell our motors with the chakki. I met him the first time in our Branch office and he asked me to visit him. There was a good market as electricity was reaching newer areas and the hand operated chakkis were being replaced with the motor operated ones. Company salespersons would rarely visit such small towns and rather let large city dealers cater to such requirements. We were getting regular orders from him so I was asked to visit him to understand the market and also encourage him to sell more. Visit by company salesmen to a relatively small trader gave them a sense of being part of the company’s plan and motivated them. ?I walked through the open mandi between mounds of different types of grains to his small shop and was warmly invited inside but we decided to sit on charpoy in the open. He offered tea but as I had to take a bus soon,?I hesitated, but he insisted on getting tea and he ran off to get it. Some images get imprinted in the mind and even after so many years I still remember this so vividly - ?a short man wearing a pagdi(turban) on his head, running around the obstacles in the mandi , one hand holding his dhoti up and the the other holding two small glasses of tea. I was bowled over with his hospitality but my smile vanished when I saw that his fingers were deep inside the tea glasses. ?With all the pep talk I had got from my seniors on customer delight I was in a predicament – to refuse the tea or swallow my fears with the tea. I reasoned that maybe the hot tea would kill the germs and chose to go ahead – ‘dekhi jayegi’. Over a polite conversation on the mandi and chakki market numbers I quickly finished the tea.

Business comes first - We did good business in the following months with Andu Ram.

Business over breakfast

Our dealer in Bikaner was well established but had of late started showing less hunger to go after business and we were losing market share. So PK wanted to appoint a new dealer and we visited a couple of interested persons. Normally we would land in morning, check into a hotel get ready and start after breakfast. While checking in PK advised me not to have breakfast at the hotel.

Bikaner was (and still is) very famous for excellent mithais and namkeens. PK and I stopped at a Sweet shop (Halwai) and I thought he chose this place for breakfast. But I was surprised that he called for the owner who warmly invited us inside to his office. PK initiated the discussion about dealership arrangement and then I realized why we were there. Though his business was doing well, he wanted to diversify and hence was interested to be our dealer. While we were discussing business, a stream of delicacies came for us, and we had a hearty meal. He was appointed on a trial basis and in the next visits, I rarely had breakfast in my hotel.?

Sometimes business trips come with unusual benefits!

My next article will be on some incidents in south Rajasthan, Ajmer, Bhilwara & Pratapgarh.