hemgan

Day 16

Yesterday I could not reach the VP with whom I was to consult the stalemate over whether to allow XYZ corp to visit the factory or not. I spoke to him today.

him – yeah CEO told me that you will call me.

me – XYZ corp wants to see the factory and if satisfied will confirm 50 tonnes business.

him – Which XYZ Corp?

me – The one for whom you advised me that we would be offering some material, since MNO Corp are delaying the call-offs.

him – Oh..yeah. but remember MNO Corp is a reputed and large company. We should not be upsetting them.

me – Absolutely. But what do I tell XYZ Corp who has already shown interest on 50 tonnes that we offered?

him – You confirm that. What is the issue?

me – They would like to see the factory. I discussed with CEO on it and he said that I should speak to you.

him – I now remember. That’s not possible.

me – Why not?

him – The customer will come here and we have to make them stay in the Hotel. There will be expenses.

me – True. Pls remember the value of the order is Rs 2.5 million. Good profitability. No headaches. They will send their own truck to the factory for picking the goods.

him – Do you know how expensive the Hotel Tariffs are nowadays?

me – OK. I will tell them we cannot entertain the factory visit. They either confirm the order without conditions or we are not selling to them.

him – You cannot take such a rigid view when doing Sales. One has to be flexible.

me – ??

him – You have to be methodical when handling such customers. That’s what I did when finalizing MNO Corp deal. There was no glitch. Done deal.

me – ??

him – See we have produced 150 tonnes already.

me – But we took order for 500 tonnes.

him – It happens in processing industry. When the raw material is short, what can we do?

me – What about delaying the call offs?

him – It happens in business and we have to accommodate customers sometime. Remember, we get our salary because of customers. We should never forget that.

me – Well said. What do I tell XYZ Corp now?

him – Why don’t you discuss these matters with the CEO to whom you are directly reporting?

I could not get any decision from either of the two big-wigs. I should think of a strategy to get this business going. Any ideas?

Day 15

Excerpts from a phone conversation

– Saw the mail from XYZ corp. How much volume are they talking?

– They are ready to lift 50 tonnes at our price, subject ofcourse to approval of the factory. They would like to visit us.

– Hmmm…no issues…but we do not want to be taken for a ride!

– I’m not sure I follow, how can we be taken for a ride in this?

– It has happened in the past, where the customers have visited us, but never bought anything after they left.

– That means they did not approve our facilities.

– Remember that you have to have eye in your head while talking to me (What is the meaning of this expression? I have never heard it before)

– Hmmmm

– Are you clear?

– Should I tell the customer that they cannot visit us and they have to buy without seeing the factory?

– Listen…you are not allowing me to talk.

– ??

– There is no harm in having them visit the factory. But we should make sure they buy good volumes.

– As I said earlier, this customer buys in excess of 2000 tonnes from the industry. The list of items and quantity they buy is already with us which I have shared with you. If you want, I can ask them to send an email confirming all the items they are interested to procure from us.

– no..no..no….dont do that….we may not be in a position to do all the items they buy.

– then what should I tell them?

– See I have no issues in talking to them…but 50 tonnes is nothing. MNO corp wanted 3000 tonnes, we said we can give only 500 tonnes.

– Ok, then let me tell them they can’t see the factory and 50 tonnes is too less.

– no. You are hurrying again. I have no issue with 50 tonnes….but the price they give is less….see we have negotiated so well with MNO corp and got a good rate.

– I have quoted Rs 5 per kilo more than that, sir.

– yeah yeah….tell them 50 tonnes is too less.

– But I understand that we will not be able to produce the full qty of what we agreed with MNO, this 50 tonnes we have offered only because XYZ is ready to pay better price….

– is it? We should be talking to big guys.

– XYZ is the largest wholesaler with national distribution in USA. You can check about them in the market. You will know.

– Yeah I know…I know them very well….They are based in London. I know.

– No sir, they are in New York.

– Yeah yeah you are right.

– I dont understand why they want to visit the factory. All these buyers are silly. They waste our time and energy.

– Let me tell them then we are not interested.

– You are hurrying…..I have no issue….am I making myself clear (Note : all his favourite phrases! He has uttered them in one go!)

– ??

– Do one thing! Talk to VP and then let me know what he says. I am about to board the flight. I am headed to Bangalore for a lunch with Jt.Secretary.

I then dialed the factory to talk to VP. The operator told me that he has gone to attend a “mundan” ceremony of one of the staffs’ son. It took sometime to collect my thoughts. What should be the line of action now?

I am not hurrying. I have no issue. It is clear that I am going to continue reading the e-Book that I was reading earlier (before I received the call from the CEO!).

Day Six

At last, I could meet up with the man I dreaded about very much – the colleague who is handling the existing customers, basing himself in the factory. Let us call him B for identification. B did not have two horns as I thought. No, not even long teeth, protruding the lips…or black face!….he looks normal…having a country charm about him. Shook hands with him, and he did not utter a single word…just smile that’s all….he seems to be a man of few words…

The Vice President was also there. This time he spoke animatedly, unlike in the first meeting when he sounded very reserved.

CEO was mentioning earlier that I will get a chance to say hello to the visiting customer from Europe. Like all other things, this time also he did not surprise me. I was neither called for the meeting and I did not know when did the visitor come, whom all did he meet with and what were discussed.

By 1 pm I was brooding if I should exit the cabin for going to lunch or not. I was hesitating because they might call me over the intercom. While I was being indecisive, suddenly the Vice President entered the room…saying goodbye. He informed that they are all going for lunch with the visitor. Now I too, could have mine at peace, without the nagging worry of being called while out on lunch.

I like this company…no pretensions…no intellectual talks…what you guess is what you get…I did not expect to be called and it happened exactly.

Day Four

Two things influenced me today – a factory and a mobile phone. One stimulated me positively and the other negatively. Let me start with the negative (So that I end on a positive note).

The Mobile phone issue continued today too. I went and asked the accountant-cum-finance manager-cum-administration manager, of our division if the CEO has discussed any thing about my mobile phone. The guy sincerely must have spoken to the CEO. Hesitantly, he came back to tell that the company can reimburse only up to Rs 5000 for a mobile phone. Welcome to the world of measured magnanimity! May be, it is a wise thought not to allocate big budget for an ordinary instrument of daily use. But I should not venture out any where near colleges and educational institutions and compare my phone with the ones those of students loitering there.

Visited a flexible packaging factory with a colleague. It is a large factory…having well integrated facilities – art work designing, cylinder making, cylinder proof making, PET printing, pasting with metallised polyester or any other material, Poly extrusion, Pouching, Zip-pouching…..In one of the halls I saw more than 12 units of multi-colour PET printing machines working and churning out various types of PET Films of various well-known brands. It was majestic.The rhythmic sounds produced by various pouch forming machines working at the same time was mellifluous.

I guess the positive spirit may have nullified the negative mood. I was feeling neutral on my return from the factory visit. So neutral that, not doing any further official work did not bother me…No I did do one official work…that of attending to a call from the CEO over intercom, asking for some superfluous information and followed by vague instructions. I am not able to elaborate what he did tell me…because I do not remember it now.

Day Three

The day had some pre-decided agendas. On arrival, the CEO himself called. Was introduced to The Director responsible for the division I am working for. It was a courtesy call and pleasantries were exchanged. Was offered tea and I added very less milk to it, so had to drink a dark brown tea. Did not finish the cup when we left the Director’s cabin.

The meeting with the CEO had no surprises as expected. As usual, he never comes to the point straight. Despite my conscious effort not to judge him, I failed. He is not conceptually sound, and is not having any strategic approach. His persuasive talk in dissuading me not to interfere in the factory based sales manager’s work did not interest me much. I just put on a mask and refused to react to anything. He continued to irritate me when he tried to suggest that no new mobile phone will be given to me. I reiterated somewhat nicely (concealing my irritation) that I am expecting a black berry phone. This prompted him to erupt like a volcano; ridiculous, illogical, vague and diversionary arguments flowed out. I had neither inclination nor passion to reply him back, so just came out of the room.

The laptop was finally released to me. As expected, it was a used machine. The previous user must have shown all his pent-up frustrations on the poor laptop….. the edges had become completely dis-coloured and the alphabet V was missing. N and F are to be pressed with lot of passion. The battery has attained old age and gets depleted of its energy in no time. Interestingly, like the laptop, the software used are also a bit stale….still using IE version 6! Fortunate that software does not have a shelf life.

The meeting with the stockist was ok. The father and son-duo that I met with came across as nice and pleasing guys.

“Delusion arises from Anger” says the Bhagavad Gita. Good that I remember it throughout the day today, otherwise I would have lost my cool and shown my anger on the laptop, like my predecessor…

Day Two

Just staring at the roof…. that’s what I was doing since morning. Well, I went through a few papers; files given to me were empty. Few folders contained some random communications, weren’t useful.

What I need to be doing – gathering information and the people I need to be interacting with are all at the factory. So ideally my work will start only on visiting the factory and spending some time there.

The CEO was out of office practically the whole day. Around 3 pm, I was told that he reached office. No Lap Top yet. What’s the CEO waiting for ? Christmas? I am looking forward to my next interaction with him, albeit im not sure it’s going to be useful. But the journey has to begin somewhere.

My predecessor seems to have been very distracted, atleast that’s what the papers suggest. While his theoretical plans ( as presented in the paper) give a view of him as an intelligent person, but I guess he must have struggled to implement his plans. Although the CEO once mentioned that the predecessor was asked to go. I still wonder why. This morning I was having a conversation with a colleague in logistics who mentioned that the predecessor went on his own accord. The predecessor seemed to have tried to take the company on a new track – Fresh Fruits and vegetables. My presumption is that he might not have got much support from the Higher-ups. Whatever it is, the fact is that at present I do not have any updates on various opportunities he was pursuing then.

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with one of the colleagues who works in the financial department. He was also reiterating that all sales related communications are happening from the factory. On day two, I am beginning to digest this reality wherein all existing clients will be handled by a colleague in the factory and I shall be toiling to add all new clients to the existing basket. I am always destined to create new customers only and not previleged to handle the existing ones. In all my previous organisation too, this has been the case. (Welcome Aboard! Says my mind)

The current year seems to be a year of Uncertainty for me. Since January this year, I am on a roller-coaster drive – starting from choosing which job opportunity to pursue to whether I would be retained or relieved by the previous organization…..now, what to expect from the new position. New age gurus tell us that there is wisdom in experiencing uncertainty. Let me find out soon if this is true!

Day One

The Prologue

Kalyana Raman is in his mid-forties. He is ambitious but is idealistic. So his career path becomes turbulent at times. He has changed many jobs. While a recruiter will feel shaky on seeing his CV, but on closer scrutiny it will be noticed that with every job change Kalyanam (his short name) has grown and learnt so much. He finds it a struggle to attend interviews of established companies, because his CV does not show glamorous management degrees and consists only of experiences in SMEs. Interestingly, he had a few stints abroad. That explains his healthy pay packet. He has moved again recently. A medium sized food company, essentially export driven (which is why he is there!), but badly managed.

Now, over to him…….

Day One

I was feeling tense in the morning when I left home for the new office. The anxiety was inexplicable. Logically, there is no reason to be tensed. Was it because I do not know what to expect from the organization that I would be working with? I have changed jobs many times before but never have I felt the nerves like today.

Mala (Kalyanam’s wife) was mentioning that in all the previous job shifts I had walked into a new organization through a known person (already working there). Looking back, that’s not true. I can recollect 4 occasions when I joined a company without knowing anybody. In all those occasions, I think my apprehension may have been covered up by the excitement factor. The excitement arises because there are expectations. In this particular shift, I have no excitement. I have no particular expectation.

As the day progressed, I shifted my frame of mind from being a participant to that of an observer. This brightened me up a bit.

I have a big cabin now, with 4 different visitor chairs, long desk with a lot of space. The junior colleagues enter only after taking the permission. It gives me good amount of privacy which I guess should relax me, as I have never had such perks before.

They have a canteen in the office where all the employees take lunch. Now Mala need not pack lunch for me daily. This will save her a lot of time in the morning hours.

My work station is not fully ready yet, as I am waiting for the laptop and mobile phone.

I had a short meeting with CEO and Vice president Operations in the afternoon. Factory and operations’ heads seem to be more in command within this company. Many key overseas clients are being liaisoned by a person who is based in the factory. This I found very strange initially, but on closer scrutiny, it is not that I have not seen this before. In most of the processing companies the factory heads calls the shots, not the sales / marketing guys. The only difference here is that the production guys themselves interact with the customers directly.

All is well…. I shall survive and prosper here, God willing.