A bit of sympathy and a lot of promise!

It was three years back when I stepped onto the first job in my life. I had an offer, which I accepted from this German Hydraulics Company. With lot of assumptions and quite a bit of expectations the journey began. Of course the assumptions were all positive and I didn't expect too much. The freshness in a new experience is not to be missed out, carrying a prejudice. So I decided to be more keen. Well, in thirty days’ time, I would have had my own money to spend in hand for the first time.

With the advantage of staying in a locality like Basavangudi and also managing to finish college inside it, at BMS College of Engineering; which has seen Basavangudi mutating from 1946, one will not have a need for a 4-Stroke engine fitted on a chassis with a gear box and some generous pocket money. There was no void felt as well. Such is the place and easy access to resources here. However things changed coming out. The workplace at Yeshwanthpur Industrial Suburb was a good 16kms from my home. Considering my dream of going to work on bike, I had to insist upon my parents to get one for me. My mother, extremely concerned, decided to help me out and I settled onto a then newly launched model of Yamaha.

                              

Thanks to my parents and my brother, for their sacrifices had ensured that no pressure was felt on my shoulders. It is a common thing to dream about starting something big, while in college. You are constantly on the look out of ideas. I too was no different and I believed that I am meant to do business. At least I assumed that I can manage to do it well. It was clear why I decided on a Sales and Application Engineering profile over a lucrative career path in the IT Industry. Clearly the intention was not the money and surviving a livelihood.

Riding on my Yamaha to office on the first day was something I will remember for few more days at least. I just hope that my epileptic condition holds steady and allows me to cherish such small yet significant things in life. It was like a scene out of a typical Indian movie showcasing the story of a middle class young man in an urban set-up. Wishes on Facebook for his status update poring in, the day prior. A warm hug by the father, a kiss on the forehead by the mother and finally a high-five by the brother just before the precious fuel inside the bike sparked was something very euphoric. I think it was for the first time I cared about how I looked. In that sense my college days were a bit dry. But I had my own take-away’s. Coming to office half an hour before the clock stroked, I was surely all pumped up.

Entering in after meeting the Managing Director, the assumptions started to take center stage. The spotlight shone bright on me that day. I could feel it. Although there were two other engineers giving company, I was extremely conscious. After all the ‘Hello’ and ‘My name is’ handshakes, we were shown our desks. With that our induction was done and dusted. It was that simple. I had heard stories before about the ambiance and culture at work places. Assumptions had its side effects. Prejudice did creep in quickly. What hit me upfront was in total contrast to what I had assumed. Carrying a degree in Industrial Engineering and Management, certain things about me was taken for granted. It was a challenge within to ensure that I feel a part of the atmosphere. I knew ignorance here was not bliss.

The discussions with friends in other industries and work places helped me gauge what was on offer here. The plan was simple; to learn. It was a bit startling that all the theories I had taken up from the papers on Japan’s industrial growth during college had to be unlearned here. Sales and Marketing was not what I had studied in college as a course. There was a process in place, there was a flow which I had to understand. Formats on MS Office tools ensured discipline to cut out any deviations. Process, Approval and Customer Requirements were three words, I picked up here which I will possibly not forget in my entire life. This took some time. I enjoyed understanding how it all works.

Carrying a complex on conversing in English while in college, I had a humongous task here to break the ice and network. This made me believe in my assumptions. I had to hold onto some thread for confidence. The first few months was back to college. I was paid for reading books. I still remember how I totally screwed up the technical round of my interview. I was asked the Pascal law and I was seeing stars. It was late in the evening as well, and literally I could see them outside the window. Such was my technical skill and continues the same to even this day. Punch in to work, open the books and start reading; I followed this routine for a month. I am sure I have never read so much till date in my life. Only if I had this commitment in college, I would have checked in on my Facebook account from a top notch university in USA, today.

While I was trying to avoid the sleep and waited for the tea breaks, the small team here that I was a part of was extremely busy. It took some time to network and pitch in. The manager was quick enough in his assertion about my capabilities for the job. I was delegated to check on my capabilities in sales. Although I was not on the field yet meeting customers, doing the white collar stuff,  the learning quotient here kept on increasing. My discussions internally helped me kick-off an understanding to the dimension of Sales in business. Although all the discussions were subjective initially, the numbers took its place eventually. That was when it got all interesting. 

It was not total ignorance. There was an understanding of the product line. Things started to become familiar. So did the ambiance and culture at work. Life settled into a finely woven routine. I assumed that I will never get entangled in it. I knew I will take care of my integrity very well. I was always sure of this. I had therefore one less thing to worry about. But things started to change. It is important for a small company to take good care of its employees as much as it is important to take care of its customers. For any enterprise its people are its face value, products follow. The assumptions were gone. The expectations died out. The bureaucracy shows up on you indirectly. You get used to the situation. Now, I come to understand that such problems are normal at any place. We were not so indifferent. People moved out and new people came on board. Change was a fact and to adapt was the reality.

I am sharing this particular realization of mine as I have decided to call it quits as a Sales Engineer after having worked here for three years now. Ratan Tata once said, ”You can never take a right decision. You can only take a decision and make it right”. When it is coming out of a man of Ratan Tata’s stature it cannot be ruled out simply. He has taken revolutionary decisions based on this sole philosophy. This really did give me confidence. And hence I am setting out on a journey to learn and develop necessary skill sets to pursue a career in the field of development.

The idea behind business is very simple. You understand that somebody needs something. You know that you have what it takes to cover that requirement. But the thing is, you are not the only one having it. It’s a competition and you need to win it to survive and prosper. So, that somebody becomes the most important person to you on earth. All your efforts are to satisfy this somebody regarded and worshiped as a customer. You cannot be too sympathetic and emotional towards him. You need to survive on this continuously changing mat of economy.  Well, you need to earn; make profit. The environment is not stagnant. It is dynamic and you are always running around. Looking back at the last ten months, reminded me of a game we played in school which started off something like this, “Fire in the mountain, run, run, run…”.

The hydraulics market in India is extremely cost concerned. Although hydraulics is the heart to any system, the quality associated is not a real decisive factor. And that is where people importing good quality products manufactured in Germany and United States majorly face immense roadblocks while selling them in India. Innovation to the applications of the Industrial Sector in India today is quite a dream still. We are not in a pressing need of a Technically Sophisticated Industrial Revolution. Things are falling into place as the manufacturing sector is seeing an unstoppable but slow growth. With the major impact and contribution of nearly 33% to our economy coming in from the unorganized sector including Partnership & Proprietorship companies, the affordability for better technology is still a big question mark. The Unincorporated companies flood the hydraulics market.

Cheap labour and materials, close proximity and freelancers offering low quality products at dirt cheap prices and service suggestions over telecommunication lines are a few major attributes of the competition to players like us in the market. However at the end of the day as a sales man if I should have my figures right and as planned, whatever be the competition I should win over them. Now consider that you are not manufacturing in India, so you have no control over the direct material costs, the inflation affects indirectly on your overheads, local procurement's and currency exchange rates, thereby you cannot control the indirect cost impact on imports as well. This is where it gets all interesting. How much fun can one have doing business without strategy? Strategy is required when there are constraints hovering over your thought process for a smooth and easy transaction. And when you can think of a way to get over this roadblock and achieve a sale, it’s a ‘Job, Well done.’. You need to be smart to over think your competitor and convince the customer to sell what you have got for him. Cunning, is the word.

The most important thread in the whole scene holding the bits and pieces of the story together is your relationship with the customer. I am not a fan of cell phones. I got my first phone as a gift from my parents as I just started my engineering college. I was clearly deprived of any fascinations towards it. It is not necessary that one should compulsorily answer to any random call that come; I felt nothing can be more important than the time you give to yourself. But the tables turned quickly. Not answering phone calls had a humongous implication. It was inevitable to be connected. It is like as they say in most of the Hollywood sci-fi movies; you are wired in always. And of course the proximity plays a major role. You need to see your customers often to pour a cup of sympathy and a bucket of promise. It was not difficult to understand how important it was to carry that little piece of innovation to build a bridge to pass relevant information and satisfy the person waiting for it on the other side.

It wasn't for long that I realized how important it is to build a similar bridge within the organization itself. Of course you are keeping the customer at bay with a promise, as a sales man. There are others who are actually helping you to maintain that promise and save your face. For which there has to be an understanding of the entire process and the flow of material and information without any hassles inside the organization. And this is where the role of a leader becomes critical. He should entrust upon the promise made by his sales man to the customer and support him to build a good bridge inside the organization. For the customer the company is not the company, the sales man is the company. Thereby if the leader of the company intends to grow his company, his sales personnel has to grow. If he intends to take care of his company meticulously, his sales personnel has to be taken care well. If he wants his company to be successful, his sales personnel has to be given all the freedom. Of course he will have his own challenges. Managing an enterprise and doing business is two different things altogether. It is clear that the responsibility is primarily on the sales personnel to ensure that the business flourishes, but this is possible only if the promises made to the customer are kept. And this is where the secondary responsibility on the shoulders of Technology, Supply Chain, Finance, Production, Quality and Human Resource becomes equally important. They become an integral part of the business at various levels and have their own entry points in each and every transaction.

And thus it becomes important to have a crystal clear approach in sharing information and networking within the organization. The internal relationship therefore for a sales man becomes equally important. If I look back at my involvement last three years in such a profit driven, growth hungry, planned atmosphere, nothing moves until and unless you network. Either you need to fit into the existing dead network and make it active or build an entire one by yourself. In my case the network was quite good. Dynamic is the word. Some of the nodes in the network are so strong that I am able to leverage on the same thing even outside the professional framework. They are not just colleagues. They are friends. One thing I personally believe in my life is the connections between people. It has got into me so crazily that I have changed the way I see God, and started justifying myself its presence through the love shared between people and nature. What can be more true than your own conscience? Until I start my journey towards understanding the spiritual elements behind it I will draw a line here for now and move on with all energies and hope.