Marketing journeys
Chapter 9: Tough as Tires
Most of the dealers in Hyderabad are marwaris.
This is a very successful business community that originated in Rajasthan
and has now spread out all over the world. They have tremendous business
acumen and strong community backing, financially.
Vish (who, along with Ramlal, had come to “teach me the ropes”) was one of
the largest tire dealers in the state of Andhra Pradesh (of which Hyderabad
is the capital) and was definitely our largest tire dealer. A young and
dynamic man in his early thirties, he knew the tire business in and out.
One day we were having a drink and at my insistence, he told me the story of
how he got to be where he was. He had started as an apprentice in a large
tire shop about fifteen years ago, he said, and had learnt the ropes there.
The owner of the shop had suddenly taken ill and, after a prolonged illness,
had passed away. Vish had saved up some money and, with a little borrowing
from family and friends had opened his own tire shop.
He was a friendly guy and all the tire company managers liked him. They also
liked his “can do” attitude.
One day in March of a particular year the Area Manager of a large tire
company - let’s call the company Sodhi Rubbers Limited (a fictitious name) -
was finding it difficult to sell its stock. (31st March in India is the day
the financial year ends. Companies generally bill out the entire stock so as
to have no tires on the books). This particular year Sodhi Rubbers Limited
for some unknown reason had faced market resistance. The Area Manager of
Sodhi Rubbers Limited asked Vish whether he could buy the entire stock. “I
cannot immediately compensate you for the loss that you will undergo” said
the Area Manager to Vish “but I will do so and also give you a handsome
profit as soon as I can”.
Vish accepted this offer.
A few months later the Area Manager was as good as his word and Vish found
himself substantially richer. Thereafter it had become an annual tradition
and Vish would joke to the Area Manager that he should get his warehouse
cleaned on the 1st of April as there wouldn’t be a single tire in it.
Over the years Vish became the largest dealer of Sodhi Rubbers Limited in
the state of Andhra Pradesh.
This arrangement went on smoothly till one year the Managing Director of
Sodhi Rubbers Limited happened to visit Hyderabad in the month of April and
insisted on going through the accounts. He was shocked to see that hundreds
of tires had been billed out to Vish without any security. He immediately
instructed the Area Manager to get current dated cheques from Vish. The Area
Manager explained the situation to Vish and promised him that although the
cheques would be current dated, he would hold the cheques till Vish arranged
for the funds.
Vish gave him the cheques.
However, the Managing Director instructed the accountant to ensure that all
cheques were deposited into the bank immediately.
All the cheques bounced.
The Area Manager was then asked by his head office to move legally against
Vish and recover all the dues from him. Vish lost his shop and all the tires
that were in the inventory. His bank accounts were frozen and the money in
them attached. The Area Manager even went to the extent of going to Vish’s
house with the police and asking for all the gold jewelry that belonged to
Vish’s wife.
Vish was ruined. He became the laughing stock of his fellow tire dealers.
Rather than going into a depression and lamenting his fate, Vish, decided to
start afresh; he began selling small scooter tires under a staircase. This
was all that his budget allowed him to do.
One of the other tire company managers, felling sorry for Vish, offered to
bail him out. That company started supplying him truck tires and offered him
credit so that he could first sell the tires and then pay the company back.
Gradually Vish regained his financial strength; he once again took a shop in
the market and was back in business with a vengeance. However, he refused to
have anything to do with Sodhi Rubbers Limited.
Sodhi Rubbers Limited soon found that they had made a major mistake in
losing Vish. There was no other dealer of his caliber in their fold. Soon
the Area Manager was making overtures to Vish to return to them.
Vish had been humiliated by the entire episode and he wanted his revenge. He
told the Area Manager that he would come back if two conditions were met:
Condition # 1: That the Managing Director of Sodhi Rubbers Limited should
come to Hyderabad and personally apologize to him, face to face.
Condition # 2: That he should be liberally compensated for the losses that
he had undergone and the humiliation he had endured.
Sodhi Rubbers Limited agreed and Vish got his pound of flesh.
The Managing Director of the company invited him to dinner and told him that
he was very sorry that he had had to undergo the horrible ordeal. “Let us
make a fresh beginning” he said to him.
Vish agreed.
So that was how Vish bounced back into the business.
Not tough as nails but tough as tires.
To Marketing Journeys
10
Cheers,
Prakash
28th March 2010
Article Index; marketing
Journeys
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Marketing Journeys 1
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Marketing Journeys 2
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Marketing Journeys 3
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Marketing Journeys 4
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Marketing Journeys 5
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Marketing Journeys 6
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Marketing Journeys 7
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Marketing Journeys 8
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Marketing Journeys 9
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Marketing Journeys
10
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Marketing Journeys
11
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Marketing Journeys
12
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Marketing Journeys
13
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Marketing Journeys
14
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Marketing Journeys
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