Srinivasan sounded calm: ‘First you tell him you are sending extra 300 cases Sir. You only must tell him. Then we will face it Sir’. The month end of June ‘99 was terrible. I was the Sales officer in Tamil Nadu and was 300 cases short of target.
When pressure peaks one has to rely only on the big customers. Shanmugam Traders in Madurai was safe but tough. He’d done his target. So dumping 300 again was terrible. So I called up Srini, our senior most salesman handling him, for help.
‘I won’t accept a single piece!’ Shanmugam shouted, as I told him I needed 300 cases and I was billing. Got it done and I was in the night bus to Madurai.
Srini and his big broad smile greeted me at 7 am. At 50, he was a huge sprightly frame. “Sir, first hot Pongal and filter coffee.’
Shanmugam was stunned to see us both standing at his shop even before he came. Next 30 minutes he shouted and yelled. As he paused for breath, Srini said ‘Market open time sir. Let’s go’
Srini lead the 3 of us till 9 pm that day and sold out 280 cases. A record for a single day. A super salesman with an awesome clout!
Srini could’ve so easily handled this on his own. But he taught me how to face the problem with calm.
He made me a stronger leader by putting me in the front.
#1MinuteStories 