Some Interesting Pictures ..... Installation

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A Bushel and a Peck

A Bushel and a Peck

Abstract

What troubles businesses is a very intriguing and mysterious thought “what are we working for, what are we in it for.”  See, the very thought that we are commercial entreprises may seem to be toughest concern, making new money and cultured progress do not go hand in hand.  The more I think of it more and more, it becomes obvious, modern long lasting businesses survive on the following few things :

1                 1.      Values.

2                 2.      Concern for each other.

3                 3.      Thoughtfulness.

4                 4.      Standardizing all the above.

The ruthlessness that we saw in the way erstwhile organizations like British Petroleum and other petroleum giants approached the energy business saw them thrive for a few 50 years or so, however it caught up with them and within no time they have been demolished and decimated. 

Values are easy to talk about and difficult to implement in an organization, unless it is linked to the customer and the money that he pulls in.  Think of it this way, all customers bring in money, some less some more, a few customers along with them bring in their values, their thoughtfulness and one look at them and it is easy to fall in love with them.  Remember, the thought in a previous case study of mine that we don’t fall in love or hate the customer, its just a job to be done.  However its hard to ignore a good customer, cause you want him to come back for more.  A fundamental change that I implemented in my outlook to build a lasting business was “Prototyping” and “Countertyping”.

Prototyping as anyone would understand is the concept of creating a demonstration model before it goes into mass production or to the factories.  I always create a prototype of what I want to do, draw a roadmap before embarking on a project that we need to sell to the client.  If I was for example asked to state clearly how many kWs there in an 1 HP driven motor, the answer would lie in the prototype.   Theories apart a prototype is very important, in this case study we will discuss the prototyping of a marketing plan and how we did it.

I would also explain how to utilize countertyping to get to a very innovative and creative solution, this is explained by understanding that established norms that run through commercial enterprises work however may not be the best solution.  Sales and Marketing is best understood by the way companies like Honda and Toyota have restructured their manufacturing and taken advantage of best practices before standardizing the same.  S&M  countertyped is an interesting case study and I am sure you will enjoy reading this.
So how may many bushels in a peck asked the customer, and I said “come to me come to me.”

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Wish You Happy Holidays

Wish You Happy Holidays

Abstract

Salman had often wondered, what it took to convince a client, to satisfy and tempt him into remembering you for longer periods of time and recall you in time for his next purchase.  He had been in the industry long enough to know this, and also realise - too much time in the industry and it was easy to forget what it takes to make it a pleasant experience for the client.  Emma introduced to him the idea that he should sell to the client what is best known as “The Rose Petal”.  She was an old hand a researcher par excellence and knew exactly what he was going through.  “No attachments!!” she told him.

“Salman, we don’t love the client nor do we hate him, it’s a job to be done.”  

Emma had utilized this techniques often enough, get to the clients through the portals of the web, social media or real time engagement and she wanted to pass it on to Salman.   A customer should be able to remember us a preferred supplier, as the one person who gave to us what was most important, a good clean product that has lasting value and offers value more than what he paid for.

How often have we seen a client complain that we are don’t get what the specifications state, how often have we seen the client go back to another supplier and claim that the supplier has more credentials then the present one.  It happens when the dissatisfaction level reaches the peak.  I don’t like the system that has been installed, don’t like the looks of it, and don’t like the way it functions, it doesn’t give half the value for money that my previous product gave.

I called up this old supplier of mine and found that he was still selling 1.5 HP and 3 HP pump motor solar sets.  I asked him the price and the answer was simple, the price is the same, if you want I can send you a new quotation.  So did I want a new quotation, I was just checking up on the prices I had received from the competition.  I had bought the product from him 2 years back and his prices were still the best. 

He browsed through his books, “I offer a pump-motor set, combined with the panels, its 1.5 BHP system.”

“1.5BHP is equivalent to how many kWs”
“Same as before, that doesn’t change either like my prices.”
“Will I get to pay extra for commissioning ? “
“That is included my original cost sir.”

On the face of it nothing but in my line of business for a Rs 1.5 lakhs system if I get 15000 off on it when the competition price is already way above his base price is the sweetest benefit that I can get.  This is right there is the best guy there is and you can search high or low for similar people but will not find anything similar.
Trust me, the client and the product, if matched is the most potent testimonial.

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It Happened and I am at Peace

The dawn was bright like a blazing party in the night,
The Sun peaked through to clear the mist,
They went on about the mist on the radio,
Of which I saw none,

Last night I had met God,
and thinking of him I carried on,
Voices there were many in my head,
As I cut through to reach HIM,

Justice delayed is justice denied,
I know today if there were a more unkind moment,
Like the one I encountered last night,
I would again seek THAT which brings an end to the mist

Clear the fog and bring on the fog lamps,
I know I am THAT who clears the mist,
No one knows who brought this day on,
Last night had been pleasant,

The wine had flowed till eternity,
and when morning came no one had slept a wink,
Sitting in office twiddling my thumb,
I thought a poem would be a tribute to a great new dawn. 

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Fertility is in the mind

Fertility is all in the mind

Abstract

People working together, whether it be clients and partners with suppliers, or whether it just be colleagues on a project, the inherent interactions between humans brings aggression and sometimes sadness when people knowingly fight each other leaving scars on their work cultures.  In the end rationalization, I am not too proud say, is sought to justify aggression against people who are just partners.  This case study is about a project, we undertook in 2010, I had done all the hardwork, set all my people in the field and set them in positions where we would bag the order.  Sadly enough, it is not the hardwork that you planned out but it is this feel that this woman was not paying enough attention to details or that other man who was totally incapable of doing the right thing that sometimes gives me the flashes that I control because I know what I would want you to know to.

I walked into the room filled with people waiting for introspection or atleast a hint that somebody will take the blame.  “All in all this was a sad feeling to know that we have worked so hard, to get nowhere”, I said to a meeting room.
There was a hushed silence and then, Carol got up, “We did the best we could sir.”
I held myself back, “Yes I know.”
She didn’t though, “They got a different supplier and though the rates are low, the quality is very inferior.”
“Yes, I know.”

The mind just stops working when you realise that all that I had worked for in the last 3 months was coming to nothing now. The feeling of sadness was poignant in the room but most people didn’t even realise it, only a few who understood me, realised that.  There was nothing left to do, not even to find somebody to blame.  The baby that was yet to be born had decided on its own that it had no future in our world.

I looked from face to face, “We need to look at this realistically now, our booked orders are not coming through, the totals don’t match up and we are not going to meet our targets.”
You talk about money and who will not get bonuses and who will get sacked and that’s when it sinks in, the depression became even more palpable, some faces turned up from their nonchalant ease.  What was I going to do with these thoughts, I wasn’t even prepared to handle what 2010 was going to bring.  It was cold here and I was standing and thinking of what had happened, while I spoke to this team.  The interest rates were spiralling, a feeling of loss was eminent.  I thought of one of my mentors and began to feel a little better, he had always said,

“Men die
Grass dies
Therefore Men are Grass”

Crying over spilt milk is for fool, it’s the brave one who understands that curdled milk will give you butter. 

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Dealing With a Love Story

Dealing with a Love Story

Abstract

Often enough there is a need to be able to form concrete plans to tackle hard problems that are afflicting the industry and the company in general.  It is important to understand that, there is no one person who can possibly solve the problem nor identify the problem in the first place.  The ideal thing to do is to be able to get to a resolution that satisfies all stakeholders and in the time available.  Often enough there are numerous solutions available and these might be the cause a lot of parties  to bundle a quick try solution for a potentially hard problem.  Here, as things get more murkier and murkier, and then suddenly when they do get obviously clearer, you could do these things :

1. To quickly outline a theory and demarcate a boundary condition in which the solution can be scoped out. 

2.  To gradually define the problem and then reach a solution using the profound logic, that is there at our will due to the scientific community.

There exist a vast number of people who have tried and very often got to the solution by logic and this far exceeds the people who normally use the quick try theories.  Technically speaking if Bill Crompton, the director at Global Power was to identify where he got the idea to solve the problem from then it might have been his thought process that had so many overwhelming strings that the problem resolved itself under their might.  Not to ignore, the multitude of noises just beginning to get into his head that these overwhelming strings were nothing but what a million of like minded people had thought out.  It was normal and logical thing, that if we try to become the problem then we would obviously be the solution to it as well. 

Bill and an another close friend of his Cathy Lambert closely identified that the industry was going through a bad patch because there was turf war going on.  There were the dealers who were fighting the customers into believing that they were getting a raw deal from Global Power, and so the prices were high, Global Power on the other hand was fighting the dealers telling the customers that the dealers had to be bypassed as they were the cause of the price hikes.  The customers were confused, what to buy ? and where to buy it from ?  If the customer was confused then it would not be too presumptious to assume that they were not going to be any sales.  Here is where the thought of going through a system 1, mentioned above, falls into place.  Intuition and gut feel often has the ability to overcome anger, anguish, selfishness and all other traits that prevent human beings from reaching their full potential.  There is a lack of mention of this in the modern management terminologies where it is only a number crunching game, reaching targets the only motive.  A study of the Harvard business school of management has identified that if there is a need to develop, it is this instinct for business and not the core principles of business on which a whole lot has been written about.  Truth be spoken, this feel comes from connecting with inner self and understanding how the terminologies and existing implications impact our business decisions. 

Business as a whole was going through a bad patch, it had been 2 years since a good deal had been cracked in the region.  The Delhi-NCR region was well developed and the area had been notified as the subsidized zone and yet their was no business. 
The customer is always right is the only idiom we believe in.

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