A Purchase Order for An Idea

Been at it, getting an order has not been easy, especially in the segment, renewables, where everybody thinks its about getting some electrical wires together to fit.

The approaches have been many, and they fit in tightly into a model, that I call SCALA.  New product development means the following :

1.  Simplicity

2.  Convenience

3.  Accessibility

4.  On the Ledge product

5.  Affordability

People come to me and say, "Oh ! you still at it, what have you achieved in 6 months, no bank balance, what is the point of being in this field."

I have been often disturbed by these thoughts, enough to trash the whole idea of renewables, yet I have hung on, "I totally totally believe in this thought and will carry on.

I tell them, " My journey to renewables started in 2001, when my life went through the biggest turmoil ever, I was 32 then, I required all the help that I needed and yet I was too Khuddar to give in."

Mr Behl, touched his long beard and told me, " Khuddari chodd aur hamarey pass aa ja.":

#Leave your self respect behind and come with us, we will make money#

I had then seen the bees and the birds decide when it would rain and when the sun would shine, the trees would talk to me, and the moon would shine in the night if I ever got caught up in darkness during my walks through that forest, I still remember.  The waters of Rishikesh had lifted this dead soul, who had no strength to walk, and the rapids had given me the courage to see the next few years.  I would not and did not give in, to Mr Behl or his likes.  Money earned without satisfaction gives, no pleasure nor hope.

After all these years of wait for a big break, it came today, a call from Saudi Arabia, suggesting that there was a need to install 2KW/3KW/5KW systems on the rooftops in Iraq.  When Ranjan called, and I have known him for near 20 years, big shot in some telecom firm in Dubai, my first thought was, "Am I being pulled into something I don't want to get into ?"

My soul refused to believe that good things could finally happen, after all it had been 10 years of wilderness, but the thought was overpowering enough for me.

"Yes Ranjan, I am game."

I have known Ranjan for 20 years but he has really got to know me in the last 6 months, know me enough, to give me the first hand information about the order  and suggesting that I meet him on Wednesday/Thursday the coming week to discuss this order when he lands from Dubai.  I understand there will be cultural differences, but then we are nothing if we don't talk about it.  I always talk nowadays and try and figure out whats going on, sales is about the ability to convince stakeholder, normally I listen for the first 5 minutes, before I begin to talk which is about 15 minutes or so, then take some questions and that is after I have reached a conclusion with the talk.  Most of the questions are about discounts and leverages on the price, I don't bother too much about them, a 5 percent discount is as good as 10 percent to me, I am here to build a bond not talk money with a client which in any case the client will pay as long as I give him a SCALA product.  We are trained to always think leads, while we should be thinking prospects.  Hard work happens in trying to convert Suspects to Prospects, that is where the big game is, the smart work happens in converting Prospects to Leads.

Suspect -------> Prospect ---------> Leads -----------> Orders -----------> Paybacks

"Am I on the right track? " I asked myself today scratching my flowing hair, which I leave loose nowadays.

"Damn right," she said.

Life, she talks to me lately, and Mandy listens.

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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-

I have been researching renewable energy for a while now, and found a few things, that I list out below, that I have assumed you will find very interesting. It all began with my meeting with a gentleman called Atam Kumar, a gentleman par excellence, and a pro in the field, consulting to many companies, at least as many as I can count on my fingers.

I was ushered into his office, and as I slipped into a chair, “Sir, how are you doing ?” I said shaking his hand.

“Very well very well.”

He made me absolutely comfortable, “How may I help you ?”

“Sir, I have been in the renewable sector for over 4 years now, and, I figured you were the best person to talk to on this.”

“Yea sure,” as he casually brushed his bald head with his hand and then got a hanky out to sniff his nose.
“Water heating is no longer a profitable proposition,” I was sure he would acknowledge this.

And he did, and what he further said surprised me, “Neither is Solar Lighting.”

My eyes opened wide, “ Really ?”

“Yes, think of it this way, the Germans have the infrastructure, the Chinese the hardware manufacturing capacity and India must sell services and tailored products.”

It really set my mind racing, he was talking and my mind was racing ahead, what he said made sense, we must sell tailored solutions.  Wasn’t it the other day I had heard somebody say, that a Solar Powered ATM would do wonders and what about Solar Air Conditioners, a still untapped market.  Many today would say, an untapped resource, but I tend to believe marketing a tailored product will bring customers in.   The office had air gushing out of the airconditioners, and the computers hummed to a new tune that only the quietness enhanced.  It was a plush office and one that anyone would love working out of, the leather chairs and coffee table with two comfortable looking chairs by the window were fantastic.  Add to this the aroma of cigars, Atam Kumar obviously loved his smokes, were overwhelming, it gave the feeling of power and psychologically that was an aphrodisiac for any man.

“………. And so we must do the following things,” he finished off as I finished taking notes, which I elucidate as below :

The Eight Stages to Product Development

----------------------------------------------------

1.        Idea Generation

2.       Idea Screening

3.       Concept Development

4.       Business Analysis

5.       Beta Testing and Market Testing

6.       Technical Implementation

7.       Commercialisation

8.       New Product Pricing

-----------------------------------------------------

This would sum up my the de-facto best renewable energy experience vis-a-vis an expert.  I have met a lot of them over a period of 5 months now, including Mr Narsimhan, Mr Jain, Mr Gopalan to name a few, all big shots with enough muscle to run through any product and that’s what they normally do, no beating around the bush.  However, if you understand my job is to talk and get a feel of the market and unless I talk I have very little by way of understanding whats happening at the client end.  A few dollars or rupees here or there and a discount that ranges from five percent to ten percent doesn’t hurt me.

But a new product gives remarkable facelift to the company and this is what I intend to do first of all, idea generation.

An Idea An Idea, For An Idea I live.

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Whatever Will Be will Be !!!!

I have been solarizing for over 2 months now, have travelled the lengths and breadths of the country, incredible India as it is called.  The one common strain I hear across is
"Is it viable ?" said the farmers in Odisha and then in the North Eastern state of Darjeeling.
"Seems uncanny." I began to wonder if I was the only one who saw otherwise.
"See that pump, it uses solar energy, hasn't worked for over 2 years now." said Kishan, a rich farmer in Odisha.
He sounded despondent, like his dream had gone bad, "It worked for 6 months and now it hasn't for over 2 years."
"Kishan Ji, this thing works and I have seen it work for years and years." I pleaded

with him.
"Toh kya karen hum ab." he sounded equally ill at ease with the topic.
I immediately backed out, I wasn't here to pass on advice, but to solve problems.  Raju was with me, he immediately pointed to the piping, it dilated up and down, there were NRVs installed everywhere near the system.

"Sir, ismey, shayad pani atack raha hai." he said, and I was sure he was right, the water was getting stuck somewhere, increasing the pressure on the pump which failed often now. Raju was always right, a hard working man with an incredible practical knowledge about plumbing.  He had started his career in a carton manufacturing firm in Dubai, and worked there for 6 years, during which time he had also picked up plumbing as a part time hobby.  I had always admired people who took up part time hobbies while they worked full time.  The landscape in Odisha was stark, so stark, that one could admire the greenery whenever it appeared.  This was a poor state, I could see from the Naxal activity around the parts we were in.  An occasional encounter with an armed villager was not unusual here.  I stood up on a mumpty created over the pump and looked far and deep into the country side.  There were the usual well marked paddy fields with boroughs marked for water.  Most of the fields were watered, in the far distance I saw the outline of the hotel we were staying in, Bhubhneshwar was a bustling town and I could almost hear the honks of angry cabby's and autowallas as they tried to get around the rickshaws.  The hotel bellboy had forewarned me about overcharging and I had made sure that I took the public transport, which comprised of rickshaws and dilapidated buses into the rural landscape adjoining Bhubhneshwar.

Raju was walking towards a particular water diver tor, and I quickly walked behind him.  He turned the NRV off by turning the handle anti clockwise, and then examined the diver tor, Kishan ji was hovering right over our shoulder.  Using a spanner he opened up the smallish piece of equipment, it was used to divert water depending on the requirement, to a particular pipe or the other.  We both examined the equipment and found it to be defective, too much mud in the water probably, Raju quickly cleaned it up and installed it back to the satisfaction of Kishan Ji.  He moved the NRV back in position.  This had to be done for ever diver tor in the circuit and even the timer valve that was installed next to the pump.  Took the whole day, identifying all the diver tors and cleaning them up.  I had in the meanwhile climbed up the panel installation to clean the electrical, the wiring was intact and yet had to be pruned and refitted into new crimps.  I wiped the sweat off my brow and I finished wiping the dust off the 5 KW solar pump installation.  The panels sparkled and water was gushing through like a glacier had melted on the mountains.  The sound was blissful to both me and Raju.
Touche, its all in the days work. 

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