Shorakha Nagha - Partners in Progress

The main objective of the sojourn made to Egypt with family was to make SCIB a mass retailed brand. SCIB had then been somewhat successful in selling to institutions and new projects but not to retailers. It ran a few company owned and franchised showrooms. Everyone in the team and the market was wondering what will it do, with a team with little experience in selling to retail. There were a lot of ideas, but trust in the company had to be built, both amongst the team and the retailers. Almost everything change

d for the team. The products were new. Company’s identity and packaging changed. Policies changed – for e.g could not afford credit and had to sell in cash.

Amongst the retailers, there was a small set of long term customers, a few willing to explore/ experiment and the majority were in wait and watch mode. Launched in May when the business season began, a team of 30 odd sales team toiled tirelessly. A few weeks went by and only about 50 had taken the try SCIB launch package. Then two retailers called for a repeat order and that was the spark needed to light a fire, fuel hope and sent the team on all out drive. In one of the weekly team meetings came the idea of trying to showcase presence in the market by displays – something very common in retail but was new to both the team and the market. The team decided to call the retailers ‘’Shoraka Nagha’’ (Partners in Progress) an expression that was an instant hit. At the end of few months of activity a celebration on an evening cruise in Cairo made these partners open up and set the tone for an exciting roller coaster ride for years to come.

 

The Shorakha Nagha were true brand ambassadors and took great pains and trouble to take the brand and company to the market. Yes, it was business and there was profit to be made but the spirit of engagement was great. There were demanding customers, there were progressive customers, there were customers who wanted everything to be flexible and there were ones who felt they were not heard or did not matter. But like they say, a good product sells,

good intentions sustain and success is self-fulfilling.

It is tough to capture what all this partnership did. But it redefined a lot of things in retail for sure and that could not have happened without the enthusiasm, the participation and excitement the Shorakha Nagha created in the market. The details are captured in a small snapshot of what they did to partner and showcase SCIB in the market!

The page a a brief photo essay of these partners painting the landscape!