47 - Day Road Trip

Dear Readers:

I have been on a 47-day road-trip for a major multinational brand that has 77 locations throughout Pakistan. I was issued a daunting challenge which I accepted. I started from their Karachi head office and covered all of the retail stores with an effort to upgrade their visual merchandizing walls and front displays and provided much needed training and development for all sales staff region by region.

I observed the following:

1) Not taking into account large cities like Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad - consumers are becoming very brand savvy even in small towns like Jehlem, Khaarian, Chakwal, Mirpur, Sahiwal, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and many such locations that I visited.

2) The local sales staff hired by the company severely lacked the retail intelligence, selling skills and how to promote a brand with a customer-centric attitude. Incidentally, the same applied to other brands sitting in the market which we visited to get a feel of the local shopping atmosphere. We video documented and took pictures along the way.

3) The sales staff faced numerous issues in QC and supply-chain which de-motivated them even more. The response-time took much longer due to improper communication channels and uneven work distribution. Consequently, the blame game routines were taking place at every region outlets - with RSMs (Regional Sales Managers) blaming the head office staff for all troubles and ASMs (Area Sales Managers) blaming the RSMs.

4) Teamwork and the spirit required in branded sales were nowhere to be found. Undue politics and judgmental arguments happened; even during times when customers were present inside the store. (A deadly mistake)

5) Nobody wanted to accept the individual responsibility. The sales staff was aggravated by the store manager’s undue favoritism and a handful were disturbed by not making enough commissions on the merchandize sold.

6) Company’s resources and an inordinate amount of time were being wasted.

7) Unsold seasonal merchandize returns (GR) back to the head office represented outrageous figures.

I am proud to announce that we have successfully fixed all the dysfunctions; especially with sales figures, united the staff in performance driven teams and accomplished the VM upgrades. The rest of the QC & supply-chain issues are being worked on as we speak. Solutions were simple and based on psychological and bioethics principles. Now, there is even a new employee-incentive program underway which will allow fashion-consultants to be recognized for individual efforts. After considerable changes and rising sales figures, extreme confidence levels and positive attitudes are being reported across the board in every region.

We have switched their outlook from being problem-focused to solution-driven

There are numerous business solutions. The question is: “where lies the focus in present moment”? Once we took care of the self-imposed limitations, even the out-of-season merchandize started selling.

There are many domestic and foreign business opportunities on the horizon which demand contemplation for those who wish to expand beyond borders.

Warm Regards