The day started
just like any other and I had felt motivated to step out of my room to make
some sales calls. Not by phone but by legs. This was 2004 – only few years into
the GSM revolution. Call and SMS charges were still astronomical at the time, so
I had to engage my legs in order to cut my operational costs. The previous day
had been profitable. I had made some sales and I was beginning to feel good
about the ‘job’. Here I was – a bloody freshman who had just resumed school
that year to study a course with a very long name. Well, that didn’t matter to
me, as long as I was studying that course at the self-acclaimed Most Beautiful
Campus in Africa. I’ll have to leave you to figure that out.
Anyways, back to
business. I was an employee of CostumeFocus Laundry Club – the first laundry
cleaning agency in school at the time. As a marketer, my job was to sell “recharge
cards” to clients. Each of the N200 denominated cards had N20 valued ‘dots’
printed on them. To wash a piece of fabric cost N20; so whenever our ‘boys’
came to pick up clients’ clothes, the dot(s) was marked or shaded – depending on
the number of clothes to be washed. This excluded other complementary services
such as starching and ironing which attracted an extra N20 charge, respectively.
The laundry club business was indeed an answer to the prayers of many a student
who couldn’t give their expensive clothes to the local women who washed for
students in the hall. The women had a poor track record of washing with brushes
that spoilt fragile clothes; and in other cases, there was outright loss or
theft of clothes. Therefore our entry into that ‘industry’ was indeed a respite
to many – thanks to our marketing and packaging strategies. The commission I earned
on each card I sold was quite attractive and I was glad I could earn some more money
to augment my monthly stipend from home. But I never knew that the young and
fledging company had operational issues that would soon land me in trouble.
Fred (not real
name), a 100-level law student and next-door neighbor was my first client; and
he was clearly one of the ‘big boys’ in the hall, whatever that means. When I was
closing the sale on him, he had asked me over and over again if I was sure that
his clothes will be delivered on time. I gave him my word. Our boss had also
given us his word, so we (marketers) had no cause to worry about the ability of
the company to deliver on its promise. Our job was to sell cards, sell more
cards and sell more and more cards while the boss worries about the rest.
On that fateful Friday,
Fred had given our ‘boys’ all his three white shirts and trousers on a Saturday
morning (law students are required to wear only white and black outfits to class),
to be delivered by Monday evening – ahead of his Tuesday morning class. The promise
was to deliver within 48 hours. I was still sleeping on Monday morning when l I
heard a bang on my door. “Where is that Sam of a boy?!” Fred shouted. “Where
are my clothes? Isn’t it 48hrs already?” he yelled. My roommates watched as I staggered
out of my bed trying to explain why his clothes had not arrived. Unfortunately,
I didn’t make sense to myself – how much more to my angry client. I tried
placing a call to my boss but the network turned its back on me. I tried to
speak some ‘English’ so as to calm my angry client but it fell on deaf ears. Fred
had no other clothes to wear to class, and you know, ‘big boys’ don’t borrow. So
it is clear that he had every right to be angry. Fortunately, he cooled his
temper and gave me a stern warning and ultimatum that if his clothes didn’t arrive
first thing in the morning, he will kill me.
I had never been
threatened all my life. This was a whole new vista for me. To be sure, I wasn’t
scared, but I was kinda troubled. I didn’t want to lose this customer and well
as other prospects who might hear of that ugly incident. How could this happen
when I was just beginning to ‘enjoy’ the job? So I had to place calls upon
calls to my boss to find out what exactly was happening. My people couldn’t give
me a satisfactory response. At a point, they couldn’t even find the clothes. But
I had no choice but to keep putting pressure on my boss. This went on until the
ultimatum expired and Fred came back firing from all cylinders. The class he
was billed to attend was few minutes away and he had started cursing from his
room down through the corridor, until he barged into my room boiling with
anger. I was visibly shaken. His face was red with anger. His toned muscles
were set for action. I stood helpless as Fred made to pound and box the living
daylight out of me. But for the timely intervention of my roommates I would
have been battered and scuffled beyond recognition. You can imagine the
embarrassment that followed the rescue mission of my roommates. Of course, my
company and I became the butt of jokes in my room. And it climaxed when ‘my
company’ finally delivered WET clothes to my disappointed client later in the evening.
After that
incident, I left; and I later learnt that the company also folded up few months
afterwards, perhaps primarily as a result of their inability to deliver on
promises, among other things. Looking back, I learnt few lessons that have been
useful for in life and business:
- Start small, but don’t remain small. As you
grow, be flexible. Review your system processes and expand your capacity to
meet customer demands. “In the end, the customer doesn’t know, or care, if you
are small or large as an organization,” Giorgio Armani counsels. “He or she
only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store”.
- As a business owner, you must be on top of your
game. Being proactive is a virtue that should be cultivated. One of the tests
of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an
emergency. “If you don’t drive your business, you’ll be driven out of business”,
B.C. Forbes.
- Don’t give up on your dreams. You might be broke
but please ensure that you are not broken. Your driving force is what keeps you
afloat during your trying moments. “I’m not a driven business man, but a driven
artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money”, declares Lord
Acton.
Finally, I’m of
the opinion that if CostumeFocus Laundry Club had stayed in the game and
weathered the storm, it would have been a multi-million naira company today. Let’s
be honest. There’s not a business anywhere that is without problems. Business is
complicated and imperfect. Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect
human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect
human beings. Therefore, it is not the strongest of the companies that survive,
nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Kindly share.
25BB383A
+234-803-442-1195
Kindly share.
25BB383A
No comments:
Post a Comment