Sales & Operations Manager
Star Enterprises – distributors Coca-Cola
Total years of experience :27 years, 9 Months
Star Enterprises is the sole distributors for Hindustan Coca-Cola (Coke) Soft Drinks in Manglor, India. Catering to sub dealers, retail market, corporate parties etc.
Management; Developing creative business plans to improve performance supervising its application to ensure quality & efficient service to the customers. To achieve optimal productivity as well as profitability. Administration of office duities, managing staff, arranging sick leave/absentee cover, transfers, roster etc. Handle complaints/feedback from customers in a calm & professional manner. Gathering all information & communicating the issues to CEO.
Brand Management; To ensure products are displayed, packed/stacked following standard procedure & guidelines. To check received goods quality. To offer recommendations for streamlining efficiency ensuring customer satisfaction. To maintain a customer database, & actively managing that database ensuring repeat/continued business.
Research & Development; Created many sub-dealers in far-flung remote areas thus increased sales. Planning, managing, conducting business get-togethers. Started new loyalty program, maintained healthy business relations with the clients.
Resource Management; Managing business activities & supervising within approved budgets. To prepare schedules based on staffing levels & operational costs. Arranging delivery within standard timeframes, ensuring delivered product quality. To ensure safety procedures are strictly followed. To ensure safe & appropriate handling/storage of goods.
HR & Training; Hiring of daily/monthly wages staff in peak season as per the work load & providing training to permanent & temporary staff, to lead in continuous improvement & to strive in achieving the highest standards of service & quality.
Setting Goals; To set & monitor individual & team goals. Advice, study & recommend sales & delivery expansions, timings and other important factors, to increase sales & delivery target.
Negotiated; with corporates. Negotiated better deals from suppliers. Convinced retailers to buy our products.
Marketing; Supervising proper local marketing & helping in creating brand image with the help of banners, posters, and wall paintings. To carry out marketing / advertising campaigns as advised by Coca-Cola.
Sales Forecast; To Liaise with sub-dealers, retailers on orders/current stock levels & providing Sales-forecast.
Inventory Control; Maintaining optimum level of stocks. Maintaining inventories wisely, getting rid of dead stock, placing an order.
Reports; To Prepare sales & delivery reports for the owners.
On returning from Doha I actively engaged myself in Social Service with various NGOs, social & political groups. Currenly I am District Secretary in Indian National Congress.
Basic Aim; was to provide meaningful opportunities for the social and economic growth of the disadvantaged sector of the population of the region, worked in order to develop them into productive and self-reliant citizens.
Assistance; providing food assistance to underweight/malnourished children to improve their nutritional status, undertaken through centralized neighborhood feeding and home-based feeding. Providing warm clothing and blankets to the poor.
Day Care Service - Arrangement was made for substitute mothering to disadvantaged pre-school children as well as street children during part of the day when the mother cannot attend to their children due to her work.
Helping Disadvantaged Communities - communities who have inadequate resources and facilities such as water system, electricity and absence of natural resources. Helped them in attaining basic needs. Helping individuals 7-17 years old who due to poor parents, are out of school, sickly, alcohol/drug addicts, youth offenders or have been sexually abused or exploited, providing temporary shelter if required.
Development; To help poor in availing government schemes such as free medicines, vaccinations, free schooling, senior citizen's pension, widow pension, loans for setting up small scale cottage industries, etc
Sanipex Group a Multinational Company was one of the largest distributors of designer sanitary ware products in the UAE, representatives of many world famous brands Hoesch, Antonio Lupi, GSI etc & was willing to expand its wings in Doha-Qatar.
I was honest, able to work independently, had a pleasing personality, my knowledge of Arabic, fluency in English & Hindi, Computer literacy worked in my favour and was transferred from Dubai to Doha Qatar to open a new Showroom for the company in collaboration with Al Tayeb Tradg. and was promoted to be the Showroom Manager.
Major responsibility was to maintain high standards of Sanipex Group in Doha, to dispaly/organize, to execute & perform all programs designed to increase presence & ultimate off-take, this was done effortlessly.
Management; To take full responsibility for day to day running of the showroom, to ensure high level of customer service is given at all times. To ensure daily banking is reconciled & banked accurately. To monitor attendance, individual & team performance, maintain safe & healthy working environment. Plan & ensure development of New Season & update store set-ups.
Train and Manage; to train and manage the new staff coming from different nationalities, motivate & develop skills, to conduct weekly meetings, to ensure all Company policies/procedures are implemented, to provide in-depth knowledge about all the products & to focus on our strengths.
Customer Service; Attending customers, who were Locals, Designers, Contractors, briefing them on our entire range, providing quotations & presentations based on Project drawing, providing exceptional services to gain their confidence.
Brand Management; Ensuring the showroom & all displays are neat/tidy. To organise showroom maintenance/refits as needed. Managed development & implementation of effective visual merchandising & creative display standards to create a world class visually stunning brand proposition & in-store retail environment. To update the list of items that customer are requesting in order to update merchandise list.
Research & Development; To see that whats moving and whats not, to work aggressively to push slow moving products, displayed them at appropriate places, highlighting product's strengths, smartly covering its weaknesses. Stock order was placed keeping local market trends in mind. To meet well placed Designers, Consultants, Contractors requesting showroom visit & generated enquiries for their future requirements. Successfully projected a positive image of the company's luxury products & enhanced the Sanipex-Client relationship.
Inventory Control; To maintain healthy stock of fast moving items, to place bulk orders on project basis. Worked on continuous improvement on order to delivery process.
Reporting; Reporting all issues with suggestions, to prepare weekly reports to be sent to the GM & to Sanipex Group in Dubai.
Major Projects:
Ramada Hotel Extention, La-Cigale Hotel, Doha Airport New Business Class Lounge, 10 Villas for Ahmed Mustafawi, 10 Villas at Dafna, Dukhan Housing Project, Al Khor Cafeteria, many personal Villas in West Bay. Generated Enquiries for New Doha Airport, Barwa Housing, Qanat Towers, Lusail Development etc.
SANIPEX GROUP was the market leading supplier of quality bathrooms and tiles, a Multinational Company conducting business in over 30 countries with over 50 of the world's leading brands, including its own highly successful BAGNODESIGN and AQUAZONE brands.
Aquazone was a new concept that cattered to the customers in Deira side of Dubai.
Customer Services; Attended showroom customers, Arabs, Russians, Africans & from various other countries, helping, guiding in a polite manner, taking good care of them, giving 100% attention, providing quotations & presentations in a professional manner, worked constantly to achive customer defined service levels.
Brand Management; Worked with design & marketing team to create life size pictures & displayed them at appropriate places at the showroom creating brand awareness. Helped in making display boards & in preparing mock-up rooms at site.
General duties; Key holder responsibilities, i.e. opening/closing of the showroom, covering in case of absence, ability to be available in the event of an emergency. Replying to emails, attending telephone calls, filing of documents. Assist in safe storage/stock-taking of the showroom, Providing back-up/assistance to the Sales Manager, providing in-puts for increasing sales. Helped in reconciling petty cash & raising LPOs. To maintain good relations with the neighbors.
Multi Nationality Exposure; Got experience to work in coordination with various nationalities both as co-workers & as customers.
Explored New Opportunities; by creating new clients in Deira Dubai, Sharjah, Russia & Africa therefore enhanced companies client profile. Identified key clients like Ashtaar Interiors, Bin Salem Design, Hamilton Design etc, developed effective relations to create repeat & continued business.
Research & Development; After joining I established a new Project Marketing & Sales Division solely on self-initiative & operated independently. Successfully generated enquiries & secured new Projects. Identified key hotels where buyers stayed in Dubai and made tie-up with these hotels, thus creating new business opportunities.
Able to work under pressure; Handled many prestigious Projects simultaneously and single handedly. Prepared reports with the objective of keeping the management informed about all issues.
Prioritise; Able to provide services on priority basis, on Project-to-Project basis, managing the customers on individual basis.
Inventory Control; Segregated Stocks maintaining showroom stock & a separate stock for the Export Customers. Managing from sales to receiving payment, order placement, till the delivery process.
Site supervision; Made site visits to oversee the proper installation.
Major Projects; Burj Khalifa -swimming pool Tiles by Bilt Middle East, Crown Plaza Hotel- Office Block Refurbishment by Amber Decor. Ajman Rulers Court by Karam Const. Various Hotels, Personal Villas in Sharjah, Deira Side of Dubai.
Ajjaj Trading was actually an engineering company with a small trading showroom @ Najma, It represented the IMI Yorkshire Copper Pipes & Fittings, Reginox Kitchen Sinks, Eurobath and Shires sanitary wares.
I joined Ajjaj Trading Company As Sales Executive for customer services at Najma Showroom. I had experience in serving customers however I had to learn about the products & their usage in order to help customers in a satisfactory way. I am a quick learner and within no time I got engaged in active sales.
Customer Service; Attending to the variety of Showroom Customers including Locals, Purchasers, Contractors and Plumbers, coming from Baskin Robbins this was done with ease. In 2002 I helped company in establishing a new showroom for sanitary wares on Salwa road, helped in display/organise, creating brand visual effects & extracting business from this new premises.
Promotion; In June 2003, I was made incharge of Sanitary wares division.
Management; Managed the showroom, staff with kind words & strict rules. Guided & helped sales staff in securing business. Distributed work to staff & made them answerable in respect of their duties.
Brand Management; Quality products alone is not enough to gain market share, due to technological advancement look alike cheap products flood the market, therefore I made sure each brand we represent gets good exposure in the local market, made sure we provide a high level of customer service at all times both internal and external by being aware of the product categories, by being able to assist/advise customers in a professional manner.
Research & Development; Introduced the concept of Wholesale Sales through small distributors in Doha, Wakrah & Al Khor Areas. Helped in transforming Ajjaj Trading into a major trading company by securing many prestigious housing/commercial projects. Achieved 75% growth in annual business. Looked for new Suppliers to improve variety, subsequently traded with them on Project to Project basis.
Public Relations; Successfully developed a healthy and productive business relationship with most of the major designers, consultants and contractors.
Planning; Participated in the formulation of the marketing & sales strategies of the Project Marketing & Sales Division on a regular basis.
Negotiated; with Contractors, Principal suppliers on pricing/better terms, availing quantity discounts, Negotiated with Shipping & Clearing Agents, Kept a strict eye on Local Vendors on their pricing & delivery.
Liaising; To liase between logistics, sales, gather customer feedback, related to service & product delivery.
Major Projects;
Khalifa Stadium, 42 Villas Al Anoud Gardens, American Airbase @ Saniyah, Al Udeed Airbase, Kharamaa Stores, Intercontinental Hotel, Qatar Shooting Range, Kitchen Sinks for Ras Gas Housing Project.
Supplied to various Hotels and commercial housing and private projects in Doha.
La-Khisara was a franchise of the world famous Ice Cream brand Baskin Robbins, that I opened in Delhi.
Training in Customer Care; I have a helping nature Baskin Robbins further polished my skills by training me on customer service, how to deal with the customers, how to increase revenues by up-grading orders, how to handle awkward situations, register complaints, how to secure confidence & loyalty of customers as well as overall management of the outlet.
Inventory & Profitability; Baskin Robbins also trained me on Inventory control, stock maintenance & profitability reports, etc.
HR & Train; Hired good counter sales staff and trained them to treat customers well, create a good will that will eventually increase the sales.
Research & Development; Dealing with International Tourists, Laised with various tour operators to bring foreigners to our outlet thus increasing sales, actively developing business along three major channels (retail, tourists, home delivery) by creating viable partnerships, providing excellent customer service and showroom/brand exposure opportunities in local community.
Exposure to International Brand; I learnt a lot working in coordination with a major International brand. To monitor, analyze, and evaluate product performance and customer feedback to generate new product ideas, to identify product/service features that need to be changed to meet customer needs. To develop and implement a marketing and sales strategy in order to deliver volume and profit.
Sales Target; To produce monthly reports covering objectives set, results achieved and sales forcast. To maximise sales opportunities with retail clients.
All Round Performance; I was ready to give everything to my new company, therfore I was into customer service, at times I was the serving boy, the cleaner, the cone-maker, the decorator, the accountant, the free home delivery boy, the driver, and the manager.
I was ready for everything whatever the need of the hour would be, I believed in prase, "show must go on".
Successfully launched; Within a few months our outlet was among the major Ice Cream Parlours of the area.
Added new Products; We added new products to our range like Ice Cream Cake & snacks, which were highly successful and attracted many more customers
This was my first job. Green Motors Company was a mechanical workshop for Cars. It was a govt approved and catered mostly to Government Vehicles.
Customer Service; My job was to meet & greet customers, to attend government officials, mantain relations, make them comfortable, note down their problems, guide & provide solution. Resolving customer queries promptly, within company guidelines, before escalating to higher level if necessary
Dealing with Government; My other responsibility was to raise invoices, submit to the respective govt departments and follow up for the cheques. I also went to new government offices and convinced them to send their vehicles to our workshop for repairs, thus helping in increasing business.
Manage; I also managed a team of nearly 20 workshop technicians, electricians, mechanics, helpers, cleaners, allocated work to them on day-to-day basis, keeping priority customers ahead of others. To follow safety procedures as per comapny's manual, to prevent any physical injuries, or damage to company or customer vehicle. Inventory management of Company owned spares.
Preparing Reports; I had to prepare reports for each day’s work for the Manager.
I completed my graduation BA (Pass) on 10+2+3 scheme. with English language as the main subject. English been my strength as I am educated in convent schools throughout. My other subjects were Political Science, History and Hindi.