LEARNING MARKETING AND HUMILITY

Companies which listen to their employees and customers with humility, always prosper, argues

RAJENDRA ANEJA

Dusk was descending on the dusty streets of Wardha, a town in Western India. The shopkeeper had assorted suggestions on how we could improve the quality of our soaps, perfumes and packaging. Our chairman sat cross-legged with the shopkeeper on a mattress and listened to him with rapt attention. It was an exclusive moment. A simple shopkeeper had the opportunity to expound his views, to the chairman of the largest consumer products company.

However, I was getting very fearful. We were about 75 kilometres from Nagpur, where we were supposed to spend the night. The short visit of ten minutes had elongated into an hour’s one-sided sermon. We had two more rural markets to visit. We would reach Nagpur by around 9 pm. Then, there was a dinner with the local team. I was responsible for the market visit. Hence, I was gesturing to the shopkeeper to condense his feedback. The chairman noticed this. He advised me to be still.

Later, as we journeyed, he counselled, “Never, ever, rush a shopkeeper when he is giving feedback on our products. I learn first-hand, how the trade and consumers view our products. Next time when a shopkeeper talks to me, please be patient, even if he is loquacious and we are getting late. These shopkeepers sell our products like Lux, Lifebuoy, Close-up and Sunsilk across the country. Thus, our company does well.” True, I reflected. As long as consumers use our products and shopkeepers sell them, we get our salaries.

In the early 1990s Unilever sold Lux toilet soap in various colours, like pink, yellow, etc., except white in India. During a market visit in Indore in central India, a shopkeeper underscored the importance of the white variant, to the chairman. When Lux was launched in India by Unilever, it was only in the white colour. It was enormously popular. On his return to Mumbai, the chairman gave a brief for the white variant to be re-introduced.

When the first tablets were produced, he called me to his office. He asked me to travel to Indore to present three tablets of the new white variant of Lux soap, to the retailer who had suggested the white Lux. I headed the sales function at Levers then and travelled specially to Indore to present the soap to the shopkeeper. He was delighted with the gesture of the chairman.

Some months later, we were on another market visit in Akola, in western India. I was amazed that the chairman remembered the full name of every salesman he had ever met. He headed the largest company in the country but remembered every salesman by his full name. A person’s own name is the most important thing to him. It belongs to him. It is his identification. And, the chairman remembered all names. It delighted the salesmen.

On another occasion, at a sales meeting in Madurai in South India, I was sitting next to him. There were about 50 participants in the group. He asked the waiter for tea.  A few minutes later, the waiter served him coffee. I was getting up to get his beverage replaced. He signalled to me to continue sitting. He said, “I noticed that the waiter has made a mistake. However, I do not want to embarrass him, in front of everyone. So, stay still. I will have the coffee.” I was flabbergasted. Here was the chairman of a mega corporation. Yet, he was worried about embarrassing a simple waiter in a restaurant. His humility and patience were exemplary. He had the coffee, without batting an eyelid.

When I had just joined the company, he had to visit my home unexpectedly in 1978 in Delhi, to make an urgent phone call. I had just moved to the city and was short of time and money to furnish the home. He noticed that the windows had no curtains. I had strung bedsheets to cover them. So, he told me, “Do not be embarrassed. All of us have to live like this, when we commence our careers.” I was relieved.

So, when he passed away recently, I remembered the many valuable lessons, the chairman Mr. Susim Datta, had taught us. 

A fine corporate leader and a sensitive boss, he was a memorable leader of Unilever India, who impacted the direction of the business. His achievements, through various acquisitions and mergers, changed the future of the company. He also trained hundreds of managers like me, who looked up to him for inspiration and guidance. Any document sent to him came back within 24 hours, with his neat hand-written comments. If any of us, missed even a coma in any letter or submission, he would insert it in the draft. Every submission, especially to the outside world, had to be flawless in content and even punctuation.

He was a very kind and gentle person. He was always there to help and counsel us. I was always enriched by my meetings with him.

Mr. Datta’s sharp and incisive intellect were matched, by his consummate humility and patience. He wanted to listen to everyone, in the room. No voice was too junior or small for him. Every voice was important. He often said, “We are a company of ordinary people, trying to achieve extra-ordinary results.”

Mr. Susim Datta had a unique rapport with everyone he met. His wisdom and counsel touched all those he worked with.  He cared very deeply about every person. He never got angry, never raised his voice. He persuaded with his intellect, never with his authority. And, he was perpetually polite. He was truly a “People’s Chairman.”

Ultimately, he had his ear close to the ground and listened to salesmen, distributors and customers. Companies which heed their employees and customers with humility, always prosper. This is a lesson for a lifetime, which no sales or marketing textbook or any business school, could teach us.

  Aneja was the General Sales Manager, Unilever India and then Managing Director of Unilever Tanzania. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, and the author of books entitled, “Rural Marketing across Countries and “Business Express”. He is a Management Consultant, and writes from Mumbai, India