CarTrade.com: Honda Consumer Auction

After the two months the score was zero. All I had found was the reasons of not registering, I was not being able to convince any of the dealers to register. Product also wasn't beneficial for dealers so that they buy or register. So the company launched a new auction which was Honda Consumer Auction in third week of october. In that auction consumers (dealers) can buy that cars which comes in exchange of new cars from new car dealers. It was already going on informally used car dealers were already buying the exchanged cars from new car dealers.

I found this auction OK & finally something good for me. I took a sigh of relief & I thought I can open my account with it but in that too I wasn't shown the whole picture. In marketing it is the rule that you have to show only the benefits of the product to sell it but I feel you should also know the side effects of the product so you can cover them up nicely. In my case clients used to show me the side effects of my product. So I use to silently listen them & use to agree with them. If I knew those things earlier then I would have prepared counter of that to cover it up but my company has some other plans with me. Every day I used to come up with a new side effect from a dealer & it went till the end of October.

This auction also brought 'Ek Villain' of my journey & that was Relationship Manager of my region. Every story have atleast one villain & the villain of my story has arrived with this Honda Consumer Auction. I have to report him daily & he was totally a nut. In the begining he gave me the format in which I have to prepare my daily report & when I started reporting he said your format of report is not proper. I didn't 'invented' that format, you gave me that format. In first week he started getting on my nerves & I was in constant touch with Hiren sir & I use to tell him everything about that nut.

A seminar was arranged for the dealers in the end of october to present that new Honda Auction. So couple of days before the seminar that nut told me invite the dealers by personally visiting them but 2 hours later he told me to stop visiting & start calling. So I did that but to prove that he was really a nut after one & half hour again he called me & said stop calling & start visiting. He touched the height of my patience that day, it was really frustrating day for me. Moreover it was the time of diwali the boom period in every market & industry & most awaited period for every one to earn some money. So the dealers were not really interested in attending it. I feel it was the worst time for any kind of seminar but it happened. AVP of our comany & head of Honda came to give that presentation & very few dealers attended that seminar. It turned out to be a good seminar for me atleast as Hiren sir there said everything to AVP about the behaviour of RM with me. It was an eventful end to an october.

November passed pretty quickly. First ten days passed into the holidays of diwali & remaining twenty days passed in getting the mood of business after that long break. It felt like straight away december has arrived after october. The score was still zero after three months. So that nut RM was behind me like anything. He used to get my on nerves every now and then but the water went over my head when on one december morning he abused me. On that day the way he talked with me like he has bought me against that salary they are paying to me. I was literally thinking of changing the job as soon as possible but thanks to Hiren sir again who took that matter to HR department & HR head shown him his limits. I feel god was watching that I was making some serious efforts & he helped me there through Hiren sir. Finally in the other half of december I found the market where dealers were purchasing banks repossessed cars & in that market some of the dealers were already our customers. So that was the actual target market for me. I visited those old customers, took refrences from them & visited new dealers in that area & finally I found a customer who was interested in registering on our website for the bank auctions.

To be continued...

CarTrade.com: Struggle

After that long training I came out of Tata Motor Finance office & called AVP for some leads but he said that 'you have to do cold calling. Moreover you will get some help from Hiren Shroff.' Hiren Shroff - senior sales manager of Gujarat who took my interview. I called Hiren sir but he said that 'I am in a meeting & I will call you in a while.' I did cold calling earlier during my internship but at that time I had an open market & here it was limited upto car dealers only. So to find those leads I used google as it always help. I found the list of dealers on just dial.

So I started visiting the dealers as per just dial & after visiting couple of dealers I reached narayanpura, hub of used car dealers in Ahmedabad. I started making calls there & four dealers one after another said that they are registered on cartrade. I knew there is different department of sales but I didn't knew that registration of both sales & auction is different as I was given very long training of 10 minutes. So I might not have remmebered it. While doing 5th call I finally met Hiren sir at that dealer's place. Hiren sir is a sindhi so he tried to bring me in my comfort zone by using it. He talked to AVP about my calling & asked what were his plans about me. It was sweet of him that he did his best to bring me in my comfort zone from day one. So this was the first day of my cold calling.

Then next whole month went just in making the script to use while approaching the dealers. I accept that I was very slow in that case. In that month I got to know that auction's registration is done seperately & it has nothing to do with registration of sales. In between I got my first salary. First salary is special for everyone it was special for me too. I can't express in words that happiness of first salary. As they say its pretty hard to earn first penny & last penny of life & after working for two and a half months I got my first salary so the happiness was on the next level altogether. It was the best part of the company that they pay to their employees on time.

It was time to know flaws in the product. In the next month as I started approaching the dealers, I came to know that from these kind of auctions dealers doesn't get any help from the banks. Moreover dealers don't even get the complete papers of most of the vehicles they buy in the auction. Ofcourse it wasn't discussed in that long training. In short there was not much benefit for the dealer in registering for the auction. So it wasn't a cakewalk as it was described by AVP. I discussed whole thing with Hiren sir as I wasn't being able to sale even a single registration.

He then adviced me to approach kavadiwalas as they will be interested in buying salvage vehicles from our auction. So I started visiting kabadi markets of Ahmedabad but there was a big hurdle in the sale of registration & that was their backwardness in the field of technology. They believe that internet is chaos as they don't understand most of it. Finally couple of kabadi walas shown some interest in registering but they kept me running around them. They had no intent to register but they used to call me thrice a week & used to give me another date. Tareekh pe tareekh was not going to go for much time. It was a learning curve that my first two prospects did this to me. Then it was the end of second month & sales was zero in this month too. All of the sudden management started new kind of auction in the third week of october which will be discussed in the next part.

To be continued...

CarTrade.com: Beginning of a new Journey

On 16th August 2013, day after independence day I joined CarTrade.com. Finally I had a job. As what I had earlier was a mere fraud. I worked in a fraudulent outsourcing firm in which they fetch money from clients to give them business in return but they give nothing in return. I think that was the worst nightmare I would ever had. On one side it was toughest phase of my career but on the other side it was a good thing to happen at the start of my career. It eventually taught me that this world is not good with good people. Moreover it gave me a push to choose the next company wisely. My life was hell, societal pressure was piling up as people were thinking that I am retrenched from this job.

In between of all this I gave the interview for CarTrade.com twice. I wanted to be a part of Automobile sector as cars always brought a sense of excitement in me & I love cars. I was selected for the sale of used cars but was posted in auction department. CarTrade.com is website of MXC solutions pvt. ltd. Where mainly the sell of used cars is done. CarTrade.com works as an agent between the used car dealers & customers. It takes commission from the dealers if their vehicle is sold through them. Similarly in the auction of banks re-possesed cars, if the car is sold through cartrade then cartrade will get the commission from the bank or financing company. Now being part of auction department I had to sell the online registrations for the auction.

This job gave a big Babaji Ka Thullu to all the people who thought I am retrenched from the job & I am going to get another one. Before pointing a finger or laughing on anyone's failure or rather an unsuccessful attempt just try to understand what he/she has gone through. Now back to the first day of the job. My first day of the job accidentally became first day at job. On 16th August 2013, I called HR head to know the dates from when I am joning & my reporting place. She said that I have to contact Assistant Vice President for that as I interviewed by him. So I called him around 10 a.m & he told me that live TATA Motor Finance auction is about to begin at hotel silver cloud & I have to be there. So in this way it became my joining day.

I reached at hotel by 11 a.m & auction was not started by then. As the auction was not started AVP sir explained me that we organise the open auction for Tata Motor Finance every month. He introduced me to the Tata guy & told that he will train you & guide you about how to approach the customers, the benefits the customers get from us & where to go in rural gujarat as per the auction. I still was ambigous about it so I asked a brief introduction until the auction get started. The way sir explained me it looked like a cake walk & suddenly my chest became broader with confidence. One of the most important thing I came to know in that briefing is that CarTrade doesn't have office in Ahmedabad. Finally auction began at 12:45 & it was first auction I was witnessing live. Before that I had only seen IPL auction & ofcourse I was comparing both the auctions for the time being. Auction went on till 7:30 p.m & AVP has to catch 8 p.m flight. So he was in lot of rush & in that rush I asked him about what I have to do next day & he said 'call that Tata guy' while signing off. So this was my first day at office not knowing what I have to do next day but I was happy that finally I have a job.

Next day I called that TMF guy & he said that he is going at yard auction today & I was instructed by AVP to go with him. I went him & yard was out of Ahmedabad in some village which was surrounded by various industries. It was totally different auction from what I witnessed on the first day. So from first two days I made a perception that I have to visit rural gujarat only when auction is organised there. Next day I met that Tata guy at his office to get some training & I thought it will be a proper training a person will be standing by the board & will make some drawings to make me understand the structure, target customer, approach to those customers, benefits of them etc.

On the contrary that Tata guy just showed me one piece of paper, it was a letter pad of Tata Motor Finance & on that No Objection Cerificate was written & he said 'this is the biggest benefit we give to the customer'. That's it! My training was over. I asked him about how online auctions happen but he doesn't had even an access to those. In total I was trained for ten long minutes. After that training I knew that I am not going to get any help from this guy, I am on my own. Can I ask for a better start to my career.

To be continued...

Anything for cricket

For a cricket maniac like me cricket is above everything & IPL is a carnival of cricket where cricket is celebrated to its fullest by the players of all the nations with unity & equality. IPL gives very heavy dose excitement to me as I love to see my favourite players from different nations playing together. So I remain quite excited for every season of IPL. Moreover I have done some crazy things to watch every single moment of IPL.

It is an incident of this year only. Till last year I was pursuing my MBA so I used to be at home to watch each & every ball of IPL but this year it was different I was at work but the excitement was same as it used to be in earlier years. On 16th april 2014, I was at work & IPL 7 was about to begin. At 6 pm pre-match show begun & for the first time I was missing the opening ceremony of Pepsi IPL in 7 years. I never missed opening ceremony of IPL in last 6 years no matter if I had exams or any other important work I watched every bit of it.

Here I was doing my work & there was no tv around to watch it. So I missed the opening ceremony. I finished my work by 7:30 pm & I was dying to watch Pepsi IPL but my timings of factory were till 8:30. I decided to watch it on starsports.com using its 'deferred live' feature where I could see the live match with 5 minutes delay only but my phone's battery was about to die & unfortunately I forgot charger at home that day. My phone's battery died at 7:50 & match was about to begin in just ten minutes.

I was only left with one option that to go home & watch the match but I was alone at factory here as chachu was out with some work. I was waiting for chachu to come so I can leave for home. My wait was of 15 minutes & those 15 minutes passed like 15 years. Chachu came at 8:05 & the moment he entered I was ready to go home. I took the permission from him & left for home. It normally takes half an hour to reach home from factory but on that day my excitement was at such a high level that I wasn't been able to drive at normal speed. I touched the speed of 110 km/h on my bike where normally I never go beyond 60 km/h. I took crazy ride that day to reach home just to watch Pepsi IPL. By god's grace I reached home safely that day & watched whole match calmly after that. Thank god I had 'Deferred Live' feature on starsports.com & the charger to watch the Pepsi IPL from next day.

This post is a part of  <a href="http://starsports.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Cricket just got better! Activity</a> by <a href="http://www.starsports.com" target="_blank&quot;">starsports.com</a> in association with <a href="http://www.blogadda.com/" target="_blank">BlogAdda.com</a>.

God's best gift to me

We don't get much opportunities to thank our parents for everything they do for us unconditionally in our whole life. I know thanks is nothing in front of the sacrifices our parents make for us but some people kick their parents out of their lives, houses everything when they need them the most. I urge to those people don't ever leave your parents in old age home or don't let them feel unwanted at any stage of their life. Your parents doesn't give you birth to see that day. Don't worry I am not going to begin Bhaagban here, I am writting this blog to express my gratitude to mumma & paa for everything they have done for me.

Paa

Let me begin with Paa here. Paa is the simplest person I have ever known. The kind of life he has lived, it even can't be anyone's worst nightmare. My grand father passed away when paa was only 5. Now imagine how would have that man leaded his life being the eldest one among siblings. The kind of struggle he has done in his life, I don't think he has got even 20% of what he deserve. I am definitely going to get scolded for sharing this here. 'You are a great soul' these were last words from my grandma to paa & it says everything about him.

I don't know how many wishes paa would have sacrificed to fulfill mine. Apart from that as a person also he has given a lot to me. All the qualities in my personality is because of him. Paa has always been my ideal, role model, teacher, guide everything. He has always been there for me whenever I am in dillema, hard time of life or any sort of crisis. The amount of belief he has in me even I don't have that much belief in me. Whenever I am down and out he is always the first person to notice that and ask what happened? If someone ask me who you want to be like in future? I would say that I want to be like my paa even though I know I can't even come anywhere near to his stature. Paa its a promise that I will try my best to get you what you deserve. And lastly I don't call him Paa after that movie, I call him that even before that movie.

Mumma

Mumma is very adaptive and supportive by nature. She can adapt herself as per the situation we are in. Mumma has supported paa equally well in every step of life, she has been with in every event of his life. Mumma has played equally important role in putting good qualities and mannerisms in me. She has also given up her wishes to fulfill mine. Actually she is the one who has put a strong base in me as a person. In every failure of my life mumma shows me the positive side of it & consider it good every single time so that I don't feel bad.

Mumma still pampers me like a child. If I am on a trip somewhere, she will call atleast 8 times a day asking 'you had lunch?', 'you reached in your room?', 'when did you had dinner?', 'is milk available there?' etc etc. Anyday if I get late by even 15 minutes, I am definitely going to get a call asking why are you late? Or where have you reached? Or when will you be home? By this you would have understood how much she cares for me. She make sure that I get my food, clothes etc on time. Apart from that if I am hurt or in pain, tears will be dropping from her eyes before mine. Moreover she is the one who has taken most of my frustration till date. Mumma thank you for taking my fuss and at the same time I am sorry for the same. Lastly there isn't any released with the title mumma, so I don't owe any explanation to anyone.

Mumma and Paa are going to begin 25th year of their partnership on 28th of this month. So this is one of the gifts from me to mumma & paa on their marriage anniversary this year. Mumma, Paa I will make sure that I never let you down at any stage of life. You both are god's most precious gifts to me, I will always be with you both irrespective of the situation we are in. After reading this, Hitu is going to kill me as he doesn't even know that I am doing any thing like this. I will let him write in next time.

2013 as it happened

At the start of 2013 final exams were going on of 3rd semester & on 1st jan, I think it was a exam of International Business. I was going through pretty tough phase of my life as I was still recovering from the loss of my grandma whom I lost at the end of 2012. It doesn't stopped there I kept on loosing people close to me people whom I thought are my best friends keeps on going away from my life in midst of crisis. In fact I would have been all alone but my family & very few people who know me since my childhood backed me up and their support made me strong enough to face ignorance, avoidance, treachery, cheating, just everything.

The season of projects begin from February as I entered into the last sem of MBA. During that phase I said myself that boss this is the reality. Accept it no matter how bad it gets. I started keeping people at bay as I know that it will go on till I complete my MBA. Ultimately I went into the shell & key of that shell was only given to those people who supported me. I involved myself in projects and studies but then also I wasn't been able to concentrate on anything else. With all these things happening, placements also started with full force in March as final exams were May. I started giving interviews.

I gave plenty of interviews and cracked most of them till April & by the end of april I had some options from which I have to choose. It was google play's notification that 15 applications are waiting for your approval to get updated. In the mid of all those things M(a)y month started in which final exams commenced & on my birthday in that month I realised that I have become numb. I realised that I have lost all the feelings like happiness, excitement, sadness etc. & I had no reason to be happy.  In btw I chose smart consultancy as my first company and I joined it from 1st of june with couple of my college mates or my two best friends then.

No one even imagine to start his career with fraud company & I got that kind of start. I was touching the new heights of lowness & to add that both of my friends taught me some chapters of practicality. Anyways I left that job in july & I was jobless again then I started giving interviews again. Agian that month of joblessness was pretty difficult as I have to answer many questions like why you left that company? Were you terminated from that company? etc. This gave birth to ruthless rude personality in me which worked as a shield to hide my senstive personality.

In july mid I was selected gave the interview for MRF & then trip to Chennai happened. Before going to chennai I was also selected for CarTrade.com but call for joining came in second week of August & I joined it on 16th of august. Here company has given me complete freedom of working. I am working on my own here. Here I met great guide in form of Hiren Shroff who is also sindhi. Finally I got my life started gaining stability. It has been 4 months, I have been working in that company. I will always be grateful to Hiren sir and CarTrade.com for showing faith in me. My life is much stable now & has ended 2013 on a high rather than getting high.

I know this is a normal thing in anyone's life but its hurting for a sensitive personality like me and this is what happened in my life in 2013. I hope 2014 will bring more stability in life and I will be back on track. Finally to end this post I want to acknowledge the people who were part of there in 2013. So Thanks to those who hated me, they made me a stronger person. Thanks to those who  loved me, they made my heart bigger. Thanks to those who were worried about me, they let me know that they actually cared. Thanks to those who left me, they made me realize that nothing lasts forever.Thanks to those who entered my life, they made me who i'm today. Just want to Thank you for being there in my life!! God Bless You All. Yaa I got this message on whats app but it made my work of acknowledging people easy.

God Hung his Boots

Before writting this post, I have thought a lot that how will I present a 24 years long career and even longer stratuture called Sachin Tendulkar in just one blog post? So I am not going to discuss his numbers as these numbers are enough to describe 24 years long cricketing career. Here I am going put some light on how God of cricket persued his 24 years long tenure with team India.

Sachin was the first name which I heard when I came into the conscious. In my growing years I use to hear only one thing that until Sachin is batting we are not going to loose the match irrespective of opposition that was the aura of that man. Sachin has made that amount of records that if record book has 200 pages then 180 pages out of 200 in that book will consist of only Sachin's records.

God made his presence feel in the world of cricket in the year 1988 by making 664 run partnership with Vinod Kambli. The impact of partnership was such that it became a topic of discussion in the Indian dressing room at that time. Not only that god made his way to Indian team by making centuries on Ranji trophy debut, Irani trophy debut & Duleep trophy debut. Its a mammoth for a 15 year old kid. Then Sachin made his international debut in 1989 against Pakistan, he would have made century on his test debut as well but to hide his godly powers he respected Pakistan's fast bowlers & allowed them to give him cuts on his face.

The real journey of Sachin started in
England where he got his first century in test cricket. It was the time when everyone was in awe of the talent of Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin's ODI skill was tested in 1992 world cup where he proved himself by blistering half centuries against the top sides of the world. Though his first ODI century came after 80 odd innings. I think the god in Sachin was born in Sharjah where Sachin storm was more destructive than sand storm. It was time where everything was paying off his determination, dedication everything.

The worst phase was in Sachin's career was when he was captain of India. His captaincy gave birth to his critics which were non existing as his batting caused vasectomy to them till his captaincy. Once the responsibility of captaincy was off his shoulders, his form flourished again. It was the begining of record breaking journey most runs in world cup, most runs in ODI cricket, most centuries in ODI and test and many many more.

He has his own way of replying to different things. He used his bat to give answer to sledgings. He used his performances and records to answer his critics. I still remember Sachin saying that 'some stones were thrown on me which I have converted into milestones' after acheiving the milestone of 10000 runs in test cricket. I would like to say to sachin's critics 'tumko sachin ka critic banke kya mila Babaji Ka Thullu.'

On 10th October 2013 god of cricket announced his retirement, it was very emotional day for the world of cricket. In a nation where cricket is more than a game Sachin's exit will be a great loss to the game as in India 25% to 30% of people watch cricket only to see Sachin bat. Now we are heading towards the last test of Sachin, it will be a blessing to watch him bat one last time. Unfortunately the god is hanging his boots but Sachin sir you will always be missed until cricket exists. Experts says that Sachin is best after Don Bradman but according to me Sachin is and will always be bigger and better than Bradman.