Karin001:


You may wish to resend.

I have attended to all mails in my inbox and I don't remember yours being among them unless I got it wrong.

Karin001:
So I arrived H.E Shop and there she was as cold as codfish.

After introducing myself to her and explaining my mission she just looks at me as if I am something the cat just dragged in.

She indicates again coldly that I sit on a chair just by her. And I do just that.
She takes her time dealing with customers first and then starts counting her money and wrapping them in elastic bands. This she does quite noisily and without any recourse to me. I cough, I sneeze and make other sounds just to remind her of my presence, for where. The lady will not budge. Finally she asks me about the chin-chin and after doing a very detailed verbal description of the product and marketing strategy, she then asks me what my role in the company is? I then tell her that I am a Distributor based in Port Harcourt but that I could supply her if we agreed. Her questions and her facial expression when I provide answers was already enough indication for me that I was up an alley. Nothing was going to come out from here. One of the most humiliating episodes I have ever had since selling this product. Questions like; what makes me consider myself a distributor, do I know what it means to be a distributor, Distributors can only be labelled as such if they are recognized by so, so and so company adding for effect that it is the frustration of the berserk economy that is bringing young people into trading and who have the audacity to describe themselves as distributors.

At this point I say a mental prayer for patience. I needed to get out fast.

Anyway, she goes on and on and on and finally she asks me how much she can give me as transportation back to Port Harcourt since she wasn't willing to buy and at any rate she would only buy from an established company and then through their staff and not some supposed distributor who was probably still job seeking on the side. I had had enough and was going to give it back to her. But then I events changed in my favour surprisingly. Just as about to spew the venom that had accumulated another trader apparently from a neighbouring shop walked into her shop and in one glance noticed the products that I had displayed on the desk for her. He practically screamed in surprise asking if she had secured the distributorship for the product already and that he had been trying to get it for over six months but they kept referring him to a certain lady in Port Harcourt or another gentleman in Aba.

The discomfort radiating from Her Excellency was palpable. And I did not disappoint. I just gathered while she just looked at me in shock. Then she blurted out 'how much is the distributorship?'' to which I responded 3 Million Naira and she asked if I could recommend her and I told her that is what brought me from Port Harcourt in the first place but I wasnt going to recommend her again after what transpired between us.
Greed and selfishness walk hand in hand. I made to leave and she blocked me begging me initially and then threatening me with all sorts including the fact that I couldnt sell in her market and after all she could buy direct from the company. I just asked her to suit herself and walked out heading to the Okada ramp by the market entrance. She has called me over fifty times since then and has called my national Sales manager repeatedly and that one is on my side and has told her that only I can install her as a Distributor in that market.

newness12:


Karin, I respect your endurance & tolerance gauge but there's something I want to add. After such a profound show of higher integrity & culture you threw everything away to reduce yourself to her level. I expected you to have sealed that deal after educating her not to judge the quality of the container but the content. The greater approach would have been to maintain your higher character & integrity. You may look at it differently but note this.
Martin Luther King Jr.is the only American, black or white that has a holiday to himself. Of course I know you know he led the fight for the equality of blacks but that's not what stands him out. He refused to use the weapon the enemy used to fight against him to fight his enemy. While the whites used violence he used nonviolence because he said if you use the same weapon with the enemy then you're not better than him. So while whites were killing blacks he refused blacks to retaliate. He lost his life in the process but he taught America a big lesson. That's why he has that honour.

DoyenExchange:
Go to www.doyenexchange.com/invest_opps.php to see businesses you can start in Nigeria and their cost estimates.

Karin001:
This journey started at the beginning of the year. So far we have expended about 90 days pushing it as much as possible. I am really happy and grateful for all the testimonies that have come my way via emails and whatsapp messages.

We started out by discussing the nature of distributorships and then looked at many variables and then reviewed what could make us start small and yet retain some measure of control over areas we had begun selling in without interlopers displacing us now or in the near future.

A whatsapp group was created and that led to a more detailed analysis of distribution as a concept. Several prolific and experienced salespersons came on board and made it exceedingly worthwhile. It has been such a humbling experience and very fulfilling too but definitely not without its fair share of disappointments and surprises.

So far we have quite a few people in the group who have mesmerized us with their performance even as newbies, we have those who are still struggling to overcome the initial hurdles that will come with venturing into a totally new terrain, we have another set of participants who have started really small and have experimented with two different brands of the product and are now analyzing the path to tread. Some of us in all honesty are yet to start for some reason or the other but we encourage you to do something by way of ACTION.

Its a great time to be alive and we have to take the advantage presented by the imperfections in our environment and circumstances and convert them into whta it really is; OPPORTUNITIES.

Karin001:
Another great thread by the Maestro on FMCG. Very impressive madam. I wish more of the unemployed youths could take a cue from here and turn around their lives for the better.

Thanks Madam Karine.