One day I got a call from my father and I picked it up hoping that it would be just another enquiry call about how I was and what I am doing. Usually I am ready with the answers to these type of questions (different every time) but this time around the question was such that I had no clue what to say. No, he wasn’t asking me whether I would like get married. He told me that some association of industrialists are organizing a trade fair in the city and asked if it would be a good idea to set up a stall there to promote our business. Thinking being one of my favourite hobbies and having no immediate answer for the question, I decided to waste a few minutes of my father’s precious time and went into the ‘mull’ state. It’s a state which makes me look from side-to-side slightly above my eye level generally to the left with an open mouth.  The two very important questions which I asked myself during this time were 1) Do we really need to market our business? and 2) What kind of people would be visiting the fair? I came up with an answer but wasn’t sure whether it was correct. I gave it a nod (literally) but because my father could not see through the phone I had to say, “It’s a great idea, I think we should do it” The two reasons for me thinking so were. 1) The rent for the stall was reasonable and 2) Marketing never killed anyone.

As soon as I said it, my Dad was quick in responding, “Okay, then start preparing for it”. I knew it beforehand that the onus would be on me but I was ready for it. I spent the next 10 days planning about the matter to be printed on the banners, leaflets and the business cards and what is to be said when someone asks a particular question. I was getting an opportunity to show my marketing talent on a practical basis. This was like a 3 day internship with no stipend.

The trade fair was starting from 22nd of Jan and I reached Aurangabad on 20th itself to make all the necessary arrangements. The banners, pamphlets and business cards were all ready, ready to be displayed, distributed and make an impact on the minds of the visitors

On the first day I reached the venue at 9:00 am sharp and started setting up the stall. It took me only about 25-30 min to do so. Ours is a passenger transport business falling in the service category and thus we had no tangible stuff to display at my stall no matter how much I try to maintain the tangibility or manage the evidence. 10 feet by 6 feet of area, 3 big banners, about a 1000 pamphlets and same number of business cards, a table and 2 chairs, that’s what my stall was like.

The first few hours from the starting of the event were quite calm with not many visitors coming in. I started explaining what we are and what we do to each and every person who used to land up at our stall. But after a while I got bored of it and decided that I would entertain only those whom I find beneficial for our business and with whom we can have a long term relationship. The first day was totally useless I would say from the point of view of making contacts and finding new business partners.

The next two days were the real test for me. Thousands of people were pouring in. Even though it was a trade fair and only servicemen, businessmen, industrialists, entrepreneurs, etc are expected to visit, even school children, couples, families with their toddlers could be seen roaming around freely as if it was a grand marriage party or a fun fair of some sorts. Our service was not meant was the hoi polloi and neither were they our target customers. I marketed them our business just that they would know about who the largest industrial buses supplier in the city is. Our target customers were people at top positions in a company, big industrialists or school owners, etc who would need our bus service for their company or organisation. In case someone was interested in knowing more they themselves used to come to our stall and I enjoyed it.

Up till then I had only been to an exhibition as a visitor and had never even thought of being an exhibitor. But there I was donning the seat at my stall and attending hundreds of people a day. At the end of three days, I learnt the most important lesion of my life. There is nothing free in life; one has to strive extremely hard for it. I didn’t learn it from the visitors but from the other stall holders who were desperately trying to gain attention of the crowd and push their products. This experience also taught me the value of money and what it meant to run your own business. When you are talking to someone, giving out information about the company, you are like the brand ambassador at that moment. Whatever you speak matters and people make their impression about your company on the same basis. Of the 10 to 11 hours that I spent at the stall each day for 3 days, never did I once feel like leaving the stall. I could not even convince my heart to treat my stomach to an overly priced extremely delicious looking chocolate pastry from the cafeteria.

At the end we finally managed to get some contacts but the results are yet to be seen. All in all I would say that it was a very rewarding experience for me and for our firm and would definitely take away many learning’s from it.