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Sravanthi Challapalli

Chennai May 8 With escalating competition, demanding consumers and the retail sector in transition, FMCG companies are having a tough time conducting business in a way that meets all the necessities created by these situations. To find ways of dealing with this, Henkel India is trying out a strategy whereby employees in all its departments, and not just in the sales team, keep in touch with the market and customers, if only for a day.

Today (May 8) was A Day At the Market (ADAM) for Henkel's employees across India — it is a time set aside for all employees, right from the Managing Director to junior-level executives, to accompany the sales team on its calls to stockists, distributors and retailers. The objective is to ensure that the rest of the departments in the company — finance, technology, marketing, administration, HR — understand the challenges and conditions the sales team has to face in the course of its work and extend their support appropriately to make their task smoother, explained Mr Ranju Kumar Mohan, Vice-President (Sales), Henkel India.

The strategy dovetails customer-connect with employer bonding, he said. Seeing his brands in the marketplace make the employees more confident about the company and the brands. ADAM also fosters bonding between the company's various employees as there is a better appreciation of the other's situation.

It gives them insights into the way the market works. The new perspectives also result in innovative marketing initiatives and ideas to address any problems they observe.

Henkel India plans to repeat this exercise every six months. This is the second time that ADAM is being held but the first time it's being done on a large scale — all over the country.

On how ADAM has made a difference, Mr Mohan said his own experience had taught him that visibility for his brands and timely replenishment were areas that needed addressing.

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