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A man of many talents, Gaurav Gupta is a graduate from Georgia Tech, USA and an ex-employee of Microsoft. He is also an Entrepreneur and the owner of SM Group.
SM Group was started by his grandfather Mr Niranjan Das Gupta in 1960 primarily focusing on trading, manufacturing and selling high quality tea. Under the able guidance of Gaurav the business flourished and later, expanded into real estate and furnishing too.
The Climb
However, this success story was one that had a trying beginning. His first week in office was overwhelming as he was new to the world of tea business. His father who tasted close to 200 types of tea to judge their quality was too busy to guide him really. To add to this, Gaurav couldn't relate to the work culture that his father had created at SM Group.
Even though he tried to introduce changes that would benefit the business, his ideas were only met with a lot of resistance from colleagues and employees, who were not used to his methods of management. But these hurdles did not dishearten him. Instead, he introduced a tool in the organisation that not only helped him win the respect and trust of the employees but also customers' trust, like never before.
Growing with Vodafone
Soon after, he introduced new facilities like Vodafone Toll Free Service, which allowed for new insights into the consumers' thought process and reasoning.
For instance, consumers would call and inform SM Group that some dealers didn't sell their tea products because they could not sell sugar. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the dealers did this as an act of revolt against the government for not issuing tender on sugar. SM Group spoke to the necessary regulatory bodies and put an end to the plight of the dealers and the revolt.
It was through the Vodafone Toll Free Service the consumers could voice their concerns which catapulted the number of tea consumers as now dealers were able to distribute tea.
Today, SM Group is a Ready Business.