Surabhi Packers and Movers

Mr. Nair was reviewing the balance sheet of his company Surabhi Packers and Movers
(SPM). On revenues of slightly more than 1 crores, he was showing a healthy profit of
around 25%. He was nearing 60, the traditional retirement age for most Indian
professionals and today he sat back, contemplating his evolution and growth as an
entrepreneur. His journey of more than two decades was not without its ups and downs,
but Mr. Nair thought that today, he could justifiably be proud of his journey, which he had
undertaken almost single-handedly.

Surabhi Packers and Movers had been founded in 1996 – more out of desperation than any
entrepreneurial urge. Mr. Nair had started his career in North Bengal, as a contract
employee with a government organization. Looking for more stable options he left for
Chennai to become a CA, but opted out midway. After trying a couple of options, he found
employment with a logistics company. Owing to his proficiency in picking up languages –
he could today speak around 16 languages with varying degrees of fluency – he was
transferred across the length and breadth of the country. In the interim, he married and his
family grew to include a daughter and son. Frequent transfers were proving to be a
problem, when in 1996, his company again transferred him from his present location in
Ahmedabad to Mangalore. His young daughter, who had been to 5 different schools
between Sr. KG and Grade 1, put her foot down. She was tired of “new cities, new schools
and new friends”, said Mr. Nair. Deciding that enough was enough, Mr. Nair resigned from
his job and leveraging his experience and contacts, started Surabhi Packers and Movers out
of a rented premise in Naroda, Ahmedabad.

The first year was tough. On revenues of Rs. 30,000 he barely made any money. He was the
only full-time employee of his firm and he had to depend on contract and daily wage
laborers for completing his jobs. Family and friends dissuaded him from his venture.
“Malayalis make good employees, not entrepreneurs,” they said. Nevertheless, he
persevered and gradually business grew. By 2005, he had acquired his own office and
warehouse in Aslali, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Most of the transport companies in
Ahmedabad were based in Aslali and it helped in his operations to be located here.

The Packing and Moving business was and still is, a very competitive industry that worked
on very slim margins. There were established players in the market such as Agarwal
Packers and Movers, and Leo Packers who spent a lot on marketing and advertising. They
also owned their own trucks and had a pan-India presence. Mr. Nair also debated on
whether he should acquire his own fleet of trucks, but after much thought, he decided to
tie-up with trucking companies for the movement of his packages.
This was an industry that depended a lot on trust. Households attached a lot of sentiment
and emotions with their belongings which they entrusted with the Packers and Movers. In
his initial days Mr. Nair invested a lot of resources in building up this trust. He personally
used to supervise the packing process. In the earlier times, they used straw to pack and
protect the goods being transported, but now the industry had evolved to more
sophisticated material such as foam sheets, individual containers for crockery, mats, bubble
wraps, shrink wraps etc. This eye for quality and safeguarding customer trust paid off
eventually. Word of his services spread and business began to flow in, despite the fact that
Mr. Nair never compromised on his rates. His prices were at par with and often more than
those quoted by the industry biggies who had managed to create a brand out of their
business.

A big chunk of his business came from Institutional clients. These clients negotiated the
rates once every year and expected timely delivery and efficiency of services. The first few
institutional clients came from personal contacts, but then referrals played a big part in
their continued patronage. Even as business grew, Mr. Nair did not digress from his
objective of maintaining customer trust. As a policy he took up only two jobs at a time – a
number that he felt he could personally supervise and complete as per schedule. Any
further enquiries, he passed it on to his friends in the industry – competitors, but to him,
they were friends first. He did not expect any rewards from this policy of his, but it built
tremendous goodwill from his in the industry.

In order to cater to relocation requests outside the state, Mr. Nair entered into tie-ups with
service providers in other states. He picked his partners with care, opting for reliability and
quality, over low cost. As of 2019, Surabhi Packers and Movers had more than 120 partners
across India. Mr. Nair never solicited business – he never advertised in newspapers or
directories such as Yellow Pages or later on in websites such as Just Dial or Sulekha. He
relied entirely on the positive word of mouth from satisfied customers to drive more
business through his doors. The firm today operated out of two offices and employed 3
permanent workers. Two more premises purchased recently had been given out on rent
and ensured a steady stream of income.

On the personal front, his daughter was now happily married and his son, Sachin, had
graduated from a leading city B-school in 2016. After working for a couple of years with a
finance company, he had joined his father in business. Sachin wanted to expand the
business to cover the more lucrative foreign market and was working on it. He also wanted
to aggressively advertise their services and recently constructed a website for the
company. He had been pestering his father for a higher marketing budget, which Mr. Nair
had been delaying. Sachin felt that Surabhi could achieve even higher revenues if they
would only advertise more. Mr. Nair was in a dilemma.
Discussion Questions

 Do you think that aggressively using modern marketing methods will enable Surabhi
Packers and Movers achieve a quantum jump in business revenues?
 Is it necessary to believe in and maintain the core values of one’s business?