It was one of those usual evenings with my Boss over a cup of coffee along with a healthy dose of nicotine, when I had an epiphany........a new way acquiring customers. The idea was to re-invent the entire acquisition model of a stock broking account. I blurted to my boss "I wanna sell a broking account through a crossword shelf". His unequivocal response -"Do it"
The concept was an instant hit- We immediately knew the benefits of packaging a service whereby any company with a formidable sales force would become our distributor. From the customer's point of view - This would be the best thing. Instant access to his account, research, all of the stock market tools etc. would be made available immediately without the arduous paperwork involved in signing up. Now here's the game changer - "Could the nearest pannwala sell a broking account?" - Crazy thought but the larger point being that the customer could buy the box from anywhere.
So began the tireless journey on working on the concept. Seeking approvals, getting the process note worked and re-worked a zillion times on how best the User experience would be, working out distribution strategies etc. Several roadblocks on the way raised doubts on whether the product would come to fruition.
However I persisted. Yeah the usual self-belief, passion, blah blah to ensure that you just don’t give up! I had dreamt and almost desperately wanted to see the product on the shelves. That persistence took care of the initial hiccups.
So there we go! We are all set to go live with the product on Nov 2011. Me excited as I would soon realize a dream, execute what I thought would be a novel concept and hung on to it. However the server crashed - All plans came to a halt and the launch got delayed by two months
And then, we were scheduled for a Jan 2012 launch - Guess what- The product couldn’t go live for reasons I can’t disclose!!!!! Everything is done, everything is ready for launch, entire production, and distribution was ready. But we couldn’t go live. Wonder what was the jinx? Requested my boss for a day's off. However some quick fixes by the senior management especially the CFO who had always been passionate about the project ensured that we had a release. Our longtime nemesis, the compliance team as well ensured everything is in order and probably the most supportive.
So comes D-Day. And finally, to see your product on the shelves was immensely satisfying. Each time a customer picks the box and when it's sold, there is a thrill. Glad to know that it's important to be crazy and work passionately as it does pay off - Today I proudly state that I created the India’s first ready to trade box.
Disclaimer – The Product is called MyBox from Kotak Securities. The authour is clearly biased towards the product and therefore customer discretion is advised. Also the blog is only to share an experience of the product journey and not to solicit any business.
