Working in town 2

The first part of my journey was to follow up with several of the dealers from last week. I was greeted by smiles everywhere that I went and most people replied that they were still making their decision as to whether or not to buy it.

I decided that the next step was to visit more stores in other parts of Arusha. I first ventured to TFA (the Tanganyika Farmers' Association), a large agricultural store, which is owned by Tanzanian farmers to see if they would have ideas about where I might be able to sell the charger. The clerks were busy, but the one who approached me said that I would probably have really good luck at an electronics shop near the main bus stand. But he couldn't give me any name or an exact location. Unfortunately, there are dozens and dozens of shops in that area and I wasn't sure I would have enough luck to pick the right one.

Before leaving the area, I stopped by an electronics shop that I noticed nearby. I showed the charger to the clerk behind the counter. He was impressed and he called the manager. A man named Najib came out and asked me a few questions. Then he turned and said "How long will it take for you to deliver five?" I promised him delivery after two days so that he would be ready with the payment when I arrived.

Then I was on my way to the bus stand and I noticed Kilombero Market. I knew that this was not the main market, since it was just outside the downtown area, but I discovered that it was actually somewhat bigger than Soko Kuu (the main market) and had a steady flow of bicycle riders going into and out of the area. I wheeled the bike through the market, trying to take in the whole scene. There were lots of fruit dealers and clothing stalls and cookware shops and hawkers selling fish and salt and lots of miscellany (the stench of rotten fish was overwhelming), but I couldn't find any kind of electronics shop. I asked a man at a clothing shop and he directed me to an electronics dealer right outside the market. I showed it to a man named Ali who said that he liked the design and invited me to return again so that he could think about his decision. He seemed genuine, so I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

After that, I made it to the bus stand and visited a few shops trying to find prospective dealers. Some of the staffers gave me helpful references, but many of the shopkeepers had gone to lunch, so I couldn't make very useful connections, though many people were impressed with the design, which was useful for raising the company's profile in town. At one shop, they owner suggested that I bring it to their in-law's shop down the road. They sent their son (probably 18 years old) to show me the shop. He asked me questions on the way and when we arrived at the shop he took the lead on the sale. The shopkeeper seemed interested, but I was much more interested in Juma, the boy. We are going to look at if we might be interested in hiring him in some sales capacity.

My last two stops were both bicycle shops where we had left samples. The first one told me that he was having trouble selling it because of the price. I was surprised by this because the electronics shops that have been so optimistic are known for selling lower priced goods and have had no problems with our price point, while this bicycle dealer sells products to people that cost much much more, but he was having trouble selling it. As we continued talking, I learned that he hadn't really made efforts to sell the charger and I was pretty underwhelmed with him as a salesman. The other shop said that they were still trying out the product but hadn't made efforts to sell it yet. They were impressed with how it had handled the tests, so that was fairly promising. Still, I'm even more hesitant about giving samples to dealers rather than selling products outright (I have always been fairly skeptical).

Once again, I was pretty dehydrated and just overheated, so I decided to go back to the office. I was proud to be returning with an order this time, and I had a plan to go out with some gatorade the next time I do this (and something to plug my nose when I go back to Kilombero Market).

My apologies that this post and the preceding one are identical to the ones on the GCS company blog. I guess work is most of my life these days :)