My life as a salesman at Vicks

On receipt of telegram from Richardson Hindustan Ltd intimating me to call at their Bombay Office I informed my father and neighbouring Vasudeva Mama Appa arranges money for my train journey to Bombay Those days Bombay trains we have to change train at Guntakal I travelled in an unreserved compartment and reached Bombay in the evening

My brother Konthai and his brother in law had come to the Raikway station Must be Dadar They took me home at Sion along with my little luggage Brother , Manni and the little kid Sridhar were staying in Sion East at Ekta Buildings I went to the Vicks Offuce next morning by bus passing through Worli Naka and reached the office at Haines Road Teicicon House I was interviewed by the Personnel Manager R C Seth and was appointed as a Sales Representative covering Kerala, Karnataka and Madras states Before proceeding to Tour I was asked to report next day to Mr Shetty for on the spot training Meanwhile they reimbursed me all train expenses to and fro incurred by me and got me first class ticket to travel for sales job at Nagercoil Dust

I returned home at Sion and with ticket to leave next day Manni took me to shops in Sion got me a travel box , umbrella, hold all , neckties etc and next day

About salesman the job it was required to visit various medical shops having drug licence , verify stock of Vicks items held or displayed in racks , provide new advertising materials like Boards , tin sheets displaying Vicks products , discuss with them the general trend in market including sale of Vicks products , offering them new rates on products and asking them to place on various items such as Vicks Vaporub, Inhaler , Cough drops , Formula 44 cough mixture and provide them some new samples . Later giving them printed order form to be taken back duly filled by them and giving them the counterfoil of order forms Orders were later sent by me by post to the Distributors namely Muller and Phipps Ltd Chennai

In addition there was a Mass consumer contact of consumers of medicines advertising Vicks products at cheaper rate and providing a triangle shaped pencil as free for each purchase

Also Doctor detailing was to be fine at places visited I was trained how to go neatly dressed with necktie, shoes etc carrying a company’s visiting card The Doctors were explained the comparative effectiveness of the medicines , given samples and requested to prescribe the drugs or medicines Although Vicks products were videly popular among public and the Medical stores some Doctors prescribed them too The purpose was to increase sales of the medicines

in addition the company had advertised through local cinema theatres some of them like Ciugh Muxture Firmula 44 or the Ciugh drops I was asked to verify if the Cinema theatres showed our advertisement before shows daily The cost of cinema tickets was reimbursed

I had to submit my expenses reports every week claiming allowance of Rs 16 per day plus bus charges for journeys and first class train charges for travels Befire leaving Head Quarters Bombay on tour an advance of Rs 800 was given and periodically money sent to me if the tour was for a long period .

it was very interesting I visited a number of places in Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala as given in tour itinerary while leaving Gead qyarters every time Sunday was a holiday

Such a touring work continued for almost one year

Meanwhile I used to see my parents etc when used to pass through Bangalore or Madras My father felt the travelling type job was not good Also the targets fixed by company had to be achieved It was therefore decided to try for better job and hence I resigned from the company just after one year

it was really a good experience for me I had opened a savings account with Bank of India Sion Br where company credited my salary of Rs 250 per month and had saved around Rs 2000 in the account

Part of cash security required for me while joining Bank of India Bangalore was from my above savings Bring one among a large family I used to give my parents small amounts from my income at Vicks 

I remember some sentences we use to tell Doctors while Derailing Formula 44 cough mixture 

"""

If the cough is due to cold ,fluu, bronchitis or irritation we recommend Formula 44 for immediate remedy 

Again it doesn't contain any sedative but has mild share of salycilic acid and honey 

For Vicks VapoRub it contains eucalyptus ,menthol and is the best VapoRub for children 

That was my period of one year in Vicks