RAJAT KOCHHAR

With the customer at the center of all activities, manage end-to-end delivery of exceptional, unique and memorable consumer experience by focusing on educating the consumer in seeing the value of IQOS and the company’s vision of a 'Smoke Free Future'

• Managing operational activities to ensure smooth running of operations across the UAE
• Successfully managing a team of 30+ members by implementing strategies that team members use to achieve their KPIs, allocating tasks based on each member’s strengths and skills. Inspiring and motivating team with regular encouragement, keeping the enthusiasm going by providing individualized coaching as and when needed.
• Facilitated to improve accessory visibility whilst maintaining consistency across all locations in the UAE. Introduced a rotational planogram for better turnaround of accessories.
• Select and train promoters & cashiers to ensure an optimal consumer experience by delivering and coordinating required training.
• Conducting local and regional training on different subjects to develop staff knowledge and skills.
• Regularly assess team performance, share feedback and improvement action plan
• Analyze indirect retail trends/ dynamics / consumer insights and propose action plan
• Execute yearly program during holiday season and valentine’s day
• Facilitate coherence between key accounts, distributor and PMI
• Ensure continuous improvement of indirect retail operations (tactical deployment initiatives, exploration of new opportunities) by managing daily operations (order management, activity approvals)

• Building a new and innovative category Reduced Risk Product (RRP), belonging to the already established brand umbrella and leading multinational company
• Maintain a mutual beneficial relationship with key accounts in order to ensure smooth business operations
• Supervise service efficiency of the Company’s trade partners involved in IQOS commercialization, with the goal to optimize and increase service quality
• Report, manage and maintain inventory to assure continued supply and avoid out of stock situations through joint business planning with major FMCG Multi Brand Retail players in UAE like Carrefour, Spinneys, Almaya, AD COOP & Choithrams
• Actively working with supervisors and management on projects that will make experts and the entire organization more efficient and effective
• Assist with Warranty and solve technical and mechanical issues whenever possible
• Delivering consistent yet tailored experiences
• Suggestively sell additional items and services that the customer may not have anticipated
• Empowering new experts by sharing key experiences and insights about an interaction with Legal Age User (LAU) & Legal Age Smoker (LAS).

• Booking appointments for Property consultants by making outbound cold calls daily, promoting the company, their products and the benefits of investing
• Over-achieved targets on monthly and quarterly basis
• Consistently, awarded as top three agents of the department
• Initiated cold-calling trend in the department and achieved sales every month
• Achieving daily inputs by 120%
• Eventually began developing cold calling scripts for other teams and their agents
• Managed the whole team in absence of team leader and accomplished to become the best team among others
• Possess an in depth understanding the importance of customer service and recognizing the need to balance profitable growth with customer satisfaction
• Counseled other agents to sharpen their skills and handle objections confidently
• Capable of multi-tasking without compromising with own targets, often assigned crucial tasks directly by HOD
• Recipient of Chairman’s award for outstanding performance in the department
• Proficient in Bitrix, Sage, EPMS while delivering an accurate call log in MS Excel to management each night outlining daily activities.

• Founded & established a new venture in flexible plastic packaging industry and attained 3-fold increase in sales within four years of formation in a complex business environment
• Led development team to design and manufacture state of the art 300 MT per month capacity
• Conceptualized the factory design spread over 6000 m2 and the machine layout/placement to maximize the unit output
• Hired, trained and supervised a team of 80 employees varying from management level to unskilled workforce and improved resource utilization ensuing a monthly saving of USD 2000
• Negotiated prices and terms with vendors/ suppliers to bring the overall cost of raw material by 12%
• Highly customer-centric with excellent relationship building skills as evidenced by achievement in building 6- figure annual sales and more than 63 new customer accounts in past 4 years, primarily through word-of-mouth marketing & cold calling
• Augmented operational efficiency by 15% by revisiting improvement in employee mood, morale and work behaviors
• Improved on time delivery performance of finished product from 80% to a sustained level of 95%
• Recommended & commissioned machinery/ equipment purchases to enhance product improvements, reduce wastage by 3% and process efficiency
• Achieved 9% increase in profits by implementing new methods of production planning, backward integration to reduce the overall operational costs
• Worked one-on-one with clients in the field to sharpen their troubleshooting and mechanical skills
• Devised innovative combinations of raw materials to obtain a more superior product at an economical price for the FMCG industry clientele
• Spearheaded the operations of Marketing, Sales, Production, HR, Accounting, Product Development and Logistics departments by providing strategic direction
• Communicating customer requirements to sales, marketing and production groups, resulting in stronger relationships and increased sales of flexible packaging.

• Implemented growth strategies, eliminated customer related issues and amplified sales by USD 1.5M at a 15-year-old flexible packaging manufacturer
• Reported to the Managing Director
• Increased sales from USD 7M to USD 8.5M and profit by 10% in a slow market by penetrating new geographies, representing company at various trade shows and marketing events
• Originated new business via cold calls, referrals, cross-selling, networking and trade
• Received recognition for successful implementation of the marketing plan and surpassing the annual sales target by 5%
• Improved manufacturing efficiency by 30% by freeing 1100 m2 of floor space by introducing automated storage units
• Established streamlined systems, technologies, and processes to maximize efficiency and productivity
• Enhanced company image through highly professional sales and marketing presentations and strategies
• Co-authored copy for marketing text and edited computer designs before production.

• Hired as an intern and promoted within a month of internship
• Reported to the Head of Operations
• Developed electronic templates and managed content migration and deployment
• Reorganized company’s website by content clean-up and consolidation
• Initiated purchase order requisitions and maintained production file systems
• Selected, extracted and organized usable files from existing website and migrated them to a new host
• Provided traffic and production support of creative materials including jobs opening and proofreading