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Clear Focus Delivers Goods

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DQC News Bureau
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PROFILE

International Computer Resources



Startup year: 1986


Address: 102, Padma Palace


86, Nehru Place


New Delhi 110 019


Tel: 011-6446862, 6482590, 6404243


Fax: 011-6420102


E-mail: icr@id.eth.net  


Products: Consumables






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On his return from the US, armed with a postgraduate degree in sales and marketing from the University of Michigan, Naresh Kohli felt that the time was ideal for him to set up International Computer Resources (ICR). This was in July 1986 and Naresh hoped to set up a manufacturing facility for floppies. But this did not happen. So decided to import and sell floppies in India. 

Focus on target

Beginning with media, ICR started importing the 8" and the 5¼" avatars of the floppy. Kohli had learnt that what kept a business going was a clear focus. So focussed was ICR on media that it was rated as the best distributor for Verbatim in northern India from 1987 to 1993. ICR was also conferred with the Best Dealer Award (North) by Imation in 1996. 

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Kohli did try out another line of business when ventured into peripherals, only to move out soon. "We added peripherals in 1987-88, but soon discontinued them," says Kohli about his brief stint in the peripheral trade. 

His training in the US taught Kohli that servicing a select clientele is better than catering to the entire market. Even in the media trade, Kohli has over the years positioned ICR in the corporate space. The average Indian customer, he feels, is ignorant about the value addition that comes with that little extra payment. 

Servicing corporate clients

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With the installed base of printers booming in corporate India, the need for consumables has also multiplied manifold. The turnover figures tell the story better. ICR closed its books for the year 1999 with Rs 1.80 crore as sales. This jumped to Rs 2.25 crore for next year. And ICR has crossed the Rs 6 crore mark for the year ending March 2001. 

The main thrust on the corporate segment came about because of Kohli's philosophy of quality selling rather than quantity selling. This focus, he feels, also creates a set of loyal customers, which is otherwise not possible. His roster today boasts of nearly 400 corporate clients in and around Delhi, of these more than 100 do active buying from him. 

The reason for this loyalty could also be Kohli's insistence on handling the long standing and prestigious clients himself. It is this commitment that has helped him become one of the top consumable resellers in the country and win a Maruti van from HP.

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Growing, growing, grown

ICR has grown over the years from a four-man company to 16 people-strong organization. Kohli is in the final stages of adding more consumable products to his offerings and two more branches in Noida and Gurgaon. This will help him to deliver onsite deliveries within four hours to all his customers. "The new branches will not dilute our focus in any way, but will rather strengthen it," he says. 

While the going has been good for Kohli, he mentions that unethical competition often gives cause for worry. The gray market with its spurious goods is another concern. But with a consistent and persistent approach, success is always within one's reach. "The drivers for success at an organizational level are constant availability and quick delivery," is how Kohli sums up his mantra for success.

Mohit Chabbra in New Delhi

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