Hello Bhai, this is Shan Masood who are you doing?
Wa Alaikum Assalam Bhai! everything's good, just needed your help with something.
No, no nothing too serious. One of my clients was looking for a dairy supplier for his new factory, thinking about you i immediately gave you a call.
Yes yes, we have been in business for over a year. He is a very trustable person and young too!!
Alright i will send him to your office then.
Shan cut the call and gave the details of Homi milk distributors and gave some context on it's owner Prithvi Raj to Arjun.
Arjun took the details and thanked Shan for putting in good word on behalf of him and left alongside Balram. The drive was not too long since the office was only fifteen minutes away, although Arjun figured it's only take five minutes if the road conditions were optimal.
Since Prithvi Raj had already informed his assistant about the new customer Arjun and Balram were let in immediately as soon as they reached and entered the office building.
Seeing Balram and Arjun entering Prithvi Raj immediately shook the hands of Balram who responded with a weird expression and returned the hand shake after which three of them sat down.
So, Shan tells me you are his frequent customer and are starting a new factory related to some dairy products? Prithvi Raj questioned eyeing Balram.
Sir, i am just a body guard. Arjun here is the owner of the factory in question Balram replied with a smirk on his face. He wanted to see how this guy who looked very strict with a thick mustache and white and white dress would respond to such a situation.
Prithvi meanwhile taken aback suddenly understood why Shan had said young, but he did not think for a second that the owner of a factory would be a ten year old kid.
Sorry for not recognizing you s..ss...son, Pleasure to meet you. Prithvi actually wanted to say sir but could not bring himself to do so after all this was just a kid in his elementary school.
Hello sir, I am Arjun it's great to make your acquaintance.
So Arjun, tell me what type of factory are you starting? Knowing Shan it wouldn't be a sweet factory or he would have never referred you to me.
No sir, it's not sweet business. We are making long lasting packaged butter milk and other products similar to it.
Interesting, i never thought to store them for long since it is readily available in the nearby shops fresh.
Yes sir, but that's in the cities. In most of the villages people have to personally make them wasting their time and energy.
Ohhh that's a good idea, so you'll be targeting the village market then?
Yes sir, Arjun replied not mentioning it could be available in all the stores regardless of the location since he did not feel the need so.
So do you want cow milk or Buffalo milk? I suggest Buffalo milk since it has more fat content and also could be supplied more easily. Prithvi laid the facts bare as he too did not feel the need to hide the availability issues as he assumed these people must have done their homework and it was always better to stay honest in the first negotiation.
Yes sir, i was thinking the same. How much would it cost for a regular supply of Buffalo milk per liter?
I would say five rupees is a fair price but it has to be collected here. If you want us to deliver you'll need to pay extra.
Sir i want two thousand liters per day for start and we can increase once our sales pick up as our factory is equipped to handle upto five thousand liters of milk per day.
That's a pretty big factory for a starting out company, the machines must have costed you pretty penny son.
Yes sir, we have imported most of the machines from outside adding to the already big budget.
That's good. Local machinery is not always reliable.
Sir, can we do it at four rupees and you handle the delivery?
Hehe son don't take me for a fool. We get the milk for four rupees ourselves from the farmers.
Arjun knew they usually only paid three and half rupees per liter but did not bring it up and instead went up to four rupees ten paise per liter.
Stop haggling with me son. Best i can do is four rupees seventy paise and that too because you are recommended by Shan.
Sir that's still too much. Can we make it Four rupees and fifty paise and delivery should be handled by you. Just as Prithvi was about to reply Arjun spoke up again, we can sign a exclusive contract that we can only purchase from you unless there is some supply issue or you being not able to meet our demands.
Prithvi thought about Arjun's offer for a while as Arjun sat patiently in his seat.
Alright kid, whoever your father is he taught you how to negotiate well. We can do the deal but the exclusive contract must be at least a couple years long. Prithvi felt this was ideal since he would be getting almost a guaranteed demand for the next two years with this contract which was very essential for distributors like them who dealt Milk as it gets spoiled very very quickly.
Alright sir, please get the contract ready but the supply is to be only begin from next week but we need another batch of five hundred liters in the next couple of days for our trial run.
Wow i did not think you were already ready for a trial run Prithvi replied with a surprised face and called up his assistant to get the contract ready while the three of them sat there discussing local politics and other stuff.
Prithvi was surprised to know that Madan was Arjun's uncle and shareholder in one of his businesses and felt it was good to make acquaintance with such a person even if he was only ten years old.
Soon the assistant came with the agreement which both of them signed and Arjun handed a cheque for one lakh thirty five thousand rupees, half the payment for the first month and the rest would be handed at the end of month. The five hundred liters were not counted as Prithvi offered them for free after learning about the relation between Arjun and Madan.
After they were done Arjun asked Balram to drive to the college area as it had been some time since he met the studio guys and felt it was the perfect time to do a sudden visit.
When he visited the studio it was already early evening and Arjun could see some of the students returning from their classes with books in their hands as he entered the studio warehouse.
Sumanth, Vinod and others seeing Arjun after a long while quickly surrounded him and asked what he was here for but learning he had just visited as he was in the surroundings returned to their desks while Vinod and Sumanth stayed beside him.
Arjun could see Vinod was already back to his previous self but still expressed his consolation after which he enquired about their trip to Sumanth who went on and on about their antics on road for over thirty minutes.
Once Sumanth was done with his long story Vinod took Arjun to show him their new character models which were much more to his liking and they had already done over fifty different models but still a long way from their one hundred and fifty character model target.
Sumanth meanwhile fetched the story lines their writers had come up with Arjun who went through them in the next half an hour and was very satisfied with their progress. Even though they were not as sophisticated as some of the future manga's it was commendable that they could come up with such story lines which were witty yet offered some meaning by the end of the chapter.
Arjun then asked them to start working on the first edition of the manga as he felt they already had enough material to do so which excited all the students in the presence. After all even till now they were only laying ground work which was not exciting as they really had nothing concrete to show off to their piers who always mocked them about working so hard without any product.
They could not understand why Arjun was so adamant in getting the character models correct while Arjun knew it was ground work which would be useful for years and years to come if the product line was a success.
By the time they were done with the discussions it was already around eight in the night so Arjun took them all for a studio dinner after which he left to the hotel with Balram since his mom had already given the green flag to stay here for another day.