My name is Ali Momeni , and
recently I have been interviewing my father, ‘Haji’ Ali Akbar Momeni, on
the early days of his business in America.During the late 1960's to early
1970's, Haji would travel with my older brother Ahmad, who at the time was
going to college in Oklahoma and would soon move to Dallas, Texas.During these
times my father would come from Hamadan, Iran to visit my brother and take road
trips with him for the purpose of selling beautiful handmade rugs from Iran.
Let’s travel back to those early days to see how it all began...
When Haji visited Ahmad, they would rent a van, pack it full of rugs and start
from Texas and go west to California.Then they would work their way east all
the way to Washington, D.C., and then finally head back to Texas.
They would visit every rug store in each little town, city and village along
the way.Haji and Ahmad would take each rug from the van, open it, and hopefully
sell a few. Then they would roll the balance back up, put them into the van and
go on to the next customer.
Haji recalls these visits.At times, customers would say do not open, we do not
need rugs and Haji would say, No obligation to buy sir, let me just open for
you to see and I will pack the rugs back up and put them in the van and there
is no obligation to you.As he recalls, by the time he would open the bales the
customer usually would end up buying somethingQuickly, they would then pack the
rest of the rugs back into the van, because they knew they had limited time to
be with the customer and take the customers’ time.
Haji also recalls a time a very good customer (that he was eager to sell to),
said to him, Mr. Momeni do not show or bring any rugs in my store”.My father
said OK, thank you, no problem.However, he went outside the store and laid the
rugs in the front of the store for the store owner to see when he came out for
lunch.This really impressed the customer and he ended up buying, due to Haji’s
persistence and listening to the customer (as the customer said “do not show or
bring any rugs in my store”, but that did not mean he could not put the rugs
outside the store).
As they would sell rugs, they would either get paid on the spot or get post
dated checks.He never denied any customer or pushed them, but rather was very
appreciative that they would greet him and give him the time to show his rugs
So, how would did his door-to-door selling technique work before Momeni was
established as a company?As Haji recalls, "I would go into the store, say ‘hi’
and request if I could have PERMISSION to talk to the owner for five
minutes”.Haji still feels that if you go into a store or call a customer, the
act of asking for permission is so important, because you are going into their
environment and asking for a moment of their time.
When he would go to the stores, some owners would greet him, but many would
not, saying that they did not need goods at that time.If he could not make the
sale, he would say, Let me just show you for future consideration and if you
are interested at any time, call me and I will send some to you.”As new
shipments came he would do this route over and over again for the next six
years, visiting existing customers and finding new ones.
All of these events happened before the company was established in 1975, but
the basic beliefs of Haji are what have laid the cornerstone to make Momeni
what it is today. The rug industry has changed since Haji first began making
his visits, but Momeni still believes that the relationship that is forged
between customer and supplier is one of the most important ones in business.
I feel we can all learn from how our chairman started the company, and make
sure his basic philosophy and beliefs are embedded in our company today.
Ali Momeni
PS - Stay tuned for future interviews where Haji will be discussing
business, today’s tools of the trade, and the future of the rug business in
America.
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