We talked to Shilpi Kohli Malik, CEO at Vivahsanyog.com about developing matrimonial sites, and this is what she said about it.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Shilpi Kohli Malik: I am good and I hope everyone is good as well. Thanks for asking me. Special thanks to the doctors & health experts to keep us updated. Because of them, I chose not to live with fear. But at the same time, precautions kept me in good shape & a great frame of mind. There is no denying the fact that this year proves to be more challenging & strange. By god’s grace, I & my business kept running smoothly during this tough time, special mention to the leaders & team of my company who worked tirelessly and never short of ideas/suggestions to thrive our business in this tough time.

Tell us about you, your career, and how you joined Vivahsanyong.com.

Shilpi Kohli Malik: My father(Mr. Kuldeep Kohli) is a successful entrepreneur and he is the founder and director of VENUS BUILDTECH PRIVATE LIMITED (Construction Company) in the early 2000s. After few years of successful business, they had not planned to start any other company till they were done with finding a perfect groom for me. They founded the company in 2010 and at that time I was almost 22 years old. We Indians are firm believers in arranged marriages and the timeline for searching for a perfect groom/bride is quite uncertain. So, my father started searching for a perfect groom for me as early as almost all Indian parents are concerned for their daughter’s marriage.

Now the story starts here- Almost 2 years later, they realized how difficult it is for Indian parents to find a suitable partner for marriage for their son/daughter. They visited various marriage bureaus and registered my profile there. But, somehow he was not satisfied with the working style of the marriage bureaus. He was meeting with other parents there and they were all facing the same problems again & again. Then, after giving it a long and deep thought, he founded this company in 2010! (VIVAHSANYOG.COM- Matrimonial Company). This was to help other people not to face the same problem they faced while searching for a perfect groom for me.  

I joined the company as a manager in 2010 and then I became the CEO of the company in 2012 and they became the directors of the company. I always look up to their advice and they are making sure that other people don’t face the same problems they faced. Now it’s been almost 11 years since we founded this company and by god’s grace & people’s love, we are still operating and will continue to do so throughout my life.

How does Vivahsanyog innovate? 

Shilpi Kohli Malik: Our mission is to provide the best services to our clients, especially the parents who are serious about the marriage for their son/daughter/anyone else. As mentioned above, our services are designed in such a way that the parents don’t face the problem which my father faced. This is our company mandate to be successful and we are very much a matrimonial site while others seem to be more of a dating site.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business and how are you coping?

Shilpi Kohli Malik: In the beginning, I will be lying if I said there was no panic. When I heard that announcement from our respected prime minister, I felt very nervous and was thinking what will be the way forward now? Those words from our PM, about the total lockdown for few days and that too with no timeline were quite heart-wrenching. 

After the first few days, I planned the way to move forward with my team on a video call and discussed my concern. Lockdown became a blessing in disguise for us at that time. Earlier, the meetings were fixed in our office lounge (Few meetings were canceled due to time & work). When we started our client’s meeting via video calls, the ratio suddenly increased by almost 500% in magnitude. I was amazed by this result and hence, I was able to maximize the profile and minimize the loss incurred by the coronavirus. 

Did you have to make difficult choices and what are the lessons learned?

Shilpi Kohli Malik: Yes, I do have some difficult choices, which seems to be easy as time progressed. I must compliment my team here, who worked tirelessly to reach where we are today. They are the backbone of my company, and they helped me to make the difficult choices in the lockdown. Even in the lockdown, my team was so confident about the business and they came up with a plan and executed it superbly under my watchful eyes.

I have learned, that one must produce good leaders in the company who are there to stay in the longer run & able to make some quick & difficult decisions. I am successful in maintaining my core team and leaders over the years. During the coronavirus pandemic, I have realized how important is to maintain the core team to make my job easier.  

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Shilpi Kohli Malik: When I start thinking of my competitors, I am more focused on the negative feedback given by their clients on Google and other review sites. I love to prepare a list of negative points/feedbacks shared on different review writing platforms. This is my research work, I mix this research work with the practical observation of my father when they were searching for a perfect mate for me. I don’t want other parents to face the same kind of issue and that’s the reason my father decided to take this challenge on & quite successful in doing so.

Your final thoughts?

Shilpi Kohli Malik: I can proudly say that no-one else is doing what we are doing. I am quite successful in maintaining vivahsanyog.com as a matrimonial site while most of the others seem more to be dating sites rather than matrimonial sites. I am quite happy to deal with the parents than the boy/girl in question. This helps me in maintaining my site image as a matrimonial site. This plan will help me to stay in the game always. I am here to maintain this also. We look to deal more with the parents which keeps me on the right side of the result as there is a thick line between dating and matrimonial sites. I want to be on the right side always to stay in the game.