DEEP END

Sweet memories are usually momentary and wane faster than you think they would last. I heard a very sweet message. Everyone has a somewhere where they go in every stage in life. The unlucky ones succumb because life is what Charles Darwin told us about, ‘struggling to survive and survival of the fittest’. Albeit, we all want to go to a place (we usually dream of ritzy sanctuaries until that time when it becomes idealistic). When you finish nursery, primary or high school, there are those who never proceed to the next stage. At the end of the day they have to go somewhere. It takes courage and action to swiftly adjust and start the process of accepting destiny. Luckily, such chaps probably fiddled with the conundrum that menaced and are comfortable.

The process of adjusting in life is quite simple and complicated at the same time. Obviously, for some it can be so complicated that they give up altogether. They take so much time struggling to move to the next stage but they never do that.

I have been struggling with my work for a considerable amount of time. It has reached that point where finances have also become an issue. Not that I am not being paid enough for my sustenance, but the reality is that sticking to a rote has become a challenge. Even my gremlins know about this.

Now I am in a den that even though I would love to share it, I retreat and hide. For a start, I am in financial distress. Nothing bores me like being in such a situation. Looking back, this is a deja vu. However, it is different. It is complicated because all the avenues of seeking finances have all been depleted. Yet I had told myself that I would not find myself in this situation again. Damn! This is not only demeaning but also frustrating and mentally blurring. You cannot think straight. And when you do, there is that tempestuous misogyny that keeps you away from them because it’s kind of absurd to be lacking the building blocks of what’s in a man.

Business has been slow on my side. I find it quite piquing to be reporting to work daily only to realize nil returns. Well is that not tantamount to wishy-washy and floppy. Let me explain something. Working with empty pockets is quite enervating. Simply put, you sometimes think about the frustrations you are going through at the altar of performing your chores with passion and determination.

 to be continued

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SHORT DISTANCE TRADERS

It's the rainy season. Right! And there is something I never knew about it. That this is a time of long rains in Kamba land. Well I grew up in the sprawling plateaus in Rift Valley and this is normally a harvest season. That means it is a time for the short rains as opposed to the long rains. I do not know whether the long rains phenomena also apply to the great city that is Nairobi. This weather should be a preserve of the grain basket of the country especially to those areas that serve the county that hosts the capital city with vegetables, grains, cereals and the list is endless.

So, during the week I decided to go on cold calling to prospect for new clients in the corners of the city. It was quite a walk. In the company of colleagues who were also interested in getting new markets for the products that we were selling. Well, it has been months ever since I lastly walked for such a long distance. The only human baseness we committed was to prospect on an already encroached market. 

Walking can be fun at the start. This is because you get to find out many things about the people who you are doing the walking with on the streets. As time progresses, there is something monotonous at this age where automotive has eased the hustle of mobility. What arises in some instances is that it can be very easy to make a decision but to stick to it is another thing. That is how herd mentality destroys that which should never be finished off. Sometimes you need to walk it alone. 

We chose the suburban bliss that is Nairobi even though we come from the what I can describe as the shanty town. Even rap stars are normally from the ghetto and they aspire to rule the music industry with their lyrics in as much as some may never do that. Trekking in this weather is not easy. The setback comes in terms of having shoes that are laced with mud and if you do not have something to wipe them, you are sure to tell where you are from. 

I noticed people in heavy machines, fuel guzzlers staring at us. It was likely to rain and they were sneaking snail-pace due to a jam that had slowed down movement because this area has narrow roads which are not expected to serve many people.

A couple of times I sometimes ask myself why I this suffering. Well, the day I was prospecting, I was in my best suit. Since it had rained the previous days, I could not find what to wear for the day. My pullovers were all wet and so were my other jackets. At some point I was walking in the rain where matatus would come and hoot to find out if we were thinking of boarding.

We were not. What's worse is that I was revolving around the same place. Something about matatus is that they abhor those who deny them revenue. Never mind that they may not know that you are between a rock and a hard place in terms of finances. When a matatu driver sees you walking next to a pool of water next to the road, trust you e the unexpected will happen. Instead of slowing down, they will ensure it splashes so that you are left at limbo.  

Since I knew this tactic, I ensured that I walked on the kerb and very far from those pools of water that were next to the sidewalk. Honestly, there are those times I wished the opposite of my situation was happening to us. Did I want to be among those being chauffeured in those fuel guzzlers as I watched salesmen who were not able to make commissions trek in the cold weather? I know you know the answer.

Once in a while, I mistook the depth of some water on the surface and when I accidentally landed on it, my shoes did let in the sludge. My socks know how it feel. Incidentally, the mud also smeared on my trouser and I looked like a rookie who sell insurance and has been going without commissions for days on end. Never mind that I also sell insurance as among the products that I need to hawk around.

 To be continued.....

Hasta La Vista Baby.

[Picture Source: Google Images]

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WALK, TALK AND KNOCK

My friend who studied marketing always tells me there is a huge disconnect between marketing and sales. I am not a guru in either field but a rookie who intends to gain hands on experience from the field of selling. At the end of the process I'll be as anonymous as I am now. What some salespeople out to make quick bucks do is beat about the bush in order to sell and protect their job. A marketer on the other hand in my friends view considers the plight of a customer first. If you go to a customer and realize that he does not understand something, you need to enlighten him or her and if you are not able to qualify the customer for a product, you let him know that there will be an appropriate time in future. Some salespeople on the other hand look at their pockets first. The converse of a marketer is true for such people.

Very few clients ever call to say hi, and when you call, if you are that person who will continually remind the client of the product, trust you me, the call will go answered. And deep down, I also know that I am also that way. If you perpetually prod me with products, trust you me, I know the worse I can do is only to brush you off, or unwillingly buy the product.

“In order to make a sale, you need to walk, knock and talk.” That’s the mantra of my current boss. Well, to some extent he may be right. But the only lesson you learn in sales is that there is no formula for doing it. However, there can be a way of cracking it by lining yourself with experienced gurus in the industry. I hate to say this but the very people who push us to sell these abstract and elusive products are the very people who sometimes do not realize that times have changed and though the monkeys remain the same, the approach of doing it should also change.

While selling, you have to fight the smile that may give away greed, when the client is willing to listen. You will see it in their eyes. There are those who you will see their eyes unsettled as if they want something, then there are those who will give you an ear and a promise. And it is up to you to follow back. Then there are others who you will find playing FIFA on their phones and they will not mind leaving it alone to listen to you.

Sales is a dynamic job. You have to have a smooth tongue and words better than silk because you are selling nothing apart from requiring the client to sign some documents then he will get the result after sometime. Sometimes the job can be too easy, you close a sale because the client wanted the product like yesterday its only that he was not aware of where to find it.

The single best experience you can ever receive in your career is the art of selling, in the event you want to venture out sometime in life to start your own firm. By then you will have realized that human beings are the most slippery beings you can ever deal with. At one time, they are upbeat and cheerful, the next they call to say they are unwilling to take up what you had offered. It’s worse when a client tells you that you should not continue with the processing of a loan or a credit card because they have consulted and realized that they no longer need it or it will realign the status quo.

Practice makes perfect they say. If you speak to ten clients in a day, you will be able to hone your skills in articulating your ideas so that people can buy them. This means that you are on the forefront of closing a deal. When you walk, and knock at different doors, you will also learn how to inspire people. To some buggers, this is innate, to others, it has to be a struggle. If you close a deal, you become more confident and happy. Whether it is an insurance policy you are selling or it is a big loan worth millions of shillings or opening an account that will be funded with millions.

The bottom line of sales is to help those who are in need. I love the way my current sales mentor goes about the business. While I still have that fear of speaking too much because of sudden ambush by coughs, this dude has been in the industry for five years and hence knows how to engage a client. He can really talk. Even when we are not selling, he still tells us stories that we heartily laugh to because he tries to source for such nonsensical sometimes fallacious gen from whatever location he might find. Being ‘glorified hawkers’ he has been able to guide us on who to sell to and who not to engage even though sometimes he can be full off braggadocio. Like selling a loan to a city marshal is illegal because you need to have a license to hawk and in the event you are nabbed by this mullah thirsty buggers, you will be on your own.

Perhaps what is encouraging is that in less than three months he will be able to make more than a million in the event his loans are processed. That process of a loan being ratified as apt is called ‘drawing’.

As a seasoned individual, he has been able to get it right for this long because I realized he knows how to engage a prospective client. He ensures that he speaks gently and comes up with real solutions to existential problems. ‘Mi najua sai huwezi kuwa na project kwa akili lakini pia najua ungetaka kuwa na ploti yenye utajenga masiku za usoni. Unajua tunaweza kukusaidia kupata title deed kama umerelax hapa kwa ofisi ikue tu wewe ni kusign forms baada ya kuonyeshwa mahali ploti iko. Na kupata hio ploti ni loan tunakupatia at 14%.’

As for ladies (those who cannot qualify for loans), after breaking the ice, he will ask whether they have a child. These are individuals he knows are gullible. He will go ahead and tell of stories of successful people who have benefited from education and in the end, he sells an education policy. Anyway, all in all, education still remains the only gem that you can bestow to your child. But I like this chap, Deno, since his tongue cannot fail to utter words that give hope.

I know the ‘sales’ tag conjures up thoughts of pushy people, which in essence has a stigma and hence a bad part of the career. This job needs one to continually develop skills, be highly focused and determined to make it at the end of the day. There is need to invest a good amount of time into continual knowledge growth and development, psychology study, and ongoing self-awareness and improvement.

Sometimes it is the experience you might get from working with a company that might give you the wrong impression of the entire industry. The truth is that there is lots of pressure in sales. You are monitored like a small child if you are not delivering. Believe it or not, an outside sales career can be a lonely job.  With freedom and flexibility from being away from the office, you are out there on your own.  As such, you need a strong sense of accountability and self-motivation to set your own work schedule, since nobody is there looking over your shoulders, you are basically managing yourself.

Your exposure to management is also limited, so career advancement is also a challenge since there are only a few upward career advancement opportunities for field sales people. Even the sentry who man’s the banking hall knows that this is a challenging job and will remind you about it. Your friends who know you are not making good commissions look at the job as if you are struggling with life. But the freedom that comes with doing sales is what makes it very intriguing. You determine your own pay cheque and meet lots of new people.

As at now, I personally don't understand how anyone can be stuck in a cubicle all day or report into an office all the time without feeling the monotony of sedentary life.  I love it when I visit people in their office to find out which are serene, those that do not have air conditioning you wet your forehead so much so that a client may think that you are struggling. There are those you have to gain entry by dialing some numbers and there are those which you would never fancy at all, given that the pay slip of the individual you are meeting is also thin.

Then there are offices that don’t ooze panache and the employees sit in what looks like emaciated desks but when you look at their pay, you regret why you are not among those who are withdrawing salaries from this company.

What I know is that no experience is bad experience. We go through it to ensure we make the best out of it. If only I was fainthearted, I would not have made it past the sixth month. Given that to some extent, I on average find myself mulling over this job deeply and questioning what purpose do I really have here. But the question that begs is, will I make it to earn those six figure commissions?

Hasta La Vista Baby

[Picture Source: Google Images]

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GIKOMBA

The putrid air that characterizes this street is now synced into my respiratory organs which was in a pathetic state barely a few months ago. The pollution wraps itself around my body like the second skin I neither want nor need. The air has a rotten, dirty quality everywhere a person can think to go. It smells of sewage and washed up dirt. There is filth in every particle of the pollution; a product of our own greed and societal pyramid. This is a perfect example of neglect which can easily cause climate change because the toxins are quite evident and if not used to, can sting the eye. Indeed, on this streets we have given up the fight against pollution.

The cracked sidewalk on your way to Gikomba from OTC is like the jagged gap-toothed grin of a certain old junkie I am forgetting about though I can reminisce his visage but the figure is quite blurry and looks like a mirage. Though the road is supposed to be a dual one way, so many hawkers cheek by jowl, so many squirming lives that line one side of the dual way. At intervals are the concrete street-lamps, once coated in glossy silver colours, now dappled with grey chips of grime. The road is a monochrome patchwork, lined with a tedious boarder of tar. Despite some shoddy fixes by the county government or any other road body, the road leading there is in cracks and the potholes grow larger with each passing hour.

Oh! I simply consulted Google and realized that the initial OTC stands for ‘Overseas Trading Company’ and not ‘on the cool’ or ‘over the counter’ as I had speculated. These streets are capriciously cruel. Hordes of humanity strut laboriously in order to go eke for a living amid disillusion which is evident in their visage.  All they can do is hustle hard though there are some who are becoming distressed and will exit the scene sooner than they expected.

In the morning as I normally trot to my duty station, there are these tramps who sleep on the footpath who have been addled and ignored at best. They sleep in grunge filled sacks and their mouths are usually laced with saliva while some have their teeth exposed, which are tarred due to drug use. They sleep on the hard tar and people pass as if nothing is wrong. In fact, many of the panhandlers have worked in the same corner every day. Some seek for alms and have become resistant to the fact that there is another life other than the streets. One thing is that you cannot ascertain is whether they ever change clothes amid the ravaging effects of the Nairobian weather.

It’s never good news when you are told that your next destination in terms of designation is the populous Gikomba Market. I felt belittled, unworthy and despondent. How could they decide to lower my stature too low that I am assigned to ply my trade from Gikomba? Indeed, someone had saw it fit that I needed to be stationed in Gikomba. What was the rationale in picking me and not any other person to go support a branch that was struggling and has that name that is synonymous to stuff going for a song? Ideally I find it as a test of faith and spirit. My natural optimism in my new-found home is upbeat. Though it took a toll on me for quite some time, I am still proud to be a salesperson. That’s how flexible one should be. 

There was this colleague who we were assigned to report to this duty station. I had initially wanted to inform him of this ‘good’ news on a shared Whatsapp group but rescinded and texted him instead to personally inform him of his new found home. He said ‘thanks’ which he never meant and till now, he is still stuck in his former station unwilling to secede from the bondage of uptown deluxe. It’s called sticking to lanes.

There is a complete contrast when you arrive at the work station though. The air is cosy and serene. You know the how banks are supposed to be. It does not reek of the sordid aura that characterizes the scene outside. The ambience is delectable and coy. This contrast gives a fortifying demure which relieves the body from the rush hash on your way to the office that is outside. It’ like you have emptied of the latent laden that clogs the air channel.

What I instinctly love about my job is the fact that the camaraderie is quite bountiful and fetching. Like it looked quite unprecedented for a chap like me to accept this demotion in terms of job location. This is because the serene location of our former office is no more. In the few months that I have been working for this bank, I have worked from three different locations. The first had one of a kind intimacy that soothed even though there is lots of pressure in this job. The kind that if you are weak hearted, you only get paid the first few months and the next you are up and about somewhere else.

Then again when you work for an institution and you have not leveraged in such a way that you bring business to it, my friend, you need to accept it. That you are still an employee and it is only hard work that will differentiate you with chaps who are a notch higher on the job pyramid.

Virtually in all organisations, there are usually some politics that drive the business. We deny it but it is the truth. There are those individuals who are like owners of the business. They call the shots and can make or break your career aspiration. When you are in good terms with them, you can easily ascend the career ladder to where you want to be irrespective of the fact that you are not even a performer. Yet at the base of the pyramid the best you can do is think optimistically.

That’s why we cannot deny that be there are sacred cows and ghost workers who receive a salary and you have no idea what their role actually is in the institution. But you sometimes get too engrossed with some other stuff that even thinking of them is never part of your rote.

Anyway.

When it rains in Gich, there is this outlet that floods the road near the bridge that Nairobi River passes under. It is a mixture of a little bit of sewage which makes it kind of greenish. As such, if you do not have gum boots you have to seek for an alternative of gaining access to the other side of the road which is not flooded. It’s a short stretch by the way. Apparently, there is always that thrift guy who modifies a bridge which you have to pay some bucks in order to cross. They use the wooden stand which they normally place their bargain products on to reap from ineffective county government. You have to part with only Ksh.10. in order to make it to the other side. This is enough to take you to Githurai in the morning which is fifteen kilometers away while this is only a stretch of two metres. Plus those guys who charge you for this service never mince their words, you have to badge to their demands because that’s life.

I paid the amount the first time, the second, I had got acquainted to a shortcut where I pass in a very risky ‘panyaroot’. You pass next to some women who prepare all sorts of meals that range from eggs, githeri, omena, beans, meat in the open and the place is not only dingy but can make you lose appetite the first time here because of the conflicting aromas that rent the air. After sometime, you will find yourself among the customers you were wondering how they stomach such environment, to appetize on these meals. This route is inside the periphery of ‘Machakos’ bus station and has very few users as opposed to the road that leads to ‘Gich’ a better slang for Gikomba. Obviously, those slow days of the month, ‘katikati ya mwezi’ b, are quite real for a salesman and any form of cheap chow serves just right, especially if you have not made enough commissions.

By the way, I love the adventure that is being a salesperson. While I do not love the job, the thrill is somehow ecstatic. A couple of times my manager has been asking why I am not able to sell and the response is that I am creating a pipeline. Oh yes! But when chicken shall come the roost, my deeds will have to be laid bear. But in the meantime, let me celebrate the intimacy of working as a salesperson.

I love the affable traits of the salespeople in the surrounding area that is Gikomba. They usually have time to listen to us salespeople. They are not as inimical as some people in government offices who think we are peddlers who are out to dilly dally with their time which some spend on Facebook and others gossip you wonder what you did to deserve this treatment. Spending five to ten minutes with a salesperson is not bad though I understand that they can be quite nagging.

Next to where our branch is, there is this drift that also has a bend leading to another road. Normally, when those cart pushers take on this drift ready to skid to the other road which is slightly elevated, they have to shout from afar, ‘Size, size.’ And mark you they are normally in a speed that in the event they get a person on their way, that human will either be crushed or escape death by a whisker. To survive on this streets, as opposed to the more urbane uptown Nairobi, you really need to be swift and nimble, otherwise, chances are you will be on the receiving end.

But being that guy who loves swag means that I have to look for alternative routes to my place of work. There is this route where you pass next to Haile Selassie and it leads directly to the place where I work though it is quite far. At least, it has no multitudinous individuals who are hustling for the same route in their endeavours to make it to eke.

Initially, I had been forewarned that having a nice watch and phone is a source of insecurity by colleagues who thought that Gich is not a conducive environment. Fortunately, this place has a very high supply of cops who are almost in every corner. Even our branch is manned by two and this really got me nervous the first time since I was fearing for my security. But as time goes by, I have come to appreciate the hustle of all this people in Gikomba. They make more mullahs than we guys who work in the bank as salespeople given that they handle cash on a daily basis.

There is only one problem that does not auger well with some clients who consider Gich a crime prone location full of vagabonds and hobos. Convincing such clients is normally tasking for stories I have heard but that does not break my heart. We meet all sort of people in our day to day work. So it does not matter what that person thinks, at some point, we own up our fear by facing it.

Hasta La Vista Baby.

 [Picture source: Google Images]

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TIMED ARITHMETIC

Monday blues happened to me in full swing. Soon after, I met her. She was bold and with a friend. I looked deranged and weary. Like the world had taken a toll on me. Inward, I felt some excessive energy. I needed a punching bag. To vent the hopelessness out with vengeance. I remember telling it to a colleague. He advised that I should vent my anger on the walls. Because we do not have punching bags in our office. 

I met her with a friend. She was looking different. Only that I did not want to tell her so. There is something credulous about some states. They are written all over the visage and even if you try to deny the reality. It is usually show-me as the guilt can be ostentatious. Believe you me, Monday blues can be so stressful, especially if you are paper chasing and results seem negligible.

A friend has consistently been telling me to keep on keeping on and keeping on keeping on will keep me keeping on. He used to be called the deputy principal in the office which has been closed because our bosses feel like we need to change tact and reduce on superfluity because of the rapid changes in the economic scene where things just have to change. And like my good friend intimates, I keep on keeping on because that phrase was from Bob Marley to Peter Tosh. On the contrary, I doubt the legitimacy of the keeping on thing because I have thoroughly gone through Google and I have not found anything of that sort.

Another of my fervent colleagues has also been ceaselessly telling me to look for another job because things are looking oblique. I have refused to badge to his insinuations because I am not ready to start things afresh. Not when I just found a more relaxing job which also offers me that which I need in terms of experience. Jeez! Pardon my use of this interjection. Guess the reason why I will not be moving sooner is because of the ties that bind when you think of it in the first place.

Already those ties are crumbling. Changes have swiftly taken place and it is now up to me to start thinking big and look at the bigger picture of making something out of this which is keeping me static given that I should be mobile

Sometimes the going gets too though you only console yourself that life must move on. You want to be happy things just seem gloomy. And the heat that is usually used in idioms becomes real. 

Since I have to prove myself in this arena no matter what, I will strive to remain steadfast and powerful. 

And on that note I have myself lost of words.

Hasta la vista baby.

[Picture source: Google Images]

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