LUNCH IS A LUXURY

Unlike some employers, mine has given me enough time to settle down but there is only one thing that is keeping me in place. Hope that tomorrow will not be the same like yesterday. Hope that good tidings lay ahead that will come to my advantage. Hope that the hope of holding on should keep on burning with zeal even if pressure is too much. The bottom line is that amid all these, the end result will be more of a laughter.

Virtually, to this point, there is no single role as an employee that is free of pressure. I did chat with one of the sentries at work and he said it was featuring immensely in his day to day endeavours but he remains upbeat even though his main duty is to ensure the premises is under tight surveillance free from ambush by men and women of ill character.

Hitherto, I thought that pressure was tied only to my current job. I was forgetting that there is a sole proprietor who is antsy somewhere out there about the fact that he needs to keep the business running and customers streaming in through versatility, creativity and picking up even when the shards of hope are like an oasis in the desert.

The bottom line is even if you love your work, even if you are indifferent about what you do, if you allow contentment, you will not be feeling the pressure that boils. Meeting targets is not an end to itself, there is something more than that, that drives the human in us to perform. Some people easily meet targets in the workplace but they are not motivated and zealous. They know they have variables to take care at the end of the day, once they have accomplished that which is required of them, they silently feel some form of inadequacy and dejected. They feel used and unappreciated. That’s why they start being rebellious. Yet none notices this. What is worse is when they have no avenue of transcending their status which has not changed a decade down the line because someone feels they should not move to the next stage because of the vital role they play in aiding the business get business.

So many of us are tied in the wrong jobs but the fear of the other world of unemployment make us stick like glue around hoping that if we accrue the necessary experience and have the academic papers to the job we want we will get satisfaction. Wrong! The truth is, a new role does not mean satisfaction, a new role will have its inhibitions and monotony just like the former role. What makes it different is not even the love of it, just a little bit of progress can make one feel like there is something to achieve.

A while ago, a former colleague once told me a fact about some of the people we work with and I underestimated his jibe. Coming to think of it now, I have realized that there is some truth in what he was saying. Most of us do not have those clothes that we can say are admirable. Well, if you meet someone for the first time, the way he or she is adorned speaks volume if you have not heard him utter words that may also be used to gauge his intellectual capacity.

Many of my colleagues are in a school like uniform. And the sheen in the attires does not inspire at all. The old fashioned corporate textures that is reflected in our sense of self. Few look presentable in tailored and fitted clothes that do not expose but add towards making one look glamorous. This inadequacy is not only limited to the not so fashion conscious men in the house, but it is also reflected in ladies and you feel like ‘umechoka’ because we like to associate with people in stylish dress codes. Guess all this has to do with confidence and lack of peer pressure to look good. Someone should look into this because successful people show it first in their attire.

The field of sales is one that is full of jealousy and selfishness. A performing sales guy will never want to tell you the trick of making it in any way. There are times when I have asked for help from those I admire on how to go about the business but the result has not been appealing. All the possible prospects you try to engage suddenly developed cold feet because they have this fear that you may enter their market and turn the tables, which may also not be true. Well, as opposed to school where if you go to someone for help, they do it willingly, in this field of sales, it is different.

Those was assigned to help me out when things were not moving gave empty promises as to why they would not help me out in the quest for making my debut. They remained taciturn when you approach them to be of aid. So, what’s next. Even the manager somehow could not figure out how to do it. It’s that bad when a team cannot be able to deliver. Aint it this acts of selfishness that make us unprogressive?

Looking at the bigger picture, I can be able to piece up this jinx. Rarely do we eat lunch as people working for a reputable institution. Most of us become broke even before the end of the first week of payday. Yet we survive. The number of shylocks who are on our case is just outstanding. Most live beyond their means, and they rarely can account for their income even though some have earned enough in the previous years so much so that if you were witty, you would only have your day job as a supplement to the other income generating activities if you were sane enough to have one.

That I skive lunch does not mean I am doing so out of want, it is because circumstances have pushed me not to have it. And it has also contributed heavily in my anorexia towards eating super. I survive mostly on fruits and maybe tea. Eating ugali is just to heavy for me. Why? After spending the day looking for work while at work, I barely have the strength to consume stuff like that, talk of being tired. Incidentally, I am employed but must look for work to be at work. If I don’t look for that work, I am ineligible and am taking the business at a loss even though the four-digit retainer makes me look vaulted. Again, juggling studies after work especially CFA thing makes it even tough but all in all, I have got used to the tough conditions anyway.

As for those who eat lunch which is a luxury ever since I became an employee, my bet is that you are doing well. If I were to incorporate that meal in my budget, trust you me, I would barely make it to work in the fourth or third week of the month. Yet, I still want to date, look chic, and be seem that I work as opposed to being idle.

Hasta La Vista Baby

[Picture Source: Pixabay]

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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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IT SHALL BE WELL

Somehow, we all want a big break in life. A big break in our hustle so that we are better than the next average John or Jane. We need one to cross over to the other side of life, to be viewed as having made it years after struggling and the list is endless.

For lack of a better word, I am leaning towards the phrase ‘big break’ which I have repeated thrice. Anyway, I got a number of synonyms through Dr. Google and 'windfall' is what should replace the phrase.

Hitherto, I used to love the name we have been accorded as salesmen in our bank. We have this fancy name called ‘Lead Generator’ which sounds posher than being called a salesperson or a sales executive. Does it mean that roles have changed, not really? But we are better off with that name. Perhaps I should also change the status on my professional LinkedIn page to reflect my new found title fortune in a tier one bank.

Over the week, the country was so much engrossed in the pep talk on how the capping of interest rates was a godsend for the normal mwananchi who had to contend with high interest rates from the banks. This significantly means that they are going to start enjoying low rates failure of which the Central Bank will act in the event they do not cap comply with the new law.

Being the first line of defense when it comes to dealing with customers (which is obloquy as opposed to the title client because they are seeking after services). Obviously, we want a kismet in our endeavours. As for yours truly, getting many clients who uptake products from our firm will be like karma for me. This can be made easier if they refer me to other potential clients who will give me more business and the rest as we say is history.

Anyway, I read an op ed by one Larry Madowo on his exploits as a teenager who worked as salesman for a bank and I was left tongue in cheek because of what I can refer to a teenage rampage. Ideally, most teenagers never really know what they want to be in life. They think of so many careers, but never know that which they want. My bet is that he decided to be a salesperson to while away time. Little did he know that that would form a foundation of his journalism skills especially with regard to questioning clients who in his case are various individuals he interviews on various occasions. But one thing remains, the art of having people’s skills starts with selling.

While Larry may have painted an honest view of what he perceives of the profession of salesmanship, what he failed to understand is that there are so many people out there who survive on it and if given a chance to move to the next level, they would not or some went and returned back to the job they know best, selling.

This reminds me of the bestselling individual in our bank who I normally sit next to because our desks are on the same row. I remember eavesdropping to a conversation he was having with other vintage colleagues about a certain proposal he was given by another organisation to be employed on permanent basis with a figure slightly less than one hundred thousand.

‘Niliambia huyo HR sitaki hio kazi nikakata simu.’ He said.

“In fact, it was the HR who called me and said that she was going to give me an office, better terms or service and other benefits which I declined.”

“Unajua my monthly exenses run in excess of 200K and this lady wants me to be seated in the office the whole day only to be given 80K. I have told them to review my salary to something better past what I currently earn, failure of which I will not take the position.”

I was seated next to some two rookies who were recruited after me and told them of how this boy genius was talking and they did concur with him. He is usually sharp in his formal and casual wear and his cologne is mild for the occasion. Not the kind that screams even though it should be easygoing so that you don’t vex your imminent host.

What I love about this guy is the fact that when he is talking to a client over the phone, he usually takes over the conversation like a boss. He explains facts and scenarios like a person who has information at the palm of his hands. So, at the end of the day, he can be able to close so any deals such to chagrin of this blogger who should by now be making big bucks to take this blog to the next level. The next level here means finding a domain name, a webhost and a professionally designed web platform.

Anyway, when the money comes, I will do the same. Which reminds me that I also should be saving for it instead of waiting for the money to come. However, as for us in the selling business, sometimes it’s not about the lack of job in the market. It sometimes about the skills you gain in the process, the knowledge you get and the ability to make more money once you get steadfast in the business.

Has for me, there much more to be gained in terms of new insights, stories and most of all, getting engaged.

Hasta La Vista Baby.

[Photo Source: Google Images]

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