Different Actors, Same Result

It's been three months now when the company changed its owner. I was looking forward for lots of changes and activities as promised. Yet I'm still waiting for such things to happen.

After so much time waiting, it's clearer to me that company's direction will have the same result as the previous one except that the current actors are different. Any window dressing won't help. As time goes by, people's true color will always come out.

Bottom line is to manage people properly to get results. If everyone just talk without action, then everybody is just dreaming. If even a very simple task just to get the Yes or No from a client can't be done, then bigger task or complex task will surely fail.

Like most great things, usually everything starts small. I guess people has to learn this lesson...

What makes a good salesman?

I work as a technical guy and also coordinate with salesmen. Doing sales technical support, I have the opportunity to observe salesmen working when I go to meetings with them.

At times, I wonder why other salesmen can make and close deals compared to others. Why would these salesmen can close that deal? This question always flash in my mind when I go for meeting.

I sort of conclude that to be a good salesman, someone has to have some qualities:
1. Committed. This means that the person has conviction to make sales, not just for the sake of selling because that's his job, but commit himself to close the deal. I often went with salesmen and realized that they're not just ready to close the deal, but they talk uncommitted.

2. Understanding of the product. The person must have at least 80% knowledge of the overall product. If he doesn't even know his own product, how would the buyer expect to know the product?!

3. Understanding of market segment. He must know the market trend and his target segment, otherwise he'll be just talking to people nonsense.

4. Common sense. A factor that everyone has supposed to have, unfortunately common sense is not common after all.

5. Persuasive. He must be able to convince people. This quality usually depends on the other qualities stated above.

6. Honest. He can't promise heaven and earth to the potential buyer. He should be honest enough to tell people that the product has limitations. Every product has limitations, so it's not bad to tell the truth.

When I had a discussion with the boss few days back, I realized that they're putting the wrong sales people. These guys in sales post don't even have common sense to know what they're exactly supposed to do!!! They're just good at talking! No action , talk only (NATO) people! What a disappointment!!!

Be Evil???

I just went to one of our clients to fix some network connectivity issue. Earlier on, I instructed them to check the cables to make sure everything is intact and connected. Surely, they told me everything was connected.

It's disappointing to learn that these people just say anyhow, yet they never really properly checked. True to my suspicion, the cable was really disconnected.

Then they asked another question which every application in the workstation can print except for a particular one. I informed them that they have to call the application's vendor to fix the issue coz it's nothing to do with the printer.

My principle is to help people whenever I can. If these people can't even help me to get the information to help them out, why should I do it for them? It's against my principle though I think I better learn to be evil! Can I call this act evil?!

If people don't appreciate your effort and even make your life more difficult, then might as well let them resolve their own problem. I would only bother to do things within the job scope!

Lesson: Learn to be evil.

A Reminder???

It's been three months since I transferred to a new place, and I never did exercise as I used to do except doing some stretching and sit ups. Feel like my body is getting heavier, and seems getting older... hahaha.. Who's not getting older, anyway? :P

Well, I just started running again and find it very refreshing. I may need to do it everyday to get back in shape... hmm... The most difficult part is to start at the first few days, otherwise I'll just go back to the old ways...

Hopefully this write up will remind me of one of my TODOs... :D

What's in history?

History is a record of past events. In modern times, different formats like writing, pictures, sounds and videos, but the olden days often it was passed orally or written by historians.

History helps us understand and learn things. It helps us develop ways to improve things based on the historical data, or avoid the pitfalls.

It's discouraging to know some people who don't want to review the history. Discussing such detail doesn't mean you want to criticize people. It's meant to understand the whole situation, and use it as reference.

If people will just forget the history and start all over again, then they're repeating history. Meaning these people are trying to do same things as the previous people did. Trial and error!!!

History serves as a guideline to build a blueprint for things to be done.

Lesson: Learn from the past.

On Detective Works

Hearing the word detective, we usually associate it with the police. What we don't realize that often we do our own detective works everyday. It's not as complex as the police investigation, but still we do it.

Detective work is synonymous to investigation. It entails gathering of data, proof and come up with the conclusion. Scientists, engineers and/or any other individual usually have to do some investigation.

Once a person hits a problem to achieve his goal, he will start investigating on ways to overcome the obstacle. He would start gathering data, come up with the necessary materials and eventually achieve his goal.

Common factors to achieve or wrap up an investigation: patience, persistence and perspiration.

On Job Responsibility

How many people do you think really take on job responsibility?

This is a very broad question and dependent on each individual. We may think that everyone is taking responsibility on things they do. Some (or would I say rare?!) are very serious on their job responsibility. Some (majority?!!!) are don't-cares!!! I find the second group very annoying.

There's a new taxation law implemented start of this month. Two weeks or earlier before the changes, emails were already circulated on procedures on things to be done. When implementation time comes, it's amazing that second group can still tell you they don't know anything. Right on your face!!!

Taking one step backward, and try to analyze further seems like you can see more don't-care people. More are just interested in getting their pay at the end of month. These people work harder the last few days of the month, and can take the rest of the days as their leisure time. Sounds like they're club members!!!

Hmm... I guess that's how it works around here....

Last Week of Jun 2007

It was a busy week going to the end of June 2007. I thought I had planned things to do from what to accomplish, the activities and the timing. Somehow a lot of distractions/things that were not intended to be done that caused the schedule went haywire.

Lots of activities is good, however, things disrupted due to some bozos were really annoying. Luckily I had two less bozos recently. It would be stressful these coming days coz I'll become one-man-army, but it's better than cleaning up other people's mess.

One more annoying bozo is still around, but who cares!!! Maybe I'll try to act bozo so I can get rid of him too... hahaha....




Definition: bozo - a man who is a stupid incompetent fool