What it takes to excel as Sales

There are many books out there which touch on "what it takes to excel" "how to be a successful salesman" "101 ways to be a successful sales man" etc.

Based on my short stint leading the International Sales team, what i can gather is:

Rule 1: Passion
Good academic results or relationships or records can land you the job, but hey, you would need to have the passion to drive you forward, to pick you up when you're bashed down to the ground. You would need to believe in yourself, and use the passion as fuel to drive you to greater height.

A passionate sales man will be able to handle rejection with ease, because, they would understand that all the obstacles, especially rejection, is part of the daily job to "make a dent in the universe".

Rule 2: Brain
You can be as gungho or passionate as you can be, but if it doesn't come with any strategic thinking or brain power to back it up, then it is not a complete package. Whether it is to con or to convince, which is a huge part of a sales man's daily job, you would need to be able to think and react fast to changes. After all, change is the only constant here.

Rule 3: Balls of Steel
Ok, you're equipped with passion and brain, but hey, you must have the guts and balls of steel to get it executed. It is not easy to approach a total stranger and tell him or her how good you or your product is. It is easy to sell, but it is never easy to say No to customer. Most often than not, there will be times where you would need to place company's interests above those of customers, like further price discount. You must have the ball to say "sorry, this is the lowest i can go" and take the risk of the customer walking away. Nonetheless, the risks can be largely mitigated if you understand your customers' threshold well enough before hand. Always do your homework beforehand, as there's a thin fine line between being a cowboy or a brave sales man.

Rule 4: Charisma
This is not something which can be taught of. Some just born with better looks than the others, but that's not the key point here. Charisma does not mean that you would need to be the most good looking person on earth, but you must be pleasant enough for customers to like you. Play your game right, some time sex sells, but most of the time, charisma comes in different format. A trusted look is more important than a pretty face in sales.

This might not be an exhaustive list of what it takes to excel, but so far i think these 4 key elements are important to differentiate a good sales man from a darn blardy good one.

Good Morning!

Sometimes, it is the simplest thing in life that makes or breaks.

On my way to work today, and yes, it could have been a dreadful Monday as always, but everything changes when i was greeted by this beautiful sunrise. 

That totally change my day. Good Morning peeps!

Something Bigger

We always wanted to achieve something bigger in life. Let the motivation be wealthier, gain better status, recognition and fame, or pure desire to have a better quality of life. We always have the desire to be someone or achieve something bigger.

We are all dreamers, especially when we were younger. Though the courage to dream fades exponentially as we grew older, we are all dreamers, at least at one stage of our lives.

Throughout the years in seeking for the answers on what it takes to bring me to another level, it came to my realization that in order to achieve something bigger, one should understand the real meaning of life.

You see, you can say I want to be a ceo. Great vision indeed. But you must be able to answer, what is the point of doing so?

Why do you want to be a ceo? Is it driven by the desire for Power? Money? Status? Or all of the above?

Well, these are all valid reasons and it shall not be judged whether they are right or wrong, because these are all bits and pieces of life which has driven human being in our route to success for years.

In my humble opinion, perhaps we should ask ourselves, what difference would I make, if I haven't done the thing which I want to achieve.

I always believe that "Things happen for a reason", and without knowing what's the reason that drives you, you will not go very far.

That's another philosophical entry of the year...

2012 - The Story Continues

2012 hasn't been great, but hasn't been that bad either.

After entering the "Big 30" club, it's like I am forced to grow up overnight. Now into the 2nd year of this phase of my life, i think i am starting to get used to it.

With the depreciation in the value of money while the property prices keep on rising, it is indeed a huge pressure for us to keep up. For now, we are still thankful that we have a small hut to live in, but if you think through it, things would be very challenging for our next generation.

The property prices in our regional countries (big cities at least) are way more expensive than what we have in KL. Let it be Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh, KL's property is surprisingly at an "Affordable Level".

In Malaysia, it is apparent that Wealth Gap is widening at an alarming pace. Well, the increase in social issue + crime rate is positively link to the widening of Wealth Gap. We used to have a fat layer of Middle Income group but now, this group is dividing into 2 groups, one leaning towards the "Rich", and one leaning towards the "Poor".

For a lot of my peers, they are continuously and proactively looking for investment opportunities. This is a positive thing for the country, but of course this is because they are also looking for a Social Class Upgrade. Some, they chose to be more passive and believe that savings, rather than investment, is the way to go.

Both school of thoughts have their own merits, however, we shouldn't work in silo and believe that everything else will be ceteris paribus (Latin terms used in Economics to describe "All Else Remains Unchanged"). When we are moving, the society, economy and the globe are moving as well.

The key here is, if you are looking for a social class upgrade, you would need to Outpace everyone else.

You see, if the country's social welfare & education system is good, we do not need to fight for survival by outpacing everyone else. However, we do know that in Bad Times, we will have no one to rely on but ourselves.

Official stats or numbers on cost of living shows that Malaysia is among the lowest. Indeed it is. But every household's earnings must be sufficient to cover the daily expenses + indulgence, while a huge portion of the income will need to go to a Rainy Day Fund. We would need to save up for insurance premium, emergency funds for medical bills, maintenance bills and other miscellaneous, kids' education fund etc. If you add all this together, that's a totally different story and the cost of living in Malaysia is extremely high for all of us.

Recent President Barack Obama's speech particularly moved me. He mentioned about the importance of education and medical welfare for the people, which I am totally in agreement with him. This is what we are lacking in Malaysia, a sense of Security where our present + future will be protected.

As a matter of fact, it would be tough to rely on the government to make any drastic change, and in avoidance to drop further in the Social Class Rank, i think it's time for us to work hard, invest & divest and save for the future. It ain't gonna be any easier if you don't do anything, now.

It's action time.

Infernal Affairs Parody Video

In March 2012, we shot this parody version of infernal affairs. It was good fun and hope you guys like this video.

Believe

When i was in University about a decade ago, a foreigner asked which country do i come from.

I said, "Malaysia".

He was like, "Sorry?"

It was quite an usual response, thus I quickly added on, "Do you know Thailand? Singapore? Yeah, we are the country in between these two countries."

That was early 2000. 

In 1999, my ex-housemate's Italian friend came over for holiday. We brought her out for a visit around town. She was very amazed at KLCC Twin Towers (and KLIA) and kept on praising how great Malaysia is.

We were in awed. To us, Twin Towers sounded like a total waste of money, but then, without a doubt, it did become a key landmark for Malaysia, and enable us to stamp our footprint in the global stage.

Maybe we do have vision 2020 after all.

There was time when it's hard to illustrate where Malaysia is, and there was time where we don't even feel good about ourselves when we were in overseas.

More so when it comes to sport.

There is without a doubt that Malaysians love English Premier League more than our local football league. After all, it is undoubtedly the most entertaining & exciting football league in the world. 

It is a dream for a lot of Malaysians to watch an English Premier League (EPL) game live at the stadium, especially for the Big 4 teams. For most people, to experience the atmosphere, the passions and the excitement at the stadium is a once in a lifetime experience.

Yet, it is not easy for most of us to do so. 

Until lately, we started to believe that English Premier League is not that far from us, anymore.

Our most prolific entrepreneur, Tony Fernandes, bought over London's EPL club Queens Park Rangers.

With his success in making AirAsia the biggest no-frill airlines, most people do believe that Tony Fernandes will bring EPL closer to most of us.

But that's not all. There's more.

Heard of Mister Potato? Mister Potato is now the Global Snack Partner of Manchester United Football Club. Not bad for a Malaysian brand.

That's right, Manchester United, the legendary football club in EPL which has recently been crowned as the the EPL Champion for the record-breaking 19th time.

Going to watch an EPL game live is no longer a dream. With the launch of "The Ultimate Man Utd Experience" Campaign, the winner of this campaign will stand a chance to watch an EPL game live at Old Trafford, Manchester, with total VIP treatment! Also, there will be stadium & museum tour added on to the package too.

Now the opportunity is here, and it is only up to you whether you want to grab it.

It is all about B.E.L.I.E.V.E.

and there is only one United.

See you at the top!

Nobody says it's easy...

things are never meant to be easy, and it is even harder to stay focus in getting ONE thing done.

doing too many things at one time might end up getting nothing done.

so, just stay focus for now. Will reach there someday, somehow.