Day 75: I'm Not Dead

I'm still here. But I get the feeling that my life in real estate sales is on life support.

Day 61: A Longer Post Chronicling Longer Day

0812hrs. Stuck at the showroom today manning the front desk. Nothing is really going to happen so, here's a longer journal entry.

0815hrs. Time to prepare coffee.

0847hrs. Somebody walked in and asked about the condos. Nobody else was at the front desk so I smiled the widest (insert name of reputable real estate development company here) smile I could.

Qualifying is important.

"I'm actually looking for a condo on behalf of my aunt"

The person that came in isn't the final decision maker.

1000hrs. I'm hungry. Nobody's coming in.

1128hrs. Lunch time. Chinese food. Again. I have to be back at the office at around lunch time so the guy I'm manning with gets to have some food too.

1228hrs. Back. Doing nothing. Let's play some Starcraft.

1328hrs. I'm waiting for a potential buyer. He said he'd visit the showroom today. So pumped.

This could be it.

Operation wild mangosteen plantation steal, here we come!

Emailed the Russians. They haven't gotten back to me. Could be because I'm saying too much.

1519hrs. Still waiting.

1635hrs. Waiting.

Helped the teammate I like the least not look like an idiot.

I should have taken that client.

1700hrs. My shift is officially over. Still waiting.

And waiting.

1800hrs. Waiting.

Assisted a broker.

1900hrs. Waiting. Playing Starcraft. Waiting.

2000hrs. You get the point.

2045hrs. Fuck it. Headed home.

An unintentional 13 hour shift.

Not getting paid anything extra.

2125hrs. The potential buyer didn't show up.

At least he had the decency to inform me.

At 9 in the evening.

2148hrs. Fuck. I have to send out sample computations.

Cramming time.

Its like college all over again.

Day 60: Promise for a Brighter Tomorrow

I'm stuck at the office tomorrow.

I'll write a longer entry then.

I promise.

Day 56: The Office as a Mexican Soap Opera

Yesterday, I was beginning to do a blow by blow of how much time in the trenches sucks but at around 1000hrs, things got interesting.

I consider the team lucky to have the team lead that we do. She lets us be and doesn't question us. But if we do have a question, she's always there to help

With anything to do with work, she's always there to lend a hand.

During a closing sequence, token disgruntled guy broke protocol with one of the reservation documents. Team lead called him to to the back and had a word with him.

To which he replied with a rather forceful "no, you're wrong".

She wasn't.

When Mr. Client walked out to head to the bank, the yelling started.

He raised his voice.

Then she raised hers.

The incident ended with him telling her (literally translated) "It's too loud over there". Basically, the equivalent of saying "just shut the fuck up."

She stormed off.

As that's happening, he says for everybody to hear.

(I can't think of the literal translation) "Team lead thinks she knows everything. The idiot doesn't know shit."

Who does that?

Even if she was wrong, you tell the boss she's wrong nicely.

Give a level-headed, well-reasoned argument.

There was a realtor in the office asking some questions while all this was going down.

Not in front of guests.

Team lead calls for a meeting.

"It's that time of the month," tall cool guy tells me as we make our way into the meeting room (place where people sleep when the bosses aren't looking).

A very angry meeting.

A very angry hour-long meeting.

Token disgruntled guy gives a barely comprehensible defense of his undefendable position.

Some voices raised as team lead tells us that at the end of the day, she's still our superior.

"As your team leader, I deserve respect," she said, holding back her tears.

Their incident reports should be on the big boss' desk before Saturday.

Another guy also has to put together an incident report because of something that happened the other day while I wasn't at the office.

When asked to give my thoughts I tell the team that team leads over in the head office are evil. We're lucky that the ones here don't just give us a stack of flyers, a price list, a pat on the back and tell us "happy selling".

The ones here are actually helpful.

I don't have a sale but I like my chances for continued employment with (insert name of reputable development company here).

Team leads makes the employees' progress reports.

And in case any of you are wondering, no, I'm not from Mexico.

I don't think token disgruntled guy managed to close that sale.

Day 54: An Explanation

05/04/11 - 54 days without sale

If my day sucks, I'm less inclined to write here.

But then again, if my day is absolutely shitfuckingtacular (my word for suck-fest worse than total and absolute suckage), I write a whole lot.

Did I just fry your brain?

Good.

Day 51: The First Thing to Go is Your Ego

Oh shit. He broke character.

Sales.

A friend called asking if he would do well with real estate sales.

I had to give that question a good deal of thought because it forced me to look at what I do for a living and evaluate not only his chances of hacking it in this industry but my own situation in it.





 The first thing to go is your ego.

Remember the first time a person with whom you were deeply infatuated turned you down?

Remember the second time something like that happened?

Do you remember how it felt?

I get that every day.

"I don't think we're ready to make an investment in one of your condos."

"While tempting, I really don't have the money to buy a condo right now."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think this is right for me at this point in my life."

Then there's manning the booth.

Once you step into the booth at the mall, you instantly become among the most invisible people in the building.

Honestly, nobody notices as you try to smile and give passers by your flyer in the hope that they will find interest in what it is you're trying to sell. Here is the link to a previous entry highlighting this experience.

Then they say you hold your own time.

That's a lie.

Well, sort of.

If you're one of the in-house salesfolk and the boss says you have to be at the showroom from 8am to 5pm, you have to be there.

Then as you're leaving, if the boss says you have to be at a booth to hand out flyers from 10pm to 2am the next morning, you have to be there even if you pulled a full 8 hour shift.

Then you have to be at the showroom at 8am again.

If a client calls at 5:30 in the morning, you have to wake up and sound like you didn't just wake up.

If a client tells you that you have to email a sample computation in the next ten minutes, it doesn't matter that you're on vacation, you have to find an internet connection.

If a client calls you on Labour Day, it doesn't matter that the government says you're on holiday.

You have to work.

I take pride in the fact that nobody sees me visibly stressed out about anything. In fact, the guy that gave me a call said that he's only seen me stressed out once. After a 10 or so page philosophy term paper.

But now, the stress shows.

My eyebags are bigger and I snap much easier.

Writing as #0019 helps me cope.

That being said, it can be financially rewarding.

Very financially rewarding.

But is it worth it?

Also, the awesome people I've met while out in the booth or making client calls and getting myself out there makes it fun if you're that type of person.

I enjoy it.

But is it worth it?

Remember the first time a person with whom you were deeply infatuated agreed to be exclusive?

That's how it feels to have somebody commit to a sale.

But is it worth it?

The first thing to go is your ego.

But if you think its worth it, who needs an ego anyway?