Moving On and Moving On

Mission: Build a House

Day 189: Bye

So I resigned.

Day 163: On a Rainy Sunday

I am the only person in the showroom. If it wasn't for these huge glass windows, I'd be running around naked.

Day 142: Open House!

7/31/11 - 142 days without sale

We had an open house yesterday.

I attend open house events for the food.

But there is a rule in the office, no guest, no food.

 
Does that make me a starving artist?


Tomorrow, I will assist gay dude that keeps on calling me "bro" (don't ask...) with one of his sales. Basically, I will be driving him to command outpost code named Charlie's Hotel India to work on some checks for one of his buyers.

Like my previous entry takes note of, I do this type of thing so I don't feel so useless around the office.

Third week of August will be evaluations and will determine whether I continue with the company.

Chin up.

Day 140: The Project Is 90% Sold Out...

...and I'm feeling pretty useless around here.

Askar dari Malaysia.

7/29/11 - 140 days without sale

I've resorted to taking minutes of the meetings that we have around here and posting them on Facebook so that it seems like I'm doing work.

It seems to be appreciated but at the end of the day, the bosses in sales don't really give a fuck and a half about how you get your sales as long as they are there.


"You have a quota, boy!"

"I know ma'am."

"Remember, in sales, all that matter are results. Give me results!"

"Yes ma'am."

And that's that.

Sale or death.

I got myself a haircut yesterday (now I look like the douchebag I'm supposed to be) because new boss battle wants pictures of us so that he can put up an organizational chart in the office somewhere.

Just so you have an idea as to what's going on, here's kinda what the chart looks like.

Jesus

|

Super Big Boss Battle

|

Big Boss Battle

|

Boss Battle

|

Boss

|

n00b

-nothing follows-

My name is #0019

I. AM. N00B!

And my new haircut makes me look swanky.

The past week has seen a good number of Malaysians take a look at this little blog.

Apa khabar, pa?

Anda mau membeli kondo?

Apa itu? Tidak mau?

Menangis.

Day 113: After a Long Silence...

I'm still employed by (insert name of reputable real estate developer at your convenience here)!

I haven't been writing on here too much because I've actually been working...

To no avail.

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?

Day 50: Recovery

04/30/11 - 50 days without sale

Did 13 hours yesterday.

Got out of the office at 1700hrs.

Then did booth work from 2200 - 0230 the next day.

The 5 hours in between was to prepare.

Spent most of today in bed recovering and watching Starcraft.

Day 48: Nothing Really Happens Here

04/28/11 - 48 days without sale

0653hrs. The boss called for a meeting at 0900hrs. Probably going to talk to us about how we are always late or never clock in at the end of the day.

0937hrs. Meeting time. Yeah. Fucked. Like Mario says, here we go.




And after the meeting, nothing really happened.

So here's nothing.

Yep.

Nothing.

I want pizza.

2103hrs. Big boss called for a meeting at 0900hrs tomorrow.

Poop.

Day 47: Same Shit, Brand New Day

04/27/11 - 47 days without sale

Borrowed from www.theblogofrecord.com

0816hrs. Welcome back to the workplace, I tell myself after the smashing un-success that was project undisclosed project project in a Muslim country somewhere in the world.

I'm Late.

I feel my job security slowly slipping away being one of the few people in this place with no sale after a month.

0921hrs. Followed up some of the people that inquired earlier this month.

Also working on the deal with the Russians and hopefully getting to make contact with the Japanese.

Then the Koreans.

Then the universe.

Yep, I'm a regular citizen of the world, aren't I?

1126hrs. With the advent of the global economy and the proliferation of the internet, the scope and means of the modern salesperson with a strong international background ought to be massively massive. Like WoW, only in 3D.

We're meant to capitalize on web 2.0 and the benefits one can derive from the metaphorically smaller world.

I'm still broke as shit.

Lunch time.

1432hrs. Got the briefing for a new mission. Operation wild mangosteen plantation steal. Trust me, this would be funnier if I could explain it.

But at the risk of risking the integrity of (insert name of reputable development company here at your convenience), all I can say is that this involves a condo and some wild mangosteen.

Sounds like a party.

1804hrs. After the whole fiasco from yesterday (link here), I've been slowly losing interest in the work that I do. I'm second guessing myself. I hate doing that.

Maybe things will get better if I fight for the aforementioned sale and end up winning.

In theory, I guess I still love what I do but when it comes down to practice, is this a hazard of the job?

I guess so.

Chin up.

Where does #0019 end and I begin?

Is this my slow descent into insanity?

You get to see it unfold on the blog.

Lucky you.

Day 46: Something Completely Different

Here's how sales works.

Instead of complaining about the tremendous amount of fail in project undisclosed project project, something completely different.

Sales is about establishing, building, and maintaining relationships.




A few days ago, I got a call from a good friend of mine from college. He was in a lower batch. From the same hometown studying in the big city. He ended up running in the same crowd that I did so I made it part of my personal mission to make sure he didn't do anything too stupid while away from home.

I consider my group of friends from college pretty tight and he's an integral part of that group.

Hell, I wrote and recorded an entire album for them as a Christmas present. His song was track 11.

He told me that his parents were interested in an investment in a condo or two. So I asked when they would like to head over to the showroom.

He told me that they wanted me over for breakfast the next day, to which I gladly obliged.

The breakfast went really well.

"My son here convinced me to take you as our broker," the dad said.

Sales is about establishing, building, and maintaining relationships.

I did my presentation, talked them through some of the available financing schemes, and gave them an overview of the available discounts that I can give. They seemed really interested and requested for sample computations.

At the end of it, I got them to validate a little piece of paper saying that I would be the person to handle the sale, should they decide to purchase from us.

After the presentation, I went to the office and started preparing sample computations to send over. When that was done, I printed them out and personally made the delivery to their house, leaving them with their son.

Sales is about establishing, building, and maintaining relationships.

On my way home, I got a call from the other team leader telling me that the account should belong to their team. One of them did, after all, entertain the family as walk in clients the day before. They also signed the little form noting the other team's service, thus acknowledging that they should be the rightful recipients of the sale.

Because of a little piece of paper signed a day before, the other team is telling me to back off from making the sale to the family of a guy I spent a good number of years of my life taking care of.

If this were any other client, I would have let it pass but I've invested too much of myself in my friendship with their son to even consider not giving them the best goddamed service and buying experience that I can offer.

Sales is about establishing, building, and maintaining relationships.

If the company rules that in sales, a little piece of paper trumps years of friendship, here's my resignation.

Day 37

04/12/11 - 37 days without sale

Maintaining strict radio silence as required by project undisclosed project project.

You didn't hear that from me.

What's that?

You didn't hear what from whom?

Nobody?

Good.

Day 34

04/09/11 - 34 days without sale

Walking in

1229hrs. I get to go into the trenches at 1500hrs today. More sleep.

1518hrs. At the showroom. Open house today. This means a lot of brokers and agents and the such. We mere in-house people don't stand a chance.




2029hrs. I was just given a briefing by the sales head on project undisclosed project. For a briefing, it was pretty long. So much paperwork to be taken into consideration. A checklist for this, a checklist for that, and a checklist to make sure the checklists have been checked. For an undisclosed project project, there's an awful lot being told to me.

Apparently, I have to close a fuckshitload of deals. Or else.

That's all I can say.

When the classified is declassified, I will disclose the undesclosed to you, dear reader.

2118hrs. I think I can sneak out of the office.

2119hrs. Shhh.

2200hrs. Project undisclosed project is a go. T-minus 4 days.

I sound so pro.

Day 33

04/08/11 - 33 days without sale.

Pop culture reference!

0724hrs. Not feeling too well. But I have to prepare for negotiations with the Russians.

I think I may have said too much.

1814hrs. Yeah. Kinda sick. My stomach.

I think I may have said too much.

Day 32

04/07/11 - 32 days without sale

Golden Boys

So it looks pro, I encourage everybody to abbreviate this blog to TVLH. 

0914hrs. Team lead still hasn't arrived yet. I'm inspired to work.

I have no idea what we're going to do today. Probably field.

I received an email from big boss battle regarding a mission in an undisclosed place slated for an undisclosed time with an undisclosed number of operatives operating in the undisclosed operation.


I'm being considered for and undisclosed position in the undisclosed operation because of my undisclosed wealth of undisclosed knowledge of the undisclosed location that they refuse to disclose.

All I know is that it doesn't involve the Russians.

I think I may have said too much.

Buy air now and get a condo for free! (in two or so years)

1124hrs. So. Hungry. Yeah. Let's have lunch. Lunch is good.

1326hrs. Meeting with undisclosed party (is it the Russians or big boss battle? The plot thickens.)

1638hrs. Just got back from the meeting.

Team got into trouble because a client wasn't entertained properly. I wasn't there at the time but I'm still somehow involved. That's the way shit goes down in the real world apparently. If I were there, I would have entertained the shit out of that orphan. A song and dance number with fireworks and acrobatic contortionist elephants. I would have done that. Really.

1730hrs. Home. Coffee. Starcraft. Congratulations to Moletrap for his GSL gig.

Waiting for Nuke the Stars to release another video.

1800hrs. Sample computation time. As a sales person, one needs to know the numbers like nothing else. Its what everybody asks. I'd like to think I have it down. The numbers. Damn the numbers.

*cringe*

My laptop is my weapon and Microsoft Office is my ammo.

1825hrs. So numb. Nothing witty to say.

Ten points to anyone that says something funny.

Until next time.

Excelsior.