This one is dedicated to the job I do...
You know you've had an overdose of sales when...
...the word target drives you mad!
...your dreams as well as your nightmares feature you struggling making a sales call in Kannada/ Telugu or basically any unknown language (oh I hate those nights)
...you are taking a walk and your legs automatically turn left when they see a shop
...even your "Dr.Scholes" shoe soles look like a road roller just ran over them
...sitting and eating is considered "leisure"!!
...even better, eating with company is considered "celebration" :D
...your leg is soo tanned it looks like a zebra...
On the brighter side, sales has taught me many things in life and many a time has given me reasons to smile...some quotable quotes...
"Sales and salaries should always go up" - Boss
"First rule in sales: You don't sell how much you can, you sell how much you want to" - Boss again
"M (my salesman) to retailer: Aapne 6 piece Talc ka order diya tha ab ek hi piece hai...
Retailer: Idhar dekh 5 piece padhe hain
M (immediately without hesitation n with a grin): EK THO GAYA NA...
The way M says it brings a wide smile to both the retailer's and my face. Reminds me of the "Glass is half full" dialouge! Once we are out of the shop I tell M that I really liked the way he handled the retailer.
Me: Keep this positive attitude always...it will help in sales n in general in life...
M: Barabar hain Madame. Insha Allah"
Insha Allah alright!!!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Try TRAI to test ur patience...
It is 6 o'clock in the evening and I have just boarded a bus after a tiring day of doing the market. Finding myself a nice seat by the window I prepare for the 45+ min journey. As always I daydream for the first 10 minutes retrospecting on the day n the happenings. Then of course, its time to check my cell for any message or call I missed while daydreaming (no no that doesn't happen often!)...I take my Nokia 2600 out of my bag and press a key...shocking, there is absolutely no signal...now that is not a very rare occurence especially given the rough handoffs between cell zones that most GSM cellular services offer but it is definitely a momentary occurence...but now its a whole 10 seconds and there still isn't any signal...I switch off my cell and switch it on again...still no luck...I start "panicking"...I immediately ask a couple of people around if their cell phones have signal, both have the same connection as me but both have signal...then encouragingly a third person says his signal has disappeared too...finding solace that my instrument is not screwed I breathe lighter...and then I jus wait...
Somehow it is a period of unrest..."How long is the network gonna stay clogged?" "Oh I badly need to talk to mom, she will go out in half an hour" "If this damn thing doesn't work in the next 2 hours, how will I get my sales reports done on time"...All such thoughts crowd my mind...As a result I repeatedly glance my cell every 5 to 7 minutes and switch off and on my cell multiple times...In between I also try manually selecting the network etc...all in vain...
The network suddenly appears on my pink screen at 7:35 pm...WHEW!...I am filled with relief and happiness...I make my inaugarative call home and as usual begin by cribbing about the network...(I think I spend half my phone bill talking abt how bad the connection is...the other half on calling back people with whom the line gets cut)...
Its been just 2 and a half years since I have owned and carried a cellphone. But looking back, it seems like a lot more than that...these couple of years have made me addicted to the instrument and life pretty much revolves around it. Especially now that I stay away from family and most friends, my cell phone means much more to me than jus a mode of communication, it is my way of socializing, my way of staying in touch, my way of connecting with the world, and off late, my way of doing business too...
But the mobile telephony systems in India are far from perfect. On the network side there is SOO much of scope for improvement in network capacity and connectivity (esp. in GSM) and on the mobile service providers side too things are just totally messed up.
The mobile service providers enjoy a kind of oligopoly and the industry is heading towards consolidation with a few biggies and a bunch of other smaller players. "Ditch It...Yessir" (popularly called Ditch) and "Bear with us Telecom" (BearTel) are some of the more popular national players. My first connection was from "Hard to Hear Cell" (HearCell) a major operator in the southern states of the country and I had a very hard 2 years with HearCell... the only saving grace being their efficient free sms that made amazing economic sense to us BIMites! The whole B school literally ran on free sms, with everything from having lunch to fixing meetings to just generally chatting up happening thru the mode...
Irritated with my bad network experiences with HearCell, I decided to switch to Ditch once I took up my job in B'lore...words are not enuf to express my frustration with this service...for one they give a very arbit "credit limit" then sudden suddenly u will get these smses warning you about reachin 80% or 90% of you credit limit...and even though you hurriedly pay your bills online from time to time to avoid "barring" all of a sudden you will not be permitted to make any calls just because Ditch's system didnot get updated...this is only a sample problem I have faced with Ditch...there are SO many more...one other major one being the fact that Ditch shares (or rather sells) your phone number with many Banks, Insurance Companies, Consultants etc. etc. and if you have taken a corporate connection from a Ditch Shop you can be assured that your privacy will be invaded...
Embittered by my B'lore experiences I went to H'bad with major hopes and expectations of finding a "perfect" connection there...I decided to try out BearTel and got my prepaid connection 4 hours after landing there with no major hassles, just had to submit a copy of my license and a passport sized photo...was thrilled...
Just 48 hrs later the problems began...I kept getting messages that I needed to submit a local address proof by the weekend. Got a letter from my HR supporting my local address and rushed to the BearTel office only to discover they require another photo and copy of license...had run out of photos and was forced to take a new set of them...In the meantime, I had topped off my recharge card with a 75 Rs. top off card which gave me local calls at 50 p. Discovered while "re submitting" my form that I could get local@50 p + STD@1 Re for a top off of Rs.150 (had not been informed about this deal earlier)...but guess what, after I pay this in excess of the 75 Rs. I had already burnt and after waiting for 48 hrs for "activation" there is another sweet surprise...You cannot use 2 deals at the same time, even if you are willing to pay more and even if the second deal is only an extension of the first...
All I can say is...hope someones hearing this...probably the Ambanis???
Somehow it is a period of unrest..."How long is the network gonna stay clogged?" "Oh I badly need to talk to mom, she will go out in half an hour" "If this damn thing doesn't work in the next 2 hours, how will I get my sales reports done on time"...All such thoughts crowd my mind...As a result I repeatedly glance my cell every 5 to 7 minutes and switch off and on my cell multiple times...In between I also try manually selecting the network etc...all in vain...
The network suddenly appears on my pink screen at 7:35 pm...WHEW!...I am filled with relief and happiness...I make my inaugarative call home and as usual begin by cribbing about the network...(I think I spend half my phone bill talking abt how bad the connection is...the other half on calling back people with whom the line gets cut)...
Its been just 2 and a half years since I have owned and carried a cellphone. But looking back, it seems like a lot more than that...these couple of years have made me addicted to the instrument and life pretty much revolves around it. Especially now that I stay away from family and most friends, my cell phone means much more to me than jus a mode of communication, it is my way of socializing, my way of staying in touch, my way of connecting with the world, and off late, my way of doing business too...
But the mobile telephony systems in India are far from perfect. On the network side there is SOO much of scope for improvement in network capacity and connectivity (esp. in GSM) and on the mobile service providers side too things are just totally messed up.
The mobile service providers enjoy a kind of oligopoly and the industry is heading towards consolidation with a few biggies and a bunch of other smaller players. "Ditch It...Yessir" (popularly called Ditch) and "Bear with us Telecom" (BearTel) are some of the more popular national players. My first connection was from "Hard to Hear Cell" (HearCell) a major operator in the southern states of the country and I had a very hard 2 years with HearCell... the only saving grace being their efficient free sms that made amazing economic sense to us BIMites! The whole B school literally ran on free sms, with everything from having lunch to fixing meetings to just generally chatting up happening thru the mode...
Irritated with my bad network experiences with HearCell, I decided to switch to Ditch once I took up my job in B'lore...words are not enuf to express my frustration with this service...for one they give a very arbit "credit limit" then sudden suddenly u will get these smses warning you about reachin 80% or 90% of you credit limit...and even though you hurriedly pay your bills online from time to time to avoid "barring" all of a sudden you will not be permitted to make any calls just because Ditch's system didnot get updated...this is only a sample problem I have faced with Ditch...there are SO many more...one other major one being the fact that Ditch shares (or rather sells) your phone number with many Banks, Insurance Companies, Consultants etc. etc. and if you have taken a corporate connection from a Ditch Shop you can be assured that your privacy will be invaded...
Embittered by my B'lore experiences I went to H'bad with major hopes and expectations of finding a "perfect" connection there...I decided to try out BearTel and got my prepaid connection 4 hours after landing there with no major hassles, just had to submit a copy of my license and a passport sized photo...was thrilled...
Just 48 hrs later the problems began...I kept getting messages that I needed to submit a local address proof by the weekend. Got a letter from my HR supporting my local address and rushed to the BearTel office only to discover they require another photo and copy of license...had run out of photos and was forced to take a new set of them...In the meantime, I had topped off my recharge card with a 75 Rs. top off card which gave me local calls at 50 p. Discovered while "re submitting" my form that I could get local@50 p + STD@1 Re for a top off of Rs.150 (had not been informed about this deal earlier)...but guess what, after I pay this in excess of the 75 Rs. I had already burnt and after waiting for 48 hrs for "activation" there is another sweet surprise...You cannot use 2 deals at the same time, even if you are willing to pay more and even if the second deal is only an extension of the first...
All I can say is...hope someones hearing this...probably the Ambanis???
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