The Life of a Sales Person

What is it like having a sales job? Flexible hours and not being bogged down by paperwork in the office? Most people who are in sales do it because they can't sit still in the office, likes the freedom, meet new people, hone their people skills and earn a little extra moolah which you can't get by sitting in the air-conditioned room. However, it is tougher than it actually sounds. These are the low downs on being in a sales job and what you need to expect when working in sales. This is the life of an average product specialist.

I go into office twice a week. By now, many would be in envy at the fact that i have 3 non reporting days. There is a whole lot more hard work being a travelling sales person than just day offs from the office. You get the freedom of not having your boss breath down your neck...but you will have to be very self-motivated to make sure you make all your sales calls by the end of the day. You may laze if you wish...but don't expect to hit your sky high target and get the extra money without your hard work and effort put into it.

Ladies, it would be a good idea to bring along your sunnies to shield your eyes while driving as it will prevent you from feeling sleepy from the sun rays as a result of prolong driving. There would be a lot of driving involved in the job as you are required to travel from customer A to B to C and so on, on a daily basis. Wear protective gloves to protect your hands and arms from darkening and from premature aging.

Remember to drink up on water while you are on the road as prolong driving will leave you exhausted and thirsty. It will also prevent your skin from dryness caused by the hot sun and air condition in the car.

Don't leave home without your trusty calculator in hand. This is the most important tool a sales person would need besides the handphone. To count your sales and the costs of your products for your customers. Helps you to estimate how far you are from your target too!

GPS Navigation system! It would come in handy when you need to be somewhere pronto and you have no idea where it is. It helps to guide you by showing the fastest route to your destination, that way...you will never get lost and it saves you time! A good gadget to invest in.

Before you alight your car, be sure to pucker up your lips with lip gloss just in case your lips were crack and dried up during driving. Its not a good look to give your customers..dried chapped lips...as in sales...your appearance is also very important as it gives people first lasting impression of you. First impressions counts. And it will give your customers the confidence to trust in you if they know you take yourself seriously by taking care of your self and the way you appear to others.

If you just had a meal before meeting your customers, it is a good thing to keep a mouth refreshener in your car. You can get it in spray formulation from pharmacies. It helps to deodorizes the smell of the food and keeps your breath fresh so that you can speak to your customers with confidence, knowing that you smell good.

Make sure to also be aware of your surroundings before you alight your car and when entering your car. Snatch thieves are very common these days, so for the ladies out there, please be fully aware. Keep phone numbers of the police, ambulance, security and also your love ones in case there is an emergency. Hold a pepper spray or alarm, get it ready in standby mode while you are walking to your car and also get the keys ready in your hands.

Try giving out gimmicks or little gifts that will remind your customers of you and your products that you sell. It serve as a gentle reminder of you and also as a small token for your customers for their continuous support in purchasing your products.


Lastly, try to keep your cool during traffic jams as you will encounter them on a daily basis and at almost every hour of the day, especially if you will be covering KL. If you are a short temper person, this ain't the job for you as it requires a lot of patience. Try to listen to music on the radio to keep your mood light.

Sales job requires a lot of hard work and patience as not all customers are easy to deal with. And not all customers will buy from you the first time they meet you...so it's important to have perserverance. Remember to smile most of the time no matter how difficult a customer is, as it shows your professionalism. Do not sulk just because the customer commented how expensive and useless your products are.
Sales job can be tiring, travelling from one place to another, meeting different people everyday and having to deal with intense situations. However, it does hone your people skills, improve the way you communicate with others and also it helps pay the bills and you will have a little extra to save for a better future. Plus, you get to scout for the best places to eat!

A Jazzy Affair

Jazz dance is an umbrella term that can refer to several related dance styles. All of them are connected via common roots, namely tap, ballet, jazz music, and African-American rhythms and dance. Until the mid 1950s, the term "jazz dance" often referred to tap dance, because tap dancing (set to jazz music) was the main performance dance of the era. Today, jazz dance is present in many different forms and venues. Jazz dance is commonly taught in dance schools and performed by dance companies around the world. It continues to be an essential element of musical theatre choreography, where it may be interwoven with other dance styles as appropriate for a particular show. Jazz dancing can be seen in music videos, in competitive dance, and on the television show, So You Think You Can Dance.
Jazz classes require some form of moderate intensity stretching in order to warm up the muscles and help prevent injuries. Some techniques used in the warm up consist of elongating leg muscles and strengthening the core. Although jazz dance can be performed its traditional form, it is often influenced by other dance styles such as acro, ballet, contemporary, lyrical, and hip hop. In turn, many other dance styles are influenced by jazz dance.
Extracted from: http://www.wikipedia.org

I FINALLY took up NEW JAZZ class after researching since last year for good classes in KL and PJ. New Jazz is a more contemporary feel to Jazz and is heavily infulenced by MTV cheoreography dance steps and hip hop. The kind that you see in a Beyonce, Justin Timberlake or Britney Spears music video. The steps are cool and sexy. I took up the class since April and am loving it! Its a girls only class and the lessons comprises of mostly sexy female moves which is why it is more suitably catered to girls. We danced to the latest hip hop songs in the clubs and it is also a very fun way to exercise and tone up your body. You will have loads of fun and can even help to build up your self confidence. So the next time you are invited for clubbing with your girlfriends...you can really bust some cool sexy moves that will definately upped your confidence and sexiness level. You go girl!
For me, i really love dance and especially new jazz as you can get to learn sexy cool steps from latest music videos. I do love other form of dance too such as salsa, belly dancing and latin. New Jazz class costs anywhere from RM90 - RM110 per month depending on which school you go to. Some are pretty good but you will have to do your homework to find out. The one i am attending is pretty good with the instructor dancing regularly for events. She even signed us up for an uncoming hip hop competition happening in August! I am so excited and can't wait! It will be fun and for exposure and experience. It doesn't matter about winning...It's about the chance to showcase your talent, expose yourslef to the dance culture, learn from others and just have fun while doing it! The competition is 4 mths away and we are already training hard and intense for it. This will be the first time ever i am joining a dance competition and keeping up with the class is really challenging as i need to perfect my skills and dance moves....not having prior dance experience makes it even more challenging..but i'm not giving up just yet! After the intense 2hours practice just now...i came home at 10pm. Exhausted but satisfied. I now have more respect for dancers...even back up dancers...it really takes a lot of hard work to be good at it. I now see more to it than just a music video...all the hard work by the cheographer to cheograph a cool dance sequence tailor made for the certain music video whether it is a Britney's, Christina's, Timberlake's or Beyonce's. And really kudos to the singer and the dancers who back them up in the video as it takes a whole lot of hard work and perserverance to make the video look cool and sexy...with all the right steps coordinated for the video. Not to metion, hours and hours of practice to perfect the craft till it leaves your body aching, muscles sore and sometimes even injuries. I will never look at dance the same way again. I am enjoying the class more and more as each week passes by. As i am writing this...my muscles start to feel sore...but tummy starts to feel tighter and more toned already. With all the soreness, i would crash in bed with a deep sleep tonight. Can't imagine the aches tomorrow morning...but i ain't complaining. Success takes hard work! I hope to do well in this competition. Will keep everyone updated on my practice and lessons as the competition approaches closer. =)

Who Moved My Cheese?

Cheese is one of my favourite food in the world. I have to have my cheese in my macaroni, my pasta, my pizza, and not to mention cheese cake, baked cheese rice, cheesel potato chips...practically i need to have cheese in most of my food! Whether melted on a toasted bread, folded in the cake ingredients, sprinkled on my pasta or just eaten the way it is...kudos to the genius who discovered cheese. There are also many cheese in the world..the more familiar ones are parmesan cheese, blue cheese and many many more. Its just such a cheesy sensational delight!
Recently, i read a book titled "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Dr Spencer Johnson which is one of the most best-selling book author in the world. Nope, i did not read this book to quit my cravings for cheese or anything. If anything else, this book has nothing to do with cheese per se, it only uses cheese as a metaphor for the object we want most in our life...whether it is money, health, career, love and happiness. This story is a very simple but very interesting story that even schoolchildren could understand and adults could appreciate. The interesting part about this book is that the cheese could represent any part of life you want it to. While reading this book, everyone can have a different interpretation of the story and 'the cheese' means different things to different people. In the story, there are 4 characters named "Sniff" and "Scurry" which are mice looking for their cheese in the maze, and "Haw" and "Hem" who are Littlepeople (they represent human but they are small in size...equalvalent to their mice counterparts). All four characters run around the maze looking for their own special cheese. Just about anyone can relate to this story as you will have a special cheese that is close to your heart. Everyone can identify with the characters in the story as they will tend to see a little of each characters within themselves. Either they are like "Sniff", "Scurry", "Haw" or "Hem" or sometimes there is a little of each character in us. Which makes this story interesting and easy to identify and relate to. "Sniff" is a character who is able to smell out the cheese...just as a person who is quick to smell out the changes that goes through their lives, "Scurry" is a character who is quick to put things into action once certain changes had happened in the environment. "Haw" is a character who is initially hesitant and resist change in the beginning and did not want changes to happened, but is open minded enough to learn new things, act differently and adapt in time in the changed environment to succeed. "Hem" despise change, is resistant to it and refused to believe change can actually happened. This character will dwell on the problem and is in denial...hoping the situation will changed back to as it was before...as he is already comfortable with the way things were. I find that most people fall under the character of "Hem" who are comfortable and do not want change. As the saying goes..."If something is not broken, why try to fix it?". This story attempts to get people to adapt to changes..as changes do happened in our lives...many we have no control of as we can't predict the future. We are only 90% responsible for our lives as 90% is determined by our actions and how we react to the situation...10% is determined by the event..or changes that we have no control of. The only thing we have control of is how we react to the situation that makes the difference (The Rule of 90/10). All said...it is so easy to succumb to our emotions as we are only human. And emotions are what makes us human. Whether it is joy, happiness, sorrow or sadness...we cry and we laugh. However, this is a good book to help us cope with changes in our lives as the obstacles come along the way. It is not easy to change our emotions or the way we feel...but this book serve as a little helper to help us along the way, to shine the light a little brighter at the end of the dark tunnel, to uncomplicate the puzzle in our lives. It helps us along the way...while recognizing that we are human with emotions....and motivating and comforting us when we need it the most. Is life really that simple or are we in denial, thinking we should just change constantly? You decide.



Picture courtesy of http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/

Life at MSD

Life at MSD just keeps on getting tougher and tougher. During probation period, i have to report to office everyday which can be very taxing especially when during month end when you need to chase for sales. My confirmation is due this month and they informed me that i have to sit for a final assessment before they can confirm me. I was so super stressed out. Luckily, i made it through and passed with flying colours. The past 6 months and pretty much the whole of last year has been a terrible and struggling time for me. Moving from SP to MSD. And now, the news of SP going to merge with MSD. Irony huh.
This year, MSD went through a restructuring phase again. I still handle hypertension medication Cozaar, Hyzaar and Fortzaar with the addition of Zocor. And my territory has been changed. From Jln Ipoh, West Pahang, Setapak, Rawang, Bangi, part Cheras, Kajang and UPM...now my area is Cheras, Ampang and parts of KL. Super crazy jam everyday. The drs i cover this year are more demanding not to mention having to cover some group practices which can be challenging and demanding. Just last week, i was scolded the F word by a nasty crazy dr who is so famous for his vulgar language and bad manners towards medical reps. Sometimes i wonder, do drs know that we are also humans and that they are also JUST humans like us? Having a title of dr doesn't give you that kind of rights and privilages to be rude to others. Especially not only cursing the F word, but also cursing your parents, your car and your company. At the end of the day, it is just a game of survival. I am just doing my job and just want to earn my money. Life is indeed a stage sometimes. For now, i am just looking forward to receiving my confirmation letter before thinking about other things. My colleague who is handling paeds product is so pityful too. She took a whole year to get her product into all private hospitals under her territory and did quite well. Penetrated the market and also had hit her target for 9 out of 12 months which was really good. One word of RESTRUCTURE, MSD just took it all away from her and realign her to handle GPs instead. No wonder she lost her enthusiasm and fighting power. As for me, i am STILL struggling and living one day at a time.

Conquering Kota Bahru

It has been on my wish list to visit every state in Malaysia. I finally found a reason to visit Kota Bahru when i go over to visit BFF at her hometown. One thing is to see how Kota Bahru is like and whether it is as conservative as many says it is, and second to get a peace of mind and some relaxation. I went over on November 2008, and only managed to write it up now. It has been a while since i last wrote anything on my blog. 2008 has been a rollercoster year with many downturns. I am slowly gathering the courage and motivation to pick up my life again. BFF, thanks for accompanying me during my low time and being there for me. I wanna thank you for being part of my recuperation process and every step of the way. I'm still taking time to stand up on my feet again and really appreciate everyone who has been there for me. Everything has really been tough but i'm taking life, one step at a time.



Our first meal after i just landed in Kota Bahru.



Delicious Beef noodles that is famous in KB. But i din't get to taste it as i don't eat beef.



The statue of Buddha. Bff dear, i was really surprised KB has so many shrines for Buddhist, considering KB is a Malay state.



Beautiful artwork of the Chinese zodiac sign, Dog which is my animal sign.



More beautiful artwork gracing the temple.



Sleeping Buddha at another shrine.



The beautiful peacock at the temple compound. Too bad it didn't spread the beautiful feathers.



Me and Kereen at the beach. We went to Tok Bali beach.


My hand & Kereen's hand= LOVE 4EVER


I love you bff, Muacks!


The delicious Thai food! Yummy yummy spicy tom yam gong.







Me and BFF Kereen. Thanks gal for a great time at KB where you show me around your hometown. It was really a lovely experience. KB isn't as conservative as many would think and definately worth a visit.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3

High school musical 3: Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens returns as the lovely sweet high school couple who sings to each other endlessly! How romantic. The songs, choregraphy, props and dances are to die for!

Check this video out. My favourite scene in the movie:

My Birthday Wish List 2008

Its gonna be my birthday come Monday but i don't even feel it. Probably i'm just to stressed out. This is my Birthday Wish List, i hope the respective manufacturers or makers or designers would read my blog this year and send them to me, as a token of appreciation for my free advertisement of their products on my blog! Hehe...

1) Thomas Sabo Charm Bracelet

http://www.thomassabo.com/

Charm ClubWith its Charm Club Collection, THOMAS SABO has helped the ancient tradition of the charm bracelet make a huge comeback. As a lucky charm, souvenir, attractive accessory and a particularly wonderful gift idea, the charms enchant all wearers in their own special way. Charms are personal altars to secret passions and obsessions. Romance and infatuations, happiness and success, moments and insights – the charms lend shape to the story of your life. The Charm Club Collection currently comprises 450 pendants for necklaces, bracelets, earrings and mobile phones – with new motifs being constantly added to the assortment. Select, combine, recombine – create your own jewellery collection according to your desires and personal preferences. Your creativity and passion for collecting will know no limits.

Cherry and Birthstone pendants


Glitter alphabelts and fashion pendants.

2) COACH bag



Classic logo coach tote.

3) COACH Picture Frame Keychain

4) COACH keychain

5) Garmin PINK GPS system



With this baby, i will never get lost again!

6) ULTIMATE birthday wish. HONDA CITY 2009!



Look at her curves! So sleek. "The POWER to DREAM!"

Gwen Stefani Lyrics

Gwen Stefani Lyrics

Gwen Stefani Lyrics

LOVE- ly new dress!

My lovely dinner dress which i bought to wear at my friend, Weng Wai's wedding. Cost me RM240. Just LOVE the dress though.


Weng Wai, where is your wife? Missing in action.

Stressed Out

Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of a human or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined.[1] It includes a state of alarm and adrenaline production, short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, and exhaustion. It refers to the inability of a human or animal body to respond. Common stress symptoms include irritability, muscular tension, inability to concentrate and a variety of physical reactions, such as headaches and accelerated heart rate.[2]

Stress in certain circumstances may be experienced positively. Eustress, for example, can be an adaptive response prompting the activation of internal resources to meet challenges and achieve goals.

The term is commonly used by laypersons in a metaphorical rather than literal or biological sense, as a catch-all for any perceived difficulties in life. It also became a euphemism, a way of referring to problems and eliciting sympathy without being explicitly confessional, just "stressed out". It covers a huge range of phenomena from mild irritation to the kind of severe problems that might result in a real breakdown of health. In popular usage almost any event or situation between these extremes could be described as stressful

Wikipedia.com

Oh boy can i respond to stress. I have not reach that level to be 'unable to respond or failure to respond due to stress' as defined by Wikipedia.com. How i wish stress can be like that. Where i just shut down and unable to respond. Life would be so much easier.

It has been one month since i joined MSD and life here is super stress. It's like being in a rat race. The environment here is face paced, often i find myself unable to catch my breath. No time to slow down and think of other things other than work. Every morning, emails just keep piling up. So much to follow up, so much to do. So many training to go through and so many tests and assessments to pass. I have become so assessment phobic that before any training starts, i ask the trainer if there is gonna be any tests that day. My nights are filled with reading, studying till wee hours in the morning, coffee and junk food to keep me awake and hot showers to de-stress me. I think if things goes on at this pace...i would be out of my mind soon and even fat, ugly and bloated due to lack of sleep, rest, too much junk food and no time to take care of myself. I can feel myself slowly slipping away...prone to falling ill any moment. At this very moment, i'm feeling a migraine attack coming up, dizziness in my head. God knows when i just gonna collapse. Life in MSD just isn't for the faint hearted or easy goer.

What are all the 5 groups of anti hypertension drugs avaiable? What are all the names of the ARB drugs? When to use Cozaar? When to use Hyzaar? What are Cozaar key indications? What is the BP goal? What is BP goal of diabetic patients? What about diabetic patients with proteinuria? What is the rr rate of ESRD in RENAAL? Imagine my boss asked me all this under 5 mins to which i stared at her dumb fond and blank. "All these information must be at your fingertips," she said. My heart stopped. I guess i will be the one getting hypertension soon. So much to memorized, so little time. Welcome to life in living hell.