Sunday, November 30, 2008

Excuse For Not Generating Money ?

There are times when I really feel frustrated with the kind of people out there who are searching for ways to make additional money. They will respond to newspapers or others form of ads to find the opportunity they are looking for and upon calling the Advertiser, they will probe as to what is offer so much so that it became they were interviewing the advertiser.

What these people are really doing is to size up whether that opportunity as advertised is attractive enough for them to venture into but what they do not realized is that most Advertisers will not reveal too much on the phone. The Advertiser will usually try to coax these people to attend the interview or business talk or in-door demonstration that they have prepared for these callers.

These are some of the responses that I have personally encountered for an offer to recruit some Freelancer for a simple electronic gadget that pays commission instantly when committed :

1. They REFUSED to identify themselves when asked for a Name ( Rude )

2. They insist of wanting to know what is the detail prior to making a commitment whether to attend the interview or what-not ?

3. They say they will call back WHEN INTERESTED ( who cares ! After all, I am offering the opportunity )

4. They quietly accept my invitation to the Open Talk where Date and Address is given ( Great ! )

5. They ARGUED that some of the offer made over the phone is not attractive enough for them ( Do I owe them a Living ? )

After 3 days of advertisement and a respondent list of 25 people, I deem it a success as the number is considered high enough, but this is what happened on D-Day, the Open Talk itself :

The Date / Time : 10am to 12Noon / Venue for this Open Talk has already been emailed or verbally informed over the phone to the callers days earlier. The venue is 100m away from the nearest MRT Station.

i. At 9.45am ( Open Talk to begin ) no one came yet

ii. We proceed to make call to ascertain if the respondents are coming for the Talk and there are some who did not answer the call at all, there are some who obviously sound sleepy ( I must have woke them up ) and some who says that they are busy with something else for the day. Do you think these people will appear at the Talk ? nah, not in a Million year !

iii. At 10.15am ( Yes ! The first guest arrived ) then followed by another at 10.20am

iv. By 10.30am, we have to start the session with just this 2 gentlemen. The situation is extremely awkward. But the show need to be carry out

v. At the completion of the talk ( Almost 11am ), another man turns up ( so another awkward situation ). Nevertheless, we proceed to show the Demo of the program.

vi. At the closing stage, we encourage the Attendee to consider the Proposal we made by filling a Form of Intention. Only 2 of 3 want the form but did not fill up as they want to consider the matter ). Holy molly, another respondent turns up ! 12Noon -- At the program End Time ( phew )

This episode tells me very clearly that when people are not hungry for something, nothing you do can get them interested in what you are offering especially Singaporean. Why ? Because many of us have not feel the pinch yet ! Despite all the negative hearsay about the economy getting worse in time to come, these people might still have a job that they can rely on.

Secondly, we all know that Singaporean are REALLY choosy about the things they want to do ( that's why the Foreign workers are able to grab it fast ! Keep hesitating and one day, you'll have all the crumps ). These are sign of complacency that has build up over time in the way we live our life, we have so much to choose previously and we still think that the situation is similar. I know it because I personally have experienced it. But I also do know that I will hop on to any wagons now which can make a quick buck if I put in some effort doing it.

Thirdly, the mentioned of doing Sales petrified REALLY PLENTY of people ! Each time they knew that Sales is involved they will give you thousand and one reasons why they cannot do it. The fact that they speak so smoothly and convincingly why they can't do it is itself a SALES PITCH. Some of these people feel embarrassed to knock the door of others, or approach strangers or even feel embarrass doing it but I think its plain LAZINESS that did not make them move their butt to do something to improve themselves.

I simply cannot understand how anyone can find so much excuse for not generating money for themselves and I have encountered plenty of these people out there. Is the society reaching a stage where these excuses have become acceptable and nothing can be done about it or everyone simply DON'T CARE !

I cringe each time I think about it because I have seen many younger adults having this kind of mentality too. I am still finding ways to make ends meet and I cannot imagine what life will be if I too succumbed to this kind of thoughts.

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go in spite of it all. And so today I still have a Dream."
Martin Luther King Jr.