Just Random thoughts…

Farewell!

It is said, ‘the reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected’. With just two months short of eight years from the day I joined Parmalat Zambia Limited, my soul is so much connected to the organization and its people, it hurts to say goodbye. Yet, nothing on earth is permanent so this day was still going to come, as fate decrees even the dearest friends to inevitably one day part.

The process of saying goodbye to colleagues whom I have over the years grown to behold as family is not an easy one. I once witnessed a former colleague shed tears when bidding farewell after ten years of service and, I had then dismissed that as either a stunt or exaggeration of emotions until when it dawned on me today. Just writing this short farewell piece to add to the Random thoughts piece which I had been writing the preceding two days took me another two days. The entire blog post took four days to type, of which two days was dedicated to just the farewell piece.

There are very few times when I run out of things to write about. Nevertheless, I can still say my thanks to all my colleagues at the Distribution Department (current and past). More appreciation to Parmalat Zambia management team for the opportunities accorded me to serve in various appointments over the years. My last thanks go to the rest of the Parmalat family as I have had the opportunity to interact with many from all Parmalat Zambia business units in Kitwe, Livingstone and Chipata as well as outside Zambia from Parmalat South Africa, Italy and France.

My role has always been to give the best I can, because working for an organization which is a market leader requires nothing short of service par excellence. To maintain the status quo of market leader for the organisation, I as an employee had to uphold the highest ethical standards every day in order to fit into the organisation’s culture. This work culture engraved in me from this organization can only spur me to greater things.

I joined Parmalat on 19^th September 2007 and over the years spent a lot of my time with colleagues I regard as family. There are some experiences that leave footprints in our hearts and Parmalat has done just that to me. I joined the organization fairly young and inexperienced having worked for just a cumulative two years for Drake & Gorham and Chizsoft Systems both as a Marketing Executive. In between that I had taken to I.T. private jobs and consultancy.

Eight years at Parmalat has really been the real ‘gig’ for me and I will forever cherish my time with the organization. I have had a lot of experiences such that when the time to bid farewell has come forth, there are no suitable words to state my exact feelings. All I can say is that I am filled with gratitude. I am extremely grateful to everyone who accorded me the opportunity and privilege to work at this wonderful organization.

The bloke that is leaving today is definitely not the same fella who came through the gates of Parmalat Zambia head office on Mungwi road to be interviewed by Steven Nyangu 8 years ago. Still, not even the lad who would make an impression on Sajid Chohan and a few months later sat on the opposite side of his table getting to know each other before the formal interview.

Despite opening a new chapter now, I will forever cherish the time I have been with Parmalat.

Thank you all.

Sales Pitch!

Without getting entangled in the age old debate of whether the best salesmen are born or made, I’d like to say that some people are naturally suited to the jobs of sales than others. The old debate itself rages on without a conclusive culmination, of course.

My position though is that salespeople are actually made, even though others it is more naturally. However they are not made by just sitting behind a desk and listening to a professor rumble about and then later sit for an examination which they pass. Of course the aspect of training is important, but it takes many years of nurturing and development to acquire that "certain gusto" for sales. Even the most gifted orators can make terrible salesmen if they don’t perfect the art.

My take is that there are people more naturally suited to acquire the sales persona than others. There are two people I have in mind and I will share my encounters with them as I ruminate on some of the most important traits or great sales people.

The first person is an elderly lady probably in her sixties who sells cooking sticks around the areas of Northmead and Jesmondine in Lusaka. I don’t know her name but I will refer to her as Madam Minkos. I choose to refer to her as Madam Minkos because that is always how she approaches people. “Darling, here’s some minkos!”, she says a number of times.

Her area of operation is usually the car park outside Peco and Flamingo supermarkets in Jesmondine. Madam minkos’ strategy is to approach motorists upon arrival or when about to leave. She approaches with a very jovial greeting that immediately takes the encounter into some sort of conversation as if between close longtime friends. She exhibits traits of a great sales person by that gesture alone.

The early encounters my wife and I had with Madam Minkos were enough for us to get away with something from her collection of items on sale. Later on, because we had paid for one too many cooking sticks and couldn’t continue buying more, nonetheless on the encounters that followed, we parted away with minimum amounts - just to give her – she had created that bond. She creates a bond with her customers such that even though she may have saturated her market with her produscts, she still goes away with just free money which I imagine she gets from more people.

She definitely has a great sales pitch than most professional sales people. Sales should not just be about being able to recite the benefits, specs and features a product one is selling. One must be able to go beyond the benefits story which in some cases is told with technical jargon. Madam Minkos never tells you how her cooking sticks can prepare the best Nshima south of the equator. All she does is approach you in a way that immediately creates a great rapport between you, just there and then and a conversation will ensue.

What she does demonstrate is a high level of expertise and competence by being able to decode her pitch into a friendly conversation that influences a buyer’s decision. I suppose because of the number of times we run into her I’d have reached a point of feeling bothered every time we find her. To the contrary, she amazes me every time she approaches us. She behaves the same way every time you meet her regardless of the number of times you have encountered her.

The other natural sales person is a gentleman usually found around Northmead area. He too I assume is not a trained sales person but does have the aura of a high profile sales individual. The gentleman, whom I will call Kardashian Guy, because of his constant reference to American socialite and fashion icon Kim Kardashian, has obviously with time and experience learned the important sales technique of STP (segmentation, Targeting and positioning). Kardashian Guy has tried to just concentrate on the market segment of women’s fashion.

My assumption is that Kardashian guy buys cheap salaula (imported second hand clothes) and takes such clothes for laundry and then starts to target ladies around Northmead, selling the clothes as imported designers. Kardashian Guy has a comical way of selling his clothes by referring to each design by various Hollywood names among them Kim Kardashian, Jeniffer Lopez and Britteney Spears, regardless of what the actual design could be.

One classic moment was when he pointed to one specific garment he was carrying and said that he actually took it off ‘rich kids of Beverly hills’. The Kardashian Guy definitely does connect with his target market in a special way and they keep him in business. The gentleman has also got a great ability to translate past experience to predict sales trends and consumer behavior. After doing what he has been doing for what I presume is a long time, direct sales and interaction with clients has made him develop a knowledge base that can be retrieved at a snap of a finger to determine the best course of action.

It doesn’t matter if the buyer is not a Kim Kardashian fan, but this guy will pull out of his bag sales pitch stories, something about a garment having been used on a set of a box office movie. I assume that Kardashian Guy faces rejection during his many cold call conversations with strangers everyday but the great sense of humour which he possesses obviously makes him handle these situations.

The examples of people with little or no sales training being successful at sales may not stop at Madam Minkos and Kardashian Guy. I believe there are even much more accomplished ones I’ve never met. However, what nature gives them in terms of great oratory skills or charisma; they need to develop that with training and experience. In other words, nature which is nurtured is unrivaled.

Madam Minkos and Kardashian guy also clearly do love what they do hence they really get good at it. This is true for any job. You only become good at it if you love the job. Forget the amount of papers you have, with your name printed on them that you are certified as having undergone training. Practical work is different from studying.

Miracle seekers and Miracle makers

When I read the story of the pastor who miraculously credited talk time into the phones of his flock, the first thought that came to mind was ZICTA. I don’t know which network between Airtel, Zamtel and MTN the lucky devotees got their phone air time, but I just thought this man needs to get a license from ZICTA (Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority), for regulation. Otherwise the man will put Airtel, MTN and Zamtel out of business. ZICTA must define his role as it is not clear whether he is a competitor to the three companies or he is just a partner.

The fact remains that if the man is miraculously ‘creating’ talk time, he must be registered by ZICTA. Maybe my random thoughts are slightly out of context and really unfair to this one individual as there are more people I should ask for registration to other regulatory authorities. There are reports of ‘men of God’ who miraculously credit the bank accounts of staunch believers. I suspect these staunch believers must be those who have ‘sown financial seeds’ for substantial periods, by depositing percentages of their earnings into the pastors’ personal bank account.

Certainly the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) must know about this money miraculously being credited into people’s bank accounts. I am sure the banks whose customers miraculously receive money can provide the bank with audit trails of money that just finds itself in certain accounts without any deposit or transfer. Maybe this miraculous money needs more than just BOZ regulation but also the anti-money laundering unit of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC). As a matter of fact, I miss Mukutulu Sinyani, he was the best the DEC has had in my lifetime. I am convinced he would have certainly taken note of this miracle money trails.

There is another pastor who is miraculously filling up fuel tanks of his flock’s cars. This one should register with the Energy Regulation board (ERB). Better still the government could consider partnering with this man to supply Indeni Oil refinery with cheaper fuel since international market forces are pushing the cost up. As long as the miracle crude oil will not be highly acidic, low density feed, high soluble Iron content, or any other such jargon making newspaper headlines recently; I can proudly give my thumbs up.

A lot of regulatory organisations should take note of these men. The Kitwe city council must also take note of the man who is reportedly turning water into wine. I am aware that this miracle was performed in ‘biblical’ times, but times have since changed. The context in which that was done is different.

This random thought doesn’t seek to undermine the capabilities of some pastors to perform miracles, but that since these miracles are performed on earth, they must adhere to the earthly regulations that govern the areas of their miracle making. Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar. This was the teaching of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, as long as this is being done on earth where Caesar is in charge; give him what belong to him.

The miracle makers are ever so becoming a very popular species of priests in Zambia. Their popularity is ever being fueled by a growing audience in need of these miracles. This is an audience in need of jobs even when they are not qualified for them. An audience in search of potential marriage partners who are stinking rich. This breed, trust me wants to get paid without supplying a product or service. They wish to stay home in front of a huge television just switching channels with periodic breaks taking walks to either a very huge balcony or even a state of the art kitchen for a bite.

Miracles have always been performed since Christian religion has been in existence hence my random thoughts are not in any way an affront on religion. In fact, miracles in many ways are a pinnacle of Christian religion. My take though is that some unscrupulous individuals are really bringing religion and Christianity in particular, into disrepute.

Adding to the unscrupulous dudes are the weird fellas like the guy who was recently arrested in South Africa for telling his followers to feed on live snakes. Followers have also been asked to eat green grass before, which isn’t in any way related to the vocation of evangelism or winning of souls. Jesus multiplied bread and fish to feed multitudes and this dude goes to ask his followers to eat grass!

What happened to the messages of salvation?

Life is a beach!

So there I was taking my evening walk at the beach as had become my custom every day.

As I walked while enjoying the breeze of the Indian Ocean, I saw this elderly white man jogging alongside his dog in what I presumed was also his daily routine. As he was getting closer to me, the dog suddenly changed direction and sprinted towards me.

My first instinct was to run for safety. But then I thought to myself that outrunning a dog is one of the hardest things a man can ever do, besides I was better off facing in the direction it was coming from rather than give it my back. “Is it not Shaka who said never leave an enemy behind?” , I asked myself. In that moment the dog had become an enemy. So once again I elected not to run and I stood still.

But the dog was quickly approaching and my mind was not processing solutions quick enough. I stood still and immediately, I thought to shout FUSEKE! FUSEKE!

Then again it dawned on me that this dog would never understand those words. I would probably just provoke it. So I elected to be still once more. But the dog was almost where I had been standing.

Then the owner of the dog shouted at me; "don't run, it won't hurt you!"

Finally... the dog reached where I had been standing and it stood in front of me and flapped its tail as it jumped around before turning and running towards it's owner.

At that moment the man shouted at me saying, "I told you it wouldn't hurt you as long as you didn't run!"

"Fuseke", I almost shouted back at the dog owner and not the dog. Then I remembered a certain Zambian politician who used the term, ‘muzungu opusa’. Was the man racist to have used that term? I don’t think so. Whether Caucasian, black, chinese, Indian or Japanese, there are individuals ‘bo pusa’.