After 3 weeks...

After spending close to 3 weeks in HP, I have learned one thing...being a sales agent is no easy task. Thank goodness i'm not a sales agent in profession. Being a temp staff in HP, I could already feel the heat of taking as many calls as possible to reduce the abandonment rate and also the need to take in all the stupid questions that customer asks when they call in. Imagine those who are taking in other calls which includes customers enquiring about all the other HP products. Although there isn't any parallel between this job and my course that I'm taking, there are some similarities because both deals with people, one on the phone and one face to face, where you can better discriminate the feelings/emotions in the latter.

With almost 3 weeks in this job, I have been taking inbound calls, outbound calls and also at the same time keying in every detail that I could possibly get from the conversation simultaneously. Routines are the same everyday but the customers are different most of the time. Most of them of course want to know what a promotion is all about, then I will go again talking the same old thing to these customers. Most of the time, I will get them to purchase the higher value product so that I am entitled for a commission (yes even for temp staff). But seriously working 9 hours with a headset on the phone, staring at the flat screen with fingers typing for long periods of time isn't very healthy. When I first started, it was quite stressful and tiring.

Think RSI, Repetitive Strain Injury a term used to describe injury due to prolonged periods of repetitive movement. In a job like this, carpal tunnel syndrome is very likely followed by bad posture/back, eye problems and psychological problems. Now why psychological problems. Apparently I came to this conclusion because one of my colleagues is suffering from anxiety and is taking lorazepam (anxiolytic). According to him, it is difficult to achieve their sales quota, even with all the promotions going on. Competition is stiff especially with big guns like Dell which is constantly coming up with cheaper computers, hence it is important to convince why HP is better then Dell. A man on the street would be able to confirm that wtih all those Dell flyers in the newspapers. Talking on the phone for long hours isn't something very pleasant also. Breaks of 10 minutes between calls are seriously rare. Half an hour intervals is luxurious!!! My personal record 69 calls in a span of 10 hours on a day with a total of 700 plus calls which is not a lot in comparison with Singapore calls....Thank goodness, more people will be coming in to ease the workload.

Listening to people talking on the other side can be pleasant or bad. First timers will be enquiring a lot of things, from specifications, models to price and some try to identify if the ads are deliberately designed to fool customers. After few weeks in this job, I've come to realized that most of the time when it come to business, money comes first consumer comes in second which is in direct conflict with what I'm doing now patient comes first. So then, in the business world you would have CAP to come and look after consumers. People who call in a few times either check for order status, make a second order, lodge complaints or the dreaded "I want to speak to your manager...NOW!!!" line, which we all constantly try to avoid. So in medicine, you try to calm you patient down and make them feel at ease and NOT tell them...."Sorry sir you are gonna die soon...so you might as well don't take your meds..."(sounds like HOUSE) In med school, it is important to communicate effectively and feel for the patient's needs or rather empathize. In sales, you would try to sell as much as possible but also not make them pissed off in any way.

Anyway, HP still needs people so if anyone is interested, msg me. Who's right for this job? People who loves talking for long hours on the phone and have no problems staying back after 5.30pm, (sometimes). People who are in the business or sales line would be perfect but those not in the aforementioned fields are also accepted. Salary...that u have to wait for the interview...