Last Thursday evening in Cape Town, I was finishing up a call with Dubai around 6pm…
a young, definately enthusiastic sales executive whom has sold close to 100K euros in their first few months on the job, not exceptional results … but very good… this person comes up to me while I was on the phone with Dubai office and says:
“I have to go to an appointment now so I can not stay longer, I really want to….I really love this job and I am going to keep making it happen, but I have an urgent appointment.”
I replied “no problem at all the day has finished…you can do whatever you want….” and to be completely clear, I did not think twice about this person leaving at 6pm…
Soon after, as I packed my suit case and put my computer away…I noticed and had a feeling of respect and admiration that LP and two of his teams, about 7 people were still hammering it (three of the 7 guys had sold in the week…two of them have been in the company less than 3 weeks)
For the readers that are saying to themselves “the only reason they were still hammering it is because the CEO was in the office …” I disagree. LP and his teams success speaks for his work ethic…
Anyways…
Johan had invited me to take him out to dinner… so as I went down stairs to meet Johan at his car, I stopped by the cafe/bar to say good bye to someone who was transfering to China….
As I walked in the bar to say good bye…I noticed the person that had come to me 10-15 minutes earlier to tell me they “had to go to an urgent meeting” was sitting with a group of people from the office, half way through a drink….it was 6:15pm
Today is a national holiday in South Africa….”day of reconsiliation” a day where black and white South Africans can come together to celebrate the end of apartheid…. and of course, all people that work in Cape Town office, even non South Africans have the day off to celebrate.
However, and of course…. LP and three of his team members came into the office on their own free will (oddly enough the most successful three sales people in the office, and the same two new people I saw still working Thursday evening, both sold within their first 2 weeks, one of them has sold twice) came into the office and are working today.
Do not misunderstand…I am NOT suggesting all the great South Africans whom did not come to work today do not want to be successful…of course they do and I want them each to celebrate today…as well as keep making their lives and career at naseba happen.
Although I applaud the warmth and cultural understanding that our non South African employees … a Dutch, three Indian who were transfered from Bangalore naseba office to Cape Town, two Nigerian, and a British staff in the Cape Town office showed by prefering to celebrate and NOT show up to work today … especially, since these non South African staff are each selling events for the european market… I am certain these people do not want “success” as badly as they talk about wanting it.
Many readers of my blog do not work for naseba….so please note that this blog is NOT just about making it happen at naseba….
…that person last week that came to me and interupted my call with Dubai to tell me that they would “love to stay and keep working, but had an urgent meeting”….at the pub next door…. WHY??? Why waste time pretending??
Not to mention, the many people that jump up and down talking excidely about how much they want to be successful…how hard they are going to work….but in the end, prefer to take a day off, a holiday that does not even apply to their own history or heritage…
We can all get excited about talking about what we are going to do….how much we are going to sell….how hard we are going to work….
but in the end, it comes down to the exact same thing…
instead of talking about it…instead of resting… to get ready to start something new tomorrow….
instead of taking a an extra day off just because you can….
just fucking sell…
For the reader who did not read the earler bolg entry “Just F…ing sell” … this phrase does NOT mean, “just sell” ….
it means: do not tell your boss, do not tell your friend, do not tell your mom & dad what you are “gonna do” ….
just f’ing do it.
I know I have hammered this theme a lot in my blog … but seriously …. why in the hell did that person come to me, interupt my phone call with Dubai to tell me that they had an urgent meeting to go to, when in fact they were just pretending??
I don’t care if people leave at 6pm … especially when they work hard and do a good job while they are at work
(which is what this person does) Why pretend to want to work harder???
How can those non South African employees whom are all selling european events (esp. the three from Bangalore who are each sitting in very nice company apartments) how can they prefer to take a south african only holiday?
How can they not want to make it happen???
Why do so many people talk about what they are going to do …. but don’t do it?
Next time you get excited and want to tell your boss, your mom, your friend, your wife … about something you are “going to do…” remember this blog …. instead of talking, keep your mouth closed….
and just fucking sell.
« ode to Friday deal day… | Home | ode to LT »
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
