I am a team leader for an accredited service provider of an international bank. I will have my anniversary with the company this September. It hasn't been easy, but it's not totally unhappy either.
To tell you the truth, the thought of working for a bank or in the field of sales never crossed my mind when I was finalizing my job prospects after graduation. I had my OJT with a local bank before - although the experience was sort-of rewarding, mainly because of the branch employees themselves, observing their daily routine made me not consider following their footsteps. I knew I just couldn't endure handling the tasks that was part of their agenda; after achieving my learning curve, I was sure I will find a way out of this infinite boringness. (No offense to bank employees here; this is just an opinion of a then-ignorant fresh graduate. Besides, I was focused on branch operations; I never looked sideways, never saw the myriad of opportunities stored in the bank's other units, especially those located in the head office.)
Sales, now. I never liked selling, even when we put up a class corporation as part of the school's requirements back in college. I did my share in the division of labor, but didn't do more than what I was asked. I saw it as
begging; I didn't think that there's another word for it:
persuasion.
Actually, I didn't think, period. Damn close-minded, I was.
What was my target then? I prioritized call centers. They were the rage those days, even now. I remember a friend's sister, a call center representative, saying, "It's the fastest-growing industry nowadays." Earning big bucks is a plus, too (for international call centers, anyway). After all, I was not looking for something permanent. I am limiting my initial working experience into two years, three at the most. You see, I plan to go back to school and take up law. I am just borrowing time to earn enough so I could finance my studies and, while in the process, learn what the "real world" is like.
It was then that Pygmalion called me up. I wasn't serious about this - I arrived at their Makati office at 4 PM! I took their exam and got interviewed by a bunch of managers without even knowing what the hell was I applying for. When I finally did, I laughed secretly, thinking, "I don't want to work for a bank! I don't want to work in sales, either! Now you're offering me a position in the sales arm of a bank?!"
It wasn't even a call center. We'll be manning booths at different locations. It's a chance for me to meet a lot of people, and to increase my self-confidence (in other words, "kapal ng mukha"
). I thought, "Whatever", and decided to give it a try.
There were a lot of hardships to face. This was a pilot project, so everything has to be done for the first time. We're like lab rats, then. But we survived. From eleven people, we eventually increased to around thirty. Life was happy even though we were taunted as "jologs" by other channels, those who worked in the bank's call centers. Having PCs and headsets made them think as if they were immortals. Oh well. They did not realize who's earning bigger.
Ha.
In mid-December, booth operations were put into a halt. We were crying as we packed our pencils, leaving Shangri-La Plaza behind. The next day, it'll be purely office work for us. Sales calls will be done through phone from that day on. It's your option if you still want to make trips to different firms, but that has to be done when you're off duty.
So here's the call canter I wanted in the beginning.
I planned to leave and pursue a different line of work in other companies. But at the start of the year I got promoted. I will have a team of my own. It's funny that on the day my promotion was finalized, I was under the scrutiny of Nissan's human resource officer, discussing what a perfect partner I will be in achieving their vision of success.
Still, I left it behind and took the challenge the bank laid in front of me.
I learned a lot from being a team leader than when I was still a sales specialist. I have no idea why but the core group, my batch, was totally different from the newly-accepted agents. The new ones aren't that committed, to the point of not caring; maybe it's because most of them has cards experience. They feel they could do this kind of thing with their eyes closed. An agent even accused me of being uncooperative, therefore
not a good leader, because I won't allow him to submit an application with a fake signature. I called up the client myself to have the application form signed. It will be three days before we could get the document back. The agent was disappointed because it was the only application he'll be able to give me that day (they were required to submit two daily). What hurts was when I was compared to his former team leader, who apparently helped them out in faking things, so they'll have "production". Another was when he used the term "kapakanan" - he said I simply didn't care if my agents weren't able to come up with anything and if they get terminated eventually because of unproductivity. I told him that he's not seeing the bigger picture.
Where will he lose more: no production for a single day or being blacklisted in the whole banking and pre-need industry? I care for their so-called "kapakanan",
so much that I can't, and won't, allow them to get their hands dirty. I asked him if he thought fraud was something right, or even allowable. He said no. I replied that if he thought so, then why the heck was he insisting that we should do it? Was it for his "kapakanan"? He couldn't answer me, of course. He was lucky I didn't add that if he was such a great seller, he won't need to resort to these things for the sake of showing that he has production. He produced, yes, but it's trash. If that's the case, he can keep it to himself; I simply cannot allow that.
I was too young, another agent ranted in one of those arguments. She boasted that she had lots of experience not only from banks but also from insurance firms, so I shouldn't be telling her what to do, this being my first job. I patiently listened, holding my tongue the whole time. I can't understand why these people get angry when I keep them from submitting fraudulent stuff. I shouldn't be so innocent, she said. She's not the only one doing this. Oh? Is that an admission, then? I was merely asking about the client's denial during my callback monitoring. You can imagine my surprise when she started to get all hysterical. And my age is not the issue here.
Who cares if I am only twenty and you're almost a decade older? I am your team leader and I will do all I can to keep you from doing something that we both know isn't right or truthful. Is that so wrong?
So sue me for not comprimising my integrity. She told me she'll move out of my team, but in the end she came back to me. I did not exactly welcome her with open arms.
Aside from that I also had to deal with narrow-minded and argumentative clients. Our manager admitted that satisfying the ongoing application guidelines was close to impossible, although we only need three pieces of documents. I appreciate our bosses' efforts in negotiating with the guys in the head office, because I understand why the bank requires such documentation. This is the only way that we can control delinquency and fraud. The problem is, most clients don't view it that way; they just see it as too much hassle. They will also reason out that if they got approved by our competitors, then why on earth should we not do the same? I wish they'd know that it is easy enough to give a thousand people their own credit line, except not all of them are good payers, even if they are earning a triple hundred thousand annually.
And the administration. After one of our many meetings with the channel manager, I found myself clenching my fists. He said we shouldn't even try answering customer complaints; we should automatically direct them to the customer service (CS) department. We shouldn't leave them with open-ended statements, like, "I'll try to see to this matter and will call you back when I get feedback." I found it highly irritating because in the first place, who else will the client call when they have inquiries about the outcome of buying your product?
The salesperson, of course. That's because during the selling process, you already established
rapport with them. They trusted you with their precious documents; in return they expect you to be able to give them everything they want to know, and to guide them when they already have the product in their hands. It is fine enough to tell them to call CS and ask away - isn't that what that department is for? And it's less work for me. The question is, does CS provide them answers? The answers they need, to be specific. After referring them to CS I only get angry return calls, because they were given curt statements instead of the enlightenment they were trying to get. I contacted CS so I could see for myself and found yours truly entangled in a sea of incompetent staff. I don't have the power to give them a wake-up call, but I think it is my right to ask for help from those with authority. I hope the lords of the cards will understand me when I say that we should have word of honor with our customers. We can't leave them hanging simply because we were finished with our purpose; that is, to sell the product. Doesn't customer service affect sales, too? When customers are dissatisfied with a product, they have their peers to tell it to. Word of mouth is the most unbeatable of all types of advertising. A prospect would rather believe a friend's friend who actually tried our product than a salesperson whose main task is to show the customer the product's good side, and talk him into saying yes. Without the help of those with power, what change will there be in the company? If we keep the "that's their job, not ours" thinking, it would look like we just don't care, and since a part of us is not functioning properly, in time we will all go down and all our efforts will turn to waste.
I'm tired of speaking when my words only fall into deaf ears. I feel stupid, and it's a bad aftertaste. I never thought that in pursuing excellence, I will be branded as someone who just can't mind her own business and leave well enough alone. It was also doubly hard to keep a brave face for the agents and fight to maintain their morale, when the team leader herself has nagging doubts in her head.
Finally: Last week our agency manager took the team leaders out to lunch. All ten of us looked at each other, eyebrows raised. We know there's something brewing. True enough, while eating we were asked which news we want first, good or bad?
Bad news: The bank has three remaining agencies where agents are enjoying fixed salaries - Pygmalion (us), and two others which I will not mention. These two has a contract drawn with the bank until December of this year. Ours will end on June 30.
Being the cheapest and most productive of the three, the bank wants to renew their contract with us. On the other hand, they want to terminate their deal with the other two call centers, which made these agencies complain. It's not fair, they said, to cut off an existing contract with them, when the bank will take pains to make a new one with us. So to silence these voices, the bank decided to keep Pygmalion, but with no fixed salaries. Our earnings will be based on commissions.
Good news: Our agency manager has affiliations with ePLDT and a bunch of other service-oriented firms. He'll be glad to endorse us there if we're interested.
The news made more than half of the total agent population, and two team leaders, look for other jobs. Their needs are too big, those with families, and they cannot afford to wait for the release of payouts if we'll be based on commissions. The bank is too unpredictable for them to measure probable earnings.
So this past week I've been going to and from the office without an assurance of what I'll earn, if ever I will.
I tried not to tell my parents. When they knew, my father looked like he's going to have a heart attack. He told me vehemently to look for another job.
I don't want to leave this company because the people, especially my co-team leaders, have come to mean so much to me. They make everything bearable, even when I already want to bang my head in the wall. I also cannot leave my agents, those who stayed - they are my strength now, and I'm trying hard to be a good example for them. I'm all they have to look up to.
But I am tired, too tired. I want to rest.
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