'Stealing' Customers

There is a bank sales staff who always laze around and is only interested in idling and getting to know the pretty girls. He would concentrate on making the most money in the easiest ways such as 'stealing' customer leads from his colleagues. Of course, he does this without their knowledge.
He would walk around his colleagues' desks and pretend to do some other things like talk on the mobile or read a document, but he was actually secretly looking at their potential customer leads and their contact details.
He would then return to his seat and make a call to these customers and close the deals by either offering better deals eg offering kickbacks to these customers, or pretending to be a bank staff from the courier department that is in charge of mailing documents to and from customers on behalf of the bank sales staff. He would then get the customers to sign the documents and submit them under his sales ID code.
Before long, some of his colleagues found out what he was doing but they could only complain to their team leaders who did not do much as this 'thief' was a big sized rough chap who often used bad language to show people that he is not to be messed around with.
Can you believe it?

Bank Sales People's Bad Habits

There are some bank sales staff who are so lazy and yet want to stay in the job and earn the basic pay. They talk, eat, laugh and disturb the others who really want to work for a living. These lazy staff, when the bosses are away for meetings, are a real pain because they disrupt the office environment and are there to take a basic pay and thus increase the costs of the bank.

Objectivity of Bank Sales Job

What I like most about this line of work is the objectivity of it.
If you work hard and achieve a high amount of sales, you are recognised as a good sales person. You can enjoy recognition from senior management, you can have freedom during office hours, and you can reap the fruits of your labour by earning the commission which is there for you to grab. And you can get to know alot of people during work.
It is quite different from an admin office role where politics play a huge part in determining whether or not senior management likes you or respects you. Cunning staff will know how to mingle with the powerful senior management people and rub shoulders with them in order to do less work and gain promotion and monetary rewards. It is almost the same at every workplace. This is the evil of office human nature. There are no 2 ways about it. Working life is like that.
As objective as it is at sales divisions, we also experience a fair bit of office politics. Some staff know how to curry favour the bosses and have an easier time even when their sales are bad, but the main thing is they cannot carry on having bad sales for long periods. If that happens, the person will eventually have to leave or transfer out as it is really very objective this environment. Each and every bank sales staff will have their sales numbers monitored and written on a big board so everybody knows everyone else's work rate and contribution.

Some Bank Sales Staff Earn Alot

I know of some colleagues, either from my sales team or from a different branch or sales channel or sales department, who earn alot.
And I am not referring to huge pay earning areas like private banking or wholesale or global banking, I am only talking about personal financial services and small medium enterprises bank sales people.
Their basic salary could range from anywhere between $1,800-$3,500 depending on factors like education and experience and years of service, but the key point to note is their commission payout. Once they achieve a good amount of sales for the month or the quarter, they could be getting like anything from $1,500-$5,000 worth of commission.
This is quite an attractive sum of money considering many of these bank sales staff are only aged in their mid or late 20s to their 30s.

Endurance of Bank Sales People

As a bank sales manager, you will have to endure periods of stress when times are bad. Sometimes, even if you work hard and long hours, you will not achieve what you set out to achieve. Reason being this line of work really depends on whether or not customers are willing to sign up for the bank products either for themselves or their companies.
And in areas of loans and credit lines, it is even tougher because even if you manage to find and convince customers to sign on the dotted line, their applications will still have to be assessed by the relevant credit approving departments which have strict standards for the applicants to adhere to.
Overall, patience, planning, and most importantly, prayers (at least for myself), are needed to succeed in this line of work.

SMEs In Singapore Less Optimistic About Business Climate

There is an article in today papers which says that local SMEs are less confident about the economic climate.
They are worried that their customers will not be able to pay them on time or at all. And on the other hand, they are also worried that they will not receive their goods from their suppliers because of the bad business climate overseas and around the world.
Therefore, local SMEs are turning to banks to act as the middlemen and bridge the 'pay first get goods later, or get goods first pay later' Gap.
That is, International Trade Finance, which is something that commercial banking depts offer.

Some Female Bank Staff Dressing

Some of these girls or women wear clothes that are simply not professional. They are either too low cut, too short or too transparent.
It is simply against the dress code policies of the bank but as usual, the male supervisors are busy enjoying the eye candy, so they do not even utter a word to hint that the dress code is being violated and this form of dressing is a major source of distraction for people at work.
The male staff will keep looking while the other female staff will either be upset or jealous. All these can be stopped easily by a word from the Manager to say that the dress code rules need to be adhered to. I have worked for a number of years, but I have never met a manager who would act impartially.

Hero vs Zero

In the sales environment, one moment you can be a hero (ie when you are bringing in good sales volumns), the next moment you could be zero (ie when you are not performing and do not have sufficient sales).
So to maintain a consistent amount of sales, you have to work hard at times and smart at times too. For those of you who are in sales and in particular, banking sales, you will know exactly what I am talking about.
Because of this, many choose the path of mis-selling, ie they overpromise customers and sometimes hide certain pieces of important information from customers with the aim of securing the sale. To me, this is a No-No, do not do that. You are only asking for trouble. Your reputation is at stake. Integrity is of utmost importance!

Away From Banking: 'Curry Bashings'

I have been following this issue which is happening down under. Indian Students have been targeted in a wave of attacks. Please read this article. I think that these Indian Students are innocent victims of hate-crime, but why are Aussies attacking them? There must be a reason behind it.
I know Aussies to be one of the most friendly and humble people. They are very sensitive and always spare a thought for others while driving, shopping, eating out, and for their neighbours. Of course, there are the odd few who are downright unreasonable, but overall, they are pleasant people.
I know this from personal experience as I have lived in various parts of Australia for a number of years.

Trojan Horse Attack Bank Portals

There is talk that a Trojan Horse attack has been launched on some banks' portals. Bank customers who use online log-ins could possibly get their IDs and passwords stolen online.
Although I am from the banking industry, I have never liked using online banking. This is why.

Extended Banking Hours

These days, one can get to bank at branches of a few banks after office hours and even on weekends. I went into one lately and noticed that at about 5pm-6pm on a weekday evening, there are not many people around. Only the tellers serving one or two customers and some people using the ATMs. The RMs and PFCs were at their desks doing their paper-work and no one (ie First Impression Officers) was even around to greet customers.
Not sure if this is an effective move by the banks.