I have been taking up part time jobs, on and off for the past 4 years (only during holidays). From telecommunication projects, milk products, beauty products to shampoo.
Some of the companies name our job position as brand consultant, brand ambassador, trial specialist, but all these fancy names actually meant "promoter".
Reason I've been doing these is to learn more in communicating & dealing with people outside, to spend my free time and of course, to earn some pocket money.
There are many students or young people like me are taking up part time jobs as a promoter.
However,it requires certain characteristics from one to perform well in this job.
You have to be physically and mentally fit so that you can stay throughout the 8 hours of standing and approaching and talking.
8 hours of standing can be suffering for some of the people whose feet are not strong enough. You may feel back pain and swollen feet if you are not used to standing for that long.
Next, you have to be mentally fit in terms of dealing with customers, your own agency, clients (company of the product u're promoting), peers, and the staffs (supermarket/hypermarket/malls).
As a promoter, one may face stress from all these parties.
I will start with
CUSTOMERS > Have u heard of a phrase " Customers are always right" ?
In this job, you have to bear this in mind even though you may not agree to it.
You have to pretend to be sorry even if you think you are absolutely correct.
I'm not saying all the customers are nasty, but sometimes you may encounter customers who are ignorant to your speech, purposely ignoring you, as a human being who are trying to communicate to them. It may not be a pleasant experience if somebody you are trying to interact with refused to even look at you/ avoid you.
I understand that sometimes when we shop, we do not like to be disturbed by others but to browse products silently, on our own, as I'm also a customer myself when I'm not working.
Anyway, you must understand that it is part of our job to communicate product information to you.
It's not our fault that we are standing there, we are not in the mall to ruin your day!
All we wish is to perform our task, communicate with you, perhaps you could gain some of the product knowledge from us?~
I'm not sure about other promoters, but I'm not one who forces customers to buy the products I'm promoting as I understand it's customer's own purchasing decision.
I have done my job explaining, you may decide yourself to try or not to try the product.
That is all, I would not be upset if you do not buy after I have conveyed messages to you.
All I want is that you could L-I-S-T-E-N and maybe some feedback or a "thank you"/
We may have sales targets to achieve, but what really makes our day is sincere feedback and true interactions with customers.
Having this work experience makes me understand money is hard to earn for some of us.
We have to deal with own emotions constantly as you deal with different customers (especially nasty ones).
Yet, some of the customers who are lovable and willing to communicate can lighten our mood and believe that not all people are too proud of themselves until they view us as transparent objects.
AGENCY
I have been working for few agency that takes up project from clients (product company) and they are to ones who train us to for product promotions/ selling.
There are some rules and regulations that we have to abide by:
punctuality (work,sending report,reporting out of stock issues), grooming, product knowledge, aggressiveness (something they always want us to do),do's and don'ts during work (no handphone pressing, no eating, drink professionally, no wandering around, stand straight, no lying on rack, no chatting, stand with smiles, do not stand still, approach etc. )
You must always be alert and make sure you do not do something that makes them deduct your salary/ getting complaints from numerous parties.
After receiving a project, we have to attend training (normally last for 2-6 hours) to gain sufficient product knowledge/ products benefits.
They are the superiors that you should report to, sending them all the sales report before 12am every night after work, telling all the problems you are facing, also to evaluate your performance.
Delay in sending report - PENALTY!
Late to work - PENALTY!
Delay in handing back uniform and stuffs - DELAY IN ISSUANCE OF SALARY!!
etc.....
Of course, each company has their own rules, without rules, everything will not be systematic and on time.
Therefore, you must have strong self discipline and sense of responsibility when you've decided to take up part time promoter jobs.
CLIENTS
Relationship between you and client company is :
Client > Agency > YOU
Therefore, what client says, agency follow, what agency says, you follow.
If clients found that you have not performed well, they may fire or make complaints on you.
The agency have always told us, there are many "spys" out there trying to see how we perform our job, clients may mask themselves as mysterious shoppers,trying to test our ability to explain and sell.
This makes us feel uneasy and afraid that we have not performed well, every minute, every second.
We are afraid that someone may be watching us from far, it is even more scarier than someone evaluating to us face to face.
未知才是最可怕的!
The unknown is often the scariest!
I'm not sure about others but I often feel uptight and anxious that someone will come by suddenly evaluating your performance without you knowing.
However, when you put yourself in clients shoe, you may agree that they want to make sure that what they have been paying for people to promote their product is worth the money and doing their job with dedication.
PEERS
I perceive this term as those people who are working in the same environment with you.
They may be or may not be from the same agency with you, they may work for the competing brand.
There was one time that I worked in Mid Valley KL, promoting a well known beauty product in a drugstore.
The products I was promoting are not easy ones to sell.
Imagine this, a drugstore, with numerous beauty product brands placed next to each other, all with different but similar functions, competitive pricing, competitive marketing strategies, almost all the brands have got promoters doing their job.
If you are a new comer, some of the promoters may look at you with hatred, saying " another competitor" in their heart, especially when both of you are working for similar products but different brand.
Of course, not all promoters are as bad as I describe, some are friendly and willing to teach you things despite the barrier.
One day, when I was holding my product, approaching a customer near me, and started to introduce and explain the benefits of the product.....
the customer listened and walked by after saying thank you.
Suddenly, an auntie promoter approached me and said that :" how can you do this?"
I answered back in uncertainty : "why?"
She claimed that I was wrong as she already served the customer before hand, and I attempted to influence her customer.
From that incident, I realized that the sales environment is like a safari.
There are many animals competing with each other in order to live, we shall not invade other's territory and not to approach anyone who have passed by other's territory.
Once you do that, the other party may think of you who spoiled their effort and you may already made an enemy.
