Rahman's Promotion

This morning, I was pleased to announce Rahman's promotion to the team as the new SE Manager. Rahman has been with Hitachi Data Systems for more than 7 years as our System Engineer for GSS and Pre-sales. He has demonstrated his strong technical skill to both internal and external customers. Customers are very comfortable with Rahman's knowledge and expertise in the storage field. I am personally looking forward to Rahman's continuous contribution to the company and in managing the pre-sales engineers. Congratulations, Rahman!!

Xian is Getting Stronger

Visited Xian just now and noticed a significant difference as compared to the last few days. He now sits upright - without bending his head and moves his hand very well. His left hand and leg needs more work.

Considering the fact that he was just discharged about a week ago - his healing is nothing short of remarkable... Praise our Living God - Jesus.

He smiles, speaks more and raise his eye brow - at least his mischievous part is back albeit, slowly...

The above is Xian now - very different from 1 month ago, when he was admitted to the hospital (18 Feb 2008).

We Did It!

As mentioned yesterday in the "Tenacity In Selling", we were supposed to close the 1 significant deal for the year and quarter.

Well... we did it! We closed the deal - a government order and with that we have a chance to achieve a growth rate of more than 65% Y/Y - contingent on our ability in shipping all the goods before year end ie. 31 March 2008.

It has been an excellent year for many of us. First of all, most of us made more money than previous years. Secondly, our business is on a better footing than before - with our funnel positioned strongly in the next 1 -2 quarters. Thirdly, we are clearer in what we need to do as we move forward.


We have a 3 years plan :

Year 1 (2007) : build a strong infrastructure - we convert our business into a 100% channels model

Year 2 (2008) : building solution content and knowledge - we must position solution selling in our business both for ourselves and our partners

Year 3 (2009) : focus in market share building - no business can grow and sustain itself if market share growth is not part of the plan. We will grow market share in Year 3.

Xian Is Recovering

Was really glad today as I received a positive sms from Frank on Xian's condition. Jeng Xian went for a follow-up check up this morning and here is an sms from Frank,

"PTL, thanks be 2 our God. Blood test shows everything stable n progressing well for Xian. Doctors are amazed at Xian's recovery. Prayer works. All glory be to God."

I am looking forward to Xian's full recovery soon. Halelujah!!

Tenacity In Selling

A Good Year


This month marks the end of Hitachi Data Systems financial year for 2007. As usual there is a rush to complete the orders that have been committed for the quarter and year. We are having a good year thus far. Up to Q3, we are having a 50% growth Y/Y and potentially 65% growth Y/Y for the full year.

For Malaysia, we have 1 significant deal that is almost 20% of the year's budget. We are close to wrapping it up but... not yet. This deal is managed by one of my Sales Manager - Ghaffar. He has done relatively well this year. With this order, he would have hit more than 140% of his year's quota.


The Issue

Here is the issue... he has decided to go on leave this Friday - the day when we have our final nego. Early this week, he told me that he would like to go on leave on Friday, since Thursday is a public holiday. As usual, I told him that, I am ok so long as he wrap up the deal before hand. It wasn't done.



My thought

I was just thinking about the situation that I have and realised that - the difference between a successful sales person vs a mediocre one often lies in their tenacity for success. In my view, while there are priorities in our life, to achieve what we want - we must have the tenacity to make it happen. Mere words in this competitive world is no longer enough.



We will see the outcome of our discussion tomorrow.

Jeng Xian's status

We went to visit Jeng Xian at home today. It has been a week since he was discharged from SJMC.

It has been a miracle in many ways, considering the condition that Xian was in 2-3 weeks ago. Then he was just lying in hospital with a lot of tubes going in and out of his body. With a lot of prayer and support from everyone and the doctors, Xian was moved out of the ICU early last week and left the hospital on Thursday. I am very happy for Xian's recovery.

He is now resting at home and undergoing physiotherapy. He was not able to move a big part of his body, yet. When I saw him early this week, he can speak a few words and move his fingers. Today, he spoke more words. I can see that he was glad to see his friend, Nicholas (my son) - when he smiled. I also noticed more movement from him.

With more prayer, I am sure that we will see Xian fully recover soon.

My experience at the 12th GE

This is the first time that I am involved directly in the Malaysian General Election. It all started during a dinner that a few of us (Frank Lim) had with Dato Lee Hwa Beng at Super Tanker Restaurant in Damansara way before the parliment was dissolved.



Playing a Role

Most of us have been talking about the election and issues that have been affecting us. However, I realised that what we have done so far has been to talk only. Hence, when Dato Lee asked us to help, Frank and myself, felt that it would be good for us to support a friend and at the same time... be involved. We were to be coordinators for the polling center during the polling day - seems easy.

Most of the volunteers are from the churches around Subang Jaya and Sunway. There are a few churches that are outside of the township that just wanted to help. In fact, Dato Lee received tremendous support for various Christian groups, judging from the initial meeting that was organized in late Feb.

When we asked David Loo (election agent) as to why Dato Lee engaged the churches to be observers during the polling day, instead of those "paid agents" - David's answer was just plain simple - "Dato Lee can count on you guys to be there and be committed to complete the task". I am really proud of that comment.

The Action Begins

Initially, I thought that organizing election was just "chicken feet". Little did I realise that it is actually a rather complicated matter. They have to look at the ceramah, crowd control, food and drink, electricity, posters and etc...

Frank and myself began the task of mobilizing the members for about 35 polling centers, which will need about 240 members. All our volunteers are just that - volunteers. I thought it was quite simple - with my experience working in MNC the last 20 years... It wasn't that easy, coupled with the fact that they are just volunteers. We then enlisted Frank's eldest son - Jeng Chee, who was a tremendous help to us.

In the midst of all the action, Jeng Xian (Frank youngest son) was admitted to SJMC at the ICU for virus infection of the brain. Suddenly, we have other more urgent matters other than the election... Ah Xian, (as Jeng Xian was known to us), was particularly close to us. We were in a spot. I shared Ah Xian's situation to a few leaders of the volunteers (such as Mdm Lau Guat Hoon, Chu Seng Wah, Pastor Moses and Ong Hock Siew), their immediate reaction was - let's pray for him. Pray we did, individually and with all the volunteers.

Then I received a call from Dato Lee exactly 1 week before the election - in the call he asked if I could handle the entire coordination on my own!! This will allow Frank to focus completely on Xian - with his thoughtfulness, I could not say no.

The next 1 week was really hectic. I could not let 2 person down - Dato Lee with his election in a week's time and Frank, with Xian in ICU. On the surface I acted cool - I guess, that is how I normally am at work - even though I am peddling like mad below the water!! With 2 days to go, we were 95% ready. The other 5% is to convince some people to go over to Seri Setia @ Kg Medan and Kg Lindungan - which seem tougher than I thought. With God's grace, we were at 100% 1 day before the election.



The Election Day

It started off rather uneventful. All observers were at their centers on time @ 7:30 am. As mentioned by David Loo earlier - these guys are committed. We passed the 10 am mark, then 12 pm, and then, we were almost closing at 5 pm... We begin to monitor deployment for the counting process - other than a few minor confusion, most centers were taken care of by our observers. My initial thought were for the entire process to be completed by 7 pm, at the latest - a bit ambitious, on my part - also, due to my inexperience...

I was at the SMK USJ 12 to have a first hand look at the counting. I was excited. This time around, the counting was done at the room ie. each saluran. What followed was really shocking for me... There seem to be more "crosses" for Loh Gwo Burne and Hannah than for Dato Lee and Mdm Ong. In my heart, I knew that there will be a swing but what I saw that evening was not a swing - it was more like a pendulum moving the other direction. My heart was pounding faster and I was literally stunt.

I thought that was probably due to the residents there. I then decided to check out other centers. I drove to SK SS14 to have another look. What I saw at USJ 12 wasn't a unique situation - it was probably a trend. A major trend. I stayed until the counting was over at SS14 - then I felt that Dato Lee had probably lost the election.

It looks to me that everyone is just very angry with the BN government and it was nationwide.

Back at the service center, the mood was sombre and I can see Dato Lee feeling dejected. Su Su (Dato's wife) was there , too. I empathized for them. They have put in their heart and soul the last 12 years, and yet the voters "rejected" them. Granted that Dato Lee is not perfect - almost everyone that I met said that this man has done a lot for Subang Jaya... maybe not enough.