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Earlier in the week, I was skimming through Chapter 3 of the textbook, which covered social responsibility and ethics. I came across a heading that immediately evoked a bad memory of being pressured into a purchase.

High-pressure selling: “… selling that persuades people to buy goods they had no thought of buying.

This had actually happened several months ago (before I had a class on marketing!). I was strolling around the mall, looking for a novel to purchase when I was suddenly approached by a pushcart salesman wearing an apron who was selling some face-wash. Our 30 minute “conversation” included a high starting price which got lower and lower every few minutes; his side-kick showing up midway to add pressure; him ridiculing my $5 soaps; and some motor-mouth smooth talking. I eventually got suckered into spending $55 on a face wash, and $10 on a bar soap.

At the end of the day, I was annoyed at myself – I had never spent more than $10 on a face-wash and yet, in my hand was a bar soap and a “Dead Sea, cucumber extract” 120ml bottle of face-wash which cost me a ridiculous sum of money (in my opinion, at least!). I had absolutely no intention of buying any face-wash that day, or even spend any money on anything apart from a novel, but yet, he had managed to break my willpower!!

Sure, it wasn’t the most ethical way to make a sale… but did it work? Yes.

As the textbook states, such tactics may work in one-time selling situations for short-term gain, but it can do serious damage to long-term relationships with valued customers. But damaging long-term relationships goes against the basic fundamentals of marketing strategies, so why did he do that? Probably because he had no interest in really marketing the product to me, but more so in the commissions that he would receive in the sale.

Comm 299 helped me to discover that the onus is on myself to open the doors to opportunity. One of the ways to open these doors is through professionalism and learning how to market myself.

Through the resume, cover letter and interview assignment, I learned that the greater the amount of time I was willing to invest on such things (which I previously thought were not as important), the greater the odds it is for me to be chosen among others. Every small little detail mattered, as I learnt the hard way through the below-expected score for my resume/ cover-letter – I took for granted intricate details did not matter, but it came back to hurt me in the end.

Apart from making my ‘portfolio’ look presentable, it was also my job to get involved and boost my resume in whatever way I could.

During my service in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), I was afforded to have a head of department who played an influential role in my life so far. Victor Chan was 56 years old when I entered the forces and carried a wealth of experience with him, having been in the forces for over 30 years. He was my direct superior and I spent the majority of my two years in the SAF working as a coordinator under him in the same department.

Victor taught me the importance of letting others ‘win’. There were many instances where personnel of higher rank and seniority would push their weight about in order to get things their way, and as a relatively new enlistee in the forces, I constantly found myself not able to get my work done. The only way to get beyond dwelling on it was to tell myself that I had to focus on the final goal, and decide which tasks I had to direct my attention to. Attending important meetings with Victor and day-to-day events further helped me to understand how he had been able to ‘survive’ working under such hostile conditions. Should he had chosen to dispute every decision that was made against the him or the department, the pressure would have gotten to him many years ago.

At the end of the day, it was all about choosing my battles but ultimately winning the war.