Those that thrive and those that wilt

By Yeoh Siew Hoon

I am convinced there are two kinds of people in the world – those who thrive in crisis and those who wilt.

Last week, I ran into someone who’s on the hospitality real estate side of things – i.e. a hotel owner – and when I asked him how he was, he responded with nervous laughter, “It’s like someone just switched off the lights.”

He’s a wilter. I don’t blame him, I suppose. He’s probably watched his brick-and-mortar investments transform to bamboo-and-grass overnight.

In Singapore, real estate, like hotel prices, has come down as fast as it shot up. A newly-arrived expatriate friend found an apartment in a brand new complex and got it at half the rent it was going for six months ago – from $8,000 a month to $4,000. How crazy is that?

Then there’s the other camp that’s loving every minute of it. I find these are usually the seasoned professionals, the war horses that have fought in the trenches a few times and the sales and marketing folks who know this is the their time to shine.

In bad times, people need sales and as Robin Lokerman, boss of MCI Asia Pacific told me the other day, “You got to sell yourself out of recession.”

And so I ran into a positively glowing Ray Stone last week. The vice president-sales and marketing for Accor Asia Pacific is a veteran who’s been through a few bad markets in his time.

When I asked him how he and his team were doing, he said, cheeks a-flushed and eyes a-glow, “We have all guns firing on target, I love it.”

Staying in his line of friendly fire, I listened as he enthused about how exciting these times were for sales and marketing.

For him, it’s about getting back to the fundamentals and investing in existing relationships as well as creating new relationships. “It’s all about the customer. Anything that does not support that, you got to stop.”

So Stone and his team are still rolling along, attending trade shows, making sales calls and organising World of Accor in a couple of months. “You got to be out there to listen to and understand what the customer is saying.”

In times such as these, he says the most important thing is not to assume anything. “You have to examine everything you do.”

He confesses it’s not rocket science – “I am embarrassed talking about it” – but he reminds me of what Napoleon Hill said about selling, “The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.”

I must say I have always had great admiration for people who sell. The good ones can sell you anything.

The other day, toying with the idea of buying a car, I walked into a showroom. I had had in mind a small minivan and a set budget. I walked out with a red hatchback, which costs twice the amount.

And I don’t even have a driving licence. Now that’s salesmanship.

I think the travel industry should hire more people like him.

Catch Yeoh Siew Hoon and her friends every week at the Transit Cafe – http://thetransitcafe.com/