Trudon Intranet Blog 6Oct2008

Sales Bzzt! - The Good News!
Monday, October 6th, 2008
By Sue-Ann Grant
Tjoe! It has been a challenging few weeks. All that political uncertainty, the crash of the US banks, the strain on our local financial markets and our own challenges at TDS. Ja! Tell us about it I hear you all saying. The commission system had a complete breakdown and IT have been working on it furiously to get commission statements out. The company takes this very seriously and has given a firm undertaking to resolve it as soon as humanly possible and will adjust any and all discrepancies.

Likewise the switching over to the C19 National Canvass has experienced some teething problems. We have an action group that meets twice weekly on it and we hope to have all outstanding reporting ready by the end of the week. The long term objective makes sense. We need to be geared to sell in this dynamic market 24/7/365 and keep our competitive edge.

It is important at times like these that we hold on to our optimism and keep a positive outlook and keep our focus on our end goals. Let nobody and nothing take us down hey? Scientific research has confirmed what we know is common sense - optimism is an excellent predictor of good health, long life, success, and a high happiness quotient.

And you know what? September has actually been a very good month:
• The Online Team is over target by 34%. A sterling effort and pizza is on its way!
• Jeanine Ihlenveldt in Durban sold the biggest ever online contract at R124, 608 per month for 12 months. Fantastic!
• Group wide the IYP sales performance was only 8% behind target which is significantly better than the year to date tracking of 24% below target.
• The print figures have also been great this month we sold R45, 9 million at just under a 18% increase. A round of applause please!
Let’s keep this momentum going.

And outside of TDS we had more good things happening:
• Bafana Bafana beat Malawi 3-0 – Well done okes! We are very proud of you.
• The petrol price came down – could not have come at a better time, hey?
• Our financial markets held up rather well – and that has made me proud as punch.
• There was a peaceful new political dispensation in Zimbabwe – let’s hope it holds.
• The weather has been great and rain has been predicted – yay! That means summer is here….well, almost, hey?
• Our new democracy works. We can depose presidents appoint new ones and carry on…business unusual.
All of this goes to show that we can do anything if we put our minds to it even when the odds are against us and the groundswell of opinion is negative. Let’s get reinvigorated and keep on moving towards our positive future and put all negativity behind us. Turn our back on it. Believe in our company values and ensure that each one of us walks the talk. No exceptions. And let’s pull everyone along with us and let it gain momentum.

Our own personal optimism and positivity is something we each have direct control over. Becoming more optimistic will have benefits for us not only at work but in our personal lives too. That is actually where we are likely to experience the most benefit from having a positive outlook. And the good news is that we can actually teach ourselves to increase our levels of optimism.

Follow these links for some self help guides: -
• First, measure how optimistic or pessimistic you currently are with the “Optimism Test” on the Authentic Happiness website - you need to register (free) and then find the test on the Questionnaires page atwww.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires.aspx.
• Then read a few of the many articles on the Internet on the subject - if you tend to be a pessimist, get going with “How To Be Optimistic” on the wikiHow website atwww.wikihow.com/Be-Optimistic. And wherever you are now on the optimism scale, find out how to move up it - start off with a look at the summaries and reviews of the book “Learned Optimism” by psychologist Martin Seligman atwww.bainvestor.com/Learned-Optimism.html andwww.shearonforschools.com/learned_optimism.htm.
• Finally, if you’re getting a bit tired of all the doom and gloom in our local media (you can’t blame them really - bad news sells!), cheer up with a visit towww.sagoodnews.co.za and read all about “South Africa: The Good News”.
Enjoy October! I am going to.
Remember to send your stories for the next installment to me (Sue) atgrantsu@tds.co.za

Parts of this blog first appeared in LawDotNews, and are reproduced here with permission of DotNews and Bernard Tanner & Associates Attorneys.
www.dotnews.co.za