Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sorry state of professionals

The hottest news of this month is definitely the Lehman collapse and the AIG fiasco. This really exposes the level of professionals we have over here.

I have enquired among my friends who have the Lehman Minibonds and I'm appalled at the reply from their bank's RM. It really seems that the word Relationship Manager(RM) is just another new name for salesman!

Apparently, they have asked the RM on the status of the minibond and if they are affected (Lehman has many minibond series), and the reply was that they do not know! The only time that they will know is when the next dividend comes in. If it didn't come in, its a default.

Come on!! This is ridiculous. You sell a product, you don't know the internal workings of the product, and you don't even know when it'll default! If you're selling something, its your responsibility that you know all the important points of the product! It's no excuse that the product is too complicated or complex to understand. If it is, that means you're not meant to sell the product at all, and you should get someone more highly trained to sell this product.

They have interviewed some RMs in today's papers and I'm really appalled that they know nothing about the product that they are selling. The excuse is that its too complicated, too complex to understand, and they are selling too many to know all of it.

Excuse me!! Those really good salesman that I know can memorise all the company's products details and specifications, which can number into almost 50 different types, and can recommend the product based on the customer's different needs.

The latest AIG fiasco is not any better. You have financial advisers from other companies asking people to dump their AIA policies, even though Singapore's MAS has already came out saying that they have strict regulations that ensure that all policies can be paid out in full. My take... Go on and dump if you do not want to heed MAS advice. Those who are holding on to their AIA policies will thank you because they will have more bonus to share among the remaining policyholders.

Every industry has their rotten eggs, and this is not limited to the financial sector. Likewise, there are gems around. However for some stupid reason, I know more about the rotten ones, and very few good ones.

It might be that the training is insufficient, or it might be that the product sucks in the first place. Either case, whether its a big MNC, or a small mom and pap shop, its always the quality that matters.

It amazes me sometimes that some people concentrate on the side dish, and neglects the main dish.

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