by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Rod Tomita

Age: 55

Occupation: Telemarketing coach

Bio: This confident yet serene Nuns’ Island resident had worked 28 years in marketing before deciding it was finally time to grab the bull by the horns and fully develop his telephone sales techniques. “Most of my experience had been with face to face sales, which was great, but limited my ability to speak with a lot of people and affect their lives. With a phone, you can work and reach people anywhere in the world,” he says. Calling up Protocol, “only the best direct marketing firm in probably all of North America,” he informed them of his new career goal, and lo and behold, the very next day he was working in a call centre. A profoundly spiritual individual, deeply involved in Ayurveda and feng shui, Rod has since developed his phone skills to the point where he now primarily labours as a coach to other, less experienced telemarketers. He describes his life in sales as “a journey.”

A few things an aspiring telemarketer might need to learn: “That if they keep at it, they can be earning $20 an hour plus bonuses and incentives! Now is that easy to do? No. Telemarketing isn’t easy, it requires you to be able to face a lot of rejection. Managing stress is also very important—I’ve taught a lot of people here how to breath. And sitting up straight is crucial as well. [Telemarketing] should be fun, it shouldn’t be like a job, it should be a conversation with a person whom you’re trying to help. And if you can help them, they say ‘Yes,’ and if you can’t help them, you go ‘Okay, have a great day anyway.’”

How Rod and his crew are “helping” people on their current campaign: By selling them credit cards.

Is standing in the back of the call room with a whip an effective way to motivate one’s sales force? “No, what I do is try to inspire them. And fear isn’t very inspirational.”

Is it easier to inspire a telemarketer when her ankle is chained to her work station? “No, it isn’t. But changing [an agent’s] position, their orientation to the room, this might actually affect their results. Because the energy—energy they’re not even conscious of—it effects them, you know? So I will help them get their energy space together. And we know this works too, because their sales numbers change once we’ve done the move and found the right positioning.”

A free service Rod offers the public: www.whatdoiwant.com, where Rod has a feng shui program you can plug into and get the real dope about your space and how it relates to your personal energy.

Childhood ambition: To become a train engineer.

Musical preferences: New age, classical baroque.

Last book read: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Words of wisdom: “Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is a truly spiritual experience when we live each moment with love, grace and gratitude.”

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca