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MY STORY AS A STORY-SELLER

I had just been ejected from my step-brother’s one-bed-roomed-house in a small suburban compound by his mother. He is away on duty. Step-mother never wanted me to live with my step-brother anymore; for her own trivial reasons.

With nowhere to go, no money to help me get anywhere at all, I wandered around Mansa town with my Olympic bag containing a small blanket and a few clothes. No food for at least forty-eight hours. This was sometime in October 1986.Out of desperation for survival, I agreed to take a position of waiter at Mansa Inn, advertised through the department of Labour.

Visiting Bangweulu Wetlands -Chiunda Ponde
Little did I realize that I was kick-starting a long and enjoyable sales career. I had just struggled to complete my Grade twelve a year ago with no hope for any sponsorship to enter college. I trekked all the way from Muwele Village in Chief Chiunda Ponde in Lavushi Manda district to come and join my step-brother, a United Bus Company driver in Mansa; where I faced the challenge of being of no fixed aboard.

 Mansa, the provincial capital of Luapula region in Zambia was then teeming with companies such as Mansa Batteries Ltd, branches of parastatals such as ZCBC, PTC, NEDCOZ, Zambia National Wholesale and many others. Prominent among private entrepreneurs were Spaita Machisa, Luka Mumba, House of Mansa, Chimpampwe, Pibelibe, etc.

There were many visitors to Mansa from other companies and Non-Governmental Organizations. Some of the regular visitors that visited Mansa Inn, which was just renovating into Mansa Hotel, were from Serioes Ltd, a men’s suit manufacturing company based in Luanshya. It’s this breed of smart and seemingly independent salesmen that inspired me to consider salesmanship.

It’s an undeniable fact that every normal and able-bodied human being lives by selling something. The earlier one realizes this, the better they become at exploiting opportunities that are in tune with their skills, talents and abilities. Selling is, undoubtedly, the shortest route to survival village. The Serioes salesmen encouraged me to take a course in marketing or sales management. I did, thanks to them.

From around 1991 to date, I have been a salesman, even though my job has, on several occasions, been disguised by shell titles. The only things that have ever really changed about my job are products and type of customers. I have sold food and drinks to patrons of a hotel, I have sold Multi-functional photocopiers to banks, Cash Registers to shopkeepers, Computers to Government Ministries, Calculators to small businesses, Typewriters to councils, Newspapers to politicians, Fire Extinguishers to industries, Overalls to mines, etc.

Why am I telling you all these?  you may wonder.

Because once more I’m selling a different product. This time it’s manufactured, packaged and marketed by myself. Stories. I’m now a Stories Salesman. I know you call people who write authors. But I will tell and sell stories.

The second reason I’m giving you my background is to show you that I come with valuable lessons from this twenty-eight-year career. I fully understand that being of service to other people is the most ideal of things one can live for. I enjoy serving others. I like it when I see them beam with happiness and satisfaction.

Secondly, I have always sold quality products. I understand what inferior products can do to any business. People are ready to pay a premium for assured quality. I, therefore, never take customers for granted. In sales, trust is cash. We seek it. We dig it. We earn it. We spend it to earn more trust.

 You can, as a result, trust that whatever I have put in between pages as a STORY-SELLER will be of considerable quality. I will, to the best of my ability, give my customers (readers) stories they deserve. I hope to earn your trust so you can in turn help me earn another customer’s trust.

My book, Isembe Talitwa, is now on sale. Call, Text, WhatsApp: 0965 896 547

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