In any organisation, its strength depends on its people, whose strength, in turn, depends a lot on their efforts, skill and mind-set. The Hong Kong Management Association's Sales and Marketing Executives' Club was founded to promote the innovative development and continuous improvement of skills, efforts and mind-set for sales and marketing professionals, and collectively to attain ongoing betterment of our society. This year, the business situation is tough. Still, it is the quality of customer service that really distinguishes one from the others. Members of the sales and marketing team are the eyes and ears of the organisation. We observe, we listen, and so we improve. That is why, tonight, we are going to commemorate the 1998 Distinguished Salesperson Award winners from top-notch organisations in Hong Kong. They are professionals, judged not by the category of their work but the quality of their efforts, achieved through constant practice of the basics. As the chairman of the Sales and Marketing Executives' Club, I would like to thank Hongkong Bank for its generous and continuous support and the panel of judges for taking their precious time to interview the candidates. My thanks also go to the DSA organising committee, headed by David Tai, for its dedicated work, and Anna Wu, chairman of the Consumer Council, for kindly accepting to be the guest of honour at the presentation ceremony. A quote, from our country's President, Jiang Zemin, may best describe the state of mind-set for we professionals in facing the prevailing challenges and opportunities - 'We shall ascend high and be far-sighted'. With this mind-set, we can overcome most of the difficulties as we head towards the millennium. KENNETH AU, Chairman, Sales and Executives' Club,HKMA
