FROM selling consumer products to selling the Philippines, Oscar Sanez has come full circle.

The current president and chief executive officer of Business Processing Association Philippines (BPAP) ? the umbrella organization of business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology (IT) firms in the country ? Sanez began his career in sales and marketing with multinational Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1977.

After graduating from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Business Administration, Sanez declined three job offers from the country?s top corporations to work for P&G.

?My personal ambition then was to be a senior executive in a multinational company, and I pictured myself running an organization of people. I was particularly impressed by P&G because they seemed to have the kind of principles I believed in, such as training, in-house leadership and management development and promotion from within based on merit,? recalls Sanez.

?But the first job they offered me was a van sales representative. I was both intrigued and unsure of the offer. At that time, my batchmates were mostly going into management trainee positions.?

Dressing down for work

His first job, which paid P1,300 a month, entailed driving around a big truck from Manila to Parañaque, selling P&Gs soap brands to market vendors and store owners.

While his contemporaries each day wore dress shirts and ties and worked in air-conditioned offices, Sanez dressed down for work, usually wearing rugged shirts, jeans and rubber shoes.

His office was his big P&G delivery truck and his workplace was the public markets of Metro Manila.

?It was a difficult job and, at first, I though I couldn?t do it,? Sanez says. ?It was the physical challenge that created those doubts in my mind.?

Sanez?s work day began at 7:30 a.m. at the P&G source point where he collected his stocks. By 8 a.m., he was meeting his first market vendor to close the sale. He would then move on to sell P&G products to at least 25 other vendors that same day.

After finishing his sales calls at about 5 p.m., Sanez would close his cash and inventory books, place orders, plot his coverage plan for the following day and work on promotional activities. His work day ended very late at night.

On top of the tough daily grind, Sanez had to deal with trouble from local police, market gangs and bosses who would refuse him entry without some form of tribute, parking gangs, small vendors who sabotaged or stole products, as well as robbers and snatchers.

Sanez also figured in a serious road accident that left him with 12 stitches on his head.

Bigger roles

?It was a very tiring job ? mentally and physically. But I don?t regret ever taking that job.?

His experience as a truck salesman helped him prepare for bigger roles at P&G, Sanez relates.

From roving the streets of Metro Manila, Sanez was assigned to handle P&G sales in other parts of the Philippines. In 1989, he became P&G?s country director for sales. He later headed the company?s sales team covering the whole of Southeast Asia.

By the time he retired from P&G in 2005, Sanez was country manager for P&G Australia and New Zealand. By then, Sanez had accumulated 29 years worth of experience and expertise in leadership, sales and marketing during his stint with P&G.

"Being a salesman helped me understand the basics of P&G?s market,? he says.

Working his way up from the lowest level of the trade hierarchy had helped him ?understand the whole distribution system ?everything from the commercial to the relationship side of things ?the culture of retail, the aspect of trade and consumer attitudes.... Things I needed to see first hand to make a sale and convert the market to P&G brands,? he explains.

?I learned how to talk to all sorts of people and make friends. I knew that my asset and strength was people leadership, and I was able to make the most of my people and communication skills.?

In 2006, Sanez returned to the Philippines, intent on doing something for the country.

He became project director for Gilas (Gearing-up Internet Literacy and Access for Students), an initiative of the Ayala Foundation, which aims to provide public school students access to the Internet.

In February 2007, Sanez was asked to head BPAP.

?My job is to promote the Philippines as an ideal investment destination for an industry that still has so much potential for business and jobs creation.?

Despite the success he?s had in his career, Sanez says that much of what he?s been able to accomplish came from things he learned from his first job.

Effective communication

?One might think that selling soap and selling the Philippines are two very different things,? he says. ?But the key ingredient in making these two sales is . . . communication. Much of what I do now ? presentations, briefings, talking to investors, government, business groups and even BPO workers ? I learned from working in sales.?

His advice to young people about to take their first career steps: Develop effective communication skills.

?To me, one of the most important skills that young people especially need to have is effective communication skills. But this is now absent in many of our graduates. All that a leader does, a manager does, is communication and organization. 80 to 90 percent of working time is devoted to speaking, writing, planning and communicating a plan to various people,? Sanez says.

?If I had not been an effective communicator, I would not have been a good manager. Had I not been organized, I could not have led effectively.?