Business and Money Tips

(Read 4 Weeks to a Better Manager at here ) We know that with the Singapore's economy growing at 3% to 4% this year, companies should be enjoying at least 5% to 10% of sales growth.  Yet many businesses that I talked to, including the famous restaurant at Orchard Road that I attended, are seeing stagnant sales.  Some are even experiencing declining sales.  Why? Lack of Labour . Because of the low birth rates from 1990 onwards, there are far fewer job seekers than job providers.  This, coupled with the continued tightening of foreign labour, means that it is the lack of labour, not lack of customers, that is causing sales to stagnant .  Is there a solution? The solution must be a permanent one, that is, it should once and for all solve this labour shortage problem, at least for the next 10 to 20 years. It should also not increase the cost of doing business , yet at the same time does not require government's funding.  What is this perfect solution? ...

People often wonder how do we live a life of happiness and fulfilment. Politicians often talk about human rights, but we know that humans need to live lives in certain right ways for human rights to be productive.  For example, everyone has the right to talk freely, but if one talks in not right ways that harm others, that human right has to be modified. In our teachings we teach people the Eight Human Rights.  It all starts with the Right View , which is to view things from the right angle. We know that all views are perception, and with perception there is deception .  To perceive something is to perceive it as it is and not let ourselves (the perceiver) affect the perception .   For example, if you have biasness against someone, your view of him would be distorted and not right. Only with the Right View can you start to have Right Thinking .   Thinking is the speech of our mind .  Because thinking often leads to action, Right Thinking is needed for...

Sun Tzu said in the Art of War that it is not enough to "Know Yourself, Know Your Enemy", we also must ensure that our opponent does not know the real us.  This is what he meant by 'Deception' - "When strong, appear weak, when weak, appear strong".  The famous Sun Tzu quote: "All war is based on deception" does not mean Sun Tzu teach us to deceive people and be dis-honest.  At the beginning Sun Tzu said "Moral" is of utmost importance, thus we know that Sun Tzu is not a book for cheats. To Get People Not to Know You could mean the following 5 Things: Be Humble , for humility gives you flexibility if things go wrong Under Promise , so that you could Over Deliver easily.  If you over-promise, you would stand a high chance of under-delivering Be Confident , especially when things are uncertain.  For that confidence gives people confidence in you, and that will translate into support, which in turn will make you stronger Leave Questi...

I like short and simple words because to say something short and simple takes a lot of effort and understanding.  This is unlike some professors who use very difficult to understand terms and words that few can understand.  In people management , the less you say, the more they get it.  I learnt this very powerful phrase from Singapore's highest grossing local dual movies "Ah Boys to Men".  In that movie, while the recruits are preparing for their most ardent training (3-days field camp), their Officer asked them this question: "Before we move out, anybody not feeling well?"  All the recruits answered a resounding, "NO!!!".  Next the Officer said, "Gentlemen, every time the training gets harder, one question comes to your mind: 'Why am I serving national service?'  My answer to you is - 'If not You, Then Who Else?'"  With that the soldiers happily go for their training. Indeed, "If Not You Who Else?" is a very ...

Ask any man on the street why he works and he will tell you working is to earn enough money so as to get a good life.  Many people see work as a necessity for living, and some will say they work for their dreams.  Others will tell you working is their passion and they enjoy every minute of their work. To me, if you consider work as work, you are working too hard and life is not meaningful.  You are no different than the busy ant, or the dog that slaves.  To me work is about changing and touching peoples' lives.   You don't have to be a teacher or a high level politician to change or touch peoples' lives.  Everyone, regardless of their profession, vocation, education or speciality, can change and touch peoples' lives. The moment you see your work as an opportunity for you to change or touch someone's lives, you never have to work another day in your life.  For now work has a totally higher meaning .  You will be energized to do whatever yo...

I just re-read THE 22 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF MARKETING’ book written by Al Ries and Jack Trout and many ideas already exploded in my little mind.   You can read the full list of 22 laws at our previous article at here . As at today Samsung and Apple both controlled over 52% of the world's smartphone market share out of over 40 players.  Samsung and Apple successes can be attributed to the 3 laws: Law of Sacrifice .  This is the opposite of Law of Extension.  It says that if you want to be successful, you need to give up something.  For Samsung, they give up software control, for they use Google's Android instead of their own Tizen operating system. For Apple's iPhone, they give up screen size so that the users can have a easy one-hand operation.  Note that the rumoured iPhone 6 coming up in June 2014 will have a larger 4.7 inch option, but this is still much smaller than Samsung Galaxy Note 4 coming up in July 2014 which will have 5.9 inch.  Law of...

Yes, it is getting more obvious that people are getting more disconnected despite of the proliferation of tools that 'connect' like smartphones, tablets and smart watches.  We know that connection is beyond 'being there', it is also not about being 'on line' or 'on the line'. Connection is nothing but connecting at the heart and spirit level .  It is beyond connecting at the body level, and also above the mind level.  You'll know when you're connected to someone when both of you 'get it ', and you don't need to show anyone that connection exists.  Like a loving couple, they are truly connected at every minute of their date even when they 'do nothing' at their dates.  Note that the Chinese used to think of connection at the 'blood' or family level, but this is just body connection and may not even be mind connection. The recent MH370 Plane Disaster showed that the families of the victims were simply 'disgusted...

A salesperson should be proud of his work, he need not hide his title under other 'more glamorous' titles like Advisor, Consultant or Marketer.  This is because all businesses start and end with sales.  Without salespeople, there is no need for any other person in the company.  But understand that not all salespeople are the same, and you must make a difference to the customers, not make a difference just to be different .  There are 7 ways that you can make a difference to your customers: Adding Value to Customers Even When They Don't Buy .   Giving Referrals to your Customers Help the Customer to Save Money, Time and Energy  Make the Customer and his Team Happy, Free of Worry and Delusion Make the Customer a Hero Be There for Him When He Needs You Most, Disappear When He Doesn't Need You Love Him by being kind, joyful, calm and understanding . Remember, if you don't make a difference to your customer, you are no different from other salespeop...

Everyone knows that all learning is based on memory.  Even at work, the more you remember, the easier will be your work.  Searching for information is done by Google, but remembering the information and applying the information have to be based on memory.  So it is important for us to have good memory.  Most people think that memory skills are difficult to learn and apply, in fact some even say that "I'm too old to remember" or "Age is catching up" to justify their forgetfulness.  When people say, "I forgot", they didn't, what really happened was that they didn't remember it in the first place.  For human memories are infinite, we are not computers with limited memory.  How can you forget something that you didn't remember, originally?  So if you do remember something, how can you forget it?  One of the fundamentals of a trained memory is Original Awareness .   Anything of which you are originally aware cannot be forgotten.  ...

Most managers are doing their job well, in fact, too well, and that's the problem.  They do not make any difference to their organization, the people and most importantly themselves.  Just ask any manager this question and you'll get stares from them: "What is the most difficult decision you made in your career and how has this decision turned up now?"  Many managers will be asking you this question instead, "Am I supposed to be doing this?  I am a good manager, you know..." To me, if a manager does not make a difference, he is irrelevant and will either be by-passed or made redundant.  Just look at many companies where they don't make any replacements for resigned managers and you'll know what I'm talking about.  In fact with today's workforce being more educated and experienced, many jobs can be done directly, with the staff reporting to the boss without a middle manager.  In many cases, the staff just report to the client directly and ...

They laughed when they saw me staring at my tablet for the whole day.  What am I so engrossed in?  But when they saw what I saw, they begin to laugh too.  What I am doing is simple: ALT ( Anytime Learning with Tablet ). The modern world is no longer about getting good grades, for things are changing so fast that no school in this world, including the top universities, can teach us new things.  The only way to learn in this world now is to learn on internet .  Not through your PC or laptop, for it is too tiring and inconvenient.  Neither is it through your smartphone, for your smartphone has to be reserved for texting, facebooking and calls.  It has to be through another devise, a portable one that you can bring to anywhere: office, restaurant, bedroom, bathroom, bus, train, lift and bedroom.  With a tablet of a convenient size (e.g. 7 inch), relatively cheap (best cost you less than $200), reasonably fast with good battery, you can do the foll...

There is a world of difference between passively and actively listening.  The best leaders  and managers are also the best listeners, they asked themselves 3 questions every week: Who Does Not Feel Listened To? What People Have I Neglected to Listen to? Have I audited my own listening to ensure that my listening still have standards? There are 7 Important Voices that Every Leader Listens to: The Unhappy Voice - discontentment with what is happening now The Inner Voice - the unspoken feelings inside of you The Higher Voice - something higher than what we are doing and thinking now, like kindness The Successful Voice - Who can we learn and leverage from? The Undermined Voice - the people who are losing out, if left unchecked, will lead to chaos The Hidden Voice - this is beyond your inner feelings, it is the spirit or soul of you The Repeated Voice - anything that repeats 3 times or more is a cause for concern, this is usually the neglected voice. In my opin...

If you as an employee too want to earn higher salary without causing a rise in cost for your employer, you need to handle more responsibilities and take more risks.  This means that you have to be promoted to a level that has more managerial and leadership roles, i.e. manager.  In fact all employees that are not already managers now should aim to get promoted in 2014, and here are the 5 steps: Change Your Thinking from Employee into Management .  Typical employee thinking is 'What's In It For Me?' whereas management thinking is 'What's in it for the Stakeholders ?'  Also, management thinking is about win-win abundance, whereas employee thinking is about win-lose scarcity. Most importantly, management thinking is long term business sustainability , while employee thinking is about yearly increment.  Take on some roles outside your usual role .  Like volunteer to look after certain issues or best take over some of your boss's work. Learn skills on 4 cr...

We know it is the job of the salesperson to close sales, but many salespeople are actually closing files instead of closing sales .  Worse still, they are unaware of this because they think they're just 'doing my job to respond to customer's request'.  The 7 instances where salespeople close files are: Being Impatient with No Answer from the Client .  Usually salespeople will, after a few no answers from the client, get impatient and just want a quick answer.  They say things like, "I need your answer now as I must book my schedule which is getting full now".  The client will, 99% of the time, simply reply, "Since you're so busy, why not you go ahead with your schedule and leave me out for now?"  The next time you have such a situation, do not press for an answer, for you know that the client has no answer for you , otherwise, he would have replied you long ago.  Instead offer help to the client , and you'll leave the door open instead of...

Everyone knows the power of praises, but few people know that some praises actually demotivate people instead of uplifting them.  The following are the 7 most common instances of praises that de-motivate people: General Praises , like 'You're Great' and 'Well Done" if used in a general way will make the person feel that you're being sarcastic or flattering .  Imagine your staff worked hard for the exhibition and there were a few hiccups along the way, you need to be specific in your praise, like you appreciate the fact that they managed to clear backlogs.  General praises will just make them feel that you're just putting on a show.  Praises that Compare them to another person.  Everyone knows the de-motivating power of comparisons, especially when you compare the person you praised to another person that achieved much more than them. The person will feel more inferior with your comparison.  If you want to compare, compare their current improved perfor...

Yes, your eyes are your most important organ in your body.  Smart salespeople use their eyes to get customers to say yes to their proposal instantly.  This is what you do: You ask your customer a question, like, "Which product fits in best with what you had in mind?" Then you lower your head slightly and get a few degrees below the eye level of the customer As the customer considers your question, you slowly bring your head up, almost unnoticeably, so that your eyes are on the same level as the customer's eyes At the exact moment when the customer starts to make a sound, you move your eye level up a few degrees above the customer's eye level At this point, something magic happens. The customer will automatically raise his head and eyes to meet your eyes Before you realize it, your customer gives you a positive response.   Scientists said that the above action produces a psychological encouragement to the customer to agree with whatever you said, because ...

Mindfulness is often thought of the same as meditation, when in fact it is more than that.  Perhaps it is easier to understand mindfulness from the opposite, i.e. when do we consider someone as mindless?  When he does things without thinking, or when he does things with so much 'auto-pilot' that he becomes robotic and apply the same approach to different situations.  Like many salespeople assume customers like details and would go into details without considering the client's needs.  Mindlessness can also be found in salespeople that are ill prepared and incompetent, and yet try to pretend that they know.   Simply put, mindfulness has 3 elements: you need to first take note of something, be aware of it, and remember that awareness .  So for example if I am being mindful in a sales meeting, it means that I have to take note of my client's objections, be aware that it is an objection and remember that awareness.  Note that once you have mindfulnes...