Business and Money Tips

Following my article on 22 April 2014 about the 7 Truths in Management , the part on Delegation attracted the most comments.  In our management training , we often emphasized 7 children: the 7 Tasks that Cannot Be Delegated. They are like your 7 children, if you abandon them, you're abdicating them.  That's sinful!  Giving Authorization.  This is very obvious, you cannot delegate approval and authorization, thus you have to sign documents yourself.   Strategic Planning. You can get consultants to help you, but at the end of the day, you must select what strategy to take.  When it comes to planning, you can delegate the details to your subordinate, but the overall master plan must come from you. Praising People.  You can delegate scolding, but compliments have to be dished out by yourself.  If you are afraid that your hair will stand when you praise someone face to face, you can do it via electronic ways.  But no matter how busy you a...

Note: Next "Selling the Impossible" training is on 16 March 2018 Friday 2 to 5.30 pm. Details at here Following our article on Selling The Impossible where we listed the 10 situations, there are another 7 situations developed from ideas with our readers as follows: Your top salesperson has now joined your competitor, and he pulled with him all your regular and good clients.  Your prospect has a very small budget, and at this price, you are making a loss. A bad apple has spoilt the reputation of your industry. Although your pricing is not high, your company suffers from poor quality reputation. Your prospect likes what you have, but his boss prefers to deal with another bigger and more established vendor, even though their offer is worse than yours. Your company's management has just restructured and now prefers to work with self-employed resellers instead of salaried salespeople like you.  A new competitor has just emerged out of nowhere, and you are at a ...

Of all the 5 senses of the human being, speech and words are the most prevalent use. The other 4 senses are sight, touch, smell and taste.   In this modern age, we have very good communication tools, like the internet and satellite.  It takes no time to send out news to the other side of the planet.  Yet it takes lots of time for people to truly understand what is communicated.  In fact communication has become very difficult.  Fathers cannot talk to children, managers cannot talk to their staff and salespeople do not talk to their customers.  In short, communication is blocked.  There is little listening.   Many people do not realize that when we say something poisonous, they are more harmful than giving people poisonous food .  Also, words are more harmful than wars because at least you can prepare and defend in wars but people could spread bad words about you via social media and you could hardly stop it.   In fact words have ...

I just came back from an international convention attended by over 1,200 people.  Over a 3-days period, there were many discussions about leadership.  One person said that he was trained in leadership many years ago but now he needs refresher training.  Another said that many people are not trained in leadership and thus they were not as effective as desired. I was glad that nobody said that leadership is about having authority, title or expertise.  At least this organization of 54 years in existence has got the right understanding of leadership.  But I was surprised that nobody defined what exactly is leadership, which is strange because they spent so many hours discussing about leadership.   What's the best and most comprehensive definition of leadership?  It is Adding Value to People's Lives .  In this concept Adding Value includes Serving People .  So Servant Leadership is not one style of leadership, as what some people think, but o...

We know that nothing ever happens to us is a good thing or bad thing from its own side , because, if it were, then everyone would experience it that way as well.  For example, we may find someone irritating in the workplace, as if his 'irritating-ness' were something inside him that was flowing out and flying across the room to us.  That of course is not true.  That person's irritating-ness was just our perception . In reality there is almost always someone who finds this person to be good and lovable.  In short, people have no quality within themselves.  People are neutral, blank or empty.  What we experience is just our perception. What causes our perception?  It is a combination of factors: our own experience, the environment, our opinion, others' opinion and most importantly, our own state of mind . If we are in a joyful or loving state of mind, we will have positive perceptions.  If we are in an angry or hatred state of mind, we will h...

This is so shockingly simple and yet few use it because we were trained in schools to be one-sided in our social interaction.  My participant at this morning training just sent me an email saying that the training 'was very good and motivating'.  I replied him that I was just responding to the participants who were so hungry and eager to learn and they made me unconsciously and consciously go the extra mile.   Scientists today conclude that your mere act of observing something will influence that thing's behaviour .  So if I look at you with curiosity and enthusiasm, I will make you want to share with me more and motivate me.  On the other hand, if I look at you with prejudiced lens, my negativeness will make you become defensive and hold back giving it all in your performance.  So my friend this is the insanely simple way to getting high performance from your team: Look at them with an open heart .   When your heart is unlocked, your mind will ...

Note: The next 'Selling the Impossible' is on 16 March 2018 Friday 2 to 5.30 pm.   Details at here .  Today's article is about advanced selling strategies - how to Sell the Impossible.  Many people consider the following 10 situations to be selling the impossible: Prospect has just bought from your closest competitor Your product pricing is way too high to be considered Your salespeople has little knowledge to close the sale Prospect has no money to buy Prospect has no time to even look at your offer Prospect has just suffered a financial loss, thus no mood to talk about anything The Government has just introduced additional taxes to discourage your trade Other than pricing, your delivery lead time is too long, specifications are too uncompetitive and your credit terms are totally unattractive The morale of your sales team has just plunged to new lows due to corporate changes A new very aggressive competitor has just entered your market with a 50% price cu...

Following yesterday's blog on  7 Shocking Truths , people asked me if I could elaborate further from there.  If you were, like my friend, read all the management and business books out there, you will get nothing but confusion.  That's why I like to once and for all cement the following truths: 1.  Suppliers Are More Important than Customers We often said that customers is king, but if you do not have the right type of goods and services to sell, you have no business to sell to that king!  Unfortunately, most schools do not teach people how to treat suppliers well.  There are 3 things that every supplier look for: fast payment, business referrals and advance order informatio n.  Do not give your suppliers nasty surprises, or treat them like a beggar.  Give them the respect that they deserve: fast payment. 2. Employees Want to Do More than What You Told Them It's shocking to hear this: many employees don't mind to do more than what they we...

What motivate people to buy?  Why is it that some salespeople seem to have no challenge in selling, while others cannot even get people to part with one dollar?   People are motivated by a ' What's In It For Me? " attitude.  If you want your prospects to buy your products or service, you must give them the 'It" or good reason to buy.   We know that people don't buy just for the sake of buying.  People make decisions based on the vested interest of the outcome of the decision.  The challenge of every salesperson is to learn the interest or motive pattern of the prospect - know that motivates them to say yes.  If the salesperson focuses on the motives behind their desire to purchase, and supply an incentive to that motive, he will fulfil their desire and get the sale.  It's that simple.   What then are the underlying motives for people to buy?  There are 11 emotional reasons in order of importance: They are all to feel: Good P...

Through discussions with people in my How to Be a Better Manager courses , I realized that many people, despite working for over 3 decades, have grossly mis-understood the 7 common concepts in management.  As a result of this wrong view, they do things the wrong way and wondered why they have lousy results.  Now you have the chance to know these 7 truths and not be thrown around.  The 7 most common mis-understood concepts are: 1.   Teamwork Many people thought that if the staff get along well with little conflicts, teamwork is good.  Some people even think that if they go for offsite teambuilding training, teamwork will be improved automatically. There are even those who think that as long as there is harmony, teamwork is excellent. Nothing can be further from the truth. Teamwork is defined as nothing but Together Everyone Achieve More, with Achievement as the main criteria .  So if the team get along well but the performance is mediocre, there is si...

The other day I suggested to my friend to invite a speaker that we both know to speak at our monthly networking event.  My friend said that we have heard that speaker's speech before, and he finds that 'he is so-so, nothing special'.  When I told my friend that I have heard that speaker spoke before recently at another event and find him to be very inspiring, my friend again said, "But he is nothing special". Is this situation familiar to your company?  How often have you heard of bosses saying that so-and-so is nothing special, only to find him went over to a competitor company and became famous?  You may wonder how is it that two people working in the same organization, having similar education and experience, can have very different opinions on the same person?  This is more puzzling when you discover that people actually haven't changed, it is the environment and conditions that made people change . Behavioural scientists said that the difference in ...

Questions are the answers, and if you want the right answers you must ask the right questions.   Most people never ask questions, and when they ask questions, they often ask the wrong questions.  You know that your question is wrong when it does not give you the answer that you want.  Note that asking stupid questions is still better than asking the wrong questions.  Also, asking questions at the wrong time, either too early or too late, is also counter productive.  It's obvious that when your question restricts or limits you, it is not a right question.  On the other hand, right questions place no limits on your choices, they are also called Limitless Questions .  There are 5 Ways to Ask Limitless Questions: Questions that Open Up Your Choices and not limit them.  Like "How can I do this in future?" "What resources can I tap into?" vs "Can I do this in future?" Questions that Lead you to Real Choices and not pseudo choices.  A ps...

When we say that a food is wholesome, we mean that it is healthy, conducive and generally sound.  Same for thoughts and actions, for they can wholesome or unwholesome.   It is not the act that is good or bad, but it is the act's wholesomeness that will determine if that act is good or bad.   For example, if you are sleepy and tired, sleep is wholesome.  But if you sleep whole day, sleep will become unwholesome and thus no good.  If we hurt someone and regret it, that regret is wholesome.  But if your regret leads you to a guilt complex that colours whatever that you do in future, that regret is unwholesome.  In the same vein, when our thinking helps us to see clearly, thinking is wholesome.  But if our thinking is clouded by prejudice and inhibits us from seeing clearly, that thinking is unwholesome.  Here are 7 ways that we can can live more wholesomely everyday: Start with the right intention : is it only for our own good and no...

The PAP always tells us that we have to Pay and Pay as nothing is free in this world.  Everything we have to pay a price, sooner or later. Most people think of payment as paying money, but the biggest thing we pay in this world is Pay Attention .  Other than that, Paying Respects is also another big payment.  We also have to Pay our Dues and most importantly need to Pay on Time .   By far the most liked payment is Pay Compliments .  We also like people to Pay us a Visit, and people who Pay their Fair Share.   Since Pay Attention is the most important, we should pay attention to it or pay the price later on.  What is Pay Attention?  It means to give care, to give thought to .  Its opposite is Ignore, Disregard, Neglect, Overlook, Misunderstand and Forget.  The 13 most important meanings of Pay Attention are as follows: Listen See Observe Attend Be Aware Be Mindful Watch out Look Consider Follow Regard Take to heart Ob...

People often asked me how a good training program be structured. To me it should be 70/30: 70% hard, 30% soft.  Hard means the tactics and detailed how-to while soft means the motivational and inspirational aspects . For we know that without the motivational aspect, the trainees would not want to take action.  Without the detailed 'How-to', they too cannot take action, that's why you need both.  For example, our typical sales training (like How to Close Every Sale ) will include 89 tactics to overcome objections and close sales.  However, it also covers the inspirational aspect, the 'why' and purpose of sales closing.  Experience shows that this approach will satisfy 80% of the attendees, while the remaining 20% people need different structure.  No matter what, a good training program should cover the following structure: Current challenges faced and the root cause of the challenges Why this approach can help to resolve the challenges Definition o...

Everyone talks about the importance of love, but most people mistakenly equate love to personal affection, i.e. the kind of love when people are in a relationship of love or romance.  We know that true love is one that is more than that.  Love is defined as a Strong Positive Emotion that's Warm, Uplifting, Endearing and Inspiring .  Love is unconditional and non possessive. Love knows no boundaries, language, race or religion.  Love of course is a verb and not a noun. Ultimately you must feel love in order to understand love.  To do that, you need to be connected to people. There are 4 types of love that we teach in our courses: Loving-kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy and Equanimity . 1. Loving-kindness This is the most sincere type of love, the tenderness and consideration towards others.  Its opposite is Anger. However, many people mistaken Loving-kindness to be Affection.  You express loving kindness when you are kind to others...