Business and Money Tips

How many times have you selected the cheapest vendor only to discover later that you have just paid top dollar?   Over the years the relationship between supplier and customer has focused hard on many of the wrong things. Price alone is almost always the most important factor in selecting any supplier.   Yet we know that price can only account for out-of-pocket costs actually paid out to suppliers.  Other factors that are overlooked are more important in determining the overall cost of purchasing and its ultimate value to your organization .  The overlooked but important factors include Cost of Value-Added services (like customization and design), rework, returns, inspection, administration and inconvenience cost.  More important, these costs exclude the opportunity costs of not doing business with suppliers who can provide significant benefits , which include: Joint Strategic Planning and Product Design Coordinated marketing Joint Customer Research...

Feedback from my 8 articles on PIC and PIC Training revealed that many people, including top management and consultants, have mis-understandings about PIC.  Such mis-understandings arise because of misreading IRAS, hearsay from uninformed people and plain ignorance.   If you allow such misunderstandings to affect your career and business, you will lose as much as $375,000 cash over 6 years .  The top 11 misunderstandings are: PIC is only for Singapore companies.  100% foreign owned companies, like the Singapore Branch of Bank of China, are not eligible.   Truth: All businesses are eligible for PIC as long as they have 3 local (Singaporeans and Singapore PRs) staff on their payroll with CPF.  Note that the '3 local staff' here EXCLUDES the directors, shareholders and proprietors of the business PIC is going to expire in 2015.  Truth: PIC is expiring in 2017 (Y/A 2018) You cannot claim PIC for Training for foreigners and staff that are not on CP...

Following my previous blog on the need for bosses to force their employees to attend training or they will never be trained, people asked me if there are painless ways to force training. The following are the 5 ways that have worked very well with our clients (from Lego to SingTel, DBS and AIA):  Provide sumptuous lunch . The best must be an international hotel buffet that includes sashimi , local delicacies and western ice cream. As we know, such training meals are also 60% paid by the government under PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit).  Use movies clips to entertain and educate at the same time. Like this year 2014 we use movies never used before like Jobs, Freedom Writers, The Lion Men, Man of Steel and Cast Away. Have games that have the surprise element , like the trainees able to cut a piece of wood with just a piece of tissue paper; End the session early . Make it as a reward for the the trainees to complete certain tasks. By the far this is t...

At the beginning of every training session I normally ask my students why they are here.  Inevitably I get answers like, "I was told by my boss to attend", "I have to come for training or my boss will not be happy" and "Do I have a choice?  Coming for training is part of work, right?" I would often counter what they said by saying, "That means you are forced by your boss to attend this training, right?"  The whole class would erupt into laughter.  I then thank them for their honesty and show instant appreciation to their boss (who could be inside the class). Indeed the best reason for coming to training is no reason, that is, come because of being forced by bosses.   As we know, training is not playing or social activity, very few people, maybe less than 0.01% of the population, would attend training on their own.  Most people need their bosses to force them to attend training.  The reason is that many employees feel that they know a lo...

We all know how hard it is to find a  good boss.  If you happen to be one, you can do the following 5 things that will make all your  employees  want to work for you without remuneration: Believe in them .  This must be the biggest reward for any person, for we often see doubters but hard to find people who truly believe in us. You believe that they can do beyond what you’re seeing now, that they are self-directed and can be trusted at all times. Such strong faith will turn all ordinary employees into extra-ordinary employees. Train them . Yes,  training  is considered a luxury in many smaller companies but all big MNCs over-train people. The 3 most important skills that you should equip your staff include  communication skills ,  people management skills  and  leadership skills . You must train people without condition.   Do not demand that they must return the benefits to the company, for doing so is ...