Business and Money Tips

In my over 17 years of training with Asia Trainers transforming tens of thousands of people in 15 countries in sales, management, and finance, people often asked me, Andy, how do you get people to believe in you?   To me believing in me is the lowest level, for I don't want people to just believe in me, but also do what I believe. There are 7 levels in this ladder of persuasion, courtesy of author Andy Ferarri Norman: Level 1: Literature. This includes the vendor's posters, flyers, brochures, write-ups, e-mailers, websites, videos, slides and any posts from the vendor in social media. It is the lowest in terms of persuasion because it is biased as it comes from the vendor. No customer will be believing this 100%, right? Level 2: Social Media. Nowadays people believe and trust social media more than vendor's literature, but this can get overkill. Social media is more powerful not because of its reach, but because social media is read at a casual way and people are less...

S N Venkat is senior associate director, Office of Postgraduate Professional Programme, Singapore Management University At the end of the first set of United States presidential primaries, and as Super Tuesday — the biggest primary election — starts today, it is becoming clear there is a real possibility that billionaire Donald Trump may be the Republican presidential candidate this year. While it might have taken many political pundits by surprise, there were some, like the creator of the famous Dilbert comic strip, American cartoonist Scott Adams, who warned in 2015 that there was a method to Mr Trump’s apparent madness and that it came from the art of persuasion. There are scholarly attempts to explain them, based on well-known books on the subject such as Mr Robert Cialdini’s Influence — The Psychology of Persuasion, but what explains Mr Trump’s method is one simple sentence. Mr Blair Warren, author of the e-book The One Sentence Persuasion Course — 27 Words To Make ...

Yes, everyone is a salesperson, because selling is moving people. Most people are in non-sales selling, that is, they are not doing sales as their main job, like an insurance agent. But most people are in jobs that involves communication, influence and persuasion, and these are nothing but sales.  We at Asia Trainers call these sales job as Moving People. Myths and Truths of Moving People: Moving people is not about getting your way with others but about helping others get their way . You too will get your way when you help others get their way.  As what Zig Ziglar said, "You can get anything you want in your life as long as you help enough other people get what they want".  Moving people is not about how much conviction you have, but how much people feel about your conviction.  As what Andy Ferrari Norman said, it is not about convincing people but about conveying your ideas in ways that make people be convinced by themselves. Moving people depends more on th...

It was reported that the Government spent S$2.8 million to promote the S$4.3 billion MCE, Singapore's most expensive and newest expressway.  But it seems like most people are not convinced that the MCE is good for them, and many people are wondering if this is a design issue or a communication issue.  In other words, can the Government better persuade us that the MCE is good?  I think the government should SELL the MCE away; SELL is our newest method of persuasion: Suffering, Empathy, Lead and Let them enjoy the benefits. As a manager, executive or salesperson, you cannot don't persuade people.  For today no one wants to be forced into accepting another person's view, and everyone wants to have his say.   It doesn't matter who is right or wrong, what it matters is people want to be heard .  That is why social media like Facebook , Twitter and Youtube are so popular today, as they allow people to share their views freely and without censorship. From ...