Business and Money Tips

It's very obvious: in the heart of busy Chinatown's New Bridge Road, 2 famous bak kwa shops lie side by side: they sell almost the same seasoned barbecued pork that is popular in Asia.  One thing stands them apart: the shop on the left is packed with shoppers with queues while the shop on the right has zero customers.  This is despite the fact that the right side shop sells at half price than his neighbour, yet he has no sales.  Fact 1: If you sell on price, you may not have more business Fact 2: If you cannot differentiate what you sell, you have to sell on price Fact 3: It is not your competitors that cut your price, it is you that cut your price Fact 4: People follow the crowd.  When you sell well, you sell even better Fact 5: If you don't know how to sell differently, cutting price may be the most silly thing to do Fact 6: Product differentiation is not easy to do.  Most would rather cut price first Fact 7: Improve your product to be better than your co

Whether you are in sales, marketing, business development, support or management, you will come across the answer 'No' many times at work. Many people equate 'No' to 'No Opportunity' or 'No Chance', when in fact No can mean over 20 things as follows: Know More .  Here the customer wants to know more, and if you don't tell him, he will say no Still Thinking .  Many people hate to decide immediately as they don't want to be seen as rash Procrastinate . People procrastinate because it gives them a comfy feeling that they're in control, when in fact procrastination simply puts you higher risk as things may change. OK but not Strong enough to say yes.  This is the most common, when you feel that there is still certain things lacking but you just don't know what it is now. Test Your Patience .  Here saying no will test if you're serious to pursue further or just give up Need to Clarify First .  People will ask questions to clari

What do you do when your potential client asks, "How much do you charge for your service?" This is a money question. Indeed such money question forces you to confront your sense of self-worth. In other words, what's your self-worth? It takes courage - to place a fair but generous price on your expertise and the time taken to get that expertise. Definitely not the time it takes to do the work, but the time it takes to be able to do the work. Just like we don't pay our Dentist by time, we pay him by his ability to do his work well, regardless of the actual time taken. Sometimes like in the dentist case, the shorter the time, the better it is and the higher is his fee.   In my seminars and trainings, I have always worked toward the goal of giving my participants more than their money's worth. Because I know that when I dedicate myself to raising the top (quality) rather than lowering the bottom (cost), everybody wins. Money is worth and worth is meas