Business and Money Tips

Throughout the world serving 69 million customers every day, the world's largest and most profitable restaurant group earns net profits as high as 20% of its sales.  From New Delhi to China, from Tanzania to Singapore, every time when you order something at McDonald's counter, their staff will inevitably ask you one question: Do You Want to Up size? In fact this single question made McDonald's rich.  Notice that McDonald's did not ask you other questions that most salespeople ask, including, "Can you give us some referrals?", "Do you want to become our member to enjoy discounts?" or "Can you please come back next week?" etc. If you answer no to the above 'Up size' question, McDonald's staff will next ask you, "Do you want an apple pie to go with your meal?"  If you still answer no to this question, the staff will ask you "Do you want to add $1 to get the limited edition Minion toy?" All the questions

We know that leadership makes the difference between an organization’s success and failure, and there are many types of leadership. There are leadership from the heart, leadership by KPI (Key Performance Indicators), leadership by command, coercion and control the opposite, leadership by consultation. Among all types almost everyone say that the best leadership is leadership by example. Unfortunately most people don’t understand what leadership by example is. To many people ‘leadership by example’ means that the leader must set an example. For example, if the leader ask people to work hard, he himself must work hard not just now but forever. Some say that to lead by example, a leader must be flawless and posses all the attributes that he advocates.  The leader by example must do what he says and says what he does. Otherwise he is just a hypocrite and will lose credibility as a leader. Is this true?  It seems that this is the common understanding of leadership by example.

Read 'How to Add Value When Your Price is Higher' at here As we know, the world cannot live without selling. Yes, we can live without the internet and smartphones but ultimately someone must sell something for the ball to start rolling.  Selling is defined as the offering to exchange an item of value  for a different item.  The original item of value being offered may be either tangible or intangible.  The second item being exchanged must be seen by the seller as being of equal or greater value than that being offered for sale, otherwise there is no exchange.  Of course the second item are mostly money but it can also be another item, tangible or intangible.  If you sell something in exchange for something other than money, it is called barter trade. The 7 most common types of selling that we teach in our sales courses include Attraction Selling, Team Selling, Consultative Selling, Relationship Selling, Action Selling, Hard or Push Selling and Heart Selling 1.  Attrac

(21 Ways to Add Value at here ) They say either you fire them up or you'll have to fire them (article at here ).   Even though Whatsapp is so common today, few people know how to use Whatsapp correctly.  In fact, the following are the 7 most common mistakes people make in Whatsapp.  Know them, avoid them, and you'll be seen as different from the rest: Abuse chatroom .  Some people use the chatroom for very trivial personal things, like their new nail painting.  The point is if less than half of the 30 people in the chatroom is interested in you, you will be seen as egoistic Never identify themselves .  Some people assume that people will key in their phone number inside their address book, so they often did not state their name at the end of the message. The result: people just ignore your message for they don't know you.  Use too many short forms.  Like 'WTF', some may see you as vulgar, when what you meant is simply a congratulatory 'Wow, That's Fa

(For Face-to-Face Customer Service, read here ) 1. First Impressions Matter First impressions are mental snapshots the customer take when they first encounter you.  They include your look, your grooming, clothing, body language, posture, tone of voice and most importantly, your SMILE.   SMILE means Sincerity, Mental Readiness, Interested Look, Liveliness and Enthusiasm.   You need to maintain a relaxed and open demeanour.   2.  Courtesy The best way to convey a positive first impression is GST - Greet, Smile and Thank You .  GST also comes in other forms: Excuse me I'm sorry (when you did something wrong) Use Sir/Ma'am Use Yes rather than Yeah Smile Introduce yourself by saying "My name is Andy, I'll be happy to help you" Common courtesies include things that you should not be in the presence of customers, including talking with your colleagues, using your mobile phone, eating or chewing something.  3.  Attitude is Everything People may no

The 9 Dos' and Don'ts of Hiring from 'How Google Works' book by Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google Inc: Hire people who are smarter and more knowledgeable than you are.  Don't hire people that you cannot learn from or be challenged by Hire people who will add value to your organization's business and your culture.  Don't hire people that cannot contribute anything to these 2 important elements Hire people who will get things done, not those who will just think about problems Hire people who are enthusiastic, self-motivated and passionate.  Never hire people who just want a job Hire people who inspire and work well with others.  Don't hire people who prefer to work alone. The worst is to hire people who will de-motivate and de-moralize people Hire people who will grow with your team and with your organization.  Don't hire people with narrow skill sets or interests and are only concerned with surviving, not growth Hire people who are w

We know its important that you interact with your WeChat friends if you want to embark on WeChat marketing. For some people, their Moments posts attract many likes and comments whereas for others, there are hardly one like or comment in their Moments posts. Some people have many friends on WeChat, but they hardly message their friends, either on a one-to-one basis or in a bulk message broadcast. Some people joined many groupchats, but they hardly interact with anyone in the groupchats.  Remember if you don't interact with people on WeChat, you are not on WeChat and people do not know that you exist. How to talk about WeChat marketing?  There are six ways that you can interact with people on WeChat: 1. Position Right, Build Trust and Credibility Your profile picture must be your real picture, and you must your real name, not a nickname. Do not overdo your picture because when people see there is a big difference between your profile picture and your Moments

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 cut

Whether you are a boss now or working for a boss, you need to behave like a boss. Otherwise, you will be bossed around and your boss may find it too expensive to keep you as an employee. The 8 ways to behave like a boss include: Take Ownership for your work . Do not blame, give excuses or deny your responsibility. Often we see people pushing blame, passing the buck and refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. If you don't take ownership for your work, you will not go all out to improve it. This kind of behaviour certainly irates bosses. Be Accountable for your work . Do not wait for your boss to chase you for reports. Instead chase your boss for work.  Be Responsible .  That means be able to take responses. Not reacting to what has happened, but taking responsibility for your work Learn on Your Own , leverage on others but do not rely on them Think about stakeholders , not just yourself, in making decisions. Stakeholders include the government, society, suppliers, customers,