Business and Money Tips

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

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 were told as long as they

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 Powerful Liked Lov

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 simply no teamwork!  On the oth

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 pseudo choic

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 not for others?  For example, if you scold

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 Obey What are life's 7 most important things

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 of this ap

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 in your words, action and tho

Surveys after surveys showed that more than half of people at work are unhappy.  Just look at the many gloomy faces on the morning MRTs and it's obvious what I'm talking about.  Many people work just for money, and some work to support their mortgage, families and the ever rising expenses.  To me, people are unhappy due to 3 mis-understandings: 1.  Conditional Happiness   "I'll be happy if I get promoted or I get the job at Google".  In this thinking, the grass is always greener on the other side. People will, instead of making the best of what they have in their current career and enjoying every moment of it, is looking for the next happiness.  Because of this, they are distracted from the present and thus cannot do their best.  Without doing the best, how can they produce good work and have a rewarding job?   We know that such pursuit is futile because the perfect job does not exist.  Even if it does exist, it cannot last.  The Solution?  Make Your Cu

A movie's success depended upon the setting, the mood, the script, the skills of the director, and the overall talent of the cast. Same for a company. 1. Setting. Setting here refers to the v ision, mission and goals of the business. If your business has no goals and vision, the setting will be one of ad hoc. It also includes the structure, rules and boundaries. 2. Mood , which is simply morale and the connection feeling in the company. If people feel connected, their morale will be high, and motivation is not an issue. 3. Script . This is your company's plans and operations manual on how people perform their roles. It also includes the day-to-day operational conversation script , how people speak in a consistent and professional way. 4. Skills of Director . This is the skillfulness of the leaders . Skillfulness is more than having skills, it is doing things mindfully and with conviction . Of course the more trained the leaders are, the more skillfull they can do the

* The real reason why people don't buy so much of Samsung's new Galaxy phones at here * Following my article on Limitless Selling (you can read it at here ), many people asked if there are further simple ways that they can apply this amazing concept in their daily sales activities.  The following are the further 11 ways: Triple or Quadruple whatever quota or sales volume you have now Ask your Vendor to give you a huge bulk discount Up Sell, Cross Sell, Add on Sell and Bundle Sell on top of whatever you're selling Give your customers a very attractive package sale, like the one we have (51% discount for 10 courses, details are at here ) Go for a high value item where the selling price is much higher than what you have Hire a Super Salesperson and offer him a ridiculous high commission (like 50%) Go overseas where they recognize and appreciate your value more than Singapore  Combine forces with your competitors and go for a really big project  Organize a Wareho

Many people, including those that are in high management positions, do not have the right understanding of leadership .  If I were to ask them what's the most important key to their organization or department's success, they will say, 'Having Strong Leader'.   Yet we know that having strong leaders is never enough . This is especially so when the followers are weak.  Furthermore, no matter how strong the leader is, one day he will need to retire or pass on as no one is impermanent.  In fact, having strong leaders may be a hindrance to the organization success, especially when the leader is so strong that the entire team of followers become blind followers 'Yes Men'.  When the strong leader is no longer around, the organization will falter because they are too reliant on their strong leader.  Just look at the failures of many family businesses when their strong leaders passed on and you'll know what I am talking about. What's crucial to the organ

I'm sure you have realized that this is getting more common nowadays: we are being subjected to wild swings instead of gradual swings.  In business , companies like to ignore customers' feedback and insist on pushing their new products to the market and forcing their customers to upgrade.  You see this in PC, mobile phones and TVs.  As the new product did not take into account customers' feedback, they will invariably fail.  The companies have no choice but to re-introduce back the old product.  A good example is mobile giant Samsung, who has taken out the micro SD card in its phones in 2015 only to be put back in 2016 Salespeople too like to subject their customers to wild swings.  When business is good, salespeople have no time to service customers and customers are forced to fend on their own.  When times are bad, salespeople have all the time and they visit their customers everyday and over-service them, until the customers cried out 'Buay Ta-han!' (mean