Business and Money Tips

As a Trainer Coach, I sometimes start the first minute of my leadership and management training by asking my students this question: what does it take to be human?  We were trained to be smart, shrewd, and even manipulative to get things done.  Many were stunned by my question as they thought that being human is inconsistent with being an effective leader and manager.  Truth be told, being human has nothing to do with management and leadership but everything to do with management and leadership EFFECTIVENESS.  You can't be an effective and sustainable leader and manager if you're not being human.  I think being human means the following 7 things: It has different meanings for different people It also has different meanings for different cultures and faith. We must accept cultural diversity as the new norm Practice what we preach Skillfully, not unskillfully put down the thoughts and comments of others Not engage in wars to prove that we are better than others or

* Discover how to be a better manager in less than a month at here * Although everyone knows the value of training your staff, plus the Singapore Government is giving back 60% cash or 300% tax deduction for training (under the PIC scheme ), we at AsiaTrainers.com still receive registrations from individuals.  The reason is that their employer refused to pay for the staff training, even though they know the Government is paying back 60% cash and 160% cash under PIC Bonus scheme. There are 7 reasons why companies won't pay for staff training: They do not think that their staff is good enough to attend training.  That means the staff has not earned the right to be trained and has to work hard to prove himself first They are afraid that after the training, the staff will leave the company faster as he is now more skilled and knows more than the boss They don't believe the PIC scheme or don't know how to get PIC funding They never think the training is good for they

Management training in Singapore and the region: bosses and HR Managers have asked me what topics must a good management program cover?   Based on full-time training since 2001, there are at least 7 things that all management training must cover: How to Look for Solutions to Manpower issues without extra hiring Getting staff to take ownership for their work, not excuses Increasing the productivity of office and operational workers without $ Converting all dis-engaged staff into highly committed team members How to Present your message to the people so that you're not seen as a messenger but a leader that adds value Managing from the heart and how to go the extra mile to serve the team Asking questions so as to coach and mentor staff and not just give instructions and expect compliance On top of that, management training must also cover 4 soft skills: How to set your own goals and help your team members motivate and work towards the organization's goals Persuasi

Ask any bosses and they will lament that nowadays young people don't work as hard as the previous employees.  In fact, many of these youngsters talk about work life balance before talking about work deadlines.  We cannot help but wonder: have our society's values degenerated so much that working hard is no longer a virtue? Truth be told, young people are not lazy .  They too want to work hard.  The reason they don't work hard is not because they don't want to work hard, but because they worked hard before and did not get a good experience from working hard.  Many of them also don't know how to work hard.  Some of them think that working longer hours is work hard. For the top 10 myths and truths of working hard, read here  and explore at here too.  Here are 5 ways that you as a manager or leader can get your people to work hard easily: First, recognize that they have their own ideals and dreams.   Talk to their dreams, and get inspired by their dreams .   A

Customers are getting sick and tired of being bombarded with marketing and selling messages.  Many of them are crying, "Leave me alone".  It seems that the usual way of aggressive and persuasive selling does not work anymore. Indeed Sell Without Selling is the new way to sell.  There are 7 ways to do so easily: Provide a checklist that helps them to go through what are the necessary and good-to-have things Serve them really well , and go all the way to serve even when they don't buy.  Seven out of ten people will feel guilty and end up buying if you serve them with all your heart with no intention of closing the sale! Let your clients do the talking: show them testimonials and past track records and let them decide if they too want to enjoy what others are having Educate your customers on the right way to do things, hint but never mention buying from you is the right choice Let them taste early success , like giving them a free trial with totally no obligatio

It sounds funny, right?  How can we lower staff cost by increasing staff cost?  As we know, staff cost is computed this way: Staff Remuneration/Staff Output .  So if you increase staff remuneration and get a higher output, your staff cost will decrease.  Other than this, there are 4 other ways that you too can increase cost and lower your staff cost as a result: Increase training cost .  With better trained staff, their output will increase automatically.  Make sure that you send your staff for training that cost less than $200 per head (for half day ).  Most importantly, ensure that the training covers practical issues and not just some impressive theories. With PIC covering at least 60% of your training cost, your net cost is only $80 per head, and I'm sure your company can recover it easily in just 2 days.  To find out the 7 ways to train your staff, click here .  Read here to discover the 9 things that a good sales training should cover.  Increase the equipment cost .  L

Note: How to be a Better Manager starts from 4 Aug 2014 Training is now considered no longer a luxury but a necessity.  It is said that if you don't train your people to be good, you're training your people to be bad .  This is because everyday there are so many bad influence - from market, the media, Facebook, contractors etc that many people have lamented that today's workforce does not possess the core values that workers used to have.  There are 7 ways that you can train your people: You let them learn on the job - that is, purely from work experience. This method is costless in terms of your time, but is extremely costly as mistakes made at work have many repercussions later on.  Highly not recommended, but still beats having no training at all (i.e. you never let them make any mistakes).  You get a senior staff to train them . This On-the-job training is the most common method.   PIC funds up to $10,000 a year for such internal training.  See here for detail

If you are like most managers, you would probably find that you are lacking in certain skills. This lack is causing you delay in your career growth. Worst of all, your boss expects you to know all and your subordinates are watching you every day.    The truth is that most managers and supervisors are promoted based on their technical skills, and yet it is the managerial and leadership skills that will make them more successful. In this Power-packed How to Be a Better Manager or Supervisor program, you will learn proven strategies to improve presentation, negotiation, and how you can manage your team & boss. Focused around Asia Coaching Training coaching and training materials used in 39,871 companies worldwide since 1993, you will find the strategies you need to implement significant changes in your career.  The 4 key areas covered are People Management, Teambuilding, Leadership and Communication.  This management development program is for managers, bosses, directors, m

Most people treat learning seriously, but the problem is that they learn too seriously and as a result learn nothing.  Most people are very interested in learning the latest theories, concepts, discoveries and even success stories.  They listen well, take good notes and ask good questions.  Many even go further in reading and watching youtube videos related to the subject.  As a trainer and coach, I am happy for their learning enthusiasm.  But I find them to be lousy learners.  Why? You see, learning is just the first step and is incomplete until you put the learning into action.  It is the application that makes the difference. Only when you apply will you be able to know if what you learnt makes sense.  Most importantly, every person's situation is different and you need to apply the learning differently and adapt to the situation.  You only can adapt when you apply.  You can't apply by doing case studies on paper, doing role plays and doing scenario discussions.   Re

The first thing that comes into people's mind when you ask them to increase sales is "Where do I advertise?"  Next is to increase the salaries of salespeople.  After that, you've got to increase the marketing budget and so on.  They are all costly ways with no sure guarantee of success.  No wonder they say many people would prefer to not increase sales for fear of wasting money!  It doesn't have to be this way.   Companies can always increase their sales without incurring a single cent.  In fact, many of them have realized that not only there is no cost involved, you can actually make money from increasing sales .  Here's how it works: You send your salespeople for trainin g that teaches them how to increase sales by say, 61.1%.  Since the Singapore government funds 60% of the training cost under PIC Productivity and Innovation Credit, your net cost of the training is 40%. But under the PIC Bonus scheme, your company will receive another 100% of the

From Sun Tzu's "Art of War" book: 1.  Seek Victory From the Situation A skilled commander seeks victory from the situation.  He knows when the situation is favourable to him and avoids war when it is dangerous to him.  2.  Deceive Your Enemy All warfare is based on deception.  Even though you're competent, you have to appear as incompetent.  When able to attack, we must seem unable, when using our forces, we must seem inactive.  When we are near, we must make the enemy believe that we are far; when far away, we must appear near.  In short, appear weak when strong, and appear strong when weak.   Hence those skilled in war will bring the enemy to the battlefield and not be brought there by the enemy.   Supreme excellence lies in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting .  Hence the ultimate winner is one that wins without fighting .  Or put in another way, the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. 3. Be Invisible and Soundless I

Sales training in Singapore and the region: people have asked me what topics must a good sales program cover?   To me, there are at least 9 things that all sales training must cover: How to Look for New Customers without spending on expensive advertising Getting repeat business from customers Increasing the average spending of customers Converting all sales objections into buying reasons How to Sell the Impossible so as to sell ice to the Eskimos How to Present your product and service so that your product features make sense for the buyer Getting past gate keepers and reaching decision makers effortlessly Service from the heart and how to go the extra mile to serve customers Asking questions so as to elicit information from buyers and lead them to a sale On top of that, sales training must also cover the 3 soft skills: How to set your own sales targets and motivate yourself to work towards your goals Persuasion, Influence and Negotiation skills Reading a person lik

Me with Andy Koh, a super salesperson of Organo lingzhi coffee Enchantment is the feeling of being attracted by something interesting, pretty, dynamic or captivating.  Like when you pass by the street and got attracted by a poster.  When applied in sales, it can be a very powerful technique. As I learnt from Guy Kawasaki, enchantment in sales is all about changing people’s hearts, minds and actions by providing them with a vision or a way to do things better . The difference between enchantment and simple sales is that with enchantment you have the other person’s best interests at heart, too.   As we know, people don't buy goods and services, they buy experiences.  That's the reason why Apple's fans swear to using iPhones: Apple provides a unique experience as Apple is the only smartphone company that controls both hardware and software. By far the best experience you can provide to anyone is their own experience: how you can enhance their life experiences w

Limitless Selling seminar in April 2014 We all know that questions are among the best tools in your sales presentation. This is because when you ask, they answer, and people will always believe more in what they themselves say than what you say. The professional salesperson knows that to keep the prospect's attention, you must ask more than you tell. Not just any questions, but skillful questioning that draws prospects out and leads them to a buying decision. But here's where the normal salesperson miss out: it's not just about asking questions. There are lots of salespeople out there who have learnt the techniques of asking questions, but they come off as 'canned' and not really sincere because they're not interested in the reply. You ask a question to know a person better because you're really interested, not just to find a hole in their defenses to ram your product through. You ask because so that you can serve them. In short, you ask because you'

In Bangkok Thailand Feb 2012 training 24 managers of a MNC Successful managers use a very effective management tactic that wins people over easily. This tactic is actually a process that manages people without managing .   This is because a good manager never managers anyone, he simply  creates the conditions for people to manage themselves.     Transformational Leadership (TL) is the latest buzzword in management.   This is how works: You find out what are the goals of people You share with them the goals of your organization You link how achieving the organization's goals will achieve their individual's goals You show them the step-by-step pathways to achieving the 2 goals, plus you offer assistance and coaching.   You see, when you do the above, you are not telling people that they must achieve your organization's goals.  You're  helping your people to achieve their own goals.   Asking questions helps you to find out what are their real needs.  Y