Business and Money Tips

We know words and phrases are magical in that they have the power to change minds.  If you use the right words and phrases, sales would come.  If you use the wrong one, sales would go away.   If you are selling to people holding management positions, you need to use words and phrases that reflect what they want: certainty, little risk and most importantly, reliable results .  Understand that management people are not entrepreneurs, they are not risk takers and their primary responsibility to their boss (the entrepreneur) is to protect and grow the investment.   Never use words and phrases that will frighten these managers, like "Rapid growth", "Double your return", "Massive profits", "Take more risks" and "Dare to be different".  The following 22 words and phrases are most suitable: Minimize your risk Going one step at a time Protect what you've built Go straight down the middle Spread the risk Cementing your career fu

In a sense we're all selling the invisible: we're selling something that people cannot really touch and feel, and people don't need what we are selling. Even if you're selling a physical product you're still selling the invisible because it's the trust and reliability that people ar buying.   In short, we're all selling ice to the Eskimos! First of all, understand what is 'Selling Ice to the Eskimos' and how does it differ from Selling in Difficult Situations?  Selling ice to the Eskimos is even more tougher than selling to different people because there is simply no need or want for your product! To Sell Ice to the Eskimos, we first need to define our Customer correctly; with proper definition, you can then Create a Need that this customer never known before. After that, you need to Make your client a Hero and with that, they will be so happy to buy what you're selling. To sell ice to the Eskimos requires us to do a business and no

Note: The next Successful Selling Strategies is on 4 July 2014 Friday 9 am to 12.30 pm. Details of course is at here The opposite of Effortless Sales is Stressful Sales.  Author of 'The Power of Now' Eckart Tolle says, " Stress is caused by being 'here' but wanting to be 'there', or being in the present but wanting to be in the future .  It is a split that tears you apart inside.  Indeed many salespeople are doing stressful sales, for when they are in front of a prospect, their mind is never with the prospect.  Instead their minds are thinking about how to close the prospect, how to make him say yes quickly, how to not mention any weakness the product has, and how to make time for the next appointment.  Stressful Salespeople often end up not achieving any sales at all, but they are very busy making proposals.  We called such salespeople Quotespeople.  There are 5 ways you can use WIN - W hat's I mportant N ow - in your sales: Always listen  to

How to Be a better manager in 4 weeks at here Are you selling very hard in this market? Is hitting targets becoming more stressful? Make no mistake: customers do not buy your products or services, in fact they do not even buy the benefits of what you sell. All customers want to gain from transacting with you and make more profits. Profit also include any savings in cost, time, labor and most importantly, save trouble.  Whether you are selling to non-profit organizations, governments or profit-making private businesses, you need to make a difference to your market . Now you too can increase your sales costlessly with our 71 methods Power-packed Contents Include: Why Most Salespeople Are Not Selling Well and What To Do About it Five Ways to Higher Sales Profits: Low-Cost Leads, Higher Sales Conversion, Higher Frequency, Higher Sale Value and Higher Margins Work-through of an example: how to increase profits by 76% Three-Ways to Low-Cost Leads: Attraction Selling, Guerilla-

We know that informal learning is the world's biggest and fastest learning.  This is because when one learns informally, one is not using his conscious mind and is thus using less conscious effort. With less conscious effort, one can learn more without feeling tired. That's why when you embark on what you love, you'll have more energy.  Same for learning.  What you learn informally you learn more.  Many people learn the following 5 bad habits at work unconsciously: Pushing Blame.  When something wrong happens, employees learn that if you don't push the blame to someone else, you'll have to shoulder the entire blame. Thus employees learn to push blame quickly, like "I thought that you know, that's why I never follow-up with you" and "You should know as you're more senior than me".   Coming up with Excuses .  Like "I never learnt that in school", "It was always done like this". We know that excuses only serve one

We often talk about wisdom, but what exactly is wisdom?  Some people think that following the experts is wise, while others talk about having your own beliefs and stick to them.  There are some that only trust centuries old wisdom passed down from the wise men.  There are also some that discard old thoughts and believe that wisdom needs to be updated to reflect our modern times.  According to my over 16 years of teaching people from all walks of life, wisdom comprises of 5 things: Seeing all phenomena in life as temporary, incomplete and not self.  If you can see things in this totally freeing way, you will have great security and happiness, for now you are not dependent on anything in this world, i.e. you're truly enlightened.  That's the ultimate wisdom! Not any wisdom that's told by someone but true wisdom that you directly see and understand for yourself.  To do this you must have an open mind Ability to listen to other points of views instead of being bigoted

Whether you're training senior management, working level or kids, all training programs must cover the following 4 + 3 elements to be effective: The Importance of the topic : why we must know and do (the topic) The Strategies and Tactics of executing the topic (steps, procedures and guidelines) What to do if we cannot achieve what we want (on the topic) The Ultimate in the topic: what is higher than the highest level (of the topic)? The Other 3 Things to cover are beyond the topic, but nevertheless must be included if we want to have a well-rounded learning: The key challenges facing the audience now (and how knowing the topic will alleviate that) The successes of the audience so far (to validate their efforts and encourage them to do more) A story that touches the audience's hearts so as to leave with them a lasting impression.  Even if they forget about the topic and its details, the story will leave a mark in their memory, thereby helping them to remembe

As I learnt from my Coach today, to do well in business requires us to think differently, the 5 keys to do well in any business, big or small: Sales and Marketing are still the 2 most important functions of any business.  It is not how good your product or service is, but how good people think your product/service is.  How people think about (when they are not your client yet) is nothing but sales and marketing. Even referrals is a form of marketing, so is the commonly used advertising.   It's about Your Reach - who knows you.  Many times it is about who is in your database: and how you contact this database and turn them into goldmine (not landmine) Never give up on your goals and dreams: work on them, rest on them, but never give them up. For when a business has no dreams or goals, it is just a money making machine Perseverance is everything : don't strike while the iron is hot, strike until the iron is hot.  Rise above perturbation (extreme pressure) and you'll

"Most of us want to change the world, but only a few of us are willing to change our own  minds!   Are you willing to change your mind?  Many people think that if you change your mind, you're fickle-minded.  Truth be told, it's okay to change your mind, just be careful that you don't lose your mind.  For when you lose your mind, you lose your life.  If you want more success in your life and career, it's time to change your mind.  The 5 things that you should change your mind: Stop following the crowd's mind .  Like now most people think that business is hard, and it's hard to achieve breakthrough.  Change your mind to Start Leading the Crowd's Minds.  Lead the market to achieve breakthroughs and you'll achieve success.  Like the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom (smartphone with 10 times optical zoom camera), you can take superb selfies without having a solid front camera.  All you need is a solid software to guide you.  In your business or work, you do

Yes, it has been getting more competitive today to sell. In the process of Pitching, i.e. multi-stage selling, every detail must be well executed if you want to clinch that coveted deal that everyone is eyeing for.  The stages involved in the sales pitch starts with a meeting, followed by a formal, stand-up presentation. Even if the prospect decides in your favour, you need to follow-up till the end, as anything can change until you sign the deal.  It should be noted that pitching is process that is  cumulative, this means that each stage must be completed to the satisfaction of the other other or you will be wasting your time and effort . To pitch successfully, you need to press the prospect's hot button.  Hot button is not to be confused with Benefits or Emotions, nor is it about Fear and Force. In sales, a Hot button is  a Trigger that once activated, the person will NOT go back to the original state of mind . This means that when you press the hot button,  a sale will re

You'll be surprised if you have a heart-to-heart talk with the people that you sent for training .  "Tell me what have you learnt."  They will say, "Nothing much, I learnt those strategies that we may have taken for granted and not used much".  Is this their real answer? What do people really learnt from training?  You'll be shocked to discover the truths: there are 5 main things that people learnt but dare not tell you: They learnt about themselves: their weaknesses, strengths and most importantly, their potential.   Like people learnt that they can do magic: cut a piece of wood with paper.  Many people are frightened with this new discovery: they are afraid that now that they know they can do much more, will they be worked to death to implement the strategies learnt? They learnt about the best practises that may not be practised in their organization, like having half-yearly dialogue style performance appraisal.  Some are afraid of telling this to

Some people think that training and development are a luxury for you cannot really measure its tangible benefits. Yet others think that there must at least be a 200% payoff (benefits over training cost) for any training program to be considered beneficial.  To us at AsiaTrainers.com , there are 7 tangible benefits that you can touch and feel IMMEDIATELY after the training : Ask the participants to do a written assessment of the training in terms of 3 areas: how does it improve their work, make their work easier or given them new ideas . You can also ask them to do a 30-day Action Plan on the action that they will take within 30 days of the training Voluntary self-reporting by the participants .  If your participants can report to you without being asked, you can be sure that they enjoyed the training and find it useful Measure the improvements in the work  This is very easy to be done for hard skills training (like how to operate a machine), but even for soft skills, you too

Work can be happy too if you know how.  You don't have to be promoted, earn a big pay check or get what you want to be happy at work.  Being happy at work has nothing to do with your work effectiveness, it has everything to do with your life's effectiveness.  If you're not happy at work, why work?  Working for money alone will only make you more unhappy, for work can only bring you limited money.   To be happy at work, try the following 5 things: Focus on Growth, not just Achievement .  For when you're growing, you are getting a high sense of satisfaction, and that alone is happiness. Look for the good in any situation, be on guard for any negative situation .  In this way you're protected either ways When in doubt, always ask for help , don't shoulder everything at your tiny back Make your work not hard but easy, which means having the right skills, attitudes and knowledge to do your job well . Make sure you attend at least 4 hours of training every m

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