Monday, January 29, 2007
Gaining visibility in your e-selling game
Small and medium size companies in Asia can benefit immensely by learning to connect themselves to the international business community, to promote and sell their products and services. Companies around the world are looking at Asia as a both as a supplier source and a market.
Starting a Blog is a simple way to get e-connected to the right audience.
Once you start exploring blogging, you will come to know that there are many companies out there dedicated to connecting people. Technorati is certainly one of them.
See Technorati Profile
Read more!
Starting a Blog is a simple way to get e-connected to the right audience.
Once you start exploring blogging, you will come to know that there are many companies out there dedicated to connecting people. Technorati is certainly one of them.
See Technorati Profile
Labels: e-marketing
Read more!
Effective E-mail Sales Copies
I happen to received this email...which was I thought had a strong intro for "high-inertia"people like me who probably form at least 80% of all audiences.
Read more!
However I felt that the writer failed to develop on this strong intro.
- Having a powerful start...one should tone down and sound really logical and rational...don't pile the rhetoric on more rhetoric. Somewhere it must start sounding sincere and real.
- Links are introduced too early. When you ask someone to open a link, it's a call for action.
-----Original Message-----
From : Google Wealth Wizard [mailto:xx@xxxxx]
Sent :
To : alexhar@singnet.com.sg
Subject: Incredible! GET RICH GOOGLE WEALTH WIZARD
Do You Know That...As You're Reading This,
There Is An "Idiot" Who Is Quietly M'aking
$300, $400--Even $500 Every Day On The Internet...WITHOUT Having Any Affiliate
Marketing Experience?
While The "Experts" Struggle To M'ake Money
Online...
In The Next 5 Minutes...As You Read Every
Word Of This Article...YOU Will Discover,
In A'mazing Step-By-Step Detail...How You Can
Easily Copy His System TODAY...
http://xxxxxx2000.net/gwizard
But You Might Be Wondering "Who the Hell is
This Guy? And Why Should I Listen To His advice
on How To become Rich through affiliate programs?"
So please, take a look right now at one of my
affiliate accounts from CLICKBANK...In this one
account, I m'ade over $36,000 in less than One
Month...
http://xxxxx2000.net/gwizard
==============================
Thank you for submitting your link to our xxx page.
If you wish to be d'eleted from this l'ist, please
go to http://xxxxxx2000.net/rmv and enter your
address alexhar@singnet.com.sg in the form.
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.12/655 - Release Date:
Labels: Email Marketing
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
"WHY BLOG ?"
A number of friends actually called me and emailed me to ask, rather than post a comment....and what are all those things like "joining the group". They like me are new to Blogging... so I have asked my friend Steve Seah to help me draft this explanation.
Blogs...
A BLOG is a web platform for sharing ideas and actually network... like in a real live seminar or net-working sessions. But you can do it from you desktop...beats having to fight with the traffic, park you car to get to a venue. (the setback- you have to get the snacks from you own fridge)
Some people share not only their opinions but their personal profiles, so you can actually get to know them.
With sales being so important of all of us... we are selling one thing or other whether we know it or not.... I thought it would be an interesting topic for sharing. To me sales is any act of influencing people to share our beliefs, accept our recommendations...an it does not matter how its done... face to face, through the phone, through ads, PR...digitally or otherwise.
As someone hosting a blog, we are like an organizer for the networking session. We do it for the benefit of all.
So feel comfortable to click the comment button to says something...
Groups
A Group is a web facility for collaboration that existed a long time before Blogs were invented. Many business people including I used this in our working lives for organizing our committee meetings. I put up this group as I thought some of us may be more familiar with this for group communication.
The Group facility requires that you to log-in, and provide some details of yourself... where in a blog its optional. It however allows you to post you own discussion topics rather than having to us comment on those posted by me.
Getting through to each other is the main objective
Whether you prefer blogging the the Group Discussion , the important thing is getting through to each other to share ideas... and you will get a personal response from me.
Read more!
Blogs...
A BLOG is a web platform for sharing ideas and actually network... like in a real live seminar or net-working sessions. But you can do it from you desktop...beats having to fight with the traffic, park you car to get to a venue. (the setback- you have to get the snacks from you own fridge)
Some people share not only their opinions but their personal profiles, so you can actually get to know them.
With sales being so important of all of us... we are selling one thing or other whether we know it or not.... I thought it would be an interesting topic for sharing. To me sales is any act of influencing people to share our beliefs, accept our recommendations...an it does not matter how its done... face to face, through the phone, through ads, PR...digitally or otherwise.
As someone hosting a blog, we are like an organizer for the networking session. We do it for the benefit of all.
So feel comfortable to click the comment button to says something...
Groups
A Group is a web facility for collaboration that existed a long time before Blogs were invented. Many business people including I used this in our working lives for organizing our committee meetings. I put up this group as I thought some of us may be more familiar with this for group communication.
The Group facility requires that you to log-in, and provide some details of yourself... where in a blog its optional. It however allows you to post you own discussion topics rather than having to us comment on those posted by me.
Getting through to each other is the main objective
Whether you prefer blogging the the Group Discussion , the important thing is getting through to each other to share ideas... and you will get a personal response from me.
Labels: Blogs
Read more!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Song and Dance
"Song and dance" as the American like to call it seems like a universal sales practice. I have seen it in quite a few countries.... the entertainment is different but principles are the same:
Added to these are the wide array of in and outdoor product demos, magic knives, cleaning cloth, super vacuums, beauty spas..... and what about all those short skirted ladies out there promoting mobile phones and even serious financial service products.
Such events outdoor were in the past not permitted by law in Singapore. Lewd displays and those that provoke public complaints would still be swiftly terminated. Outdoor events tend to be more aculturized... often using local dialects, referring to common habits of local people, their problems, TV shows, etc.
There is certainly much we can learn from these street events.... how to incorporate the entertainment value and involvement into our everyday selling process.
Read more!
- make noise attract attention
- gather crowd, as crowd gather crowd
- entertain, build relations while entertaining
- promote product in entertaining manner
- Make offer, persuade people to buy
- Break natural inertia by planting supporters, dummy buyers amongst the crowd.
Added to these are the wide array of in and outdoor product demos, magic knives, cleaning cloth, super vacuums, beauty spas..... and what about all those short skirted ladies out there promoting mobile phones and even serious financial service products.
Such events outdoor were in the past not permitted by law in Singapore. Lewd displays and those that provoke public complaints would still be swiftly terminated. Outdoor events tend to be more aculturized... often using local dialects, referring to common habits of local people, their problems, TV shows, etc.
There is certainly much we can learn from these street events.... how to incorporate the entertainment value and involvement into our everyday selling process.
Labels: Sales
Read more!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Asian Selling Game???
It may seem odd that someone should raise such an issue at this stage where the world is globalizing rapidly with western technology, skills and culture seemingly sweeping through the world and gaining dominance especially in the domains of business and organizational management.
Japan made important contributions in the area of Quality and Lean Management or what is popularly known as the Toyota Management System.... most of which has since been subject to western interpretation and acculturisation.
The Nordic School of Management gained some prominence in presenting its empirical findings that businesses were using a wide range of relationship strategies to improved their market performance and sales but this too went in the same direction as the Japanese.
In my frequent visits to China in recent years, I am beginning to discern a some "reinterpretation" of Western sales techniques. Time will tell whether these would become distinct trends or are mere temporal customisations.
Selling to the Affluent...
The argument that as people become more affluent they also tend to become more global ... learn to adopt and enjoy what is seemingly best internationally, i.e. develop global culture, attitude, taste...is certainly persuasive. Hence the assertion that there is little difference selling to an up-marketing globally oriented Chinese or Asian vs is western counterparts.
In this respect, it is interesting to note such "global persons" has in the last decade certainly become more Asian... more aware and appreciative of Asian ways and culture. Western sales literature is already focusing more on the positive effects of "relationships" where they use to viewed it mainly as nepotism, cronynism, favouritism. Asian ways have moderated "western thinking" , but once again, western literature is increasingly being filled with contributions by western writers on how to be Chinese, speak Chinese, cook Chinese and practice the Sun Tsu's Art of War!
Selling to the masses....
Will there be distinctive Asian ways to sell to the mass market, or will the whole world be like be like the proverbial "Shakespearean crowd" swayed by mob sentiments triggered by the mass media? Those that have seen how people in a "sophisticated and educated" society like in the USA behave on Black Friday will bear witness to the power of the media in shaping mass consumer behaviour.
General Principles vs Practice
Some principles and precepts like those relating to gaining AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) are probably to Sales what the 10 commandments are to Christainity... they identify the universal and indisputable rules. Yet in matters of application it may differ across cultures.
"Thou shall not kill" may be reinforced through capital punishments in some jurisdications whilst not in others. In the west passion is often viewed as a stronger mitigating factor for cmurder than in Asia where emotional control are upheld as a basic requirement of good citizenship.
Objectives and Scope
It is thus my hope that this blog will stir many comments that will provide examples of these differences in practices and applications, if not in general principles and precepts.
Qualifications
My main concern is that this blog may be bogged down by difficulties in classifying a practice as being Western or Asian. Take myself as an example, I have brought up in what I would consider a home environment that is largely Confucian, educated in Christain schools, married into a Christain environment... and worked in sales and marketing in multinational companies for the better part of my 30 years working career. I would seriously doubt if a "mad-chinaman", like myself could truly make such distinctions.
In a recent workshop I presented a sales practice which I found unique in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia. To both my astonishment and delight, a somewhat elderly participant hailing from Finland interjected with the claim that he remembered many business in his hometown adopting such practices in teenage days. Deeper discussions revealed that many situation factors that existed in Finland then resembled those in present day Hohhot.
Open, unconstrained discussions
So do not be too constrained and caught up with verifying or arguing whether an observed practice is western or Asian in origin, or be partisan in any way. Any observed sales practices that seems unusual to you would certainly deserve mention on this blog. Hopefully it will trigger a response like that from the Finnish gentlemen.
The ultimate goal is to learn
It is through such discussions that we will truly learn to properly adapt sales principles and practices to different environments to optimise sales productivity. Whether the world will eventually evolve a multicultural set of sales and marketing principles will indeed be interesting discussion but probably less useful than an appreciation of how different sales principles practices amy work best under different situations.
Read more!
Japan made important contributions in the area of Quality and Lean Management or what is popularly known as the Toyota Management System.... most of which has since been subject to western interpretation and acculturisation.
The Nordic School of Management gained some prominence in presenting its empirical findings that businesses were using a wide range of relationship strategies to improved their market performance and sales but this too went in the same direction as the Japanese.
In my frequent visits to China in recent years, I am beginning to discern a some "reinterpretation" of Western sales techniques. Time will tell whether these would become distinct trends or are mere temporal customisations.
Selling to the Affluent...
The argument that as people become more affluent they also tend to become more global ... learn to adopt and enjoy what is seemingly best internationally, i.e. develop global culture, attitude, taste...is certainly persuasive. Hence the assertion that there is little difference selling to an up-marketing globally oriented Chinese or Asian vs is western counterparts.
In this respect, it is interesting to note such "global persons" has in the last decade certainly become more Asian... more aware and appreciative of Asian ways and culture. Western sales literature is already focusing more on the positive effects of "relationships" where they use to viewed it mainly as nepotism, cronynism, favouritism. Asian ways have moderated "western thinking" , but once again, western literature is increasingly being filled with contributions by western writers on how to be Chinese, speak Chinese, cook Chinese and practice the Sun Tsu's Art of War!
Selling to the masses....
Will there be distinctive Asian ways to sell to the mass market, or will the whole world be like be like the proverbial "Shakespearean crowd" swayed by mob sentiments triggered by the mass media? Those that have seen how people in a "sophisticated and educated" society like in the USA behave on Black Friday will bear witness to the power of the media in shaping mass consumer behaviour.
General Principles vs Practice
Some principles and precepts like those relating to gaining AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) are probably to Sales what the 10 commandments are to Christainity... they identify the universal and indisputable rules. Yet in matters of application it may differ across cultures.
"Thou shall not kill" may be reinforced through capital punishments in some jurisdications whilst not in others. In the west passion is often viewed as a stronger mitigating factor for cmurder than in Asia where emotional control are upheld as a basic requirement of good citizenship.
Objectives and Scope
It is thus my hope that this blog will stir many comments that will provide examples of these differences in practices and applications, if not in general principles and precepts.
Qualifications
My main concern is that this blog may be bogged down by difficulties in classifying a practice as being Western or Asian. Take myself as an example, I have brought up in what I would consider a home environment that is largely Confucian, educated in Christain schools, married into a Christain environment... and worked in sales and marketing in multinational companies for the better part of my 30 years working career. I would seriously doubt if a "mad-chinaman", like myself could truly make such distinctions.
In a recent workshop I presented a sales practice which I found unique in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia. To both my astonishment and delight, a somewhat elderly participant hailing from Finland interjected with the claim that he remembered many business in his hometown adopting such practices in teenage days. Deeper discussions revealed that many situation factors that existed in Finland then resembled those in present day Hohhot.
Open, unconstrained discussions
So do not be too constrained and caught up with verifying or arguing whether an observed practice is western or Asian in origin, or be partisan in any way. Any observed sales practices that seems unusual to you would certainly deserve mention on this blog. Hopefully it will trigger a response like that from the Finnish gentlemen.
The ultimate goal is to learn
It is through such discussions that we will truly learn to properly adapt sales principles and practices to different environments to optimise sales productivity. Whether the world will eventually evolve a multicultural set of sales and marketing principles will indeed be interesting discussion but probably less useful than an appreciation of how different sales principles practices amy work best under different situations.
Read more!
