Interesting facts!!

I once read an interesting and funny story in which a high profile and young MBA holder, who also happens to be a banker and an investor, chats with a cool and smart farmer in a village on changing his lazy lifestyle... This fellow tries hard to convince the farmer to quit such a lazy and boring life and sell off his farm to grow faster and enjoy the life in the fast lanes. The best part is that the farmer disagrees and counter questions the young fellow with a simple   " Then, what will happen ? " 


The young fellow tries harder to explain and comes out with a lot of happening probabilities for every counter question like the farmer can get some good grands and can start his own business, can get a nice house in the city life, have luxurious cars, have a beautiful wife, have kids etc etc.... finally he claims that after saving a lot of money for himself, he can buy a nice farm house and live a peaceful retired life and relax till the end of his life  ;)


In return, the farmers simply asks him, " What Am i doing now then ?? "


Its really funny, how we make a circle of our life. Ofcourse, the above example is not a practical one in life and Iam sure no one agrees to spend their youth as a retired person with nothing to do but look after the farm, the sky above and relax.. 


As someone has rightly quoted, "The grandest of all laws is the law of progressive development. Under it, in the wide sweep of things, men grow wiser as they grow older, and societies better. "


Today societies are changing and so are the lifestyles. People meet more on the internet than in real lives. That doesnt exclude me as well as Iam not a real social creature.Our generation is more closer virtually and one good advantage is that the world looks very small now. We can talk, we can befriend, we can consult or we can share to anyone in the world even if we have never met them.


Technology changes everything. Can you imagine, we can now access theatres on the web, can explore movies, can book tickets, can even book a snack and can book the seats of our choice. 


Everything is available at your doorstep, on your screen.   :))

Lets Welcome 2011

Fighting Competition!!

How to Compete with Discounters

                                                                                                                                                                                        Written by Jeff Mowatt   

If you manage a small to medium-sized business, chances are you encounter pricing pressures from some version of a large discounter.  Large competitors may have more money to spend to attract new customers, more buying-power to undercut your prices, and more resources to outlast you in a price war.  If they’re from overseas, they may also have cheaper labour.  

On competing with price discounters, my advice: “Don’t be better – be different.”  In other words, don’t even try to beat their prices.  Instead, be different in these three areas…

Target Different Customers

Don’t waste your time or money trying to attract bottom feeders.  These are customers whose only buying criteria is low price.  You might attract them with a sale or discount, but they’ll leave you to save a nickel.  Let your mega competitor have them.  The good news is most people do not buy strictly on low price.  If that we’re the case then everyone would live in the cheapest homes, drive the cheapest cars, wear the cheapest clothes, and only dine in fast food restaurants.  People typically buy on low price when they perceive no extra value.  That leads us to our next area to make your business different…

Supply Different Offerings

By definition, mega-suppliers appeal to the masses.  They supply stuff that average customers buy.  So don’t go there.  Instead, position your business a notch above.  Yours is the boutique experience that provides either different products, better quality, expert advice, or preferably all three.   Think about bicycles… you can buy them relatively cheaply at department stores, but serious cyclists shop at bike stores, or they order custom-made on-line.  Either way, they’re willing to pay more for quality.  That’s where small businesses do well and make more money.

Provide Different Service

Remember your goal is to target customers who are smart; more interested in quality and value than just buying whatever’s cheapest.  Contrary to popular opinion, smart customers no longer value information.  Before smart customers even contact your business, they’ve already collected information about you and your competitors.  They’ve given their smart phones a shake or searched Google.  It takes them less than a second for the search and the information is free.  Free is worthless.  That means that if your employees are merely providing information to potential customers they aren’t really creating any perceived value - at least not enough to warrant charging a premium.

The question, when it comes to service, is what are customers willing to pay a premium for?  It isn’t friendliness.  Nothing wrong with being friendly, but employees at your discounting competitor can also be friendly.  More to the point, your customers already have friends.  And they’re also free. 

What customers do value when it comes to service are three things: analysis, interpretation and advice.  They want a genuine expert who has analyzed the plethora of options that are available. They want that same person to interpret which of these options might be best suited to that customer’s unique needs.  And they want that expert to advise them on a few options.  This requires that your employees need to not only know your products and services; they also need to know which questions to ask customers to clarify their unique needs.  And they need to know how to position short-listed options in a way that helps customers make smarter, faster, decisions.  These are easy techniques and come with experience.  

When it comes to customer service, remember - this is business.  Customers don’t want a buddy.  They don’t want an informer.  They want a trusted advisor.  For this, customers will pay a premium.

Bottom line, managers and business owners would do well to worry less about beating their competitors’ prices, and focus more on becoming a category-of-one.

Burn Your Boat!!

Written by John Boe

I believe that the great NFL Hall of Fame coach, Vince Lombardi, had it right when he said, "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." Do you agree with Coach Lombardi, or are you the type of person who has difficulty staying focused and keeping commitments? Do you allow the negative influences of fear, anxiety, self-doubt and worry to dominate your thinking and sabotage your results? Sadly, most people fail to achieve their goals, not because they're lazy or lack self-motivation, but because they were never "fully committed" to succeed! I can't think of a single great achievement that has ever been attained without first a plan of action and then an unshakable commitment to its accomplishment. Walt Disney was arguably one of the most creative dreamers and determined men of the twentieth century. Walt understood the power of commitment and would frequently tell those around him, "When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably." The ancient Greek warriors were both feared and respected by their enemies. In battle, the Greeks established a well-deserved reputation for their unsurpassed bravery and unshakable commitment to victory. The key to their overwhelming success on the battlefield had far more to do with how the Greek commanders motivated the warriors than it did with issues of tactics or training. The Greeks were master motivators who understood how to use a "dramatic demonstration" to infuse a spirit of commitment into the heart of every warrior. Once the warriors had been offloaded from their boats onto their enemy's shore, the Greek commanders would shout out their first order…"burn the boats!" The sight of burning boats removed any notion of retreat from their hearts and any thoughts of surrender from their heads. Imagine the tremendous psychological impact on the soldiers as they watched their boats being set to the torch. As the boats turned to ash and slipped quietly out of sight into the water, each man understood there was no turning back and the only way home was through victory. In your sales career your battles are not fought with weapons on foreign shores, but within the confines of your own mind. A truly committed salesperson does not have the luxury or the time for the self-indulgence of negative thinking. The true underlying motivation for all success is a deep and unwavering commitment to the task at hand. The sales profession is a demanding and challenging career, but it is also personally rewarding and financially lucrative for those who are fully committed to becoming successful. If you are being pushed around mentally by thoughts of fear, anxiety, self-doubt and worry, it's time to "burn your boat" and become fully committed to your sales career! "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, and then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe