Hyper-Realist perspective on various complexed matters!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

30 SALES TIPS

30 TIPS TO BE A BRILLIANT SALESMAN

In my life I have sold it all. From people to laptops to software (which I enjoy the most) to advertising campaigns to TV shows to drugs (the pharmaceutical kind) to you name it I have sold it or tried to sell it.

If you think I sit on a hill of success then please note that I have had to cross mountains of failures to get to the top of that tiny hill.

I am not at the top yet and have a long way to go but I train a lot of sales people and share my insights. Here I have shared 30 points that will help anyone better their efforts in selling anything!

I hope these things I have learned from my career experience will also help you!

01. Always sell something that is tough to sell… its more satisfying that way! Find what your passion in life is and sell that… it will be easier and you will be more successful at it.

02. Never sell someone something they cannot use or do not want as it will always bite you on your next sale!

03. Wear multiple hats and sell multiple things ALWAYS because a fruit basket of products or services broadens your horizons the aggregate discounts weigh in much more and you will have more luck in selling each time that you try!

04. Always dress very well as you have to sell yourself first before what you want to sell! Nothing looks more badass than a good suit and a clean tailored haircut. Also smell good but don’t douse yourself in cologne or aftershave! Always go out into public dressed like you are going to your own wedding

05. Always look your client in the eye when you talk to them.

06. Always give a firm handshake.

07. Always stand when you shake some ones hand!

08. Always stand up for your clients when they enter a room especially for ladies!

09. Never make it personal. Do NOT try to socialize with your clients ever! Keep it professional. When people become personal you will be forced to compromise on the rate you give somehow somewhere and your company will not question the transparency in the deal.

10. Always know your competition and know the weaknesses in your product / services.

11. Accept criticism with a good attitude!

12. If you are not confident… Fake It! It will come with time!

13. You can always tell the size of a client’s wallet and his attitude by the size of the things that bother him.

14. Always be conscious of your body language! When you walk look forward not at your feet and avoid using a phone whilst walking.

15. Ask more than you answer – people love to talk about themselves and you get to know their actual requirements.

16. Never lend anything or discount anything you cannot afford to lose forever.

17. Fuck fighting for your company – fight for your client as his money is what pays your salary. The client is always right and the client should always be protected by you,

18. Always conduct calls on a cellphone that are important when you are alone and people cannot hear what you are talking about.

19. Do not post shit about your work on social media or text grievances to people about your product client work or family.

20. No matter their job status in life – EVERYONE deserves respect!... including you!

21. Never let your little head do the thinking for your big head (at parties etc.)

22. Never talk business whilst or after you consume any intoxicant.

23. Nice honest guys NEVER finish last, dishonest boring salesmen do who are out for a quick buck!

24. If something bad happens accept your faults quickly apologize and present solutions… do not add to the problems… salesmen are solution givers… NOT problem creators!

25. Do your own paper work and always be ready to learn… this will protect you in the after sales service area and help you in upselling to your clients!

26. Never change for your company! Evolve for your clients! Luck favors those who are honest and always prepared! Be intelligent BUT not over smart. If you are the smartest person in the meeting room then you are in the wrong room… be humble!

27. Never go for a quick solution always suggest an honest long term solution to your client. Trust is earned NOT demanded so value it the most if you have it with your client.

28. Never complain about a client to his competition it is the height of disrespect always. Also winning a battle by putting another company or person down will NEVER win you the war!

29. No one on their deathbed ever wished that spent more time at work so regulate the hours and manage your time and after work hours ENJOY LIFE TO the max doing what you enjoy doing personally!

30. Lastly Women find confidence sexy! So whatever you sell do it well and do it with pride and always have a smile!

Lastly

THREE THINGS

1. Never promise anything when very happy or try to reconcile anything under trauma or duress or anger

2. Its hard to earn money and only if you can work smart and honestly hard will it pour into your wallet!

3. There is no such thing as a quick buck!

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Saturday, February 1, 2014

HR OUTSOURCING

How HR Outsourcing benefits your organization!

If you were a child in the 70’s or the 80’s then you would definitely remember the fact that your father worked only in one company and most likely his tenure (existence) in the company was well over two decades. For all of us 70’s & 80’s children we could identify with the fact that our dad’s first job was their last job and that they would retire from the same company that issued them their first appointment letter. In those days our fathers were defined by the company they worked for (irrelevant of the post) and then the post they held. In those days your father was either an accountant, a banker or a lawyer or just worked in an office and maybe a celebrity doctor.

As the 90’s ended colleges mushroomed and pseudo entrepreneurs bought licenses to open a huge number of colleges that started printing degrees and flooded the workforce with a mass volume of new and fresh young blood t take over after our dad’s retired. This new youth being smarter and being weaponized by technology destroyed any and all jobs for secretaries and receptionists as they became a one window solution that was quicker and more efficient and could multi task.

By the time people were itching with the Y2K bug colleges started specializing in ridiculous degrees such as a 12 month course in MBA which gave you a paper that said you were qualified in Marketing as well as Finance or were a Marine Biology Botanist. The likes of Lipton with the introduction of a Major player such as Tapal started looking for people who were certified Tea tasters and finding the right kind of Human Resource made colleges churn out (By the thousands) HR executives (with no practical experience) as people who would facilitate HR departments in finding the right person.

Sadly these two words “HR Outsourcing” became a cliché due to the fact that everywhere you looked you had some kid in his late 20’s who was pitching solutions to seasoned HR departments with only one years’ experience as an intern him or herself. Over the past ten od years these money minded people trained themselves by working through daddy’s contacts and many organizations bore the expense of these kids trainings. Suddenly the glamorized element of being a consultant made seasoned companies focus on only the three first alphabets of the word consultant and they recoiled and took everything back in their grasp.

Today in Pakistan we have a lot of job insecurity. Many companies are faced with so many issues such as non-working days due to strikes etc. or face such bad luck that in the past few years what one would have thought to be a good company turns into a bad career choice. I have seen many companies (big & small) simply close their doors due to external or internal matters beyond their control. Also if one considers the fact and believes that CEO’s don’t run companies rather the ground forces do then one should note that “people” suffer the most when it comes to a company closing down or downsizing.

I would suggest that every organization utilize a HR Outsourcing company today to protect its employees. If done with a solid company HR Outsourcing is one area that will benefit your workforce immensely because rather than pose as a threat the reasons given below will NOT only protect the employer rather provide immense benefits to any company as well. Let’s begin with why you should outsource your HR and with whom.

If you run a huge workforce or have a small army of even 20 people you should always outsource your HR to a third party because in case you shut shop or need to downsize or replace an employee a good HR company will not only take care of the legalities for you as a company but will also find another opportunity for the person you might want to change or see as someone who is dead weight. Not all marriage’s work professionally so why not protect your employee and yourself by having a vendor that can do just that for you.

When it comes to benefits if you choose the right HR vendor that company will be able to get the maximum number of benefits even more than you could have provided for you as they would have an immense amount of workforce and the volume they can negotiate with an insurance company for example would really benefit your employees as well.

HR departments go insane when it comes to medical compensation claims and the paperwork turns the organization into a glorified post office that deals in paperwork endlessly which creates an audit nightmare. So why not have a company that is secure which will take care of these VAS elements of HR for you. When you choose such an organization make sure they themselves have been in existence for over two decades and have a solid bank statement which will demonstrate a good “stable” business turnover. Volumes do not matter because if you are consistent in what you do then the amount does not matter.

HR companies are only as good as the customer service they provide. If they have the ability to provide solid “Human” resources where the owners are involved supported by solid technology and immense professional contacts only then should you consider talking to them. These are not the times to test out newbies with such a service. It may be ok to give a young pup two to three executive search tasks so that he may approach his college buddies but one should NOT risk a company’s workforce security to the likes of new blood as your employees demand security.

The last thing one should look for when you engage any outsourcing for HR is the actual number of placements it does and the value added service verticals that it has with its organization. Good stable HR companies will always not only have a pool of quality resumes but will also have an immense databank of clients which will secure you if you need to replace an employee or need a career option as an employee within the same field internationally.

If you are able to consider a proper HR Outsourcing company as a strategic partner with whom you are able to sign a NDA and then lock in on a comfortable rate you will realize that you will definitely be able to control on your COGS and eliminate a huge amount of the stress you have. It’s like when P&G decided to eliminate all sales positions within its organization in Pakistan and only have a Director Sales that sat at IBL and controlled the sales team to work smarter and captured the entire market with Always when advertising sanitary napkins was thought to be un-Islamic. Also this outsourcing of the sales force played a major part in Pakistan for the change of a company name from Inter-Pak Shaving to what we know as Gillette (the best a man can get)

Before you disqualify HR Outsourcing know that not only will you save in money rather your HR department will save time and an immense amount of hassle when you eliminate many factors beyond your control when you secure the best interests of your organization. If you would like to talk to someone in the HR field who is actually good at what they do and can deliver all the above services then e-mail me and see what the world has in store for you.

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

TIPS FOR HANDLING TOUGH INTERVIEWS

We have all been through an interview at some point in our lives and have prepared for all kinds of interviews be it school entrance, college, and employment or visa interviews. The funny thing is that everyone prepares for the unexpected, is filled with fear of the unknown and in fact over prepares for a situation that is totally unpredictable yet is overtly filled with one thing and that is HOPE (which is a polite word for expectations)

Sorry to bust your happy bubble but hey guess what if you don’t expect anything then you cannot be let down at all! So my advice is DON’T over expect! Also never over estimate your capabilities and under estimate the interviewer or vice versa!

One thing you should always understand is that you need to know your rights! For example if you are going for a college interview you should be well aware of the fact that an interviewer has NO right to ask you how much daddy earns? However, you must also understand that whilst in a VISA interview that question is perfectly valid you need to read up on the laws that govern that country with regard to immigration and specially the Min Of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) website. By the way ll this information is public and google or yahoo will help you by giving you lots of links to accredited authentic websites. When it comes to jobs you need to know that a prospective employer has NO right to delve into your personal life or your religious beliefs and you have every right to stop them politely if you may not wish to answer why your father does not pray five times a day or anything about your after office hours socializing habits.

Every interview is tough and none of them are easy also they put a lot of stress on your emotionally so rather than do what others have done (which might have worked for them) one key element to remember is to relax. (Do not confuse this with over confidence) The second and most important element to beat any interview is to be brutally honest (to yourself) and then the third AND FINAL thing IS TO KNOW WHAT not TO SAY (see this is where over confidence messes you up)

If you can do these three things then an interview will go better than you expect it to and you never know what might happen but you will feel better about you. There is no point in stressing about a situation where the odds and variables are so many that it is humanly impossible to control any outcome – (unless…. It is your chacha’s company…. In that case show up in a tank top and Bermuda shorts)

If you do not get success do not look at it as a failure on your part rather take it positively and ask why you were rejected as you have a right to ask for a reason. This will help you in your next interview! At the end of the day have faith in yourself and your abilities and most of all God!