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Hi!
Here's the January 2010 issue of Psyche-Selling TM
eNewsletter, and I'd like to start the year with an inspiring
message that help usher in a great 2011 for you.
Being a small and relatively new consultancy, we are
sometimes rather "shy" when customers ask us for our company
brochures (we only have a Word document that tells customers
what we do, and that is updated every month). At the
same time, since we are already winning big customers such
as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Philips Lighting and
InterContinental Hotels Group etc, some of our friends in
the same industry, as well as some of our customers, are
asking us, how did we achieve all these.
So against the objections of my partners, I'd like to
hare with you how we, as an unknown company with small
budgets and lesser resources, can take on the giants and
win over the big customers. I hope what we do can
give you some ideas as to how you can grow your business
too.
Hence, this
month's topics::
-
Taking On the Giants: How to Sell to BIG Companies even when You have Small Budgets and little Brand Recognition; and
-
Creating the
Wow MICE Experience
This issue's main article is on "Taking On the Giants: How to Sell to BIG Companies even when You have Small Budgets and little Brand Recognition",
and it is about no matter how small you are, you can win
big if you have the courage and determination to take on
the giants.
In brief::
-
While it is a
fact that most purchasing managers would like to buy
from established companies with well-known brands,
there still are some niches that you could explore
even when you are small and relatively unknown ;
-
Rather than positioning yourself as a mere seller,
seek to position yourself as the domain expert in
your market instead and provide thought leadership
to your targeted customers;
-
Rather than looking to close the sale all the time,
seek to provide valuable advice, knowledge and
know-how pro-actively, so as to win the trust and
support of your customers. Read on... ...
To read the rest of this newsletter, pls.
click here (http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html.
In the meantime,
please feel free to check out our video on
Using the Six Thinking Hats®
to Win More Sales and Get More Customers Part 2
Taking On the Giants: How to Sell to BIG Companies even when You have Small Budgets and little Brand Recognition
by c.j. Ng
Executive Director, Directions Management
Consulting Co., Ltd
So far, our newsletters have been illustrating how
you can get ahead in business and performance
through show-casing the case studies of other
companies and industries. We sometimes do get
enquiries from our clients whether we really walk
our talk, and if we can share our own case studies
of how we generate our own business, especially
since our forte lies in boosting sales force
effectiveness for our clients.
Hence, we would like to share with you, my dear
reader,
how as a small and unknown training consultancy
could win businesses from big companies such as
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche, Saint Gobain and many
more, without spending any money on advertising.
While our industry (corporate training in China) is
unique in its own way, we are sure that there will
be some applications that you will find relevant for
your markets as well.
First of all, I would like to share with you an
overview about the market we serve, i.e. the
corporate training market in China.
While there are no
actual figures on how much market value the
corporate training market is worth in China, what we
do know is that almost all major global training
consultancies have already established their
presence in China, or are in the process of moving
into China in a big way. These consultancies
include major global players such as
DDI,
Achieve Global,
Franklin Covey etc.
On the other end of the spectrum though are
countless of Chinese or Asian training consultancies
vying for a piece of the action in China. In
Shanghai alone, it is estimated that there might be
more than 10,000 training consultancies specialising
in different areas operating right here.
The global consultancies will command a premium fee for
their programmes and
intellectual properties to
wither Multi-National
Companies in China or to
large Chinese corporations.
Some of the local consultancies on
the other hand, will be
facing a lot more
competition and hence tend
to find themselves locked in
price battles and struggling
for better margins.
Hence, while some of the
Chinese training
consultancies might have
high sales volume, their
profit margins are actually
quite thin. What that
means is that they usually employ large numbers of
sales people to provide generic training products
that are priced very competitively so that they
generate enough sales volume to feed their larger
workforce. What we aim to do is just the
reverse. We have a small team to customise
training solutions that can give us healthier
margins that will ease our survival pressures, which
in turn allow us to spend more quality time and
provide better service for our customers.
Why Should
Anyone Buy from Us at the Price We Want?
Hence, if we want to get a different result from
everybody else in the market, we will then have to
do things differently from them. Here are some
of the areas that we would like to differentiate
from the market:
-
Being an expert in certain types of training
solutions, rather than just being an agent to refer
trainers for clients
-
Focusing on a few key domains of expertise, rather
than be the jack-of-all-trades.
-
Providing customised solutions, rather than
standardised, off-the-shelf courses.
-
Sharing our expertise and knowledge freely as much
as possible, rather than keeping information away
from the public.
-
Focusing on customised in-house training solutions,
rather than promoting too many public workshops.
-
Advising our clients how they can get better results
from our training, so that they need less training
in future, rather than making our clients reliant on
us all the time.
-
Providing solutions that will improve business
performances, rather than merely filling up our
clients training calendar
When we first started, we chose the
field of sales and sales leadership as our domain expertise.
While such a positioning will mean that we will be giving up
some opportunities to conduct training for non-sales topics, our
customers feel they get value by engaging the experts to help
them.
To reinforce this idea of being the expert in the
domain of sales and sales leadership, we created the
Psyche-Selling
TM brand, and
proceeded to create our monthly newsletters that serve
NOT to sell what we do, but give our readers the insights
on how they can improve their business performance.
This
newsletter was created
since March 2007, and hasn't stopped even during our busiest
periods.
Gaining
the Buy-in from Big Companies
It's not enough to
stop at the newsletters if we want to get the attention of
the Big companies to buy from us. We need to:
-
Prove to the Big companies that we are capable of
delivering effective training solutions that are on
par or even better than the established
international training consultancies; and
-
Position ourselves as having the knowledge of how
international companies operate, and are able to
help these Big companies implement their best
practices in China
Hence, we infuse elements of cross-cultural
management using our understanding of
Chinese culture,
history,
mind-sets and
business practices. We
don't just stop at the newsletters, which are a one-way
communication in text. Instead, we have the
following means to make our marketing a more integrated
one:
The Way Forward
Moving forward, here are
the areas that we will be focusing on in the near
future:
-
An increasing focus on surveys, research and areas
where we can provide scientific data for the market
we serve so as to strengthen our position as thought
leaders;
-
Increased exposure to more Chinese and Asian companies
in addition to just servicing foreign companies in China
and Asia; and
-
Enhancing our events by having a calendar of our events
such as public workshops and afternoon talks in addition
to our Power Breakfast Hours.
In a nutshell, the sales and marketing
advice and training content that we gave to our clients
are very much the ones we use for ourselves.
We are grateful to be doing business with the Big
companies, and at the same time, we believe it's not
luck. We have been working hard to develop such
businesses in the past 3 years, and we will be working
harder AND smarter to deliver greater value for our
clients.
Need help in finding out how
our experience in selling to BIG companies when you have
a small budget and little brand recognition?? Simply e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-136 7190 2505
or Skype:
cydj001
and arrange to buy me a mocha. All information
shall be kept in confidence.
Power Breakfast Hour: 22 February 2011
Taking On the Giants: How to Sell to BIG Companies even when
You have Small Budgets and little Brand Recognition
Join International Sales Force
Effectiveness consultant c.j. Ng in this Power
Breakfast Hour in Shanghai where you will find out:
-
How to exploit niches in the market that allows you to gain acceptance by the BIG Companies;
-
How to position yourself as the expert of your domain so as to edge out your bigger competitors;
-
How to create interest and action in your market by being creative and persevered
VENUE: Crowne Plaza Shanghai • 400 Panyu Road
(near Fahuazhen Road) • 上海银星皇冠酒店 • 番禺路 400 号
(靠法华镇路)
DATE: Tuesday, 22 February 2011
TIME: 08:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
PRICE: RMB 200 ONLY!
To make this a more conducive
discussion, we are expecting a small group of about 15
people only. The room can only take in 18, so please
register early to avoid disappointments. Please e-mail
your registrations to sales@directions-consulting.com
You can also download our Power Breakfast Hour video on
Using the Six Thinking Hats®
to Win More Sales and Get More Customers Part 3.
Pls. check out our web sites
www.directions-consulting.com and
www.psycheselling.com/page4.html for more inspiration.
Need a Keynote Speaker for your Major Sales Conference?
Whether you are holding a
conference for your regional staff, resellers or even
customers, we have the right speaker who can help you
deliver the spirit of your conference, and effect positive
changes to meet your goals.
The topics our
speakers can speak on include:
-
Using the Six Thinking Hats® to Win More
Sales and Get More Customers
-
Why Some Sales People Succeed While Others Fail?;
-
How to Lure Away Your Competitors' Key Accounts, and
Make Them Buy from You Instead?;
-
Improving Sales Productivity by Motivating the Sales
Force;
-
Sun Tzu and the Art of Strategic Decision Making;
-
The End of Guanxi as We Know It!; and many more!
Simply e-mail your requests to
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-21-6219 0021
for enquiries. Sample video and audio recordings
available upon requests.
Practical Tips for Hospitality Managers:
Creating the
Wow MICE Experience
By c.j. Ng
In December 2010, I had the honour of organising a
Strategic Decision Making Experiential
Programme for 200+ Bristol-Myers Squibb Sales
Leaders in Xiamen, China. This was part of their
annual meeting where more than 1,000 of their staff are
involved.
The hotel which hosted our segment of the activities was
Crowne Plaza Paragon Xiamen,
and all I can say is that we are absolutely impressed
with how they created a "wow" MICE experience, not just
for the client, but also for event organisers like us.
To start off, as the activity involves more than 200
participants, it was also quite a logistical challenge
for us as we had to ship the equipment and costumes from
Shanghai to Xiamen. Since we need to handover the
costumes to the participants the day before our event,
we needed some space to hold on to those 250 sets of
costumes.
Hence, we approached the hotel concierge and asked if
they could help us find some space for the costumes.
Since the space required was quite substantial, the
concierge said he had to consult management, and
will get back to us in 5 minutes.
Exactly 5 minutes later, we got a reply. Due to
insufficient space, the concierge area could not hold
our costumes. However, the hotel could provide
their Reception Lounge right next to their meeting rooms
and ballrooms. And we can even arrange our
participants to pick up their costumes at that Reception
Lounge, which was available till 10 p.m. that evening.
That's not all. Despite handling 200+ of our
participants, the hotel still had other MICE bookings
that day too, and it has to make sure that all its
guests have a wow experience regardless.
When we returned from our experiential training
activities, ALL 200+ participants were crowding around
the lift lobby, and some of the hotel guests could not
get on the lifts to their rooms. Fortunately, the
staff at the hotel were present to direct traffic so as
to ease the jam, and pacify agitated guests.
That's not all. Since our participants were on a
tight schedule to check out, return their costumes, have
lunch and then catch their flights, we needed these
processes to be handled smoothly. The hotel
provided a temporary check-out counter right beside the
ballroom where lunch will be taking place. They
also provided another meeting room for us to collect the
costumes from the participants.
Hence, our participants could just check out, deposit
their luggage, return their costumes, have lunch and
then fly out without leaving the hotel's conference
area. Ample hotel staff were around to give
directions so that we don't run into the wrong rooms and
disrupt other people's events. We were simply
amazed at the efficiency and service quality of the
hotel staff, who could still accommodate our demands
with a smile all the time.
Ultimately, I don't think that the client will return to
the same city for their events anytime soon, to event
organisers like us, we definitely know whom we can count
on to provide more than just accommodation, F&B and
meeting rooms for our future events in Xiamen.
In this regard, I thank the General Manager of the
Crowne Plaza Paragon Xiamen,
Mr. Magandran Suppiah
for helping us deliver a "wow" experience for our
clients. Mr. Suppiah and his team "wow"ed us
by pre-empting the business needs of not just his
guests, but also the event organisers like us who are
also responsible to deliver the "wow" experience for his
guests too. Mr. Suppiah didn't just made us feel
special, in fact he and his team made sure every guest
is special and enjoy the experience with them. It is such a "wow" MICE experience that
really makes the Crowne Plaza THE Place to Meet.
While some may attribute to the better attitudes of the
people in Xiamen when it comes to servicing customers, I
believe that it is not just the natural abilities of the
people to know what customers want, and then get it done
before the customer says it. I believe it had been
great leadership abilities on the part of the management
of Crowne Plaza Paragon Xiamen that really raised the
bar for all business hotels to emulate.
If you would like to get more and better ideas how to
get your team deliver "wow" customer experience every
time, you can e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-136 7190
2505 or Skype:
cydj001 and arrange to buy me a mocha. All
information shall be kept in confidence.
About PsycheSelling.com
Sales... ...the
lifeblood of a company, a matter of "life and
death", survival or extinction. Indeed,
something that needs to be studied, applied and
re-modified consistently.
Yet today,
-
many companies still don't have a coherent approach
as to how they can generate more sales and
achieve better margins;
-
many sales people are still lying to their
customers so that they can meet their targets at
the end of the month;
-
many customers are still waiting ethical and
professional sales people to help them find out
their real needs, and provide solutions that
work
Psyche-Selling TM
is set up so that companies and sales people can
make healthy profits and STILL provide genuine
solutions to customers.
Psyche-Selling TM
would like to create an environment where customers
can trust sales people to give them what they
want, and NOT be pushed with all kinds of
products and services. In return,
customers will become loyal fans of these
ethical and professional sales people, and repay
them many fold for the long-term.
Psyche-Selling TM
will not rest, until the above is achieved.
Not just in China. Not just in Asia. But
everywhere where buying and selling takes place.
Psyche-Selling TM
is a wholly-owned brand of
Directions Management Consulting Pte Ltd
that specialises in the field of improving sales
performance by enhancing the performance of the
entire sales team. Apart from the regular
"selling skills training",
Psyche-Selling TM
conducts pre- and post-training analysis,
interviews, monitoring and reviews, working
closely with managers and even senior
management, to deliver real improvements in
sales leadership and performance.
Hence,
Psyche-Selling TM
would like to be known as the preferred choice of
outstanding and remarkable clients, and pride
ourselves as such. We will also be
continuing to assist our clients achieve greater
heights in 2009 and beyond.
Enquiries and suggestions,
pls. e-mail
info@psycheselling.com or visit
www.psycheselling.com
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Mailing Address:
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