Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The one who mention price first will loose the deal


I have met many hard-working people in my life. Some became successful, while others failed miserably. This lead to the conclusion that your success not only depends on how hard you work, but it is greatly influenced by how well you can negotiate.

Everything in business goes through the process of negotiating. Negotiating requires planning, and you need to know exactly what you want, what you value, and ultimately what you are prepared to trade off.

It reminds me of a song performed by Kenny Rogers, The gambler:

“So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Now evry gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause evry hands a winner and evry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”


Contradictory to everything inside you, it is the fearless and tough negotiator who will be able to walk away.

Mention the price when the negotiating is done, there will be time enough for counting when the deal is done.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Will you only be a distant memory?


Business is a lot like politics; once the people cast their vote you are either in or out. The hardest, gut-wrenching thing about people is that you will never know what they will say until they have said it.

You have done all the research, quantified the data into various colourful charts and graphs, and you are now tempted to predict what people will say.
I hate to tell you this, but if I were you I would rather stick my head in the beehive and see what is going on inside.

Good questions lead to good answers, and by asking the target market good questions you can quickly determine if there is a demand for this fantastic new product or service everybody needs so badly.

The most important discipline and skill you will need for this exercise is to provide as much need-to-know information to the potential clients without giving it all away.
There is no copyright protection for ideas, and if you don’t play smart you will see your great invention published before you even completed your market research.

Although there are few things not yet discovered or invented, you might find yourself “inventing the wheel”. If this happens there will be no concrete information at your disposal to determine if it will sell. How will people know they need something they have never seen before?

The risk (sticking your in the beehive) is part of what defines entrepreneurship. Good entrepreneurs do their homework and sell the product. They worry about the rest later. If you have the information at your disposal, the risk is too high, and it is likely to fail, forget about it. But, if there is no information to make sound decisions you have to take your idea to the market and get someone to pay for it.

What really matters is that you commercialise you IDEAS and get them to the market.
Will someone pay for it? I don’t know, and neither will you until you try and sell it. You might end up being the next Bill Gates.

Favourite books in my shelve

Favourite books in my shelve