quote 6

ACHIEVING FINANCIAL SUCCESS

i believe almost all of us would want to achieve some form of financial success or freedom in our life. 

the key to financial success is dependent very much on first and foremost is knowing where we are now which is our current financial situation. secondly deciding on where we want to go which is our goals and objectives. the next stage is what kind of resources we have in order to get there or achieve our goals and objectives. finally making a plan on what we should do now which is none other than what we would term as OUR FINANCIAL SOLUTION.

in order to do this, it will be helpful for us to understand our level of financial responsibilities throughout our life. as we get started in life after leaving school, most of us will be concerned about our own personal matters like companionship, career development and education. obviously our main concern will be financial independence and the best way is to get ourselves sufficiently provided for in the event of unforeseen circumstances. as our earnings relatively low at this point of time, most of us would probably be able to start accumulating funds with small level of savings.

as we begin to reach our 30's, our priorities become more family oriented. some of us may have a new members in the family and our family expenditure will bound to increase over time. taking out housing loan is almost inevitable. on a positive side, our income will tend to be higher than the past, offering more funds to be spent and invested. our financial concerns will center around income and expenditure, providing adequate protection to family members in the event of unforeseen circumstances and medical insurance. in the area of accumulation, child education planning is obviously a priority at this stage apart from enhancing our investments.

between 30's to 40's, most of us would have young children starting school. cost of living continues to increase as our children go to school and we tend to be involve very much in family centered activities. our career status will be given to advance as we begin to incur more funds on upgrading of homes and vehicles. our financial concerns at this stage apart from maintaining our family living standard and providing adequate financial protection during unforeseen circumstances, would be to take care of our aged parents. medical insurance will have to be reviewed again for the family at this stage. in the area of accumulation, we should be looking at developing a consistent and long term investment strategy focusing on assets allocation.

as we reach our 40's to 50's, which is also the middle age level, we will begin to reflect more about live and our family. as matured parents whose children are usually teens, family and children issues become more challenging. our expenditure level will be at its highest and the cost of education will begin to have greater impact on our financial situation. family centered activities continue as our career hits the peak. financially, we are more stable as our liabilities may start to decrease. our financial concerns at this stage will largely be focused on our investment strategy with more emphasis on diversification and assets allocation. retirement planning will become important apart from reviewing the adequate of our financial protection for our family. medical insurance planning will continue to be important.

when we reach our 50's to 60's, this is the final stage our working life before retiring for most. at this stage, our children will be grown ups an begin to lead more active life on their own. children are usually teens, family and children issues become more challenging. family expenditure level will most probably be at moderate level but children education cost remains high. one tends to spend m,ore time with spouse by now as we begin to prepare for retirement. medical cost may also rise at this stage. our financial concerns will largely be to ensure that we prepare well for retirement. fund accumulation, long term investment strategy and providing regular investment income for the future will become important. providing financial protection for spouse and even grandchildren will also be considered. obviously, effective medical insurance planning for retirement will be crucial.

now that we have gone through our life cycle reviewing the various personal and family financial issues, let's take a look at the stage where we may be most vulnerable and the possible action plans we can take throughout. as we would have noticed the VULNERABLE GAP is really in our middle age where family expenditure is high and the disposable income may not be able to meet the financial needs in the event of unforeseen circumstances. 

regular savings should be encouraged in the beginning with more focus on protection for the family and ourselves as when we hit our middle age, one should have the highest capacity to save and invest. this is the stage where asset allocation strategies will become very important.

so the question really is where do we get started. with an understanding of the various issues and challenges in life, we usually encourage one to start by thinking of the priorities we have in life. once we have our priorities done, then we go through a short process of gathering some information about our personal financial situation. with this, we would be able to analyse the matter and devise a plan of actions to get us to where we want to.

quote 5

ZEN AND THE ART OF ARCHERY

the book of Zen in the Art of Archery (originally, Zen in der Kunst des Bogenschiessens, 1948) was written by a German professor of philosophy, Eugen Herrigel and was subsequently translated and published in Japanese in 1956.

the book tells a story of how this professor learned Japanese archery and how this activity became in a way a metaphor for many Zen ideas which are notoriously difficult to communicate. despite the fact that the book is continually reprinted and is one of the best-selling works on Japanese culture the faithfulness of the ideas in the book are passionately debated by many scholars.

message from this book is a particular mindset that can be adapted as a powerful principle for all sales people.

SUCCESS IS THE FLIGHT OF AN ARROW

in Zen Buddhism, the archer is taught to believe that unlike in the western world where success equates with hitting the target and even better the bulls-eyes but in Zen Buddhism, success is having the arrow in flight.

archery generally is a useful metaphor for sales people for many reasons like example:

*preparation is important if success is to be assured it's like garbage in garbage out as doing something without proper planning is wasting time and effort

*the importance of having a targets is to control our own destiny and set our own goal or else somebody else will do it for us

*there is only potential for an outcome whilst the arrow is in flight because we get nothing if we scared to even try to shoot the arrow.

*hitting bull-eyes means we succeeded to reach the goal we set for even though after a few failed attempts

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selling is practically not a single activity, it has many guises. selling is best represented by a continuum ranging from tactical selling styles or consultative selling styles.



TACTICAL SELLING STYLES
-product driven: focusing on finding reason for the client to buy the product or service
-single product: focusing on on or two products or services which are simple or convenient to sell
-persuasive: setting an objective to persuade customer to buy the product or service
-secure a sale: selling a product or service as quickly as possible and then move on to next client
-short term: disregard the consequences of any of the above actions
-features and benefits: presented by the seller's perspective but not the client needs
-logic and price: finding arguments which prove the seller's perspective is always right


in tactical selling the environments the sellers seldom or did not offer the benefits of a relationship because in such environment it is implicit that the client want nothing other than cheapest price.


CONSULTATIVE SELLING STYLES
-relationship driven: legitimate interests of both buyer and seller become the guiding principle when doing business
-solutions: identifying all the needs and preferences and then proposing comprehensive solutions
-advisory: recognizing the client's objectives and working together to discover mutually satisfactory solutions
-satisfy a client: to reach consensus with the client at the client's pace
-long term: be as flexible as possible in pursuit of a harmonious conclusion
-solutions and opportunities: finding opportunities to do business and the client''s optimum solution to needs
-trust and value added: earning trust and as consequences by having the client to do business with seller by preference


in consultative selling the focus of sales methodology is generally the development of a high quality relationship that is based on a deep and valued understanding of clients needs and seller abilities to match those needs. 

quote 4

THE CLUETRAIN MANIFESTO

The Cluetrain Manifesto is a set of theses organized and put forward as a manifesto, or call to action, for all businesses operating within what is suggested to be a newly-connected marketplace. The ideas put forward within the manifesto aim to examine the impact of the Internet on both markets (consumers) and organizations. In addition, as both consumers and organizations are able to utilize the Internet and Intranets to establish a previously unavailable level of communication both within and between these two groups, the manifesto suggests that the changes that will be required from organizations as they respond to the new marketplace environment.

a few thousand years ago, there was a marketplace where traders gathered from far aways seas bringing their goods to sell like spices, silk, precious stones and jewels, figs, dates, snakes, parrots, monkeys, strange music, stranger tales and whatever things that  can be trade with other goods.

the marketplace was the heart of the city. like past and future, it stood at the crossroads. people woke up early and went there for coffee, vegetables, eggs, wines, pots, carpets, ropes, rings, necklaces, toys, sweets, wagons, carts, goats, camels and even for love. they went there to look and listen to marvel, buy and be amused but mostly they went to meet each other and to talk.

in the market language grew. became more bolder, more sophisticated, leaped and sparked from mind to mind. incited by curiosity and rapt attention, it took astounding risks that none had ever dared to contemplate. built whole civilization from the ground up.

markets are conversation. trade routes pave the story-lines. across the millennium in between, the human voice is the music we have always listened for and still best understand.

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through it, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than before.

business is conversation