Interview between World Business Mind (WBM) and Andy

Glad to share with you this news on TV. In case you missed it, I have recorded it and just click on this link with speakers on: http://www.themessagegroup.com.au/last-nights-news.php?title=20090126-ANDY-NG_create.html

Interview between World Business Mind (WBM) and Andy
WBM: Why is it that the Signapore Government itself is not lending money to SME and instead guarantees 80% of the bank loans? We know that banks only lend money to companies that have good prospects and cashflow, so most SMEs will not get the bank loan, even if there is government guarantee. But companies that buy over the weak companies will get the loan.

So looks like we end with the big companies eating up the small SMEs using government-guaranteeed bank loan!

Andy: Yeah, it's obvious that the government knows that many SMEs will not survive in this crisis. Actually this crisis is nature's way of correcting itself. In the busienss world, that means wiping out the inefficient and lousy businesses. Of course no government will lend to lousy business (except US).

WBM: So does this means you are expecting many SMEs to fold up this year?
Andy: Of course. The numbers will be about 2 to 5%, 3 times the normal 1%. This means about 2,000 to 5,000 SMEs of total of 100,000 SMEs.

WBM: Many of our readers are also SMEs, what advise can you give them to avoid being wiped out in this crisis?
Andy: The age-old advise: have a strategy and drive that strategy with determination.

Quote: In this Turbulance age, it is not the big fish eat the small fish, or the fast fish eat the slow fish, but the good fish eat the lousy fish.

WBM: One final question: do you have any quick fixes for SMEs that are strapped for cash?

Andy: 5 Strategies: Increase Sales, Get Free Salesmen, Get Business from Suppliers, Work on Government projects and Reduce Management Pay to almost $1 so as to get real followership. WBM: Wow! That is really radical. I wonder how many SMEs can implent that. Do you have any quick short courses on this? Andy: Watch for my next blog then... AndyTheCoach hpa88@singnet.com.sg

How Much Do You Charge?

What do you do when your potential client asks, "How much do you charge for your service?"

This is a money question. Indeed such money question forces you to confront your sense of self-worth. In other words, what's your self-worth?

It takes courage - to place a fair but generous price on your expertise and the time taken to get that expertise. Definitely not the time it takes to do the work, but the time it takes to be able to do the work. Just like we don't pay our Dentist by time, we pay him by his ability to do his work well, regardless of the actual time taken. Sometimes like in the dentist case, the shorter the time, the better it is and the higher is his fee.

In my seminars and trainings, I have always worked toward the goal of giving my participants more than their money's worth. Because I know that when I dedicate myself to raising the top (quality) rather than lowering the bottom (cost), everybody wins.

Money is worth and worth is measured in money. So don't charge less, because when you charge less, you're not giving more. Instead of lowering your fees, give more.

One final comment about money. Money, being a medium of exchange, is neutral. Like any tool, it can serve the highest and the lowest. Money doesn't make a person good or bad, it simply amplifies whoever and whatever you are.

How to attract more money? How to Attract Clients like a magnet? Post your comments here...

AndyTheCoach

http://www.asiacoachingtraining.com/

www.youtube.com/AndyNgCoach

Your Company's Worth = Your Employees Self Worth

As a coach, I ccme across this very common question asked by bosses and Human Resource/Learning Managers: How to Raise my Employees Productivity?

As we all know, employees' productivity is a matter of their Self Worth. This means that if an employee thinks that he himself can do lots of things (even if he is not trained currently), he will acquire the know-how to do things.

We also know that we cannot give another person an improved sense of self-worth. What we can do is to help them DISCOVER their worth. This is because self-worth comes from doing what is worthy.

The problem is not the actual worth of the employee, it is his perceived worth. We don't necessarily get what we deserve, but we get no more and no less than what we believe we deserve. In other words, "How Deserving Am I?" is the question asked by the employee.

So if the employee thinks that he deserves no more than a regular pay check, then that is what he is worth. So what happens in a down economy like now where pay check is less certain, the employee will lower his own perceived self-worth. He will now do things that 'self-sabotage' his own success. A good example is salespeople that actually talked their prospects into 'thinking it over' or 'buy less, save money now' as he thinks that he is not capable of doing more sales in this weak economy.

We need to break out of this trap. Start with first helping your employees discover their self-worth. Ask them these 3 magic questions:

1. In your work right now, what are the 3 things that you can do to help your company NOW increase its sales, lower its costs, improve its cash flow and lower its risks?

2. What are the top 3 things that you now stop doing as they contribute little if not none to the company's bottom-line?

3. If you have to start this job all over again, what would you have done to make yourself more deserving?

More such questions are found in our program: How to Be a High Performance Employee. The next (17th batch) is starting on 13th Jan. 2009 Tuesday 9 am to 12 noon. It will be on 4 Tuesdays on 13/1, 20/1, 3/2 and 10/2.

From AndyTheCoach