The Essence of Sales

There is a workshop on Sales in the fasting month. The following are the details.

Workshop Title: The Essence of Sales

Date: 14th August 2011
Time: 8:30am – 5:00pm
Place: LiveWIRE Centre, Development Unit, No 42, 1st Floor, BT-Hj Uthman Complex Spg 13, Jalan Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kg Jaya Setia, Mukim Berakas A Brunei Darussalam BB 2513.

Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198431946880567

This workshop doesn’t focus on sales strategy or techniques, instead focuses on the sales persons as an individual to see their relationship with their selling, to identify the blocks, and to find their reason to achieve sales. The facilitator is a Bruneian who has spent the last few several years overseas doing business and Sales. She was interviewed by Brunei Times about the course recently. http://www.bt.com.bn/business-national/2011/08/02/natural-way-sell. The facilitator is only back in Brunei for the fasting month, which then she will return to australia.

The one day course is priced at $415 per person, with an early bird price of rate of $347 per person.

In my opinion. Most Bruneians would find the the cost too pricy, But workshops like these held in singapore, malaysia, US, UK or australia would cost thousands. People who do sales like car dealers, insurance agents, real estate agents, direct sales and MLM distributors will definitely benefit from this course. The sales techniques and strategies are there, they are available from books, internet or some workshops. But for most sales people, it is more of an internal resistance in doing the sale. That is what this workshop helps the salesperson deal with.

 

Prices of Cars in Brunei Showrooms

I’ve noticed that in car show rooms, there’s often a letter on the dashboard of the cars displayed about the price. I had only vaguely notice that it was “approved” by the Department of Economic Planning and Development (Jabatan Perancangan dan Kemajuan Ekonomi). I had recently found a list of the approved cars on their website.

It’s cool, now I don’t have to go from dealer to dealer finding the price of 1st hand cars. I’ll go check the price online, and see what the dealer has to offer. But then, I’m not in the market to  buy cars yet. are you?

This is the link to the website – http://www.depd.gov.bn/projects/control/car/Car%20Price%20Q%202010.html

Brunei’s Marriage Statistics

I was reading some business plans at livewire, and found one about wedding planner, they had reference an interesting statistics on Muslim Marriage in Brunei. The statistic is available online at http://www.mms.gov.bn/malay/images/stories/pdf/PPPR/stat_pppr_2001_2010.pdf
below is a copy of it on this website.
stat_pppr_2001_2010 – Marriage by year vs District
Now looking at the statistic, there is an annual average of 2000 marriages per year, where about 75% of them occur in the Brunei-Muara District.
I found this statistic interesting, because it reflects on the Wedding Industry.
That means that for an annual of 2000 weddings per year,
there are about 2000/50=40 weddings per week.
or about 2000/12=160 per month
So for wedding related businesses this seems to be a small market.
Business such as photographers, caterers, Pelamin providers, etc can only do at maximum 1 per week or 4 times a month. that means there’s only market for 40 wedding service providers in Brunei. 80 if they all work at 50% capacity (or only twice a month), or 160 if they only do once a month.

I haven’t done a research on the actual number of the wedding service providers, but it does seem that Brunei has more supplier than demand in the wedding industry. This is probably why good wedding photographers charge high. Amateur photographers who charge less will push themselves out of the market as they may not be able to sustain themselves. Of course this is assuming that the photographers only cater to the local market and do not spread over outside of Brunei.

Brunei’s e-government portal

Checkout the governments e-government portal at www.gov.bn
The website focuses on 3 types of visitors
* Locals
* Businesses
* Tourists
It has been fun for me exploring what aspects of business the government has provided facilities for. Previously, I usually googled in order to search for a government website. this portal is convenient.
Just to also share, the websites of interest for business:
-www.agc.gov.bn – the attorney general chambers website, check out online acts/regulations on business names registration, miscellaneous license, copyrights, trademarks, and other business related laws.
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-www.bruneimipr.gov.bn – Ministry and Industry and Primary Resources, a lot of business may go through here e.g. agriculture, fishery and tourism.
-http://www.pelitabrunei.gov.bn/iiklan.htm – web page that contains most government tenders, although most government departments and ministries have their own tender web pages.

Writing a Business Plan

I have been sharing what I know about writing a business plan in LiveWIRE’s Business Plan Series.
Below are the slides I use.

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Some people are comfortable in just reading, some people are comfortable with other people guiding them, if you are the latter, come join the Business Plan Series. The following is a link to the fb invite of the next session.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115163805241172

LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards 2010/2011 Briefing

A Briefing on the Rules and Regulations of the LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards Competition.
* The Categories
* The Prizes
* The General Rules and Guidelines
* a Brief summary of writing a business plan

The following is the link to the FB invite

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=248633415152916

A course on being a distributor for Chinese Products

A lot of the products we buy nowadays are mostly made in china, from clothing, to computers, and now even cars. I found it interesting that someone created a course on how to be a a distributor of chinese products. the course is entitled “Program Lawatan Sambil Memborong ke China” from the website http://kursusmemborongdichina.blogspot.com/which involves a trip to china and meeting suppliers.

I guess if anyone interested to become a distributor should join the course. Get more information by going to the link mentioned above.

(Note: I am not being paid for directing traffic to this site)

Blood Donation at LiveWIRE

LiveWIRE Held a Blood Donation Drive last Tuesday on the 14th of December 2010. There were a few people who donated blood, there were some who donated their blood for the first time. Most of the Donor came from nearby commercial units such as elite computers, infomars, KOPRI, Axtivo and don’t forget LiveWIRE staff themselves. I’d like to take the time to explain the steps for those who have never donated blood before.

1. Registration. You may be filling more than one form, one is for the organizer keeping attendance.
   And the other is the blood donation form from the hospital. The form from the hospital will be asking a lot of questions about your health. This form has since been updated to a 4 page booklet. previously it was just one sheet. Among the important questions are: are you sick, taking medication, menstruating or pregnant (for women you can’t donate during this time), or have currently having any symptoms of being sick.
   
2. Health Check. The health officer will look over your form and ask you questions on any suspecting issues. You have to be qualified to donate blood. You can think this as a free medical checkup among the tests are:
   Weight (you have to be at least 50 kg to donate),
   Blood Haemoglobin level (you have to have enough blood),
   Blood Pressure (you need to have adequate pressure, or else you might faint).
   
3. If you pass, you are handed the bag for the blood. You may also get goody bags or at least directed to the refreshments. Sometimes both
   
4. Blood Donation Time! You will be seated in a Relax chair, the health officer will ask you to hold a piece of wood while he ties your upper arm up. they will then inject you with something to dull the pain as well as something (I guess) to stop blood clotting. This part is actually the only and most painful part.
   The health officer will then start to put a big needle (it seems big, maybe its the fear :p but you won’t feel a thing! ) into your arm and your blood will now flow into the bag. You may grip the wooden piece to stimulate the blood flow. (I’m not sure about this one, but it seems to work)
   
5. After you have finish, that one bag will be filled up, but it may overflow into a secondary bag, but no fears, if you made it to this step, then you have nothing to worry about. The health officer will take out the big needle and bandage your arm. You may also help yourself to the refreshments again.

I would recommend eating mushrooms and beef in the following days to build up your iron. Personally, this is one of the perks of donating, you can use it as an excuse to eat more! :p (but I have to watch what I’m eating now, I’m not as young as I use to be   )

Finally, I’d like to invite everyone to take the time to donate blood. Not only is it beneficial for the recipient, but it can also be beneficial for the Donor. Research has shown that it may reduce risks of Iron overload, Heart Disease Risk, and Cancer Risks. The blood donated by one person can benefit upto 3 people. The fear that stops you from donating is only temporary, but the benefits last longer. Blood Donations can also be held at any other time at the hospitals blood donation centre.

Secrets of Successful Project Management

Did some projects recently, this article at ST Training Solutions › Articles › Secrets of Successful Project Management, would have been helpful. The steps are here simplified:

1. Know what are the objectives of the project. Know/assign those  who are responsible for the project.
2. Plan activities to reach those objectives and account for obstacles.
3. Act on the Plan, change the plan only if necessary and if it is still in line with the objectives.

Currently, I’m trying to understand using the Work Breakdown Structure within Project Management Software. The one’s I’m looking into are MS Project (propriety), and open source programs like OpenProj and Open Workbench and GanttProject. OpenProj has been said to be compatible with MS Project. So I’m looking into that. Anyone has any suggestions?

Related Articles

• The Case Against Project Management Software (brighthub.com)
• About GanttProject – Free Online Project Management Software (brighthub.com)

Learning about Branding at the Local Business Development Forum

I attended the Local Business Development Forum at the Grand Hall of Empire Hotel and Country Club on the 18th November 2010.

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The links to the slides were given to the participants, and since it was made available on the AsiaIncForum Website, I assumed it would be OK for me to upload it to scribd and embed it into SMEbrunei. Unfortunately, the presentation on Branding by Dr. Wilson Chew was not made available. I’ll go through my notes and share them.

Dr Wilson Chew’s presentation on how branding is not just applicable to big corporations, but can also be done by Micro and SME’s. Considering that all big corporations started from SME’s themselves. He further pointed out in rebuttal of a previous discussion on Public Private Partnership is not essential, it only matters that SME’s “Just Move”. His presentation on branding reminded me of a book entitled Origin of the Brand. His 10 Rules of Branding were:

1. Perception is Reality – Brands are only in people’s minds, and often in terms of those brands logo. and most people remember brand logos very well.
2. The power of being the first – People remember the first president, the first man on the moon, but rarely remember those that came after thme.
3. Create a new category – So if you are not the first, you can become the first in a new category. People will remember Barack Obama as the first Black President (should I say coloured?)
4. Narrow you Focus – Specialization by sacrificing vestigial or unnecessary products will help in focusing your main successful product. E.g. Nokia was originally in almost every electronic equipment, but they prospered when they focused on Mobile Phones.
5. Differentiate your Brand- Make your Brand different from others out there. Show off what makes it unique or better than the competitors.
6. Build your brand with PR – PR or Public Relations or Advertisers help SME’s profit by building awareness of the brand.
7. The power of a great name – brand names should be short, unique, memorable, easy o pronounce and English sounding.
8. Be absolutely Consistent – do not stray into other categories, as Mercedes had once ventured from luxury cars and into commercial transport (Busess, Trucks, etc) their reputation never really recovered.
9. You need an Archenemy – Cocal Cola has Pepsi, Adidas Has Nike. Competition between the 1st and 2nd often create free publicity through discussion and debates.
10. Sometimes you need a 2nd brand – if you are to venture into other categories, create another brand. Toyota tried and failed getting into the Luxury Car segment, but they succeeded when they created another brand in Lexus.

The Brunei Economy by Doctor Roger

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MNCs or SMEs: Perspective from Singapore by Professor Tan Kim Song, Singapore Management University

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