The Disruption Of Product Pitching

A friend asked me recently why I've been in sales for so long and have been so successful, and yet have never been seen pushing my company's products or making a sales pitch to anyone before.

My answer was fairly simple and direct.

Firstly, I don't sell to friends or relatives something that I think they do not need, or are not suitable for. Neither do I sell when they do not specifically ask for it. And what I have to offer, is a very specific product.

Secondly, I pick and choose who I want to sell to. This means that in my world, if you're going to consume too much of my resources, generating negligible volume, then you're not worth my time. Even if you were a super rich individual. It is a firm matter of ROI to me, as with most things I do in business.

In this current world of FinTech and Disruptive Technology, therein lies the key to how financial sales have evolved over the last decade.

- Why are some of the largest consumer banks failing? 

- Why are they struggling to make money the conventional way anymore? 

- Why are they closing branches and cutting headcount while others are thriving?

- who are the ones thriving and why?

Answer these questions and you can unlock the potential of your business today, whichever field you might be in.

It is getting very apparent that the slowest companies to embrace technology bare the hardest hit. Those that fear change just cannot keep up with the times anymore.

Here are some simple notes that could help:

> No one trusts the banks anymore with investment advice

> No one wants to pay exorbitant fees for financial products anymore

> it is not easy to make money in financial products anymore due to regulation and deleveraging

> No one wants to buy something that they do not need, that costs a lot of money, anymore

> The rich do not want to buy things off the rack

> Selling a product now is more about selling a relationship rather than selling the benefits of the product

BREXIT

So today the UK chose to exit the EU.

The next months and years ahead will be tough for the British.

It's time to short GBPUSD!

I figure there is a possibility that if this is not properly handled, GBP could reach parity with the USD.

Good luck to them!

I think the EU is going to make an example out of them.

One Second Ahead

My current travelling companion.

Mindfulness.

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In this space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

- Viktor Frankl

FX Trading Risk Management

Given my propensity to over-trade and blow up, I have found an insofar successful circumvent.

How long this will last, I'm not sure, but so far it has managed to satiate my yearn to be in the FX markets while limiting any potential drawdown from stupid itchy fingers-inspired over-trading.

I have now started to use an FX broker which allows minimum trade sizes of 1 unit. You read that right. Not one standard lot, not one micro lot, one unit.

This means a position of 1 unit gives you a per pip equivalent of approximately 0.0001 USD hahahah.

Now I obviously don't play such small sizes, but I now start at 1,000 (a micro lot) or 500 units.

All this action and I need only fund my account with a couple of hundred dollars to get started.

Moreover the trade sizes are so small that I don't bother with monitoring the prices all the time anymore. So much more carefree, so much less stressed. I have better life balance and can spend more time on my kids and family without having any worries at the back of my head.

That's why all trade gurus always recommend trading in small sizes and with amounts you can afford to lose. Yet it is easy to preach, but the reality is that it is far harder to resist that one good trade, that air of consecutive-profit confidence, that cannot-go-any lower/higher price.

How to blow up with this strategy? I don't know yet.

All I know is that even if I blow up, all I lose is tens of dollars rather than a few thousand bucks.

Which is a great deal for me these days.

It is time to have more savings in my coffers.

:P

Let's give it a few months and how things go.

Trade safe.

Global Logistic Properties (GLP) II

Is this a good buy or what?

Such a low price/market valuation right now in the market that I'm not sure what gives?

Daily share buy backs.

0.6c dividend coming.

Business doing great in all the markets it is in.

The Motley Fool gave an interesting take on the stock back in April as well.

LinkedIn Social Sales Summit 2016

Was invited to this event last week and what an eye-opener it was.

Basically this was an event organized by LinkedIn to showcase how Social Selling works and how it has enabled salespeople to outperform and exceed expectations. I guess it is safe to say that Social Selling is becoming the norm in today's corporate world where disruptive technology, big data and FinTech are the key buzzwords.

The event itself was a series of speakers stretched over a full afternoon presenting various ideas, success stories, and key experiences, topped off with ALOT of networking opportunities.

It was also held in a very nice location (the 73-12 building along Mhd Sultan) and the event hall was peppered with nice little booths/corners to help entertain. There was the standard demo booth, F&B area, also a profile pic booth (I loved this!), some profile enhancement booth yada yada. The only sore point was the extremely long toilet queue.

Participants were also given this really nifty folder with the day's program. Most early registrants had their folders personalized even! 

Of course we came for the content! 

While not every speaker was perfect and some even bordered putting me to sleep, I felt most were generally good and entertaining. I could even catch some key takeaways even if I forgot a pen to take notes, I took pictures instead. In fact it was encouraged to add those speakers that we liked, on LinkedIn.

Here are some of them.

Mark Dick, Director, LinkedIn Sales Solutions, gave a very good presentation about the Social Selling Index (SSI). It was like a mini game within your social network that you aimed at beefing up and expanding your horizons. It became a lot clearer for me how we could use the SSI to properly assess our guys involved in this project, and better gauge the success of enhancing our brand through their individual LinkedIn profiles.

Marcus Westling, Commercial Lead, CEB, was probably my choice for best speaker of the day. He was somewhat funny to boot. Here, he spoke of very engaging topics such as, Key Drivers of Customer Loyalty, The Five Profiles of Sales Reps, and Portrait of the New High Performer, all of which were very relevant to my current work. These are very interesting ideas to think about as we evolve in the dynamic business landscape of today.

Mathew Williams, Sales Director, APAC, Elsevier, also gave a candid success story review of how LinkedIn has changed the way his company sells. He spoke of how the company evolved in its selling with the help of Social Selling. Some of the examples I definitely could use for our team.

All in all this was a fantastic event and I give it the thumbs up and a good job well done to all the folks at LinkedIn. Still a lot of digestion needed but I have a very good idea of the possibilities, potential, and what we ought to do, to maximize our own Social Selling opportunities now.

Maybe they'll invite me again next year ;)

#socialsalessummit_2016