Copyright (c) 2007 Michael Soon Lee

How would you like an extra $5,000 or more a year? This
money can be earned simply by becoming a better negotiator,
yet most people in the United States rarely take advantage
of the power of bargaining, except on rare occasions when
making large purchases like cars and houses. In other
countries, like Asia, people there negotiate everything
everyday and save thousands.

Negotiating is like a martial arts contest where power,
leverage and timing can mean the difference between winning
and losing. For instance, a martial artist would never go
into a contest without first spying on his opponent to find
weaknesses. In the same way, you can gain bargaining power
by doing your homework. If you’re buying a diamond ring,
for example, find out how long the ring has been on
display, the standard profit margin on jewelry and how
badly the owner wants to sell it. Finding answers to
questions like these could save a lot of money.

Before engaging in contest a martial artist warms up by
stretching.  Likewise, a savvy negotiator warms up by
building rapport and finding common ground with the other
party, because people like to do business with people they
like.

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You’ve seen it before: people who make a hullabaloo about
following their dreams and then end up broke, busted and
disgusted. If this has made you put your own dreams on
hold, here are 5 reasons why most people fail and how to
avoid making those same mistakes as you strive to make a
living doing what you love.

1.They don’t carve out their own niche- Many aspiring
singers fail for instance, because they’re too busy trying
to become the next Kelly Clarkson, James Brown or Michael
Jackson. Same thing goes for wannabe models, writers and
business people. Does the world really need what it already
has? Stop trying to clone somebody else, learn from
successful people by all means but project your uniqueness
too. On a sheet of paper list your talents, hobbies, life
experiences, educational background and practical skills.
Can you infuse your culture into your work? For instance
American author, Amy Tan, has made a fortune writing
stories about the trials and triumphs of Chinese
immigrants. If she’d tried to become the next Joan Collins
she would have failed to convince her audience. Think, ‘how
can my life experiences, education and practical skills
contribute toward creating my desired lifestyle?’
Thoughtfully write down the answers to these questions. If
you require further insight, get some feedback from family
and friends. Work with what you’ve got- it’s more than
enough.

2. They don’t perfect their craft- You’d be surprised how
many times an actor rehearses for a single movie scene or
how many times a writer has to proofread a manuscript. Some
dreamers think that raw talent will fetch them a fortune
overnight. When crude oil is drilled out of the earth’s
crust is it supplied to gas stations right away? No one
shells out their hard earned money to amateurs. Work on
your skills so that you can compete with the best in the
world. Get a guru to mentor you, enrol in a refresher
course or practice devotedly. The more you work at your
craft, the better it’ll become and the more remuneration
you can command for what you do. Strive for excellence if
you want to make a living doing what you love.

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A friend recently lamented to me that she hadn’t had an
opportunity yet to take the latest online course offered by
her organization. As she put it, “They say it is being
‘offered’, but that doesn’t mean there is any choice-we
have to take it. The problem is, when?”

In this age of electronic everything, this problem is
becoming more and more prevalent. Online learning is often
recommended because the courses are available to employees
at their desks, working alone and at their own pace,
whenever they decide to do so. My friend stated the
following drawbacks:

“Difficulty finding time. Like most people, I am very busy
in my job. However, if I know, for example, that a
traditional classroom seminar or workshop is to take place
next Wednesday from 1 - 4 p.m., I book the time and I go.
Fitting it into my work schedule at my “convenience” is
more of a challenge. Let’s face it-it’s never convenient.

“Difficulty focusing. When I am at my desk, it feels
foreign to be working on an online course instead of my
work. Also, when I am at my desk, other people naturally
assume I am doing my job, and they interrupt me with
questions and impromptu meetings as usual.

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Minute taking has changed over the years. The requirements
and expectations of the 21st century are very different
from the expectations even 10, but certainly 20 and 30
years ago. Here are some points for you to consider about
minutes and taking minutes.

• Minutes are written for people who were at the meeting,
not for people who were not! They are not designed to be a
story to tell everyone who was not at the meeting, what
went on. It may be smart to publish the key decisions but
that is all.

• Around 60% - 70% of the minute taker’s work is done
before the meeting begins. Most but not all of this work is
in the preparation of the agenda. The agenda is essentially
the draft minutes! Most experienced minute takers know this.

• If the minute taker is to do the job properly, then he or
she must be involved in physically preparing the agenda.
The Agenda is your secret weapon!

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Copyright (c) 2007 Michael Soon Lee

Nearly every negotiating book ever written takes a win-win
approach to agreements. However, master negotiators know
that win-win is for losers. In reality, nobody believes in
win-win because people play to win – not to tie, and
certainly not to lose.

In martial arts, for example, whether you are sparring for
practice or in a tournament, you do not want your opponent
to win. Even if the person across the mat from you is your
best friend or your brother or sister, you still don’t want
them to beat you. There’s nothing wrong with this attitude
because the need to win is human nature, for both men and
women, and it’s what drives people to do their best.

But let’s be clear — winning doesn’t mean breaking even.
If you are an avid gambler you would not consider yourself
a winner if you went to Las Vegas and played blackjack with
$100 for three hours and left the table with $100.  If your
hockey or soccer team ends an important game in a tie do
you consider it a win? Martial artists play to win and so
do you.

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Jane and Bob understand that establishing criteria for
successful performance is key to ensure that they get the
performance they want.  Yet they’ve found that their
colleagues in other departments don’t set up criteria from
the get-go.

Why?

Managers often do not know how to establish meaningful
criteria for job performance, let alone extras like
training and development.

To establish performance criteria, Jane and Bob ask
themselves, “What are the conditions for satisfaction?  How
will we know the project, task, training, development was
successful?  How will we know the work has been completed
and done satisfactorily?¨

For example, when Jane and Bob send Roy for training, how
will they know if Roy’s training gives them a good ROI?
What do they need Roy to learn, absorb, or implement
because of the training he took?  (And Jane and Bob know
that if they can’t determine what the outcome should be,
they shouldn’t send Roy to this training.)

What factors do we include in objective criteria?

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Copyright (c) 2007 Michael Soon Lee

Over one-third of all Americans today are minorities. The
numbers of people from diverse cultures are growing so
rapidly that the U.S. Census Bureau expects this group to
be nearly half of the population by 2038.  This is a huge
market for retailers and service providers all across the
country – if you know how to meet the unique needs of
customers and clients from other cultures.

MYTH #1: “PEOPLE FROM OTHER CULTURES ONLY WANT TO WORK WITH
SOMEONE FROM THEIR OWN CULTURE.”

Nothing could be further from the truth unless there is a
language issue.  Most of the people who complain about
having trouble with multicultural customers are European
American salespeople.  They just need to understand how to
meet the wants and needs of people from other cultures.

In fact, many cultural groups would prefer to work with a
salesperson from outside their own culture.  Asians, for
example, are very private about their financial affairs and
many are afraid that if they work with an Asian salesperson
they might disclose their income, debts, and purchases, to
others in their community.

MYTH #2: “MULTICULTURAL PEOPLE HAVE SUPERSTITIONS AND
BELIEFS THAT ARE TOTALLY INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO AMERICANS.”

Remember that people in the United States have beliefs that
often baffle outsiders such as the fact that black cats,
walking under ladders, and the number thirteen are unlucky.
Most other cultures have their own beliefs that are just
different.

Many cultural beliefs happen to directly affect the
purchase of goods and services such as how items are
packaged, colors that goods are wrapped in and how items
are priced.  For instance, many Asians believe that the
number four is unlucky because when pronounced in Japanese
or Chinese it sounds very similar to those cultures’ word
for “death”.  Items packaged in groups of four can
symbolize bad luck for those people who believe in
numerology.  Notice, for instance, that if you buy a tea
set it is usually packaged with five cups, not four, for
this reason.

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Copyright (c) 2007 A Marketing Connection

Adding value is not one of those management buzz words we
use loosely but don’t really understand. To your patients,
adding value can simply mean doing more than you promise to
do. The idea behind adding value is that the customer gains
a perceived benefit without having to pay for it - or pay
very little, compared with its value to the customer.

Adding value offers many benefits to your hospital. It
differentiates you from your competitors and builds
customer loyalty. When clients receive more than they ask
for, they feel they are getting their money’s worth. This
dramatically reduces, if not eliminates, buyer’s remorse.
Another major benefit to adding value is it allows you to
charge more because you offer more than your competitors.
Finally, adding value builds, strengthens and confirms your
reputation as the cream of the crop. When you offer more
than you promise, clients view you as the best in your
industry, and you are.

Adding value means doing more than you promise to do.
Ideally you want to offer something that has a low cost to
you but a high value to your customers.

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The agenda is the key to a successful meeting – it is the
roadmap, the guide, the plan. Studies have shown that up to
70% of meetings either have no agenda or have a poor agenda
which is not helpful. In this article, you will see that
there are some steps which you can take to make sure your
agenda will contribute to making your meeting more
productive. There are also hidden advantages. If the agenda
is well constructed, you will also spend less time in the
meeting and more time actually doing the things the meeting
determines need to be done!

1. Remember the key – the more detailed the agenda, the
more focussed and generally, the shorter the meeting will
be.

2. You cannot expect intelligent decisions if people do not
have time to think through the issues before the meeting.
Therefore, agendas need to be sent out in advance, not
given out at the meeting. People who have genuine desire to
reach the best decision, and people who are organised,
always have their agendas distributed in time for people to
give thought to the issues.

3. Adopt the strict policy that if an item is not on the
agenda, it will not be discussed at the meeting. Do not
allow items to be raised without notice. Allow only true
emergency items to be exempt and allow no other exceptions.
Organised people have no difficulty with this. It is only
disorganised or “slack” people who object to this because
they cannot get their act together. Research shows, that if
an item is raised without notice, the meeting will spend
time talking about it, but then defer the decision until
the next meeting anyway when there is notice given. It just
wastes time.

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Recently a new client came to me in total frustration. She
had been working with another coach who had insisted she
focus on offering, and aggressively marketing, only one
service. Now she was out of energy, out of money, and
couldn’t understand why she was failing. A great
salesperson in her previous work, she was struggling to
sell enough of this one service to support herself.

This talented and skilled professional was on a slippery
slope to a failed business. She was using one of the most
enticing and dangerous models for the direction of her
business: Offering just one service to just one market.

One service, one big client, one product, does not make a
one-person business that can thrive.  And, it can get you
in hot water if your one client with your one product or
service is corporate: you start to look too much like an
employee to keep the IRS happy.

So, what’s the answer? For this new client, my first
question was “Have you done the numbers?”

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