Marketing Tricks #05 - Early bird price

"Be among the first 10 to order, and you get 30% off! " This helps to persuade people who are on the fence about buying a product. By creating urgency, potential buyers will have a fear of missing out (FOMO).

What to do with this information:

When you are a buyer, recognise these tricks and don't let them affect you making the right decision. Don't hate marketers. It is their job to help sellers connect to their target audience. As a buyer it is your responsibility to understand the product and whether it fits you.

When you are a seller, this is a trick you can use. No matter how well you market, you must still have a good product if you want to stay in business. Do right by your customers.

"People are complicated"

"People are complicated"

They are not. You just need to understand their needs and wants. But yes, handling people can be messy. People are sometimes childish (sorry, no offense to the children reading this, actually children are sometimes more decent human beings than adults). People are sometimes selfish. People are sometimes angry and can't get a hold of their emotions. But when you step into their shoes, you will find that they are mostly not hard to understand and appreciate.

Performance appraisals are a relic

 

Performance appraisals are a relic.

Or are they? The conventional way of doing it - once a year, with a stack of documentation to fill, and conducted half-heartedly with tired supervisor and unwilling appraisee - is certainly a relic. Appraisals and feedback is communication that should be happening on a day-to-day basis to help people improve and grow. A company should not be relying on an annual appraisal process to remind its people about performance feedback and continuous improvement.

This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur, available on:

Shopee Malaysia

Lazada Malaysia

Google Playstore e-book

Amazon

Amazon Kindle e-book

Don't start arguments on social media

 

It's the worst way to conduct any debate. Suppress the urge to be right and to give people a piece of your mind. You don't need to have the last word. Don't respond.

Often these arguments just lead to quarrels and anger. If it's something important enough, call and talk to your friend. If it's not worth your time calling, then it's also not worth your energy conducting a debate over social media. Maybe it's better the next time you meet your friend and this topic pops up, you can chat about it.

Just don't start.

How do you interview job applicants?

 

In Chinese, applying for a job is called 求职, which if directly translated can mean "begging for a job".

Do you interview them with this mindset? Or do you ask them what they want from this job, and encourage them to assess whether your company can give them what they want? A job interview is a business partnership discussion to establish a mutually beneficial long-term relationship. It is not an unemployed person asking for a favour.

360 Degree Change Leadership with BJC Foods

Had a great training session with the team that brought us Wise Cottage Fries - 360 Degree Change Leadership. The module which resonated most and had the most participation: Managing Conflicts.

Do you know who tricks you most easily?

Answer: yourself. 

True story. I bought something. It wasn't cheap. I tried to use it. It didn't give me what I expected. After some time, I realised I had been conned. I was angry with the seller for the false advertising. Does this sound familiar? 

If I examine my experience honestly, the seller had never guaranteed any results or misrepresented any facts. In truth, I had bought it because I desperately wanted the dream to be true. I was sold a dream, and I was the one who convinced myself it was true. 

If you've had the same experience as I did, don't blame the salesman. We learn. We get to know ourselves better. And we move on.