Legacy Foundation Business and Leadership

Archive for September, 2010

Japan has the world’s second largest GNP and is the world’s second largest market accounting for 60-70% of the economy of Asia. It is the source of a great deal of advanced technology, much of it built into Japanese consumer products owned by consumers throughout the world. Japan has 50 million mobile phone users (40% of the total population) most with Internet access, while broadband technology is rapidly advancing on both the home and business fronts. Total sales through mobile e-commerce reached $500 million in 2000 with projections of $10 billion in sales by 2005.

The Japanese have the justified reputation of being the world’s most demanding consumers who are satisfied with nothing less than the very highest standards of quality and service. The Japanese market is therefore the benchmark for any company aiming to succeed in international business.

Despite its ultra-modern, Western appearance and technological sophistication, foreign business people often find that on closer acquaintance, Japan is in many ways the most culturally distinct advanced society they will have encountered. This is part of its fascination. Too much is sometimes made of this but is does mean that time spent acquiring the necessary cultural awareness and knowledge needed to adapt one’s style and approach to fit Japan is a necessary investment. Key aspects to be aware of are the strong group orientation of Japanese and the distinction they make between tatemae, the face which Japanese present in public to maintain harmony and avoid embarrassment, and honne, one’s real feelings or the actual situation.

Japanese business is relationship-based on the assumption that it is the relationship which makes the business possible. Since Japanese are instinctively wary of those with whom they have no relationship, whether Japanese or foreign, it follows that building a relationship takes time and requires patience, persistence, and perseverance. These are among the qualities most admired and respected in Japanese business and they are needed in abundance by both companies and individuals in Japan if they are to succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no denying in the tremendous increase in the number of online businesses in the past 10 years, not only in the USA, but just about any place where computers can be accessed easily. As we all know that, among many online businesses run by good and honest people, there are some online businesses run by bad and unscrupulous people whose primary objective is to con money out of unsuspecting naive people who are desperately looking online for jobs due to their circumstances such as being a stay-home-parent with kids, wheelchair bound, or whatever their unique circumstances could be that made them think that online jobs made more sense. I decided to look around online, about 2 years ago, after seeing so many popups about home based jobs such as paid online surveys, freelance jobs, etc to see if they were another one of online schemes to rip you off. After I signed up with many of them, of course I couldn’t check all, and receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of junk emails from them I was able to tell which ones were good and bad. As in real life, we have to be careful and take some precautions by finding out if there is a physical address of business or a phone number or even by checking it out on BBB.org (Better Business Bureau) online before typing in our sensitive information.

When you first meet with IT sales prospects, you’ll want to get them talking about their top 3 problems. You may learn that the problems your prospects have aren’t ones you or your network of partners or subcontractors can help with. In this case, you are barking up the wrong tree and should move on. But it’s very important to get your prospects talking if you want IT sales.

Ask about Their Preferences

Get them to talk about what they like and dislike about how they’ve gotten IT support in the past. This can also give you a tremendous number of clues as to what they’re looking for.

You also need to figure out at this first meeting if they have an emergency that has to be addressed in the next 24, 48 hours, 72 hours, or are they looking more for an IT audit, site survey, or technology assessment with IT sales.

Every once in a while they’ll throw you a curve ball and prospects will want something totally different. It won’t be an emergency and they won’t really need a tech assessment, but most of the time, those are what they need.

Bring Your Clients to the Next Step

If you want to move from free to fee, if you want to move from sitting there and playing brain-picking-101 in the IT sales call to them writing a check to your company or signing on a credit card authorization for IT sales, then it’s really important that you find out.

Make sure that you have something ready to offer them, that you have proposals that easily take care of their needs. Even better is to bring the blank forms with you so you’re ready to have them sign on the dotted line for IT sales.

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