Something for deliberation (34)

You think.....you feel.

Or you feel.....you think.

You can be smarter than the customer but you cannot be more important than the customers.

You cannot think like that because if you think like that, you will feel like that.

And that's how the not-so-likeable attitude is formed in people in business who sell things or provide services.

Something for deliberation (33)

Let's say X can help you to do your job faster and with better result. And as a result of that, you can get more job. And let's take X as one type of tool or technology.

Would you buy, invest in X with money you have to borrow, to do and get business or you will wait until you have good business and use the profit to buy it?

Something for deliberation (32)

Due to globalisation and advancement of Information and Communication Technology, getting a job done is no more a problem ; it's a given.

It's not so much of technology and tools have made the the human factor redundant but in making the job easier to be done by those who do the job, making the job easier to be learned, making how to do the job easier to replicated. Not many can claim monopoly on " I know how to do this job ". The availability of this player and accessibility to them have contributed to making getting a job done not being a big problem.

Value is not in " you know how to do it " but in " how fast can you get it done ".

Something for deliberation (31)

What made a plumber? What made a wireman? What made a brickslayer? What made a glazier? What made a fabricator? What made a contractor? What made a draughtman? What made a designer?

What they know? What they do? How they know? How they do their work?

Actually there is no secret to know what they know. It's PLAYROLE. It's something people do by design.

All the jobs are done with the assistance of tools and technology, one way or another ; some involve more of it than the others.

It's technology and tool that make the job more than that person himself!

Have you ever found a keysmith working without that trade's machine and tool?

Have you ever found one designer presenting his work without the software?

In playing role one must understand the importance of tools and technology and the necessity of investing and keeping up with the related and relevant ones.

Something for deliberation (30)

Overheard this conversation between two two friends.

Friend A : That guy is smarter, more important and cool because he speaks English!

Friend B : Why do you feel this way? Why is he smarter because he can speak English while you cannot? You can speak Thai but he cannot, how about this ? And why are you less smart, important, cool than him?

Perception is very important. Know how to do a job, the technical part of it is not EVERYTHING. One has to remember that while one can speak English whereas others cannot but there are others who can speak Thai which one cannot! And the people who speak Thai, learn and know the same way as the one who speak English does!

And to know is not hard. It is learning it and practising it. Perception is important. You must feel good about what you are doing. You must have the confidence you can do it.

Something for deliberation (29)

Experience is not the number of years working. Experience is the amount of things known through willingness to learn new things and unlearn old irrelevant things.

You will find some senior staffs in an organisation expecting to be paid more because they have been working many more years. They feel slighted when younger staffs are paid more or being given higher position.

I always like to tell the technical man, those who use skill to work. There is a limit to how the job is done. Once the limit is reached, additional years doesn't make anymore difference to the knowledge of how the job is done.

Position must come from merits, results and not the number of years with the company.

Something for deliberation (28)

As the facilitator cum contractor for the job, I too must understand my job description / definition in order to play my role effectively.

No matter how much I help my workers to do what is their job, I still must pay them even if I cannot get payment from my customers. Helping them in their job will not mean I can be excused for not doing my job, what is my responsibility.

If I know my role well and fulfill that part of my responsibility, it is OK that I go back to sleep when I am free, instead of helping the workers in doing their job.

Something for deliberation (27)

If nobody is responsible for a specific job, that specific job will not get done. There is substantial truth in the saying : EVERYBODY'S JOB IS NOBODY'S JOB.

Job description of the departments and players involved in getting a job done must be defined and understood by all parties concerned. The keywords are : GETTING ONE'S JOB DONE AND NOT ANY OTHER JOB.

The point of this post is : In order for one to play one's role well, one must understand one's scope of job and responsibility ( as per the job description ).

Something for deliberation (26)

There exist some unwritten ethics or code of conduct in our industry set by the old / past players. It may be something not punishable by the law if it is broken but it is observed nonetheless so that there is order and harmony among the players for the work to get done.

Just like in any other game, how can it be played when there are no rules?

You can fight hard to get the business. Competition brings out enterprise, so they say. But when the deal has been sealed, there must have order and harmony among the players of the jobs. Industry rules, the unwritten codes come into play.

Long term business dealing is built on the foundation of trust, integrity i.e "I stand by the ethics" and not solely on "I know how to do the job". I have commented in the earlier post this : not at any one time will you find that there is only one clinic or accounting firm at any given place.

Something for deliberation (25)

The responsibility of a contractor involves more than just knowing how to do the job, the technical aspect of it ; it also involves the ability to work as a team and KNOWING ONE'S POSITION.

One must know the chain of command / communication in executing one's role as a contractor.

I had this advice given to me by one Mr Lim, a main contractor, when we first started out :
When you have the customer asking you for opinion , information, tell him, " I am here to do the work under the instruction of Mr So-and-So ( the main contractor ). I know and can do just that. More than that, please refer to Mr So-and-So." With this work policy, you can have a lasting working relationship with your main contractor.

Many contractor don't see it this way : To the sub con, the main contractor is his customer. The customer of the main contractor is NOT the customer of the sub contractor. Thus, the sub con does not take order from the customer or deal with him in any direct manner.

Something for deliberation (24)

How can I be unfair due to my price being higher when I deliver the job to you in the manner and at the time we both agreed, and I collect from you the amount as agreed, nothing less and nothing more than the agreed?

My uncle shared with me this : If you make more by cutting corner or giving something lesser than the agreed, you are shortchanging the customers ; this is cheating. If you are able to negotiate and convince your customer to secure a higher price (higher profit ) on a willing buyer willing seller basis , that is doing business and there is nothing not fair about it.

Something for deliberation (23)

I need a lorry to transport the goods, what difference does it make whether I own that vehicle or I hire it?

Under such circumstances, ability to arrange for the transport to have the goods sent to it's destination in manner and time agreed is more important than whether or not one owns that lorry being used to transport the goods. Is that not right?

Something for deliberation (22)

We had dinner at one of the seafood restaurants in a fishing village last weekend. There are around ten restaurants along that stretch of main road in the village.

My children were hungry when we reached there. To avoid waiting too long for the food, I went to the restaurant that had the least cars in the open car park . From the car park, I could see only few tables occupied and there were few workers standing by the tables.

As usual when we went to seafood restaurant, we ordered for prawns, crabs, fish. The taste of the food was acceptable but the size and freshness of the seafood was below par.

It was at this time our conversation led to these points :

1. The restaurant with the least customers / business will get smaller, less fresh seafood supply as compared to the rest. All of the restaurant operators may be getting their supply from the same supplier.

2. The restaurant with bigger crowd / sales will get bigger, fresher seafood supply and get more customers, better sales.

3. The seafood supplier will give the bigger customer bigger, fresher supply as he can order larger volume.

4. The restaurant with bigger crowd / better sales will keep getting bigger, fresher seafood supply and further improve on his sales while the restaurant with least customers / business will keep getting smaller, less fresh supply and his business will not improve much if it does not get worse.

The pattern of how things take place like the one faced by the restaurant operator are also faced by other businesses. The vicious cycle must be broken or rather avoided. So, if business is not good, don't wait for things to happen. Make things happen. Or else things will move in cycle, dictated by the pattern.

This is one trap to avoid so that one doesn't fall into the vicious cycle which has a high degree of predictability if not a certainty which is.......sure-die.

Something for deliberation (21)

Went for trekking with my sons this morning. Later, we went to the stall at the park for breakfast. I finished my nasi lemak ( rice cook with coconut milk, eaten with fried dry chili paste ). Then my youngest son asked his brother, "what is this long thing in the chili paste?". Without my spectacles, I told him, "it must be the chili not properly grounded!". On closer look, the brother said, "it's a cockroach, pa!"

Everything stopped for a moment. Customers at the next table looked over. The nasi lemak was well liked here, so many customers would have taken the same food as we did.

I called for the operator and showed him the culprit. Upon seeing that , he apologised profusely to me. He took out his phone and called the supplier saying he would complain and get him to come over.

I didn't wait for the supplier to come. I asked for the bill. The operator said it's on him and I said no, "those food which were clear, I will pay except the one which was not".

Before I left, the operator explained, "I am very sorry for the incident. Hope you understand that I don't cook and prepare the food. I buy from people to sell. ( He felt the explanation was needed because I come here to eat whenever I come here trekking )

I said, "Fine! That point I can understand. There is a cockroach found in the rice, what is your action? You have to do your part, play your role with responsibility. Don't be out of business because the food other people cook which you are selling is not hygienic, when you provide good service and are well liked by the customers for your good PR? You have to do quality control. You cannot keep quiet and keep buying from this people.

My point is this :

You don't cook the food, so if it's unhygienic , that is the fault of the cook; if you buy food from cook who cannot cook clean food ( after bringing the matter to his attention ), then it's your fault. You are being more irresponsible, in fact. Don't just blame the cook for not cooking the food in a clean way, you too can help in that matter by playing your role RIGHT!

Something for deliberation (20)

As a businessman, profit margin from the selling price or cost has little meaning. Profit margin must be seen from the context of time that one needs to spend to make that amount. It's not how much one gets to make from the selling price that is important but how much time needs to be spent to earn that amount!

The same reasoning should apply when the same businessman becomes a customer, consumer, when he buys a service or product : Higher price does not necessarily mean it's more expensive and cheaper price does not necessarily mean it's cheaper.

Can customers be made to understand this point? Would they consider this point when the price quoted to them is different i.e higher? What if the difference in price is justified by the inclusion of add value?

Something for deliberation (19)

I come across this statement in an advertisement : Quality is our product. Service is our business. This organisation that put up the advertisement did not say / see that X which they are producing is not their product and producing X is not their business. What a perception!!

It got me thinking ; what is our business then and what is it we are selling?

Is it fabrication and installation? Production? Contracting?

I want to make service as our business and quality as our product. This is a powerful statement. The focus of the business must be very clear and precise. One has to be sure of the company business, to strengthen the company's positioning, to direct the company along the journey to where she wants to be / go.

I shall be deliberating further on this.......

Something for deliberation (18)

It's very common in our line to have customers complaining that our price is expensive because others are quoting, advertising for the purportedly same job cheaper.

What makes the price?

Do all customers only look at the price based on what they are charged to decide which company charges cheaper? Would they consider other features such as convenience, ease of communicating & coordinating the job, after sales service alongside the price to decide which company charges cheaper?

Something for deliberation (17)

If one's business can get bust if one doesn't get paid for the job, how can credit be given indiscreetly? How can there be no management over credit?

Something for deliberation (16)

There have been cases of business, companies big and small, closing down or winding up because they couldn't get paid for the goods or jobs delivered. When competition is high, you will find profit margin low. The squeeze does not only come from lower margin but also from longer term of payment.

The smaller you are, the harder you will be hit insofar as operating business in a tough environment is concerned. When the time comes to pay supplier and subcontractor, smaller sized businesses will have more problems if they cannot pay. More often than not, the bosses will have direct dealing or negotiation in the transaction and there is practically no" buffer layer" in avoiding commitment that is due.

Big company, organisation will have their managers to deal with smaller sized businessmen and it is easier if these gentlemen say " account has not prepared, processed the payment ; account has overlooked your case ", " the company is holding on your payment". When this happens, the latter have to start "rummaging the bush in the forest to hunt for the rabbit", to meet his commitment.

The headache faced is one thing. Many can accept it as part of the job hazards. But there are some who have to close shop because their customers cannot pay them.

This brings me to the points I want to highlight in this posting :

1) How much does the knowhow and skill that are involved in the business that have been closed down really worth? And I say, if any business had to close shop under such circumstances, then their knowhow and skill did not worth much, if there were indeed knowhow and skill involved!!

2) Knowhow / skill alone is not enough to run a business. It can be an integral part but it is not the whole thing. It can be one important thing but it is not everything. There are other important parts that complement to make the business run competitively......

About the other parts, " I shall return ".

Something for deliberation (15)

When the "fact of the matter" is such : There is surely more than one way to get X done and you are definitely not the only one who can do that, then knowing how to play a role, to complement the overall process is more important than knowing how to do a specific job / task.

Somebody needs to play that specific role which is very important but no player is indispensable.

As has been said, there is no indispensable man in a business, company. In larger context, not even in any country in this world.

China had moved on after Deng XiaoPeng and is still moving forward. Singapore will still continue to grow even without Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the helm