Life and Business Improvement

What makes successful people different from the miserable fellows? What do the rich know that the poor people don't know? Is there really a secret that successful know that other people don't know? These are some of the questions that many people I know and some of you are still asking yourself even today. But is there really a secret that one need to know to get whatever he or she want in life? I asked myself these questions several times in the past. And as the burden of these questions began to weigh on me, I decided to do something about it by all cost. I attended seminars, workshops, church services, Jumat prayers, I read books and also seek advice from people that I considered successful. While other successful people were willing to give me little time from their schedule, others simply ignored me and consider me a pain. But when you really want something so badly, you can keep asking, seeking and knocking. No wonder, "winners never quit and quiters

Communication is a vital tool for existence both in human and animal kingdom. Communication gives us the sense of identity and expands our horizon in all sphere of life. But for communication to be complete and effective, we must develop the skills of listening. How does a new born baby come to understand his parents’ language? It is because; he first developed the sense of listening in order to communicate with his parents. This skill as vital as it seems, most people don’t realise its importance in their lives. In most cases where two or more people are gathered, you hear many of them speaking at the same time without listening to one another. This creates a tense environment, which culminate into brain strain.            To be successful in our lives, especially business, we must be able to write, speak, and listen effectively. Of these three skills, effective listening may be the most crucial because we are required to do it so often. Unfortunately, listening also may

Rejection is denial by a person or people you expect support from in a quest, vision or pursuit. Rejection can be demoralising and devastating. As bad as it may be, depends on how you handle rejection, it cannot deterred you from achieving in life. Many people the world over have received rejection in one form or the other. While others resigned themselves to self pity, others have gone ahead to achieve what they wanted to achieved. In 1894, a sixteen year old found this not from his rhetoric teacher at Harrow, in England, attached to his report card: “A conspicuous lack of success”. The young man rejected the rejection and went on to become one of the most famous speakers of the twentieth century. His name is Winston Churchill. In 1902, an aspiring young writer received a rejection letter from the poetry editor of a monthly magazine. Enclosed with the sheet of poems, the 28-year old poet had sent was this curt not: “our magazine has no room for your vi

The development in technology has made the gathering and distribution of information very easy. The monitoring and surveillance of a person’s movement and behaviour has also become very easy with recent development in technology. As the technologies bring so many developments in conducting business, a lot of concern has risen as to the privacy invasion of individual customers. To gather useful information on consumer behaviours in order to present their offerings to various segment of the market, marketers has resulted in using various means in gathering information as to what each age group, income bracket, educational status etc buys, when they buy it, where they buy it, how much of it they buy and how often they buy it. All these have become easy for marketers to obtain with minimal cost without stretching across dangerous boundaries. Such invasions of privacy have become common as it happens on daily basis. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware on how informati

The product life cycle (PLC) is tied closely to the concept of Diffusion of Innovation, which explains how information and acceptance of new products spread through a market. Innovation is anything new that solves needs by offering a significant advantage over existing methods customers use. Innovation can encompass both highly advanced technology products, such as new computer chips, and non-technological products, such as a new soft drink. For marketers, a key concept to emerge from research on new product diffusion is the identification of adopter categories into which members of a market are likely to fall. These categories include: Innovators – Represent a small percentage of the market that is at the forefront of adopting new products. These people are often viewed as enthusiasts and are eager to try new things, often without regard to price. While a good test ground for new products, marketers find that Innovators often do not remain loyal as they continually seek new prod

There is an adage that ‘he who fails to plan, plan to fail’. This statement is as true as tomorrow, because whether you like it or not, tomorrow must surely come – unless you are dead! Planning is the integral part of our daily activities. If you don’t plan your day before going out, no wonder you failed everyday! For marketers planning is an essential task that must be continually undertaken. As we will see, shifting market conditions, including changing customer needs, advance in technology and competitive threats, almost always insure that what worked in the past will not work in the future, thus requiring a new strategy on how a product is marketed. Marketing planning is also important since it is often a prerequisite for obtaining funding whether one is a marketer in a large corporation seeking additional money for his or her department or is part of a small start-up company looking for initial funding. The 21 st century business environment is driven by advances in techn