Category: Business

Precision engineering

Technology is so much more than bits and bytes.

Recently had the opportunity to visit a factory belonging to Horst Engineering in the nearby town of Guaymas (pronounced whymas), Sonora, Mexico.  The factor manager is an American, Andy Law, who, with his lovely wife, livesHorst 2 across the road.

It is simply ages since I have seen a precision engineering factory at work.  Not only was I impressed but it took me on a long trip down memory lane, with a couple of strands: engineering tools and the British defence industry.

But before the reminisces, a word about the calibre of the young Mexicans working for Andy.  Unlike so many of the locals who one comes across, these bright, young men and women are committed, self-motivated, multi-lingual (Sp/Eng) citizens. It was a treat to observe them and hear Andy speak so highly of them.  Mexico sorely needs up-coming generations of highly capable people.

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Patrice Ayme and truth

Intelligence at the core of humanism

A while ago a comment on Baseline Scenario jumped off the screen at me.  I was intrigued because the author of this comment used words with power and insightfulness.  That author was Patrice Ayme.  It’s a nom de plume. [NB. Not it isn’t, see comments below] The sub-heading at the top of this Post is from his Blog.  Here’s an extract from the About section of that Blog.

This is a site that tries to find out what is really happening, and what is not, what is right and what is wrong, on many important questions, and in all sorts of ways. In other words thinking is applied relentlessly, the way evolution made it, as the ultimate instrument of domination of anything in sight (be it domination of oneself, of one’s own ideas and emotions, or domination of the universe). Thinking evolved to predict effectively and ambitiously, not to cower in a corner, modest and dazed. Prometheus’ punishment was a regrettable misunderstanding: we did not steal fire from someone, we created our mastery of fire, and fire made us what we are, as we wished. Mastering fire was not a sin, the Greco-Romans were wrong on that one. Fire was part of what we have evolved to be; masters of the universe, for better or worse.

Read more about Patrice

Cell phones and cancer

Is the mobile telephone industry being honest?

A report released by the International EMF Collaborative last week has some disturbing information in it; that cell phones (mobile phones in Europe) are more likely than not to be a causative factor in some cancers, most notably brain cancers.

That information will not come as a surprise to anyone as rumours have been circulating for many years.  What is driving-while-on-cell-phoneworse (if brain cancer wasn’t bad enough) is a growing view that the cell phone industry may have been trying to skew the results in favour of the industry.  If proven, that sort of corporate behaviour underlines the value of integrous living as the only way of creating a society fit for all.

The International EMF Collaborative claims that the Interphone study, which begun in 1999, was “intended to determine the risks of brain tumors, but its full publication has been held up for years. Components of this study published to date reveal what the authors call a ’systemic-skew’, greatly underestimating brain tumor risk.”

Know of young people using cell phones? Then read more and pass this Post on to them.

Read more about this study

Good old-fashioned service values

What a delight to come across people who care.

This is a personal story with a wider message. That great after-sales service matters and in these difficult times will make the difference between surviving and even growing, or failing.

I drive a 2005 5.7 litre Jeep.  It was bought (second-hand) when I arrived in the US about a year ago, en route to JeepMexico.

Just recently the automatic transmission failed.  There was no choice but to commit it to the local Mexican Jeep dealership for repair.  This is a sophisticated transmission system and I was seriously worried that it was going to be a nightmare.

I didn’t account for the help from AASTRO in Tucson, where the Jeep had been serviced a couple of times.

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A little later than I would have wished!

Jon Lavin.

You will see from the Hello World post at the head of Learning from Dogs that the idea of integrity being a topic for wider discussion arose a while ago.  Busy lives (and a big misunderstanding about Blogging!) put off us doing something until Paul got the Blog under way in July, this year.

I still have, thank goodness, plenty of work demands on my time and a busy family life but, at last, will be finding time to explore the importance of integrity.

As I say in About this Blog, I had noticed that businesses that were operating largely with integrity, tended to be happier places, got better results and it was possible to develop levels of awareness within teams that enabled them to work together far more effectively. Levels of self-awareness are important because they allow people to develop closer business relationships with everyone internal and external and this leads to increased levels of trust.

By Jon Lavin

Selling Change – Concluding Part.

Understanding the process of change – key learning points.

  • Good, really good, knowledge of your products and services is essential.
  • People don’t buy anything unless they are dissatisfied with their present circumstances.Questioning
  • Selling change means getting the client to recognise that change brings real benefits.
  • Only good, client-focused questioning will uncover real needs.
  • Only excellent listening skills will allow you to hear what those needs are.
  • Don’t worry about the type of questions – just question, question, question.  Oh, and listen!
  • Understanding the potential customer’s business and where their needs are is fundamental.

Needs questioning is a sales concept.

Continue reading “Selling Change – Concluding Part.” →

The Fed’s Bond Purchases and Inflation

Fed’s Kohn on Lessons from Buying Government Bonds….in Britain

Preface:

Recently Dr Jarrell, now a fellow author of this Blog as well as her own, debated the meaning of inflation.  That essay, in three parts, may be found in the list of Essays on the right hand side of this Blog.  This Post is an extract from a recent Post that Dr Jarrell presented on her own site and is presented here with the hope that, following the essay on inflation, this Post is more widely accessible to you, the reader.  Paul Handover.

Do read on

Selling change – Part Four

Understanding the process of change – bringing it all together.

Yesterday, we promoted the importance of questioning.  Because it is only through answering questions that we see new perspectives.  In a sales situation, the skill of the salesperson is to have great in-depth knowledge about their products and services, the many ways in which existing customers use your solutions and likely areas of ‘pain’ that your prospective customer may recognise.

That requires a good understanding of the industry/s that your customers work within.  Because without that, you can’t ask the focused questions that will quickly get you an insight into the prospect’s situation.  The other bonus coming from knowing the prospect’s industry is that the sales approach will enable your prospect to feel as though you are there to help him.

Continue reading “Selling change – Part Four” →

Selling change – Part Three

Understanding the process of change – Discovering the needs

In yesterday’s Part Two, we raised the important question of how we change our views.  Of course, in selling the ‘we’ is the person you are selling to.  But to see into their view of the world, it obviously helps to think about ourselves for a while.

The psychology of change is beyond the skill set of this author and is one of many areas left to the psychology professionals.  However, here is a very basic notion that works for the salesperson.

The role of questions is to elicit answers.  (You see, I did say it was basic!.)

But straight away, one particular widely-held idea is going to be destroyed.
Read more of this essay on change

Selling change – Part Two

Understanding the process of change – Upsetting the Homeostasis

In yesterday’s Post on this topic we left the reader with a ‘flow chart’ of the process of change within a business and, slightly tongue-in-cheek, how that compared with change at a personal level.

What is the role of the salesperson in facilitating this process?

Well, firstly the salesperson should have established that the potential client ought to have a need for the solution.  (That, at least, ups the odds of an effective use of sales time.)  Whether that is from knowledge about the company or its business, a referral from somewhere else, or a solid sales reference from another customer, i.e. another of the salesperson’s customers is a good example of using the solution.

Continue reading “Selling change – Part Two” →