Convict Lake

I had a great X'mas break, went to a ski trip at Mammoth Lakes with LZ and some friends. Woke up at 6am and slept at 10pm everyday during the trip. The lodge we stayed at wasn't a good choice for us young people (but the price and the location were good). First time snowboarding with LZ, she did much better than I expected. The snow condition was really good. On the way back to LA, we went to a lake called Convict Lake. The place looks so beautiful like a postcard picture. However it looked different last time I came. Took a lot of nice pictures, enjoyed the air and show there. It was nice to be out of town once in a while. And what's coming up? I'm going to Asia next Thursday for business. Time passes by fast, it's going to be 2010 in a few days!

Dr. Ishihara's new way of diet (and being healthy)

LZ has recently read a Chinese book "先別急著吃三餐 (Don't rush to eat 3 meals)", original written by a Japanese doctor Ishihara （石原結實). Dr. Ishihara indicates it's much healthier for people to eat only one meal per day. By eating 70% than usual, it helps our body to develop our immune system. How so? When our stomach is full, our leukocytes are full as well. At this point, if we have virus coming into our body, our leukocytes would be too full to eat the virus. Therefore, if we keep our body constantly in a kind of hungry mode, our body works the best. But you can't just changing your eating habit so quickly, so I'm following Dr. Ishihara's recipe for my 3 meals first, and then slowly adjust my body to eat less.

1. Breakfast: Homemade carrot and apple juice
2. Lunch: Soba
3. Dinner: Eat whatever you want.

(If you feel dizzy because of low blood sugar, you can consume some chocolates)

I downloaded a weight tracker application on my iphone to track my weight each day. Day 3, weight 119.6lbs. We'll see how this works.

Business Lawsuit

I've been collecting evidence of a business lawsuit we're going to have. What happened? One of our client owes us lots of $$$$$$$ for over a year. Dad told me one of the shareholder has used their company's money for her personal use. I talked to a few lawyers who specified in collecting debts about this, they all charge about 20-35% of the debt, or $350-450/hr. It's a lot of money. But if we don't take this action, we probably won't be able to get the money back. Plus, we're not the only company who's going to sue this client. I stayed my dad's office for a few days, tried to gather one year of invoices, purchase orders, and bill of ladings. They fit into a 1.5" binder. It was a lot of work, very chaotic... Some invoices have duplicated PO's, and some PO's have duplicated bill of ladings. But I did it, made them into 2 sets, one for lawyer, and one for us. We're ready to do it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I've got a PSP Go- Black from my baby. Still a game freak I know.... I download two games based on my research on ign.com: Hammering Hero and God of War. Unfortunately, PSN doesn't have Crsis Core Final Fantasy downloadable.

So some updates on what I have been doing lately for the business.. I've been creating and organizing Purchase Orders, redesigning a logo from another line of ours, and researching about our lawsuit (there is a client owes us lots of money). And I will be going to Taiwan (for fun), Hong Kong (for Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair) , Dongguan (for visiting one of the 2 factories we have), Xiamen (another factory) for 3 week next January.

The best tool for tracking bills for company - Quickbooks

This week I started to play with Quickbooks 2009 by Intuit. This software is pretty amazing.. It allows you to create and track purchase orders, invoices, payroll checks, account payable, account receivable, and etc. It also saves item descriptions, its costs, and its sale prices, to let you know how much you make and how much clients owe you. I worked on 2 purchase orders and thought this software is interesting. However, I never expect I would be doing administration work like this. It is really easy compared with 3D artwork in technical aspect.

Dema Orlando. Seeing is believing!

Spent 1.5 days in Orlando. Exhausted, but I did learn lots of "how to talk to clients" techniques and "what our company does" from Dad.

At the boarding gate, Dad told me about all the companies he does business with, and what products we sell to them (snorkels, fins, dive masks, BCD's, dive knives, snorkel vests, dry bags, and boogie boards). Also, who are the big fishes and who are the small fishes? Big fishes are the companies that have many regions, small fishes are companies that have only one location. Our biggest fish is company S, who has locations in USA, France, Germany, Pacific Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Italy. Once we get a deal in USA region office, and the rest of the region offices will have to buy products from us. We've also talked about payment terms for each company, some companies pay us before shipment, but some companies pay 150 days after the shipment.

I had two lunch meetings with 2 different clients. In these lunch meetings, it's mainly about the request of design changes or materials of the products, or issues they have when testing the products. They didn't talk about the money part at all, I guess that was already done in the email before. I didn't really participate to the meetings, but they actually chatted with me a little bit. Asking me about why am I here with my dad, have I been to the place where they live (Cancun, New York City). And I share a little bit of my travel experiences at those cities (Well I never been to Cancun, but I've been to New York City.) With different clients, Dad has different ways of talking to them. Dad told the Cancun guys almost everything he doe, such as all other companies he does business with. I asked him why and he told me it's because he has been friends with them for many years already. But to the New York City guys, Dad doesn't say much. When this client was introducing all nice restaurants in Orlando, and one of the restaurants he recommended was actually the Japanese restaurant we went last night, Dad didn't even say anything. I asked him why again afterwards. He said we should always let clients talk like he knows much more than we do. And we shouldn't expose too much of the information about ourselves, but to get more information from them. Clever. isn't it?

About the Dema show itself, nothing actually excites me besides getting freebies like I used to do at E3 Expo (annual trade show for the computer and video games industry). I had a walk with my dad's client Jessie, she showed me all the products my dad made at different companies. She also demonstrated me how to use a BCD. Looking at all the company names, I got an idea that what are the well known brands in this snorkeling/diving goods industry.

An interesting thing happened at the show.... At the first day, I bumped a cigarette from this Korean guy at smoking area. He asked me what we do and why am I here. I told him we manufactured snorkeling and diving goods. He asked me if I know the company A. I said yes, company A is the number one company of the industry. At the second day, he came to me and my dad, asked for catalogue or business cards. And then I found out he's the CEO from company A at Korea branch. However, Dad told me we wouldn't be doing business with them since we're already doing business with their biggest competitor. And that's the basic loyalty and reputation in this industry. That was pretty interesting, bumping cigarettes from people might get you potential clients.

The Orlando trip was worthy, getting connected, seeing is believing. No wonder people say if you want to start a business, you should go to its trade show first!

Before depature

Taking a red-eye flight to Orlando tonight. Mom was nagging me about the luggage bag I bring, the pants I wear, and hairstyle I have. She kept telling me "Now you're a business woman, you should dress like one and bring luggage like one." In fact, I never had any chances to dress like a business woman for all my prior works. Sr. Tester and 3D Artist stayed in front of computers. I actually have many business style shirts, but none of them fit as I got fat.

Dad told me to bring a laptop. But seriously.. What am I going to do with my laptop? Am I working at night during the trip? I have no idea what am I going to do and what's coming up. That makes me a bit of nervous.

DEMA coming up!

DEMA 2009 at Orlando is coming up! I'm taking red eye flight tomorrow night, and coming back to LA on Friday night. In this short trip, we're going to have meetings with Scubapro, Grupomak, Aquaborne, Ocean Management System, and Mr. Lee and Ms. Chen from Xiamen. For all my preparations, we'll see if it works or not.

Rate your you

After almost 3 weeks, I have finally finished reading Jefferey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling for THE FIRST TIME. Why too so long? I read one or two chapters a day, digested it, took actions, wrote a blog about it. In the last chapter, there is a section entitled "Rate your you." I found it interesting and rated myself in each category from one (poor) to ten (greatest):

(7) 1. Your image. How you look affects the way you are perceived. How do you look?

(6) 2. Your ability to speak. Your ability to convey the message. Are you a member of toastmasters?

(5) 3. You ability to establish rapport. Making the prospect feel at ease, and developing some common ground as a basis to move forward. Do you make the scene warm?

(8) 4. Your attitude. Your enthusiasm combined with your state of internal happiness. Not what you say, but how you say it. Are you positive plus.

(5) 5. Your product knowledge. Your convincability. Fo you know it cold?

(8) 6. Your desire to help. Desire to help shows through, so does greed. Does your help side outweigh your greed side?

(9) 7. Your preparedness. A confidence builder if you are, or destroyer if you aren't. Do you prepare for every call?

(7) 8. Your humor. Nothing builds good feelings like good humor and a good laugh. Can you make others laugh?

(6) 9. Your creativity. What separates you from your competition? How do you make followups that don't just beg for the sale? What makes them talk about you? Your creativity - How's yours?

(7) 10. Your sincerity. Shows through either way. Are you genuine?

(3) 11. You reputation (or the reputation precedes you). If you are well known in the community, or in your field, you may walk in with a slight adventure. How's your reputation?

(5) 11.5: Your glue. The way you handle your total package. Your stature. The way you carry yourself. The way you put it all together. The character of you is what leads to the credibility of what you sell. How well are you "put together?"

110-120 You are a great "you," with a great success story to tell, and are setting a great example for others.

99-109 Pretty darn good you. Climbing the ladder, and making daily progress.

70-98 You ain't as hot as you think. You're in need of a 20-minute daily progress.

50-69 You're mediocre at sales, and so is your success to date. You have a decision to make. Stay and get better every day, or get out before you're fired, and blame someone else for all that's wrong with you.

30-49 You stink. Go yo the nearest bookstore, buy Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. Don't leave home until you read it.

Buy and Return

In the chapter of "Reduce the Risk," Gitomer lists some examples that salesperson can use to gain prospect's trusts. However I have something in mind doubting if one of them would really work from salesperson's perspective.

- If you're concerned about whether or not it'll work for you after you get home, don't worry, you can ALWAYS bring back (and add some peace of mind). We want you to be happy.

Hearing too many problems from a friend who was a Customer Service Representative at an online instrument store, customers always used some lame excuses trying to get a full refund when they bought something later they found out they don't like them. There are excuses like "don't like the colors," "the instrument doesn't play," "the quality is not as good as I thought," and etc. From the company's perspective, shipping and packaging cost a high percentage of the sales price if the product is under US$150. I've also heard from my dad that the return rate of his products at Wal-Mart is as high as 12%. And his returned stock cannot be used again, they all went into trash. I even know a friend who bought a laptop at Fries and returned it as soon as she was done using it (she only needed for a few weeks). These rights are used to protect customers, but customers are using this right as a legal loophole.

Studying the history of creativity in your industry.

"In order for you to figure out what is going on today, and project your brilliant ideas into the future, you need to have a firm grip on what happened yesterday and why." -Jeffrey Gitomer.
Therefore, I did a google search on "history of snorkeling." The website says that the root of modern snorkeling can trace back to 5,000 years ago. Sponge farmers from Crete used hollow reeds to breath underwater. Later, animal skins that contain air and diving bell were used. Pretty interesting, eh? That just recalled my time in grad school, I had to take a class about history of gaming. By doing so, I can understand what's the purpose of each gear and equipment and how they're developed.
Per Gitomer's suggestion in his book, I also purchased "Thinkertoys" by Michael Michalko from amazon for me to think creatively. Yay can't wait. I'm like a college student assigning my own assignments.

Humor

After you master all of the fundamental sales skills. There's a spice to add in- HUMOR. The most difficult thing to learn. There's a borderline for humor, never offend anybody. The safest and the funniest is to make fun of yourself.

Ask the right questions

After the wedding, I got sick. Staying home all day long resting, doing a little bit of reading. I just finished this chapter called "Engage me and you can make me convince myself."

Dad told me that a good sales would know his or her prospect's answers before asking questions.

And Gitomoer states a powerful question would be a question that leads prospect to think, such as:

- "What do you look for...?"

- "What have you found...?"

- "How do you propose...?"

- "What has been your experience...?"

- "How have you successfully used...?"

- "How do you determine...?"

- "Why is that a deciding factor...?"

- "What makes you choose...?"

- "What do you like about...?"

- "What is one thing you would improve about...?"

- "What would you change about...?"

- "Are there other factors?"

- "What does your competitor do about...?"

- "How do your customers react to...?"

Weekend Break

Taking 2 days off. Attending one of my best friend's wedding rehearsal and wedding. I'm going to be one of the bridesmaids. Need to wake up at 7am and the event will be done at midnight. Going to be very tired, yet I'm very happy for my friend Christen!

Assign yourself homework everyday.

Nobody will help you to learn. In fact, everybody is too busy to teach you. Assign yourself homework everyday.
I'm going to DEMA (Diving Equipment & Marketing Association) show at Orlando, FL. at the beginning of November with my dad. There are going to be lots of companies from different countries gathering over there. Dad scheduled two meal meetings with Ocean Management System from New York and Grupomak from Cancun. This is going to my first time exposed to the public diving/snorkeling world. I'm actually kind of nervous.
I've been doing research for these two companies, read their catalog and take notes in an excel sheet. By doing so, I learned what does each gear do and how to use it. There are also lots of vocabularies I've never seen before. It's very time consuming but it's surely a good lead. Although I might not be able to use this knowledge in the meeting, but I should be able to understand what they will be talking about. I also plan to record the meal meetings and learn how the real businessman do their business while eating.
By the way, I got my business card today! It will also be my very first time handing my business card to the right people.

YouTube your product

I learned about one of our manufactured products BCD today. What the heck is BCD? It stands for Buoyancy Compensator Device. I YouTubed it and see how it works. It's a vest-like thing divers wear to sink and raise in water with the air inside of the device. Although I've never done scuba diving, but this thing looks fun to play with in pool. YouTube is a great tool to know your product if you never used it before.

Don't give a sales pitch, but do speak on your topic.

In Gitomer's "Little Red Book of Selling," there's one principle called "Giving Value." One section states "Speak about interesting stuff to the audience that teases your stuff - BUT give a great speech. If you sell burglar alarms speak about home safety, if you sell copiers, speak about image and productivity, Get it?"

This can be easily applied into Market America products. Speakers from Market America always speak about what are the correct ways to take care of health. But, for snorkeling gears? What am I supposed to talk about? Snorkeling safety? Snorkeling fashion? As a newbie to the whole snorkeling world. I don't even have my own gears for snorkeling. How can I find out how people pick and buy their gears? However I like snowboarding and I have my own gears. The way I would shop my gears is to go to Sports Chalet and pick something that looks stylish and make a color match for all my gears. But I guess that's retail. The relationship between a manufacturer and a distributor is probably different. Is it solely based on price? Or the personal relationship outside of the business? Distributors buy stuff from the salesman they like. It's a mixture of everything.

Business Newbie

After getting my BA and MFA in computer art, after 4 years of working in game industry, I got laid off 4 months ago. Totally unexpected. I left game industry and entered the world of unknown - sporting good industry. What am I going to do? Artist? No. I'm going to learn how to run a manufactured snorkeling gears company and how to find deals with distributors and retailers. This is totally different than I was doing before, and I never thought I would step into this world. I don't know anything about business/sales/economy impact. I'm a shy person who works with computer only.

I spent my first 2 months traveling around and spending time with my hubby. And then, I made some graphics on boogie boards, setup an e-commerce site, take photos for products, study silk screen printing, register trademark for my dad's new brand. Wow, never thought I would want to do these. I still wasn't sure what I had been doing. I was so used to just to follow the direction to get the work done until my dad gave me this book "Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling." I have only read 3 chapters so far and it really motives me. I learned that the fundamental mindset and the right attitude are the most important things. So I've decided to create a new blog writing about how a 3D artist transform to have business mindset. To be continued....