January 2009 Archives

YESTERDAY could have been called “Surprise Day” at our home. My dad arrived from work with a small plasma TV to surprise my mom. Well my mom had a surprise for my dad as well: a high-tech touch stove, a massage chair, and a heat massager. It’s not always like this at home. My parents hardly surprise each other with appliances just because “wala lang.” My mom’s TV is so old that it fades to black in the middle of TV Patrol and so my dad figured it seemed like a good time to buy a new TV. My mom, on the other hand, was just walking in the mall when some giddy sales people invited her in their store to try out this and that. So even if she had no plans of buying anything, she walked out with all those items I mentioned above plus a P51,000 straight charge on the credit card bill. We didn’t need mom’s surprise gifts. And my dad got shocked that he had to pay the credit card company P51,000 next month. We looked at each other and decided those non-essential stuff had to go back to the store pronto. This is exactly what Michael Tan wrote about in his Pinoy Kasi column last January 27 entitled "Hard Sell." He writes, “As the economic crisis worsens and sales decline, more business establishments seem to be driven more into using hard sell tactics, and I have to say this is a move in the wrong direction.” He also mentioned that some companies prey on the elderly—just like what happened to my mother. Hard sell may translate to sales (especially among the gullible), but it can also turn off people. Tan tells the story of his father, who decided to stop going to a barber shop just because they were trying to sell him stuff he didn’t need. I can relate. Years ago, I refused getting an insurance policy from one agent just because she was so kulit. I got a policy from their competitor instead, whose agent knew when to call and how often. I’m sure you have been accosted by sales people in the malls asking as you pass by if you have a credit card. Once you say you do, they will invite you to join a free raffle, listen to a presentation and squeeze the blood out of you. The gullible still get victimized to this day, sad to say. How do your sales people go about selling? There is a time and place for everything, and a right time to make that sales pitch. Remember that hard sell will be a no sell in the long run.

I picked up this little pamphlet in Cebu, City that can be easily put inside your wallet while on coverage last year. It has little snippets of wisdom that any microenterprise owner can use to improve his business. Prepared by The Academy for Creating Enterprise, an organization that trains small business owners nationwide, the pamphlet is one of those little wonders that has helped thousands of individuals across the country develop the confidence to step into entrepreneurship. So here are ACE’s 12 rules for microenterprise success: 1. Practice separate entities Keep business cash and products that you sell separate from your personal money and family use. No family member or employee should ever take money or goods without paying for them. One good way to make this work is to regularly pay yourself a livable salary. “Attitude determines altitude.” 2. Start small, think big Some want to get really big, really fast. Too rapid growth, without experience or money in reserve, can kill a great business faster than almost all other mistakes. Learn from costly mistakes when the business is small, then grow at a sustainable pace. “Anything the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve.” 3. Differentiate your business Selling the same product as your neighbor is bad for business as it drives prices down which then hurts everyone. Make your business different by carrying unique products, displaying your products differently and not locating near your competitors. “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” 4. Buy low, sell high To make money in business you must sell something for more than you paid for it. The difference between the price you pay and the price you charge for a product is the gross profit or margin. The bigger the difference, the more money you will make. Negotiate with suppliers for lower prices. “Winners speak in specifics, losers speak in generalities.” 5. Buy on credit, sell for cash Many owners have this backwards; they buy in cash and sell on credit. If you can get your supplies on credit and collect cash from your customers at the time of sale, you can carry a lot more inventory and possibly turn it faster. You must, however, pay suppliers on time. “Compete with someone, even if it’s yourself.” 6. Turn your inventory often If you buy a product for P100 and sell it for P300 you earn P200. If you do this 10 times a week, you earn P2,000 that week. If you do this 10 times a day, you earn P2,000 that day. Small inventory turned everyday is best. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

I CAN still remember the time when Friendster was banned. In the company I was working for a few years ago, a lot of people would check their Friendster accounts during working hours, and so the company banned access to it, citing the need to use one’s working hours more productively. These days, more and more working people stay logged on to their accounts in social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space, Friendster, and the like the whole working day. In fact, some companies encourage participation in such sites, and with good reason. “We pride ourselves as the premier digital marketing services agency so more than being in social networking sites, we have to 'know' what's new in the digital landscape -- what's hot and what's not -- and how it could work for us and our clients. And as part of viral marketing campaigns, we have to be able to 'seed' information through these social networking sites,” explains Arlyn Onte, e-commerce manager of Yehey.com. At global PR firm Weber Shandwick, employees are encouraged to use social networks. “In early 2007, Weber Shandwick launched Screengrab, our interactive, social and emerging media practice as part of our new global positioning ‘Advocacy starts here.’ Screengrab uses new media channels to put clients’ messages at the epicenter of today’s digital lifestyle with attention-grabbing contents that engage, inform, entertain and rally people, encourage discussions and word-of-mouth influence, and create consumer evangelists, or what we call Advocates, for brands,” shares Yvonne Marie G. Policarpio, director for business development and corporate affairs of Weber Shandwick’s Manila office. “Since we were advocating the use of emerging media then, Weber Shandwick found it just appropriate that we practice what we preach. We were encouraged to actively use and experiment with the various forms and types of social media to make us better equipped to advise clients how best to use them.” Social networking sites are great tools in reaching overseas relatives, long lost friends, and yes, one’s target market. Policarpio agrees and says, “By participating in social media sites, companies can forge relationships, connect and engage their brand’s net-savvy audiences to achieve their most important business goals.” But what of the criticism that employees will just waste otherwise productive time by browsing such sites? Well it may be time to think differently. “Companies must learn, if they still haven’t yet, to regard digital media as not just another optional add-on to traditional channels of communication. Digital media has emerged and has become a part of everyday life,” says Policarpio. “Social networks engage its members to so many activities within its site. There is personal engagement in social networking, and this personal engagement explains the ‘law of the few.’ So rather than push information, companies can engage individuals, their employees, as their advocates. In its strongest form, advocacy forges bonds and higher levels of involvement – active, vocal, proud, informed and experiential. In this age of digitized communications, creating advocates out of their employees may just help bring their message across to their target audience.”

ELECTRONICS OR tech companies earning between $20 million to $200 million annually have the chance to tap financing to expand their reach and market penetration. DMC Capital Funding, a New York-based private equity growth capital firm launching this January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is making available much-needed funds to companies that have moved from the venture stage to the revenue stage. This is good news for such companies traditionally tapping debt and equity markets to finance expansion. And further good news: the fund is available for companies outside the US. DMC Capital Funding is part of the Distribution Management Consolidators, LLC group. In the past, it has launched major consumer brands such as Unisonic and Bell South, and sold more than $2 billion worth of products. Andrew Lowinger, CEO of DMC Capital Funding, said the company “has the financial strength and capital resources necessary to provide growth capital and seasoned management to drive growth and success in this period of credit contraction and equity-market upheaval.” “The current credit crisis, as well as reduced consumer spending, has placed many established technology and consumer product companies in a precarious position. These companies may have superior products and significant potential, but have been locked out of the credit markets, leaving them without the capital needed to foster growth or penetrate the shelf space of major retailers,” said Lowinger. “Therefore, many companies are finding themselves without the necessary infrastructure and channels to localize their offering for consumers in disparate regions of the globe. DMC Capital Funding can add value to these already successful organizations in the form of funding, marketing experience and management expertise.”

THEY SAY you haven’t really been to Dagupan City, Pangasinan unless you’ve eaten at this homey restaurant called Dagupeña. Dagupan is bangus country, and at Dagupeña, the bangus is the star of all seasons. There’s the sinigang a bangus, daing a bangus, sizzling boneless bangus (which we had for brunch last month; very good), inasin a pait (salted bangus innards) and so much more. The restaurant is also known for its egado, pinakbet, binagoongang pata, rellenong alimasag, embotido, and Dagupan longganisa. Emma Bernal-Castro, the proprietress, told us that Dagupeña was started by her mother Ignacia Caliolio Bernal or Bai Inacia for short, in 1928 as a small eatery to augment the family income. Widowed at an early age and not having finished school, Bai Inacia focused her efforts on Dagupeña, serving up her signature dishes. The restaurant became so successful that Bai Inacia was able to put all her eight children to school. Dagupeña was also credited for defining Pangasinense cuisine. Bai Inacia was said to be a meticulous cook, and so care was taken to ensure that her original recipes were followed to the letter. Thus the sinigang a bangus your lolo may have tasted if he passed by Dagupan in the prewar times tastes the same as the sinigang a bangus served in Dagupeña’s charming old style restaurant in Calasiao today. Bai Inacia has already passed away, but her legacy lives on. The younger generation, however, has introduced new dishes to update the menu. The sizzling boneless bangus comes with a tartar sauce made using herbs freshly harvested from the garden at the back of the restaurant. One of Emma’s children, Ann, is also a chef, and she has concocted some of the new dishes and desserts like the frozen banana mousse. Emma said Manileños craved for boneless bangus and so Dagupeña started deboning and selling this in supermarkets. Today there is a whole range of frozen boneless bangus they sell under the restaurant brand, from daing to bangus steak to bangus belly in flavors like pesto, teriyaki, honey mustard, and Thai green chili. They even have bangus chorizo and tocino. Talk about innovation! Dagupeña has been around for 80 years already. What’s the secret to its success? “Ang secret? Inaasikaso talaga, from the kitchen to the marketing (The secret? We take extra care, from the kitchen to the marketing),” said Emma. She is in the restaurant herself 12 hours a day as a hands on entrepreneur. “Also, prayer. I was even led to this place we can afford,” she added. For a long time, Dagupeña was located on AB Fernandez Avenue in the downtown area, and in fact, Emma was born in the little house behind the restaurant. It was only three years ago that it moved to its present location on Diversion Road in San Miguel, Calasiao, just a few minutes away from the old location. Many people have asked Emma if they could franchise the business but the family is intent on keeping the business among themselves. “Mahirap ang restaurant (It’s hard to run a restaurant),” she said, that’s why they’d rather keep it the way it is now, allowing them to still be hands on and preserve Bai Inacia’s legacy.

NOW THAT we have started a new year, you may have already declared your New Year’s resolutions—lose weight, exercise more, balance work and family, work more or work less, avoid tardiness, learn a new skill, etcetera. For those aged 40 and above—the halftime or Life II as termed by author Bob Buford—it may be wise to add another item to your list: Ponder what to do with the rest of your life. “It’s the season of ‘now what?’” writes Buford in his book Finishing Well: Is There Something More?, published locally by OMF Literature Inc. Buford is also chairman of the board of The Buford Foundation and Leadership Network, and founder and former chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. “Halftime used to be the beginning of the end. Now it is the beginning of a whole new beginning—a season that for me and many others has turned out to be the richest and most meaning-filled season of all,” writes Buford. Have you ever noticed why some men and women approach aging with grace and purpose? They have realized that there is more to life than just meeting quotas and bringing home the bacon. “Far from just wasting away by themselves, they are deeply engaged in contributing to the lives of others. It’s what I call socially productive aging,” writes Buford. In this little book he wrote, he introduces us to some very successful people who have found meaning in Life II—people like management guru Peter Drucker; authors Ken and Margie Blanchard of the bestseller The One Minute Manager; Steven Reinemund, CEO of PepsiCo; and Dr. Kenneth Cooper, a leading expert in the international physical fitness movement, among others. Buford lets us in on how they started their careers, what they’re doing now, and what lessons they have learned along the way. Among the valuable lessons in the book is, surprisingly, that planning doesn’t work. Yes, you read that right. Buford quotes Drucker as saying, “Too much planning can make you deaf to opportunity.” In other words, know where you’re going, but be flexible. Buford has written two more books in this series. Check them out for more food for thought.