How Your Procurement Practice Will Affect Your Sales Performance

 The worst thing that can demoralise your sales force is this: your sales people made the sale for a very important customer after clearing numerous obstacles in a long sales cycle that seemed to take forever, ONLY to have the products delivered in poor condition. The customer became furious, asked for a refund, and then vowed NEVER to buy from you again.

In fact, here's the a real case study of a foreign company in China that took every wrong step in its procurement practice, such as:

While it claimed to have its products imported from Germany, it actually sourced them from a factory in Guangdong province sourcing-force.com. It didn't take long for its customers to find out which factory it sourced from;

The factory that produced those products began to sell them using a generic brand at much lower prices;

There are frequent product defects that ranged from wrong specifications to damaged goods found in the packaging to delivery of the wrong products;

It takes an exceedingly long time to refund customers, or provide suitable replacements, largely because payment for the supplies have been made upfront;

Prices for the procured products are either constantly fluctuating, or consistently rising without improvements in quality, which makes it harder to sell.

When asked to look for better suppliers, the procurement staff replied that other suppliers are colluding with the current one, and they will all quote the same prices at similar terms.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case for foreign companies in China. It is in fact prevalent among many foreign companies here, and such issues have to be resolved if sales performance were to improve.

Getting into the Sellers' Minds

It is well-known that China is the "factory of the world". What that means is that China also has a surplus production of all kinds of products, which is why Chinese exports are sold in virtually every corner of the world.

What this means is that most factory bosses are facing cut-throat competition where vicious price wars are common. However, some factory bosses are smarter than the others. They provide tailor-made products for customised orders.

When a supplier provide customised products, it will be much more difficult for buyers to make comparisons between products. What many procurement managers usually do is to source for a supplier who can produce products to specification at the desired quality for the acceptable price. Then they just stick to that ONE supplier for subsequent orders.

In fact, many procurement managers are unwilling to switch suppliers because there will be the costs of re-casting the molds used to produce those products. Besides, who is to guarantee that the new supplier will be better than the old one? So unless the current supplier really screws up big time, it is unlikely that they will be replaced in the foreseeable future.

Such practices range from the procurement of spare parts, architectural hardware, industrial adhesives, food ingredients, travel + accommodation or even sales training programmes.

While this makes the work of the procurement manager easier, it will unfortunately give tremendous bargaining power for the suppliers. Here are some examples of what they will say to you:

"Since we need to cast the mold to produce your product, we will have to collect upfront payment";

What they didn't say is that you DON'T have to pay them in advance for all subsequent orders

"I'm sorry for the product defects (or delays), but we will be more careful next time";

What they didn't mention is the compensation for the defects, which is rather difficult, since you have already paid them, and they know it.

"I'd like to inform you that due to rising costs, we will have to increase our prices by 10% from next month onwards".

This is usually said when you have an upcoming big order with a tight lead time, and you don't have alternative suppliers BUT them.

"If you don't like to do business with us, you can always look for someone else".

By then there are no concrete alternatives but the current supplier's neighbours, whom have already agreed to pay your current supplier a "referral" fee for every deal they make. In fact the products may just be shipped from the previous supplier to the new one, and then to you.

The Internal Conflict between Sales & Procurement

Now, why is it that despite all these painful issues, many procurement managers don't take the necessary actions to improve the situation?

One of the reasons is very simple: when procurement makes the mistake, sometimes it's the sales person that takes the heat (from the customers)!

Since it is the sales people, and perhaps the customer service people, who are facing customers' complaints, many procurement managers are just hiding behind their desks. After all, they rationalise that if sales people are paid the commissions and bonuses, then let them handle those customer issues.

If you are a sales person caught in such tough situations, there are 2 courses of actions to take.

Not all procurement managers are self-centred people who are only concerned about their own convenience, at the expense of others. They just need to be engaged to make things better. If you believe that your procurement colleague is such kind of person, then perhaps you can persuade her to go with you on joint customer visits. Not just the nasty ones where you have to bear the brunt of customer complaints for defective products, but also the good ones where the product was delivered on time in good quality. This is to show your procurement colleague how her work will impact your sales performance. And do let her know that it's not your commission that is at stake, it's the company's earnings and reputation that's on the line.

However, if your procurement colleague is indeed self-centred and believes that customer-satisfaction responsibility does not lie with procurement, you need to take more drastic measures. Perhaps you may want to document records of product defects, delays, shipment errors etc., and then reflect to senior managerment how such incidents have negatively impact your sales performance, and you request their intervention.

Measuring the KPIs

The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for many procurement managers is how much savings the procurement manager made for the company by squeezing for lower buying prices. Product performance (or defect-reduction), maintenance and supplier responsiveness issues are often left out of these KPIs.

However, for customised products, it is very difficult to have a benchmark as to compare prices

Hence, as long as the customised product is procured at the acceptable price, th job is done. If the supplier increase prices over time, it is accepted ad part of inflation, and the procurement manager does not need to bear responsibility.

Perhaps it is now high-time to re-think how procurement managers are compensated as well. Just like when paying sales people commission based solely on sales volume is not viable anymore, measuring the effectiveness of your procurement staff based on products bought at lower costs is just as inadequate.

Perhaps management should consider variable pay for procurement staff, and measure them according to:

Defect-rates;

Seriousness of defects;

On time delivery;

Reduction of shipment error;

Maintaining costs over time;

Timeliness of inventory information; etc.

It will still be the procurement managers' prerogative to decide if they would like to work with exclusive suppliers. However, it will be a good idea that is the supplier is on an exclusive contract (i.e. we will only buy from them), they had better demonstrate their capabilities, AND their willingness to put our interests first before theirs.

This article isn't meant to be a guide on how to manage suppliers. Rather, it is meant to provide some insights on how some procurement is done in China for sales managers. If you find that your procurement department can indeed make improvements to help your sales performance, perhaps you can take the action now.

c.j. is the trusted sales advisor who have helped international companies achieve quantum improvements in sales profits in China and beyond. So far, c.j. has helped:

* A leading international hotel to produce the equivalent of an additional 5,000 room nights in China in the lull summer months of 2007

* A global leading architectural hardware company to increase the sales revenue of a key account in Shanghai by 10 times within 3 weeks

* The world leader in PC sales to transform their sales force to be more collaborative and solution-focused, and helping them to regain worldwide pole position from their nearest competitor.

The Beginners Guide to Crypto Currency Exchange

Cryptocurrency Exchange or Digital Currency Exchange is a business that involves the exchange of cryptocurrency with other assets such as money or any other digital currency. It is a web service that provides electronic transactions in electronic forms and taking fees for them.

Any transactions or operations to Digital Currency Exchange can be made through debit and credit cards, postal money order or any other kinds of money transfer. This article is about discussing the various cryptocurrency exchanges which facilitate crypto currency trading for beginners and what they offer in terms of availability smart-contract.com, ease of use, security, deposit/withdrawal methods and fees. We hope this guide to cryptocurrency trading can help you get started with cryptocurrency exchanges.

Coinbase/GDAX

Coinbase is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges based in San Francisco, California. It is available in 32 countries and currently serves over 10 million customers. Launched in 2012, it has an easy to use interface that makes Digital Currency Exchange an easy task for a non-technical person. It is also available for both iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase doesn't provide crypto currency mining for beginners and is only an exchange.

As of now, it offers four coins, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars, Euros and Great British Pounds. With minimum transfer fees, Coinbase has never experienced any security breach which makes it a perfect platform for digital currency exchange. In addition to that, Coinbase also offers a fully-fledged advanced exchange called GDAX. It offers more advanced features and different and better trading fees than Coinbase.

Bitstamp

Bitstamp is another platform that provides digital currency exchange. It is relatively easy to use and offers more advanced features via TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and ripple. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars and Euro. You can put into practice all the latest crypto currency trading techniques in this exchange.

It offers Flat deposits via bank transfers and supports debit/credit cards. Perhaps the only drawback one can find in Bitstamp is slightly high fees and the fact that it suffered one security breach in 7 years of its operation. Nonetheless, it is one the most reliable exchanges. It is available in both iOS and android.

Gemini

Gemini is a UK based company launched in 2015 by Winklevoss twins. It is available in few countries including U.S, Canada, Hong-Kong, Singapore and South Korea. One of the downsides to this platform is that it is not particularly user friendly. So, beginners are not recommended to use this platform.

It offers two coins and 1 FLAT currency Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum and US Dollars. Gemini follows strict protocols when it comes to security and as of 2018, it has not encountered a single security breach thus making it one of the most secure and reliable digital currency platform. However, it is important to have digital currency investment strategies before you start trading.

Digital Ticks

Digital ticks is a modern crypto exchange that aims to be a game changer in this sector. They have implemented many of the latest techniques which makes it easy for anyone to get started with trading.

It has a unique feature called a Single Portfolio View that would enable the traders to see all the holding positions on one single portfolio. It would be easy for traders to make informed decisions regarding the cryptocurrency exchange by using this unique feature. It also supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dashcoin.

Kraken

Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurreny exchange platform. Launched in 2011, kraken is the biggest exchange in terms of volume and liquidity for EUR trading pairs. It serves worldwide including the US.

Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Augur, Litecoin and many more. It also supports deposit/withdrawals via bank transfers and cryptocurrencies. Having a not so friendly user interface, it also suffers from stability and performance issues but nonetheless, it is good platform for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Bitfinex

Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, it has an easy to use interface and offers advanced number of features such as margin trading, margin funding etc. It is available for both iOS and android platforms. It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.

Just like the previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it supports withdrawals using US dollars and Euros via bank transfers. Bitfinex has suffered two security breaches, the first one was in May 2015, which resulted in a loss of $330,000. And the second one on August 2016 that resulted in a loss of worth $72 million.

EtherDelta

EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer to peer connection. It is very different from the previously discussed cryptocurrency exchanging platform. Here, funds are held in a smart contract on a Ethereum network which you are solely responsible for depositing and withdrawing from. Currently, EtherDelta only supports Ehtereum based tokens.

EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface that makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. In one occasion, someone tried to buy 750 Kyber for 0.007 ETH each but ended up buying 0.007 KNC at 750 ETH.

Conclusion

After looking at the various cryptocurrency exchanging platforms, we can safely say that Coinbase and Bitstamp stands out in terms of its good features like security, user friendly interface, multiple withdraws/transfer methods and many more.

I would not call them perfect but I would recommend that it is the safest bet you can make. Every cryptocurrency exchanging platform are unique in its own way and has both advantages and disadvantages. We just have to select the one that suits our needs. We hope that this guide on basic crypto currency exchange and trading would give you a head start in your journey of Cryptocurrency trading.

Buying Strategies And An Education In Property Investing

As some of you may have gathered from picking up the newspaper recently, the property market shows no sign of improving, or at least not in the immediate future. This is certainly good news for all of us property investors, why... you may ask? Well because this means that there is still a window of opportunity to buy up as much property as you can at seriously low discounted rates, even from today's market values!

However, some of you out there may still see this as a bit of a challenge, as we all know to get a half decent rate at the moment with the banks, it means putting in large deposits and tying up large amounts of equity in each property. Well this is not entirely the case, NPP have several different methods of purchasing property using equity release and different creative finance options to ensure minimal investment or financial input acheteurs.tv. Whilst these purchasing strategies might not be new to everyone out there, we aim this at a lot of people out there that have been scared away from property investing as they are unaware there are ways of purchasing property for just a few thousand pounds.

Also COME OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE! (in the nicest possible way!) Many investors miss out on some fantastic deals as they will only buy in the Cities, towns or villages where they live. The deals that we source are coming from individuals and organisations where people are willing to sell their property or properties for considerably less than what they are worth, they do not crop up all the time!. Therefore if you have a very small geographical area in which you are looking to buy, you will find it very hard to amass a portfolio of property using these techniques. We have investors that we manage portfolios for on a national scale, yes this does incur extra fees which are quite minimal, but it does mean the deals they are getting have fantastic positive cash flows of up to and over £500 per calendar month, so a few extra quid each month to manage them makes it all the more worthwhile. Remember for most people this is a business not a hobby, you are buying investment properties to make money, so be flexible, don't focus on area focus more on a buying strategy.

We have set up some scenarios below to give a basic understanding of how these deals may be structured, but remember don't go giving these secrets away to the next guy, as you don't want hime/her to be piping you to the post on every deal!!

Option 1

You see a great deal which you pay cash for subject to the discounted price e.g. 25% below market value, then you carry out any works required and look to raise finance against its market value aiming to release very close if not all of the money you had initially employed to this deal and still have a large amount of equity.

Example;

OMV 100k in its current condition

Your purchase price is 75k which you pay cash.

You spend 5k on refurbishment aiming to increase the value to 110k.

Then you raise up to a 75% of its market value meaning a mortgage of 82.5k against a value of 110k

Also note you may not need to carry out any works in which you simply look to raise money against its market value once you have bought in cash.

Obviously on paper this look like a good option but the points to be mindful of is that once refinanced to you will be a 75% ltv which there is nothing wrong with, however this does expose you to higher rates. Also the doors may not be open with all lenders straight away as some may require yourself to have maybe owned the property for 6 months before they allow you to lend. This is not everyone this will just be a select few however due to other restrictions you may have with lenders i.e. the fact you work abroad as well as your son only trading for 12 months I would be cautious of a path that offers reduced options.

Option 2

You purchase subject to acquiring a mortgage at 75% ltv based on the discounted price.

Example;

Omv 100k

Your purchase price is 75k

You take a mortgage for 75% of the 75k meaning £56,250 with a cash deposit from yourself on completion of £18,750.

You will be left with only 56% ltv loan against a value of 100k which is a conservative approach. Your mortgage repayments are probably only going to be £220 with a rent estimated at £500

The basic outline is for 5 times each 18k you will have 5 times the 44k built in equity producing potentially £16,800 pa.

Option 3

You purchase at the discounted price with a standard 75% ltv BTL product and you top the deposit with a bridging loan. This route is expensive however you can get away with building a portfolio by using very little of you own funds.

Example;

OMV 100K

Your purchase price is 75k

You take a mortgage for 75% of the 75k meaning £56,250 then a bridging loan for £18,750 would roughly cost 2-2.5k for a period of six months if the loan was higher you could potential save in legal costs. i.e. you loan twice the amount at once for two deals and you could save on legal fees. The aim with this strategy is to re-finance the property in 6 months after purchasing and pay off any outstanding loans, i.e. bridging loans, resulting in only a 75% loan against the property and very little of your own money left in.

This is certainly a route which may be deemed as a higher risk and would not offer a great instant return on a monthly basis however when worked can have great returns against the cash input invested i.e. 5 reservation fees.

What You Simply Must Know About Finance

For so many people personal finance is a mystery that seems impossible to figure out. The average American will make about one million dollars in a lifetime, but will still retire with only a small fraction of that money available. This article will share useful tips to show you how to make your money last longer.

If you are looking to repair your credit going through a credit repair agency might not be a bad idea. Often times they offer the opportunity to buy something like a flat screen TV in exchange for weekly payments. In this way your credit is slowly restored and you end up with something nice.

Creating a budget for one and even their family will assure that they have control over their personal finances vortex.network. A budget will keep one from overspending or taking a loan that will be outside their ability to repay. To maintain ones person finances responsibly they need to take action to do so.

When buying a car, choose a used car. The first 10,000 miles on a car are the most expensive. Let someone else drive the car off the lot and then you can take advantage of the price drop when you go to buy the car. The car's value will not have gone down much, but the price will when buying used.

Large fees should be a sign for you to stay away. Full service brokers levy fees for services they provide. The fees you incur affect your total returns. The two things to watch out for, generally, are unreasonable broker commissions and suspiciously high fund management costs.

When it comes to investments try to remember, stocks first and bonds later. When you are young invest in stocks, and as you get older move into bonds. It is a great long-term investment strategy to choose stocks. If the market takes a turn for the worse, you will have plenty of time left to make up what you have lost. Bonds are less risky, and better to invest in as you age.

Do not take on more debt than you can actually handle. Just because you qualify for the loan for the top of the line model of the car you want doesn't mean you should take it. Try to keep your debts low and reasonable. An ability to get a loan doesn't mean you'll have the ability to pay it.

It is very important to budget the amount that you should be spending over the course of a week, month and year. This will give you a rough estimate as to where you should be setting your limits so that you never find yourself in a poor situation financially. Use budgeting techniques to maintain security.

A young consumer with a modest personal financial situation, should resist the temptation to open accounts with many credit card companies. Two cards should be adequate for the consumer's needs. One of these can be used regularly and ideally paid down regularly, to build up a positive credit history. A second card should serve strictly as an emergency resource.

Saving on utilities around the house is very important if you project it over the course of the year. Limit the amount of baths that you take and switch to showers instead. This will help you to conserve the amount of water that you use, while still getting the job done.

If you are trying to repair your credit score, remember that the credit bureaus see how much you charge, not how much you pay off. If you max out a card but pay it at the end of the month, the amount reported to the bureaus for that month is 100% of your limit. Reduce the amount you charge to your cards, in order to improve your credit score.

You should always try and avoid bad debt. Carrying a balance on a credit card is a good example of bad debt. Most credit cards have very high interest rates, which means a small purchase can end up costing you two or three times what it cost to begin with.

Get a savings account with a higher yield. The idea is to be liquid and safe while receiving some interest. Chances are that you'll get better rates from online banks, so start searching the web for the higher-yielding, FDIC-insured savings accounts. Bankrate.com may help. You will periodically transfer money from your emergency savings or checking into this account.

Every month, make an attempt to put a few extra dollars toward the principal on your loans. In the end, this means you are paying much less interest to the lender and ultimately are saving yourself a lot of time and money. A one hundred dollar extra principal payment on your very first mortgage payment can knock off three months of payments at the end!

Don't automatically buy the biggest containers of a product thinking you will be saving money. While that is most often the rule many times a comparison of the per unit price of a product will show that it is actually the same between bigger and smaller containers, or even that you would actually save by buying the smaller quantity!

If you make too much money to qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or want to retain your assets, file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy instead. This type of bankruptcy allows you draw up a payment plan in which you pay the trustee a specified amount each month, which is then disbursed to your creditors. If you make timely payments over the life of the 3-5 year plan, the rest of your debt is wiped out.

To keep your personal finances solid, budget for all your necessities and savings, pay to them first, and only use what is left over for wants or perks. This should be done every week to ensure that you stay on top of your bills and build up your savings instead of spending everything that is left over and having nothing in case of an emergency.

It is a very scary and real thought to think that when you really need your money, you may have none left. Don't take this article lightly. Being broke is a nightmare that you can prevent. Take what is given to you in this article, and make sure you don't find yourself in that situation.