Paul's Blog

This is the Art of Negotiation

It is not surprising that much of my inspiration to write my blog comes from the comics. While the comics are satirical, they all have meaning and remind us of everyday life. This one stood out as a great example of the art of negotiation. It highlights the negotiations we encounter every day for just about everything we do. It shows how we develop negotiation skills from a very young age even though we may not know it at the time. For many, the ability to negotiat

You will Never GET the Business if You don’t ASK for the Business

Throughout my professional career and personal life, I have always been interested in sales skills and how people follow the steps of the sales cycle. During any given day, one can see these performances unfold repeatedly by many and the results of their efforts. Selling is happening every minute of the day, as we are selling all the time and sometimes don’t even recognize it. Our golf club has a caddy program to help introduce the game of golf to high school student

Theme Park – the Product: Fun, Smiles, Lifelong Experiences, and Memories.

A friend suggested I write an article from a “third-person perspective” about theme parks. Perhaps the best way to approach this may be to recall the start of my career at Ocean Park Hong Kong. Before Ocean Park, I had a successful 30+ year sales and marketing career in tourism and hospitality with 5-star hotels in America and Asia. As such, jumping to a theme park from hotels was a new twist for my career. Initially, I thought selling the park would not be so difficult

Speed + Confidence Create the Best Service; Build Trust and Confidence

Recently, I read that “speed + confidence” creates the best service. As service is the top priority of our business, this bit of advice seems to be appropriate. Here are two simple points, both of which represent the best way to lose business and lose a customer. 1. “Sir, we will get back to you…” (perhaps the most overused phrase in business). This surely loses trust in your prospect because it indicates you do not know, and you are not prepared to address his p

When You Speak, Make Sure the Audience is Listening.

Midway in my career, I began to establish myself as a public speaker. I was being invited to speak to various companies, corporations, organizations and at conventions about sales, and it gave me a chance to share personal experiences and best practices on selling. It did not take long for me to realize that I enjoyed this very much. Being in front of an audience was something I looked forward to, and I was always eager to receive an invitation to speak. I started to p

What’s important to People…

While I am sure we all know this by heart and believe every word, a reminder is always useful. Nobody will remember Your job title How ‘busy’ you were How many hours you worked What kind of car you drove People will remember How you made them feel The advice you gave If you kept your word If you were there for them What makes selling so special and so rewarding is that it is a process done with people. We interact with people, face people, act and react with peop

Communicate as if Everything Depends on it, because it does….

In your daily life, professionally and personally, can you recall how many times a problem arose because of communications that were unclear and misunderstood? Communication is the beginning, middle, and end of everything we do. How we communicate or do not communicate will determine the results. We all have horrible stories about how misunderstood or mistaken communications affected our objectives. While it is not possible to avoid any mistakes in communication, our go

The sun will come out tomorrow!

Make each day matter, and even if the sun does not come out today, it will come out tomorrow. “The sun will come out tomorrow, so you gotta hang on till tomorrow, come what may. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you’re only a day away…” Little Orphan Annie taught us this. Although I have never been on Broadway to experience its marvelous live musicals, I have enjoyed many of their adaptations from Hollywood. Aside from the excellent scores and melodies, the ly

Cannot Sit Still, Do Not Want to Sit Still, Warm Welcome

Not long ago, a friend characterized me as someone who, though officially retired, cannot sit still and really does not want to sit still. My wife often remarks that since I am retired, I should relax and step away from the business world. Unfortunately, I think my friend’s description could not be more accurate. Staying active and maintaining a connection to tourism and hospitality means I am not fading away into the sunset. When it is time for me to do so, I wan

Management and Management style

I have not written much about management because there are many who are much better than me in expressing the finer points of management and have stronger credentials. While I may not have followed all the management gurus and their teachings during my career, my style worked for me and for those whom I managed. Our business was successful, the troops were eager, engaged, encouraged, and enthusiastic. That covers all the “e” adverbs. I could not ask for more. Let me

Inspirational Reminders for Salespeople

During a recent trip to Hong Kong, I was invited to speak to General Managers and sales executives from two successful hotel groups. It was not sales training, but they asked for an “inspirational” message to “fire up” the sales team. Though the invitation was last-minute, I was delighted and accepted graciously. If I have not mentioned this in any of my previous articles, nothing pleases me more than to be in the presence of salespeople. To also have general managers l