Weekly Philippines Sales Update - Export Sector

Future Plans on the Export Sector - A new Industry
A new export plan that will guide public and private sector efforts to grow the sector will likely focus on maintaining the Philippines’ market share as the global economy exits the downturn, officials yesterday said.


The 2011-2013 Philippine Export Development Plan is up for drafting starting today in a workshop to be led by the Export Development Council (EDC).


"For now we will just have to find programs to continue. It won’t be overly ambitious and will be instead more for market holding," EDC Executive Director Senen M. Perlada said in a telephone interview.


"We will only be drafting the framework and will await the imprimatur of the next administration," Mr. Perlada added, noting that a change of leaders would be due in June following the May national elections.


The 2008-2010 plan, he said, was based on the broad Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan. As there is yet a new medium-term road map in place, the new export industry road map will have to use earlier plans as bases in the meantime.


Sought for comment, EDC Vice-Chairman Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr., who represents the private sector, similarly said the new plan would likely echo the 2008-2010 version.


"It will be more or less the same, focusing on the same markets and winners," Mr. Ortiz-Luis said in a separate telephone interview.


The previous plan aimed to emphasize the country’s competitive advantages, analyze value chains to strengthen production, and bolster public-private sector partnership for export promotion and development activities.


It tagged the following products as the sector’s revenue streams: electronics, textiles and apparel, automotive products and parts, food, home decor, organic products, and construction materials. The export of construction and information-technology enabled services was likewise eyed.


Growth for the sector would have been achieved through product diversification, market expansion and the optimum use of trade agreements, the plan stated.


"We will revise it slightly because of what happened, the crisis. But it is a rolling plan," Mr. Ortiz-Luis said.


Also up on the agenda at the two-day workshop is a review of the EDC’s operations, Mr. Perlada said.


"Part of the workshop will be to revisit the council itself," he said.


Amid the global economic crisis, merchandise export sales fell by a quarter to $35.004 billion from January to November, according to latest official data. This came after sales flattened in 2008 to $46.332 billion.


The EDC has been in charge of vetting export promotion and development project proposals that proponents want funded from a P1-billion facility. The council had released just P11.6 million by end-2009, or roughly 1% of the fund, even as exporters railed for more support amid the economic downturn. - BusinessWorld



Jessica Anne D. Hermosa

Source

My Opinion

Being practical, I think Mr. Ortiz should really take into consideration what products we will get our revenue streams from.
Firstly.
I do not think that the world economy is back on its feet. When we were born we start to crawl, then slowly we walk, then we walk well, then we run, then learn to ride a bike and so on. We should be doing the same thing in our approach to export sector.
As a sales "evangelist", I have always taken in to heart to make realistic goals. We all know that improving the export gross yearly sales, will entail a lot of marketing and promotions. Just like in a sales recovering business, we look to our strengths to get back on our feet which is our cheap and quality labor, abundances in resources, and organic products (which is currently a great trend today in the world market).
Secondly.
EDC (Export Development Council) will not be able to handle this sector alone. With the presidential elections fast approaching, I implore all Filipinos to be vigilant in choosing a well economic oriented new president. Our new president will be one of the biggest keys (in the macroeconomic level) to improve our economy and hence improve the sales that many of us are trying to achieve.

In summary, I believe that the export sector will be the key source in which we will be able to grow the Philippines internal businesses and with no reason that is should be taken for granted. We as salespeople should also be aware of the current new trends in the market, and take advantage of it. As Warren Buffet says it - "the trend is you friend". Hence, it is within us to forecast on what we should improve in the future.

That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed my weekly Philippines sales update.


Dedicated to your selling success.

Sales Mentor TM

Basic Selling Lesson

If you want to sell anything, it has to start with this basic lesson.


“Our prospects will only buy when they believe our product/service can provide for them a need, a desire, or a want that they have.”

If you are serious on earning money from a sales career, whether you are currently an employee for an international company, just starting to sell for a multi-level direct selling or maybe pursuing the entrepreneurial path, this should be the Mindset that you should be following and taking into heart.
I believe that with this guideline alone, you as a salesperson already have a head start among others who just blankly follow what their managers tell them to do, which is just to sell.

Back when I was still a child, I remember I asked my father if he could buy me an acoustic guitar. His simple answer was “show me that you need it, and I will buy you one”. As an eleven year old, that didn’t really make sense to me but since I was really eager to learn to play music, I borrowed my friend's guitar and practice often until I could play a full-length song. Only then did my father surprised me and bought me new acoustic guitar.
With that example alone, we can evaluate that once we have provided the prospects need (in this case my father is the prospect), selling is definitely easy.

Like what Robert Kiyosaki said in his book Sales Dogs, “find out what the person needs and getting him to buy will be easier”.

A reminder to the corporate world:

I’ve seen many good companies in the Philippines that had superior products, yet they did not achieve their expectations with it because they were in the “wrong” market. They spend so much in marketing and promotions only to realize after a few years that they are positioning that product in an area where it has a weak affinity or appeal to the target market. Although I know that we learn best from our mistakes, yet corporate management should really take into consideration the feedback from the front liners who are the ones really marketing the product.

Going back with our selling lesson.
You as a salesperson already have an overview and even before approaching a prospect, you should have asked the question "does this prospect have a need, want, desire for my product?".
With that question alone, you can somehow foresee the possible objections that the prospect will throw at you. When we sell it is important that we have already started the selling process in our mind, with this we become persuasive in every level of the sales negotiation.

In a nutshell our job as a salesperson is to provide that need, that want, that desire. Or it can be to help the prospect to realize that they have that need, that want, and that desire. Jim Robbin says it well - "we become as a co-buyer for our prospect".

Now how do we do that? We show them the benefits and the features of what we are selling in which will be fit for their wants and needs.

This is what we will talk about on my next post.

That's it for today. Do not forget to leave your comments below.


Dedicated to you selling success,

Sales Mentor TM.

Who Should Gain the Most?

Before we go to the details on the selling process, I just want to emphasize a very important point that I have observed most Filipino salespeople lack.

“The Winner or the one that should gain the most should always be the customer.”

(I’m obviously assuming that the product you are selling is legitimate, is fairly priced, and will perform as expected).

The customer is KING and he should be treated as one. He is and will always be our number one priority. This has been my guide and the key to my continuous success in selling. Let’s face it my selling friend, our profession would not have survived this long if all Pinoy salespeople only focused on making themselves better.

During my early days as an Account Specialist (my hairline was not receding then and was really “macho”), I’ve seen how my fellow Specialists complain often about how our customers were gaining too much yet our commissions were not that high. We forget that all these years, the Sales Profession has always been booming because of the growing number of prospects we have; the Kings and the Queens. Thankfully, I wasn’t their kind so I was able to progress rather fast than most of my colleagues.

As your sales mentor, I have a responsibility to remind you that we should be giving more value on our customers than the monetary value we are receiving. This and only this will be the ultimate reason that we can build a long lasting relationship with our customers. In fact, we as a Sales Force should consider that our customers are the pillars of our growth and label them as our business-partners.

As the great sales trainer Zig Ziglar says, “You can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough people to get what they want”. In my own words, our initial intention should be to help meet the needs of our customers and not vice versa. We as salespeople must be by nature problem solvers, and thru our product/service, we should be able to provide our customers with what they really need so in return we will then get our desired results.

The customer is always the big winner – He is King!

That's it for today, join me again next time.

Dedicated to you selling success!

Sales Mentor TM

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Weekly Philippines Sales Update

As Promise here is my weekly update on the Philippine Market involving sales and possible growth in the business sector in which will open more opportunities for us who want to venture out in the entrepreneurial world (start preparing for that change, it is worth it!). Please read below for the article and of course on my opinion. :-)

Chilled Processed Food in the Philippines - new market report released


This Chilled Processed Food in the Philippines report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data (2003-2008), allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market ? be
they new product developments, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2013 illustrate how the market is set to change.

Product Coverage: chilled/processed meats, fish and seafood, smoked fish and seafood, chilled lunch kits, chilled ready meals, chilled pizza, chilled soup, chilled/fresh pasta and chilled noodles

Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.

Why buy this report?
* Get a detailed picture of the chilled processed food industry;
* Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;
* Understand the competitive environment, the market?s major players and leading brands;
* Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop

You can get all this update through this source.

My opinion:

Over the years I have seen many local brands that have emerged in the chilled/processed meat sector, and I believe this niche should be given more attention not only by entrepreneurs but also our government. The fact that CDO and Virginia Foods Inc. are continuously improving in their volumes only indicates that our Pinoy brands can compete with other multi-national brands. Not only that their sales volumes are improving but our local players have also learned to compete with marketing and many sales initiated programs.
Secondly, there is a very big growth for this sector, specifically with the chilled fish meat or seafood. Selling efforts should be done so that we can ultimately dominate this sector. The fact that roughly 18% of us Filipinos are fishermen by profession already gives us an advantage over other countries. We must learn not only to sell our products but also the sell our country as a major player in the Chilled Process Meats sector.

Well that's it for today. I'll be back for more sales techniques for the coming days.
For a detailed analysis that you want to take please visit: www.companiesandmarkets.com.

Dedicated to your selling success!
Sales Mentor TM