Hello ,
Greetings
Last week I was telling you about Wuzhen the water city in China and how it was and is an amazing infrastructure project.
You can read about it here.
All the new stock that came in has made us quite busy, so unfortunately we have slipped behind on orders time somewhat. But I understand the guys have been pulling out all the stops and extra pairs of hands have been drafted and every body possible is picking and packing your orders. Our humble apologies if your order is delayed - we are doing our best. We even have a weekend shift to get things caught up.
What do you call it, when you make a mistake, but shear pride dictates that you carry on with the faulty direction of movement - even though you are shooting yourself in the foot? I think the word is "Hubris"
It's always a big warning sign to me as a manager when I'm working with people who are never wrong, who apparently never make (or admit to) mistakes. Always ends in tears. Not to mention taking the fun out of work.
At the risk of upsetting people I'm going to use the "B" word.. How long before we collectively realise that brexit is a huge mistake - far too many insurmountable problems where the solutions are actually worse than the original problem. Brexit, lets just get over it.
Last week I was telling you about infrastructure projects, as a solution to austerity. In China, they are excited by what is called the "Belt and Road" project. Or more romantically the "The New Silk Road". It's probably the worlds biggest, by far, infrastructure project.
Two thousand years ago, the ancient Romans where amazed by a new material called... silk. Highly prized and very expensive, it was the ultimate status symbol, but nobody knew where the silk came from other than along the silk road.. goods and knowledge and religions came along the silk routes.. making towns and cities wealthy and prosperous along the whole of the route. Yet until Marco Polo made his historic trip (1200 years later) from Venice to China no-one had connected all the dots.
The Belt and Road - is one massive plan..it is basically to invest up to 8 trillion USD in to over sixty countries linking Asia to Europe and Africa in a gigantic hi-tech reconstruction of the old silk routes. Bringing trade back and forth along the route, creating wealth and jobs all along the route. In the same way that China has lifted all most all it's population out of poverty, not with charity handouts but with infrastructure projects that get people working.. they aim to do the same for a big section of the rest of the world.
So new roads - super fast trains, ports, economic hubs, free trade zones.. it's all happening along planned routes..
It's one of the biggest economic things to happen to the world ever.. and yet barely makes the news in Britain. While we close down boarders and cut off ties, the rest of the world is getting on with it.
Our office and warehouse is at the China end of the Silk Road, the starting point is Yiwu, the other end.. or ends are destinations in Europe, so it's quite exciting to be part of this as a company that does trade along these routes.
One day British goods, British designs will flow along this route.. I can tell you they love British things, not just Whisky and Jaguars but anything are you ready to give them with a bit of Britishness in it.
So.. what do you think is the most powerful sales word you can use?
Is it? SALE! or HALF-PRICE or FREE..
Actually free is a pretty powerful word, the human brain just likes the idea of Free.. so FREE Shipping, Buy one get one FREE.. is always going to work.. at a cost.
But the word that the human brain likes best.. is (roll of drums) .. "NEW"..
Yes we all love something new, a new car.. new clothes, new tastes. We read avidly the News.. even new information is a drug. Those Romans loved the new silk material, and ever since we have been looking for the new fashion things..
Neuroscientists have now determined that the appeal of “new” is hard-wired into our brains. Novelty activates our brain’s reward center, which may have been an evolutionary advantage to our ancestors as they encountered new food sources or other elements of survival. Today, we are no longer hunters and gatherers, but the novelty-seeking circuitry is still active and makes us find new products...
Which brings me to that new stock I mentioned before.. lots of juicy new products available.
All available to activate your customers grey matter that loves something new. See below..
Hope you have a lovely weekend, or have had so (if you open this on Monday).
Take care.
David
