The Hindu Business Line : Clinching a smart bargain

Whether you plan to buy a computer or a non-IT product, here's an ideal question to start with. And if you want help to sell, here are some tips for that too.

LIKE playing football, learning is fun. But you can't play from afar. Not so with learning, because you can e-learn. Learning at a distance, using computers, is e-learning. For companies, what this means is that employees can add to their knowledge at their desk, without travelling to a classroom. Other questions immediately crop up: What does e-learning really cost? Can the company's IT infrastructure support the growth of e-learning? Will the employees respond all right to e-learning? How to measure the ROI of e-learning? For all these questions, Allan J. Henderson provides answers in The e-learning Question and Answer book, from Amacom (www.amacombooks.org) . Learning for learning's sake is not what happens in businesses; it has to translate itself as improved performance of the workforce and make the company more competitive. "But e-learning isn't a magic token that will automatically improve your business if you simply touch it," writes the author. A few more tips:

Web lectures broadcast PowerPoint-type slides over the Internet with an audio voice-over. This means that each slide appears one by one on the computer screen, and you hear the lecturer talking about each slide. So you're sending the information by eye and by ear at the same time. You might be able to do a good demo of the new product features over the Web so the salespeople can see it work even if they can't actually touch it.

The cost components for e-learning include the courseware, the course delivery expenses (including instructors), marketing/ promotional communications with the students, and administration and support expenses. Perhaps the biggest thing influencing your e-learning costs is the size of your problem.

Using leading-edge technology is important but not critical. Sometimes it's only eye candy. With a strong instruction design, you can make an e-mail-based correspondence course work effectively. With a weak instructional design, you will be hard-pressed to make the jazziest virtual classroom work effectively. Furthermore, in e-learning and in everything else, fancier things usually cost more than simple things.

"Let me interrupt you for just a few minutes about an urgent work problem," says the manager while the employee is trying to take an e-learning course at her desk. Other employees tell you that if the training were really important, they'd send you away to class.

E-learning will probably become more interconnected. The `inter-library loan model' could emerge. You might go to one e-learning site and take courseware that is not actually available from that site but from a different site. Behind the scenes, the first site will get the course from the second site and deliver it to the requesting user. You can think of this as the `take a course from anywhere' model.

A book on the A, B, C and D of e-learning.

What's in store

ORDERED materials arrive at the store, goods received notes are prepared, bin cards updated, stores ledger posted, requisitions pour in from the shop floor, defectives get returned, and stock is taken periodically. This is the picture of the stores. "In recent years, computerisation has improved the efficiency of the warehouse operations to a great extent," writes J.P. Saxena in Warehouse Management and Inventory Control, from Vikas Publishing House (helpline@vikaspublishing.com). A sampler:

Some of the latest software packages encompass not only warehouse management, inventory control and procurement support, but also other activities such as demand management support, sales management and control support, and distribution resources planning support.

An automated inventory control system can make positive contribution towards inventory reduction. One instance is the use of EOQ (economic order quantity) method. EOQ is the quantity that takes into account all the relevant costs associated with a particular procurement and not just the cost of the materials. By balancing the frequency of ordering with the cost of carrying inventory, total cost of materials can be reduced.

A warehouse system would demand many key database master files, relating to location, commodity codes, parts/ items, units of measure, vendor and currency code/ exchange rates.

Sometimes an item is available at a very low price for a short period of time. In such circumstances, the buyer would generally want to buy more than the requisition quantity in order to maximise savings. If the buyer knew quickly through the screen, what the current inventory levels are, and what maximum inventory level has been set, he could make his decision quickly.

Though warehouses do not enjoy the jazziness of marketing, finance or systems departments, they are key in any cost management exercise, which in turn would hinge on an effective information system.

Win-win negotiation

A BUYER is purchasing a new computer and asks the salesperson, "Is $1,299 your best price?" The computer salesperson replies, "This computer is going on sale for $1,199 in a week. Let me see if I can get my manager to approve the sale price for you today." Simply by asking, the buyer saves a hundred dollars.

This is the first of the `101 tactics for successful negotiation' in The Only Negotiating Guide You'll Ever Need by Peter B.Stark and Jane Flaherty, a publication of Broadway Books (www.broadwaybooks.com) . The lesson in the first example is to get in the habit of asking salespeople, "Is that your best offer?" Great negotiators drive a hard bargain, notes the intro, but most have the reputation of being both fair and trustworthy. "This book will give you the skills and tools to be a win-win negotiator with a reputation for building effective, long-term relationships." A few picks:

Browse the Internet; visit the library; talk to your counterpart or to someone who has negotiated with your counterpart in the past; speak with friends, relatives, and others who have been in similar negotiations. The more information you have, the better you will be able to negotiate.

Sue is buying a new portable computer and the salesperson says, "You really should purchase the extended warranty. If anything goes wrong with this computer, we will fix it free of charge. You just never know." Here is an effective counter-tip: When a salesperson asked a 75 year old man if he wanted an extended warranty on his new washing machine, the man replied, "Son, at my age, I don't even buy green bananas." A second counter, when the dollar value of the product is low, is to say, "When this product breaks, I'll just throw it out and buy another." Alternatively, Sue can look the salesperson in the eye and say: "You are putting a lot of emphasis on selling me an extended warranty. Are you trying to indirectly tell me this product is not reliable and I need some insurance?"

An airline passenger is irate because the first-class reservation she thought was confirmed for her flight is not in the airline's system and no other first-class seats are available. To every option the reservations specialist suggests, the woman reiterates, "My reservation is in the system. You have to find my seat." This is what is known as `playing a broken record'. The airline employee could acknowledge the passenger's emotions and simply say: "I understand this is a very frustrating situation and you are not happy. Of the possible solutions I have suggested, which one would work best for you?"

The feel, felt and found tactic: The buyer states, "I can't believe you're asking $30,000 for this software package." The seller responds, "I can understand how you feel about the price. Many other owners felt the same way until they found out how trouble-free and long-lasting our software is. There really is a difference, and that is what makes this price such a great value."

A compact read for both sellers and buyers, of both tech and non-tech products.

Please e-mail us on the latest IT books you have read at Books2Byte@hotmail.com

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