Who Sits on the Other Side?
| Category: Entrepreneurship | Date: 2001-08-20 |
The third wave of Globalization of Trade is already spreading throughout the World. Everybody wants to globalize: small companies, medium companies and... people themselves. Many are eager to get involved in international trade, global discussion, and Worldwide business.
All these people have some common desires: to open an autonomous business, to be their own masters, to have an independent company and to make money on their own. The Internet has brought instant access to international information exchange. From the cosy corner of your home office, at any time of the day or night, you can connect to your server and absorb yourself in another World. You can become somebody different, for example an intermediary in a serious transaction between a buyer in Russia and a seller in USA. You can run away from everyday problems, remove yourself from the usual and boring life, and get involved in something exciting and challenging.
How often have you asked yourself these simple questions: who is on the other side of the line? Who is this person who corresponds with you? With whom are you negotiating big deals?
Have you ever asked yourself these questions: am I in any position to carry out what I am promising now? Do I have the authority to act on somebody’s behalf? Can I perform as I promise to others?
Have you ever paused to consider that the person on the other side of the line might be exactly in the same position as you are?
There is no doubt that many people suffer from this magical transformation of personality that occurs when they connect to the Internet. Common sense goes away and what is not logical in real life, becomes believable on the World Wide Web. In normal life it is not very usual to speak about serious transactions of crude oil supplies - WHO would take it seriously (unless the offerer is a renowned company)? Yet on the Internet people start to believe that they can participate in supplies of millions of barrels of fuel. Why do they change their reasoning so much when processing thousands of E-mails?
The answer is simple. The Internet has brought about extremely easy access to information. Floods of data go through computer machines around the World. Information has become freely available and people do not only read it but also modify it, add their comments, add their commissions etc. and then pass it on. They start to participate in the creation of information and become convinced about their genuine involvement in big business. They do not ask questions as to where the message is coming from, or what the source of offer, demand or business proposal is. All those details seem irrelevant in the light of the pure pleasure in the feeling of involvement.
If the involvement was just for pleasure, it would be fine. The tragedy lies in the fact that all these people truly believe that their activities will result in substantial earnings. They start to think about their deals every day; they start to make plans based on probable income; they start to change their attitude and imagine themselves as serious businessmen participating in international trade. The involvement in "deals", is not a hobby anymore - but a goal to be achieved, a desire to be fulfilled. It starts to affect personalities, family life and financial affairs. It becomes dangerous.
I have no doubt that all these people are hard working, honest and committed individuals who can build a truly independent business which can bring them money, success and even fame. They have the rare attributes of being persevering, original, and bold. They can be relied on and trusted. Their calamity results from exaggerating the importance of the Internet, from relying on Internet communication too much, from forgetting business reality or simply not knowing this reality.
Their craving for honesty, for true contacts and genuine correspondence is such that they almost beg for it. Please look at the excerpts from the E-mail below:
Note please follow:
1. We are direct to the buyer (not another broker, trustee, mandate or another).
2. We are searching for a real supplier and we have no time to play a game.
3. We are not interested to work with a broker chain or another constellation.
4. Please inform me, whether you are direct to a supplier. We have not interest to receive an FCO or another offer from a broker, who cannot issue a contract and cannot give answers to questions.
5. We have no problem to issue an LOI with full banking information direct from the buyer, but we would not send this Worldwide
6. We have received in the last month two FCO's from American companies. One is signed by the buyer - but the supplier cannot give a POP. I have received only information that this guy is now shopping with the signed FCO. That is new for me, I thought that a broker travelled only with an LOI Worldwide. Now, my buyer will check whether he is going to make a report to American Judiciary.
7. Please inform me as soon as possible what is your position to the (real) supplier (you are the mandate, direct to the mandate, or another) and inform me about your price on our payment terms.
Isn’t it sad?
This appendix was added to an enquiry for... 500,000 metric tonnes of a commodity! HALF A MILLION TONNES! Who on Earth would be sending such an E-mail message when it comes to a contract of this proportion? Who would need to be underlining the seriousness of such a transaction? When we buy a car, the transaction is serious enough; here we are talking about 10 to 20 full shiploads of the product. There is no need to stress that it is important to attend to this business with necessary seriousness.
The question is: WHO has sent this message? Why does the representative of a genuine buyer have such problems with finding a genuine exporter? Why does he express so much of the hatred for brokers if he EXACTLY goes through the so-called broker chain?
WHO is on the other side of the line? Isn’t it the time that we all simply ask ourselves this question? Who is the person demanding that you be serious that you should not be a broker, that you do not waste his or her time? Isn’t it time that we all start to introduce ourselves to each other and paint the real picture of our activities? The result can only profit everyone with a desire to build a genuine business and build more trust.
About the Author
Fabian Krause is the founder of The Internet Clinic. His teaching is based on simplifying seemingly complicated business issues in three steps: (1) in-depth analysis (2) extracting the most practical aspects of a given problem being analysed and (3) presenting results to the public in a form that is easily understandable, educational, entertaining and practical. His publications are usually enhanced with diagrams, tables and pictures since there is no language in this World that can describe a given problem better than a simple graphic.
:To contact see details below.
fabiankrause@internetclinic.org
http://www.internetclinic.org
All these people have some common desires: to open an autonomous business, to be their own masters, to have an independent company and to make money on their own. The Internet has brought instant access to international information exchange. From the cosy corner of your home office, at any time of the day or night, you can connect to your server and absorb yourself in another World. You can become somebody different, for example an intermediary in a serious transaction between a buyer in Russia and a seller in USA. You can run away from everyday problems, remove yourself from the usual and boring life, and get involved in something exciting and challenging.
How often have you asked yourself these simple questions: who is on the other side of the line? Who is this person who corresponds with you? With whom are you negotiating big deals?
Have you ever asked yourself these questions: am I in any position to carry out what I am promising now? Do I have the authority to act on somebody’s behalf? Can I perform as I promise to others?
Have you ever paused to consider that the person on the other side of the line might be exactly in the same position as you are?
There is no doubt that many people suffer from this magical transformation of personality that occurs when they connect to the Internet. Common sense goes away and what is not logical in real life, becomes believable on the World Wide Web. In normal life it is not very usual to speak about serious transactions of crude oil supplies - WHO would take it seriously (unless the offerer is a renowned company)? Yet on the Internet people start to believe that they can participate in supplies of millions of barrels of fuel. Why do they change their reasoning so much when processing thousands of E-mails?
The answer is simple. The Internet has brought about extremely easy access to information. Floods of data go through computer machines around the World. Information has become freely available and people do not only read it but also modify it, add their comments, add their commissions etc. and then pass it on. They start to participate in the creation of information and become convinced about their genuine involvement in big business. They do not ask questions as to where the message is coming from, or what the source of offer, demand or business proposal is. All those details seem irrelevant in the light of the pure pleasure in the feeling of involvement.
If the involvement was just for pleasure, it would be fine. The tragedy lies in the fact that all these people truly believe that their activities will result in substantial earnings. They start to think about their deals every day; they start to make plans based on probable income; they start to change their attitude and imagine themselves as serious businessmen participating in international trade. The involvement in "deals", is not a hobby anymore - but a goal to be achieved, a desire to be fulfilled. It starts to affect personalities, family life and financial affairs. It becomes dangerous.
I have no doubt that all these people are hard working, honest and committed individuals who can build a truly independent business which can bring them money, success and even fame. They have the rare attributes of being persevering, original, and bold. They can be relied on and trusted. Their calamity results from exaggerating the importance of the Internet, from relying on Internet communication too much, from forgetting business reality or simply not knowing this reality.
Their craving for honesty, for true contacts and genuine correspondence is such that they almost beg for it. Please look at the excerpts from the E-mail below:
Note please follow:
1. We are direct to the buyer (not another broker, trustee, mandate or another).
2. We are searching for a real supplier and we have no time to play a game.
3. We are not interested to work with a broker chain or another constellation.
4. Please inform me, whether you are direct to a supplier. We have not interest to receive an FCO or another offer from a broker, who cannot issue a contract and cannot give answers to questions.
5. We have no problem to issue an LOI with full banking information direct from the buyer, but we would not send this Worldwide
6. We have received in the last month two FCO's from American companies. One is signed by the buyer - but the supplier cannot give a POP. I have received only information that this guy is now shopping with the signed FCO. That is new for me, I thought that a broker travelled only with an LOI Worldwide. Now, my buyer will check whether he is going to make a report to American Judiciary.
7. Please inform me as soon as possible what is your position to the (real) supplier (you are the mandate, direct to the mandate, or another) and inform me about your price on our payment terms.
Isn’t it sad?
This appendix was added to an enquiry for... 500,000 metric tonnes of a commodity! HALF A MILLION TONNES! Who on Earth would be sending such an E-mail message when it comes to a contract of this proportion? Who would need to be underlining the seriousness of such a transaction? When we buy a car, the transaction is serious enough; here we are talking about 10 to 20 full shiploads of the product. There is no need to stress that it is important to attend to this business with necessary seriousness.
The question is: WHO has sent this message? Why does the representative of a genuine buyer have such problems with finding a genuine exporter? Why does he express so much of the hatred for brokers if he EXACTLY goes through the so-called broker chain?
WHO is on the other side of the line? Isn’t it the time that we all simply ask ourselves this question? Who is the person demanding that you be serious that you should not be a broker, that you do not waste his or her time? Isn’t it time that we all start to introduce ourselves to each other and paint the real picture of our activities? The result can only profit everyone with a desire to build a genuine business and build more trust.
About the Author
Fabian Krause is the founder of The Internet Clinic. His teaching is based on simplifying seemingly complicated business issues in three steps: (1) in-depth analysis (2) extracting the most practical aspects of a given problem being analysed and (3) presenting results to the public in a form that is easily understandable, educational, entertaining and practical. His publications are usually enhanced with diagrams, tables and pictures since there is no language in this World that can describe a given problem better than a simple graphic.
:To contact see details below.
fabiankrause@internetclinic.org
http://www.internetclinic.org
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