Eileen Juan – The Value of Understanding the ‘Why’ of the Business
Today, we are joined by Eileen, founder and owner of The Picture Company. She will discuss how to lead with a vision and how you can get the best out of your employees.
Summary
- Eileen’s interview process requires applicants to figure out if they have a sense of purpose or a sense of mission.
- Many millennials argue that they do not know what their purpose in life is.
- The first sales spiel that she heard from her employees was very item-driven, price-driven. After learning the ‘why’, the second sales spiel was totally different, it didn’t feel like hard selling and more like sharing something with clients
Key Points
- The moment people understand the “why” of the business, it’s so much easier for them to also sell it to other people.
- Frequent sessions with your staff can help improve on how they perform.
- It is vital for managers and business owners to lead people with a vision.
Resources
- http://www.picturecompany.com.ph/
- outsourceaccelerator.com/podcast/episode14
Transcript
Derek: Hi and welcome to another episode of outsource accelerator. My name is Derek Gallimore, Today we are joined by Eileen on back with us. She is the founder and owner of The Picture Company here in the Philippines, TPC for short. If you haven’t heard the original episode with her please go back and do listen to that, that is episode 3. And you get more of the background in terms of TPC and also how she manages her staff and gets the best out of them.
Now, today we are talking about leading with a vision. Okay, so Eileen really is an inspirational manager and I really value a lot of the techniques that she embodies. Now, there’s a lot be learned in terms of management generally but we do discuss specifically how this is different for the Philippines, the Filipinos and really what motivates them, what gets them going So, enjoy this episode.
I you want any show notes, if you wanna get in touch with Eileen, if you wanna know any more, please go to our show notes which is outsourceaccelerator.com/podcast/episode14
Enjoy!
Derek: We’ve got Eileen Juan back again from TPC, The Picture Company, a household name here in Manila, the Philippines for photography. Hi Eileen.
Eileen: Hi D.
Derek: And today we are going to be discussing leading with a vision and leading with the “why”. And why it’s so important we all know the popularization of this at the moment, Simon Sinek and popular media like that. But, maybe we’ll explore how it is relevant to people in the Philippines. if it is any different and things like that.
But you have Eileen, a very clear, I think set of goals and structure that you work all of your team in to. Do you wanna discuss how you’ve woven and the why. And if it is a primary goal for your businesses.
Eileen: Yes, definitely. I think it started with, I feel the reason why I’m here in life. Why, the big “why” is, I really want to help people figure out their why. So, in our company just from the interview you already have to figure out if they have a sense of purpose or a sense of mission.
Derek: Any mission or aligned with your mission?
Eileen: Any
Derek: Right
Eileen: As long as they have a sense of existing and then of course it’s more ideal and that’s a good question. It’s more ideal that they believe in our mission. So, we explain to them that, we tell stories that these are, it’s a disservice if we don’t take pictures of people because when the kids are older they will not have those pictures and if they can understand that. Why The Picture Company exists and why do we wanna tell stories, then obviously, it’s easier to enroll them in to my vision. And then I ask them how their mission contributes or can be an asset or how they can enjoy living out their mission in an environment like Picture Company. And if their mission doesn’t match ours and Picture Company cannot be a vehicle where they can live out their purpose then immediately, it’s a no-brainer. They’ll realize it’s not the right workplace for them.
Derek: Wow! Actually, I haven’t even heard of that before but it’s not about getting people to conform with your why or your company’s why but it’s actually finding out their motivators, their drivers and then aligning them with the company’s motivators and drivers.
Eileen: Yes, that too but before that it’s really why they, it’s also interesting maybe in a hundred people that I would have interviewed ten will know what their purpose is. So, I invite them to discover their why as they continue working for us
Derek: Yeah. Because there’s a big drive towards people following their passion and their purpose now a lot millennials argue that they don’t feel they have a purpose or a big drive. Have you noticed that being increasingly the case or is it just spoken about more now?
Eileen: I’ve heard so many articles about millennials but I still haven’t figured out why they’re so carefree.
Derek: Is it. Does it disturb you?
Eileen: It’s like if I were their mom I’d be forcing them kind of figure out what they wanna do in life. But they really are full of like expression and heart and so what was your question.
Derek: it was the, people having purpose is that more a situation now or are people is it because it’s discussed more
Eileen: I think the awareness is here especially, So, let’s say Simon Sinek has and it’s going viral but it’s still not clear to a lot of people. It’s not a trend. It’s not so common among at least the age group that I work with.
Derek: Right. fantastic. And then you find them once you have educated them about the why of your company. Does that just make things a hell of a lot smoother in terms of. Because if, as you say it’s almost disservice if photos aren’t taken. Then it makes selling a lot easier. It makes pleasing the client a lot easier. Does it sort of trickles down?
Eileen: It’s so interesting, so I had a team of 8 people today who are supposed to lead the producers. Meaning, they’re supposed to bring in the accounts for on location shoots. And the issue that the manager wanted to discuss and solve is, were, they’re not producing the quota, the number of accounts they should be producing. So, I went into the “why”. I started asking them why they think the brand exists and it was like a quiz. They had to write it down and they had share it. And then I asked them what their “why” is. This was just an hour ago and then at the end I asked them to write down what they realized and they said “wow I didn’t realize that it’s so easy to sell something if I understand why it exists”. Now it’s not going to be hard for me to share it with people because it’s not anymore about selling. It’s about sharing this experience with other people to be able to tell their story.
And so, I feel that the moment people understand the why of the business, it’s so much easier for them to also sell it. So, yes it does make things smoother because then it’s nice when people understand it’s not so hard to motivate them about. It’s not a sales strategy, it’s already, they’re sharing it with their heart.
Derek: Wow! Fantastic. It’s quite powerful that isn’t it when people actually really believe in it wholeheartedly. It switches around from being an onerous task of selling of something that you don’t necessarily anything or pushing onto someone and it turns it around to almost you are desperate to share that great experience with someone.
Eileen: Yeah, interestingly, the first sales spiel that I heard was very item thing driven, price-driven. It was like, they were almost waiting for a negotiation to happen. When I shared the “why” or asked them what they thought the “why” was, the second sales spiel was totally different approach and it was, it didn’t feel like hard selling it was more like I’m sharing something with you. It was, it’s amazing.
Derek: Interesting, and Eileen I love about how our audience are from overseas, non-Filipino and to put it into perspective I mean, sales is arguably a tough job anyway but the Filipinos arguably are a little softer in nature, a little less inclined to do a hard sell. What is your personal experience of that and I suppose building a sales team not that there’s no hard selling involved in your product. Is it something that can fit naturally with some people you find?
Eileen: I thought, So, in our company hard sell is, does not exist. It’s banned, because I want them to be able to offer what’s the value of this product. Why it’s valuable to someone and why it’s helping their life. So, hard sell, for me I just said this earlier, if I sold somebody 20 portraits today and so she had to pay twenty thousand, some of you feel guilty but I’d be more guilty if couldn’t give her a single portrait. So, if I could have 20 portraits of my kids now when they were babies I’d pay you so much for that. So, it’s, we’re sharing a product but Filipinos be think they’re hard sells so they are apologetic that they are hard sells. So, I have to clarify with them what do you what’s your definition of hard sell.
Derek: Right.
Eileen: And I think, when the sales person is also having a hard time with her own finances, she, in her mind, everybody else is also having a hard time. So maybe a twenty thousand portrait for her is I’m doing you a disservice by, you know because I would have spent the twenty thousand on my rent or on my car.
Derek: So, you find the key is not giving them tactics for helping that but exchanging it for actually you’re doing them a service and this is helping them and the 20 portraits will make fantastic gifts that they’re gonna love giving out.
Eileen: So, it’s also changing their mindset on what hard sell is or getting their definition. Like you’d be surprised if you ask 5 Filipinos what their definition of hard sell is then you’d get 5 different funny answers.
Derek: Fantastic. Now that’s great learnings. Thank you, Eileen.
Eileen: Thanks, Derek.
Derek: Hope you enjoyed that episode that chat with Eileen Juan of TPC. If you want to know any more about anything. if you wanna get in touch with Eileen or know more about her company or get transcripts of the episodes, please go to our show notes that is outsourceaccelerator.com/podcast/episode14.
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