Mark Schenk, managing director of Anecdote, an Australia-based company, attended an event held by AcCom to demonstrate the new course for its Thai clients in Bangkok recently.

AcCom’s founder and managing director Atchara Juicharern said executives could use storytelling as an effective communication tool to influence people within or outside their organisations.

“When you can influence people fast, you save stress and time,” she said.

Scheduled to introduce the Thai-language version of the Storytelling for Sales programme here in July, AcCom’s target groups include not only sales managers but also project directors, human-resource personnel, organisational development executives, and other people who |need to coach or guide their teams, their bosses, or their clients.

“Actually, anyone who needs to ‘sell’. Leaders have to ‘sell’ their strategies to their people. Even HR departments are interested in joining our programme, since they have to convince the BUs,” or business units, she said.

Schenk said the storytelling course would complement sales training courses that had been offered in the market that focused on teaching only the processes.

“What they miss is the skills that underpin the process: the ability to connect with other people. [Storytelling] is the fundamental art of sales,” he said.

The six-month storytelling course starts with a two-day workshop to introduce the programme to participants, who will learn how to be better story coaches.

After that, the participants will be provided with monthly planners and weekly micro tasks allowing them to practise storytelling skills at their workplaces.

Atchara said her course ensured that companies would receive returns from their investment in it, since it provided a support system to make sure people apply what their learn and can make a difference in their jobs, instead of just attending workshops and ending with that.

Schenk said storytelling was an effective sales tool because people buy on emotion, not on rational logic. Salespersons can use “stories” to push through each step of sales processes – from establishing rapport, building credibility and demonstrating value to the final sale. These include connection stories, success stories, clarity stories and influence stories.

Atchara said her initial motive for taking on this storytelling programme was to sharpen her own communication skills.

“I had been searching for this kind of programme for two years, since I have often been asked by my prospective clients to tell my ‘success stories’.”

Kazunori Aoki, managing director of Keisokai , a subsidiary of Itabashi Hospital, said the group and its Thai partner, Yindee Co, had spent Bt20 million to acquire Ramborirug Chiangmai School last September.

Yindee, part of Bangkok Shuho Group, holds 51 per cent of Ramborirug, with the balance taken up by the Japanese hospital group.

Aoki said the acquisition was Itabashi’s first overseas investment and – to his knowledge – the first Japanese investment by any party in the Thai nursing-assistant school sector.

“Previously, we had planned to set up a nursing home here. But we had not realised that we would not have [qualified] personnel to take care of the residents. Japanese clients are rather mindful about the quality of care. Hence, we go by the concept of ‘man before products’,” he said.

Ramborirug Chiangmai School will prepare certified nursing assistants for the planned long-term care facilities for elderly people that Itabashi now plans to build in Chiang Mai in the next five years.

Itabashi also expects to commence its first elderly-care centre in Japan in the next two years.

Apichat Dangbuav, executive director of the Chiang Mai school, said it had recently started to offer a Japanese language course to its students, who would have a chance to practise their work in Japan after completing their nursing assistant and additional Japanese language programmes.

Established 20 years ago, Ramborirug Chiangmai School is still the only nursing-assistant school to have been bestowed the Royal Reward School accolade from His Majesty the King.

About 200 students complete the six-month training course at the school annually, he said.

Aoki said Itabashi had set up Keisokai to spearhead its expansion into the business of nursing homes for the elderly, for which demand in Japan for nursing aides outstrips supply by around one million people.

As part of a bid to tackle this shortage, the Japanese government has amended its laws to allow Thais to work as nursing assistants in Japan for the first time this year.

“Next year, we will start to send out our students to practise in Japan, where they can earn the same monthly salaries of about ฅ180,000-ฅ200,000 [Bt56,620-Bt62,900] as Japanese practitioners. This is a win-win for both Thailand and Japan. This is not just about earning money, but a ‘heart-to-heart’ service. Among Asians, Thais should be the closest to sharing the same ‘sense’ as Japanese,” the managing director said.

The group is also eyeing the same opportunity in Thailand, which is stepping fast into ageing demographics, Aoki said.

It also has its sights on setting up a Japanese language school in Myanmar, before putting up a nursing-assistant school there, he added.

According to the TOT-AIS partnership model, TOT will expand its 2.1GHz network by using its own telecom devices and equipment, while also renting some telecom equipment from AIS and its subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network for a fee. AWN will be responsible for the maintenance of this equipment.

TOT informed the NBTC that it would use its own 2.1GHz band with this equipment in such a way that the state agency can still have full control of spectrum management via its network operation centre and can access the call-detail records.

TOT will draw up the frequency planning and network roll-out plan, and manage the network itself.

TOT will wholesale 80 per cent of its 2.1GHz network capacity to AIS and AWN to provide the service and will deploy the rest to serve its own 3G subscribers. The state agency is expected to earn revenue of Bt3.9 billion per year from this wholesale-resale deal.

TOT informed the NBTC that it would follow the guidelines the commission gave in 2013 to CAT and True on their partnership to provide 3G-850MHz service. The guidelines say that the telecom licence holder must be able to use its own spectrum with its own network or networks of others and can fully control its spectrum. TOT said it would include this clause in the 2.1GHz partnership contracts to be signed with AIS.

AIS and TOT signed a memorandum of understanding last month under which AIS would start a non-commercial trial service on the TOT’s 2.1GHz.

AIS is seeking more spectrum bandwidth to serve its 40 million subscribers. Currently it has licences to 15MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum and 15MHz on 2.1GHz.

The company has said it is keen to take part in the upcoming auction for a 900MHz licence, but whether it does so is up to its board of directors.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn of The Nation talks with Volker Hellstern, managing director of Hafele (Thailand), about the company’s prospects and business strategy on Thailand and Asean.

HOW’S HAFELE DOING IN THAILAND, AND WHICH OTHER ASEAN MARKETS HAVE THE PRODUCTS PENETRATED?

Based on the political and economic situation in Thailand, we believe that we’re still doing very well. Project business is still strongly increasing since customers want higher product quality. Hafele is the leading importer of architectural hardware and furniture fittings in Thailand. Almost all our products are LGA [German quality] tested and certified. Additionally, we keep an extensive stock in Thailand (biggest in Asia Pacific) to deliver the orders within 24 hours.

We don’t just talk about after-sales service and professional advice, we are living it and do have a big budget to increase this further.

Hafele products are available in basically all countries in Asean. In all major markets we are present directly to provide maximum service.

We do have subsidiaries with stocks in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines, as well in countries close to Asean such as Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, India and Sri Lanka.

We also have a representative office in Myanmar with our own staff under Thai management where we do have several importers keeping stock.

In Cambodia, we have an exclusive importer who maintains sufficient stocks. Laos is covered by capable dealers who keeps stocks for us.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE BUSINESS OR GROWTH POTENTIAL OF HAFELE IN ASEAN? WHAT ARE THE MAJOR FACTORS THAT DRIVE THE GROWTH MOMENTUM?

Generally we see huge potential in Asean. Even if we do have good market share some countries, we believe the demand for high-quality products from Hafele will increase further. Due to the Internet, customers get a lot of information about worldwide quality products. Hafele, with worldwide presence and production partners, does have the international contacts and advanced logistics to bring these products to Thailand and Asean.

At the moment we do have very good momentum in Vietnam and Malaysia and also in India where we have seen a few years of great growth.

WHAT ARE THE KEY STRATEGIES YOU WILL APPLY TO CASH IN ON THE LIBERALISATION OF TRADE AND INVESTMENT IN ASEAN TO BE IN LINE WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (AEC)?

Actually we do not see a big change for Hafele with the AEC implementation. Almost all our products are getting directly delivered from Germany to the countries. It could be helpful for special products that we do not supply in Europe to have faster service within Hafele Asean subsidiaries.

WHAT WILL BE THAILAND’S STRATEGIC ROLE IN PROMOTING HAFELE’S BUSINESS PLAN AND ACHIEVEMENT IN ASEAN? WHAT ARE THE MAJOR COMPETENCIES OF HAFELE’S BUSINESS OPERATIONS IN THAILAND IN SUPPORTING THE GROWTH IN THIS REGION, ESPECIALLY IN NEIGHBOURING CLMV [CAMBODIA, LAOS, MYANMAR, VIETNAM] MARKETS?

Since Hafele Thailand is the biggest subsidiary in Asia and Asean, we do support the colleagues with our extensive warehouse, logistics and advanced product management. About 19.000 products are ready to deliver from our distribution centre in Bang Na, valued at approximately US$40 million [Bt1.4 billion]. It is a strong commitment to Thailand and Asean to show the customers our local presence and support.

WHAT IS THE FIVE-YEAR VISION FOR THE BRAND AND THE BUSINESS DIRECTION IN THAILAND AND THE REGION?

As an importer, we are certainly looking at a strong increase in turnover, which we can achieve only with outstanding service. We call it 360-degree competence to be the number one partner in the building business for architectural hardware, furniture fittings, sanitary and home appliances.

Especially with the increased demand for built-in kitchens, we see a strong growing market since we have the agencies for all mayor kitchen manufacturer suppliers.

We also cover the increased demand in top security solutions with top class German security systems starting from copy safe master-key systems, multiple looks until latest generations of electronic locking systems.

In my opinion, many Thai people are very artistic and have an eye for the ecstaticallyrefined, and at the same time Thais want to be at the forefront of technology and innovation.

Clearly there are many brands on the market, but none can truly offer the combination of all [features] as well as Bang & Olufsen can, which is why we are one of the oldest electronics consumer companies in the world, with 91 years [behind us].

Bang & Olufsen products encapsulate design, technology and innovation into one piece or more, creating a living and usable piece of art [for] your home, while ensuring that you get the best possible visual and/or audio performance possible, rather than putting focus on the general market.

By embodying a premium brand residing in the high-end market section, we are fortunate to be only partially affected by general consumer trends and statistics.

This position allowed us to realise steady growth since commencing last year, outperforming initial targets with 42 per cent.

We attribute this substantial increase to our numerous PR and marketing events during 2015.

Moreover, the increase in the volume of global partner activities also contributed to these outstanding growth figures.

What is the five-year business plan as authorised dealer and distributor of Bang & Olufsen products in Thailand? How many new stores will be set up over the next three to five years, what investment will be required for this expansion?

The first year of our company [2015] was all about getting established and reaching out to the existing client base, in order to offer them service and maintenance on their products, as well as building our flagship store in Gaysorn Shopping Centre in time to become the first concept store in Southeast Asia, as well as creating a marketing base value.

In 2016 we aim to open two further stores. The first B&O Play Store by Bang Olufsen, on the first floor of Crystal Veranda, The Crystal Ekamai-Ramintra, will officially open on 23rd April 2016 [today]. After this we are going to open another B&O Play Store, a shop-in shop at B2S, CentralFestival EastVille,which is the biggest B2S store in Thailand.

We will expand our PR value through events and print media, to inform and educate our clients and potential new clients.

The concept for 2016 is to give clients experience above and beyond utilising the concept “Enhancing your five senses”, namely sound, sight, scent, taste and touch. It will be conveyed through various activities and events that will be carried out throughout the year, aiming to comprehend [convey] the genuine qualities of the brand.

In 2017 and 2018 we aim to increase brand exposure by opening more stores outside Thailand, in countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

Obviously with this expansion we also need good and well-educated members added to our expanding team, on operational levels as well as managerial.

This is our biggest investment and requires a lot from the team, as they all need to go through our training systems that are monitored by Denmark,but at the same time motivating internally. In addition, we send or provide training at different levels and subjects, where we find the need. However, being in Thailand, we have been very lucky, as we have a great and very strong team.

The first five years will see a lot of investment into the company, but we also expect to set a solid footprint in our markets in doing so.

Do you have any plans to expand the Bang & Olufsen business beyond Thailand, especially into the CLMV market? If so, what will be the next potential market after Thailand?

We plan to expand into Laos, Burma and Cambodia, although our focus will be on Thailand, as part of our five-year plan.

What was the first-year revenue for the brand and how much is expected over the next five years?

Our first year saw total revenue of about Bt70 million. We expect that 2016 will show an increase by more than 10-15 per cent in revenues. |Our annual targets are expected |to improve year on year after this |by 20-15 per cent after the third |year, as we are likely to see a flatter revenue stream, as we reach out to more [customers] over the initial years.

What is your ultimate ambition for the Bang & Olufsen business in terms of achievement and success?

Our ultimate ambition with Bang & Olufsen is to provide and continue to provide high quality of design, technology and innovation, and [the best possible] service for our clients best possible. For us, selling is of course important, but more so is being able to provide great levels of service, which is why we also apply Bang & Olufsen international service standards, |and strive to improve these over time.

Every country is a little different, so the system needs a little |tweak.

HW Trading’s marketing strategy focuses on both existing and |new clients, with the main target group males in the age range of |30-65 years (which is 98 per cent |of the buyers). Marketing activities put emphasis on direct interaction with clients for full experience |with Bang & Olufsen’s products and services.

CRM [customer relationship management] was key in order to reflect on the fact that the brand is geared towards lifestyle as well as innovative technology.

Wine tasting complemented by sounds from Bang & Olufsen speakers is one of the many examples that HW Trading successfully held in partnership with premium brands such as Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, and high-end property developers.

Furthermore, a VVIP [very, very important person] trip was also gathered [organised] to invite exclusive clients to visit the origin of Bang & Olufsen in Denmark, to meet top management of the brand in order to create impressive experiences for our clients along with the charms of Denmark, including Danish culinary, culture and design.

We have profound expectations and presumptions concerning |the future of Bang & Olufsen |in Thailand.

Within three years, the |brand will have successfully |penetrated the premium audio |market, holding a prime position |in the minds of consumers. This position will help spread the tangible and intangible benefits of the brand, continuously spreading and raising brand awareness to maximise connotation levels.

True chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont said yesterday whether his firm would join the fray depended on its board’s final decision. Both AIS and True picked up the documents last week for applying to take part in the auction.

According to a DTAC statement yesterday, its CEO Lars Norling said the company currently had a very strong spectrum portfolio and was providing the best digital services to customers.

“We will not bid for the 900MHz [licence] at this point in time. However, to ensure our sustainable growth, we have every intent [to secure] sufficient spectrum to serve the fast-growing data demand from our customer base by the end of [our] concession in 2018. Moreover, DTAC’s 2,100-MHz licence will last until 2027,” he said.

“In order to benefit all operators and digital consumers, more spectrum should be put to auction ahead of their expiry to avoid situations like what all the industry stakeholders have been facing. A national spectrum road map is strongly required as a sustainable solution to the industry.

“With the current spectrum portfolio, DTAC will expand 4G bandwidth on 1,800MHz from 15MHz to 20MHz in Bangkok by midyear. Only DTAC’s digital customers will be able to enjoy a super-fast digital experience on the widest bandwidth of the single network.

“In addition, DTAC 4G services on 2,100MHz will be ready in all 878 amphoe by [the third quarter of this year] and Super 4G on 1,800MHz to all 77 provinces by midyear. This means that DTAC customers who live and travel anyplace in Thailand will enjoy a superb digital experience on the DTAC Super 4G network.”

DTAC has maintained that the minimum starting bid for the upcoming auction is too high at Bt75.65 billion. A telecom analyst said DTAC’s decision not to take part in the auction meant the company would have spectrum constraints if new auctions are not forthcoming when it needs more bandwidth.

In line with 5-year plan

He explained that this conservative move was in line with the company’s five-year investment plan after it invested aggressively in the first four years of operation. In the early stages, the company spent between Bt4 billion and Bt5 billion to open about 10 branches a year.

However, with the change in its investment plan, the company will now focus more on renovating existing branches to help enhance consumers’ shopping experience and refresh its brand image. Hence it has earmarked at least Bt400 million for the renovation of four branches in Lampang, Buri Ram and Surin provinces as well as in Nonthaburi’s Bang Bua Thong district.

In line with Thai Watsadu’s key marketing strategy, which is to expand its customer base, the company yesterday announced that it was partnering with Central Group and merging its customer relationship management (CRM) programme under the 1 Card.

Under this deal, the two |sides launched “Build Happiness within 1 Card” with the aim of boosting Thai Watsadu’s customer base, which is currently 1 million strong.

“After the merger, Thai Watsadu members will be able to redeem and collect points just like the other 12 million 1 Card members by spending at any of Central Group’s nine businesses, such as the Central department stores, Robinson, Tops and so forth.

The 1 Card members can |also earn points by making a purchase at Thai Watsadu,” said Rawee Puapornpong, senior vice president for CRM of Central Group.

Kamchai said that driven by the government’s stimulus packages to boost the real-estate industry and the expansion of the MRT Purple Line in Bangkok, the Bt300-billion construction industry and related business would see at least 5-per-cent growth after remaining stagnant last year.

He said Thai Watsadu hoped to make the most of this projected growth and was targeting revenue of Bt20 billion, a 10-per-cent rise from last year.