1. Special Podcast for Newcomers
Many people ask: How can customers trust me and pay before receiving the product? This is where the branding expertise of Arad helps Aradi traders.
Download the podcast: Customer Trust for Payment
2. Special Article for Newcomers
3. Communications Commission Meeting of the Policy Council on Do's and Don'ts in International Negotiations
🕰️ 55 minutes
4. Foreign Offices of Arad Branding in Nigeria, Mauritius, and Gambia
⏳ 5 minutes
Form for Utilizing the Capacity of Foreign Offices
5. What to Look for in the First Follow-Up?
Only you, God, and the 14 infallibles know who you are in business, so strive to deeply understand your customer.
The customer, during the first contact with you, engages in conversations and reaches certain conclusions.
When you see, during your initial follow-up with them, that they respond to you and are willing to continue the negotiation, it carries a very positive meaning.
The meaning is that they are still thinking about you and might agree to form a partnership with you. Otherwise, if someone is certain from the first interaction that they do not want to proceed, they would either block you or behave in such a way that you’d retreat and never come back. So, the fact that they smile and are willing to talk indicates they are open to the idea, saying, “I might agree to this partnership; keep going and let’s see if you can convince me or not.”
In the first call, assess two critical factors on a scale of 0 to 100 and treat them like temperature measurements in Celsius.
- Risk Temperature
- Trust Temperature
6. What is Risk Temperature?
In the previous discussion, we mentioned that if a customer becomes certain that collaborating with you will bring them profit, they will definitely work with you.
However, this certainty hasn’t been established yet, and you notice a percentage of risk in their mind, suggesting they believe that not only might they not gain, but they could also incur a loss.
This percentage is referred to as the Risk Temperature.
The higher the risk temperature, the worse it is. Your main effort during the first follow-up should focus on identifying where they perceive the risk in collaboration.
What are the concerns in their mind that make them feel they might face a loss? These concerns constitute the reasons for the risk.
The better you address and explain these concerns with logic, reason, and evidence, the more you reduce the risk temperature.
Thus, one of the two main goals in your initial follow-up is to reduce the risk temperature.
In subsequent follow-ups, you should continue monitoring whether you have progressively reduced this risk temperature toward zero over time.
Your aim is to bring the risk temperature as close to zero as possible throughout the process.
7. What is Trust Temperature?
Regardless of how much risk the customer perceives in collaborating with you, there is another significant factor they consider simultaneously.
How much can they trust you, your words, and the promises you make?
Let me emphasize again: just as a girl would consider how trustworthy a boy is when he pursues her, and whether his words are genuine or mere exaggerations.
Our female traders, due to their heightened sensitivity to these matters, should better understand how customers think. Therefore, they must outperform others by several magnitudes.
Hence, it is crucial that, beyond business and economics, your personality and words are trustworthy to the customer.
There are countless instances where a customer has understood that collaborating with you may not bring substantial profit, but they perceive you as trustworthy.
This very trustworthiness makes the customer decide to partner with you and move forward.
They say: “Although the profit from this collaboration may be minimal, in this market full of wolves, I’ve found a trustworthy person I can rely on.”
Indeed, this is where we must highlight two fundamental traits necessary for trustworthiness in business.
When the daughters of Shu'ayb (peace be upon him) reached Moses (peace be upon him) and received his assistance, they returned to their father, and one of the two daughters said about him:
Said one of the [damsels]: “O my [dear] father! engage him on wages: truly the best of men for thee to employ is the [man] who is strong and trusty.“ Surah Al-Qasas, Verse 26
Estajart is derived from Bab Estef'al.
Bab Estef'al is the grammatical form used to express a request or demand.
For example: Melk Estejari refers to a property requested or leased for commercial purposes.
Or they say:
Estekhraj means the act of requesting or extracting something.
Estefadeh means seeking benefit or utilization.
Estekbar refers to the act of demanding or striving for superiority.
The daughter of Shu'ayb (peace be upon him), when requesting trade collaboration, highlighted two key attributes.
One is that he must be strong, and the other is that he must be trustworthy.
Both of these traits were abundantly present in the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Even long before his Prophethood, he was widely known and honored as Al-Amin (the trustworthy).
Moreover, historical records confirm that during his Prophethood, when wars occurred, he would always stand at the forefront of the army, wielding his sword. Imam Ali (peace be upon him), a symbol of courage and valor, once said: "Whenever the battle became intense and overwhelming for us believers, we would seek refuge behind the Messenger of Allah and stand shielded by him."
These same two qualities must exist within us.
First, the customer must perceive us as strong.
Any behavior that gives off a sense of weakness or incapability is extremely harmful for a trader.
Any action that causes doubt regarding a businessperson’s trustworthiness can destroy their reputation and efforts.
Therefore, I must be a source of trust for the customer, and this source of trust can only exist through being strong and reliable.
In every follow-up, I must show that I am reliable and trustworthy.
The more I can increase the temperature of trust, the greater my chances of success.
Remember, trust is not built overnight; it must gradually increase with each interaction and follow-up.
8. What Happened Last Night at the Birthday Celebration of Lady Fatimah (Peace Be Upon Her)
Last night, an auspicious celebration was held to mark the birth of the blessed Lady Fatimah (Peace Be Upon Her), the purest and most revered daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). The event took place with an indescribable magnificence, attended by the esteemed president of Arad, senior managers, over one thousand one hundred employees and traders of Arad, along with their families. The event was hosted by the capable Seyyed Ahmad Tahvildar, with artistic performances by Mahvash Vaghari, Hamed Mahzarnia, Giti Moeini, Siavash Ghasemi, Shahaboddin Niyazmand, and the choir of the sons and daughters of Saqi Kowsar. The devotional recitations were led by Haj Hossein Koshari, with eloquent recitations by Mahdi Shirzad and Mohammad Ali Haji Zadeh, accompanied by the soulful recitation of the Qur'an by Masoud Rouhi.
As per tradition, the children received gifts from the esteemed president.
Five women named Fatimah or Zahra were selected at random to receive a gift of 10 million Toman each, and nine attendees were also chosen at random to receive a prize of 3 million Toman.
During a fun competition hosted by the famous comedian Siavash Ghasemi, two Aradis received special gifts, which caused great laughter and joy among the attendees.
In his speech, Mr. Vahid highlighted the virtues of Lady Fatimah (Peace Be Upon Her), emphasizing that economic benefit is the key to the moral growth of human societies and the reason behind their connection. Referring to letter 27 of Nahj al-Balagha, which discusses the traits of the righteous, he quoted the following words of Imam Ali (Peace Be Upon Him):
"The righteous settled in the best houses the world has to offer.
They ate from the finest foods available.
They enjoyed the best pleasures that the privileged and the affluent savor, and took from the world what the tyrannical kings and arrogant rulers took."
He emphasized that these are the qualities of the truly righteous, those whose prayers are always answered by God, and to whom God does not reject any request, as Imam Ali (Peace Be Upon Him) continues in this same letter:
"No prayer of theirs is ever rejected by God, and no part of their joy is ever diminished."
Mr. Vahid remarked that if we truly want to see if we are genuinely pious and religious, we should ask ourselves: Are we living in the best homes?
Do we eat the finest foods?
Do we enjoy the same pleasures that the privileged indulge in?
Have we achieved what tyrannical kings and arrogant rulers have gained?
If we can answer yes to these, then we truly embody the qualities of the righteous as described by Imam Ali (Peace Be Upon Him). Otherwise, we should realize that we have misunderstood and distorted the teachings of God and His Prophet, attributing falsehoods and slanders to them, and God is free from such accusations.
God never neglects the words of the righteous and never diminishes their joy.
It’s worth noting that the event lasted until around 1:30 AM, and the working hours for Arad Branding employees today began at 12 PM.
May God grant you strength, all of you dear ones who attended this event. On behalf of us and all the loved ones who wished to be part of this beautiful gathering but, for any reason, could not be present, you filled our place.
May God elevate your honor and grant you greater dignity.
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