October 31, 2008
Monster Customer Service Blunders and How to Avoid Them
By admin
by Paul Levesque
Despite all the rumbling and grumbling about poor customer service, there are always a handful of renegade businesses that somehow find ways to keep their workers fired up and their customers delighted and coming back for more. In these rarified places, highly motivated employees pursue customer delight with a passion; they ignite a flashpoint of contagious enthusiasm that spreads throughout the organization like wildfire.
How do they do it? They conscientiously avoid what I call the Top 5 Monster Customer Service Blunders”:
Monster Blunder #1: Trying to solve the problem with superficial employee training. Workers call it smile training programs intended to convince staff to look and sound more cheerful, while giving them no particular reason to feel any more cheerful. When you boil it down, this kind of training does nothing more than itemize the specific service behaviors workers are expected to exhibit. It then becomes managements job to somehow enforce these designated behaviors into the daily operation of the business. If this approach has any effect at all, it typically creates conduct that strikes customers as mechanical and insincere. Worse, it often intensifies worker resentment and cynicism.
Instead of attempting to dictate what workers should be doing to delight customers, the better approach is to give workers opportunities to generate their own ideas for delivering a better customer experience. Managements role then becomes helping employees implement these ideas, allowing workers to enjoy the motivational boost they derive from positive feedback from delighted customers. This level of employee ownership and involvement is a key cultural characteristic of virtually all flashpoint businesses.
TO AVOID THE BLUNDER: Train managers and supervisors, not just employees, to facilitate interactive brainstorming sessions in which employees come up with their own strategies for improving the customer experience.
Monster Blunder #2: Blaming poor service on employee cynicism. When business leaders complain to me about the cynicism of their workers, I’m always inclined to ask them if they believe these workers were already cynical before their first day on the job. If so, the organizations hiring practices are clearly not working very well. If not, then the cynicism may be a direct product of something in the organizational culture.
Employee cynicism is the direct product of an organizations visible preoccupation with self-interest above all else a purely internal focus. The focus in flashpoint businesses is directed outward, toward the interests of customers and the community at large. This fundamental difference in cultural focus makes all the difference in the world.
TO AVOID THE BLUNDER: Instead of trying to fix the employees, set out to fix the culture by removing operational obstacles to customer delight. Invite workers to participate in identifying and removing cultural roadblocks to further enhance their sense of involvement and ownership.
Monster Blunder #3: Using negative customer feedback as the primary basis for action. Businesses often implement elaborate customer surveys and other feedback mechanisms but then use them primarily to highlight customer problems and complaints. Employees come to dread these measurement and data-gathering initiatives, since the emphasis is always on the negative, on finding out whos to blame for anything and everything that went wrong.
Flashpoint businesses, too, rely on a variety of customer feedback tools but for an entirely different purpose. Here its positive feedback that becomes the primary basis for action. Feedback is used to uncover and highlight everything thats going right. Managers actively seek out hero stories examples of employees going the extra mile to deliver delight. Positive feedback is the catalyst for ongoing recognition and celebration. In this kind of culture, theres always some new reason for cheering and hoopla. Its why employees in flashpoint businesses find it easy to see themselves as winners on a winning team.
TO AVOID THE BLUNDER: Start using your own customer feedback data to uncover and celebrate examples of service excellence.
Monster Blunder #4: Reserving top recognition for heroic recoveries. Does this scenario sound familiar? A customers order gets fouled up, and a dedicated employee catches the problem and goes to heroic lengths to correct the situation or make up for it in some way. The appreciative customer advises management of this employees heroic initiative and management in turn gives the employee special recognition for his or her efforts. You may be wondering, Wheres the blunder in this?
Its a monster blunder when these kinds of recoveries are the primary if not the only sources of employee recognition. If foul-ups represent workers only chance to feel appreciated on the job, then in effect such foul-ups become almost precious to the workers. If, later, management announces that steps are being taken to correct these foul-ups for good, its news that may not win much support from employees. It can feel like this kind of corrective action will rob them of their only chance to shine.
Flashpoint businesses celebrate heroic recoveries, of course but they hand out the splashiest recognition to employees who delighted customers where no foul-ups were involved. This makes it easier to motivate workers to strive for the elimination of operational problems.
TO AVOID THE BLUNDER: Reserve your most extravagant recognition for service champions who deliver delight in routine transactions that have no element of heroic recovery associated with them.
Monster Blunder #5: Competing on price. This is one of the most commonplace (and costliest) mistakes in business. When it comes to purchasing decisions, price becomes the ultimate deciding factor only in cases where everything else is equal which is almost never. Theres usually at least one little something that gives one business an edge over another one. The real competitive advantage belongs to the business with the highest perception of value, not the one with the lowest price. The overall sense of value is based on the total customer experience, which takes into account less tangible factors, such as helpfulness, friendliness and the personal touch. These values often allow businesses to retain their competitive edge despite slightly higher prices.
TO AVOID THE BLUNDER: Institute a formal process by which employees can continuously come up with new ways to expand customers perception of value.
Concluding Thoughts: The kind of customer-focused cultures we find in flashpoint businesses obviously don’t happen by accident. These organizations create, implement and refine a process for producing delighted customers. A good place to begin is to stop the top five customer service blunder monsters from rearing their ugly heads in your organization.
About the Author:
Management Training Centre provides professional development, sales training, motivational seminar, leadership and executive training and career training programs for HR professionals, supervisors and employers.
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October 16, 2008
Car Insurance For Teens
By admin
Auto insurance for teens can be a tricky thing. Part of the reason is because teens are considered high risk drivers and the insurance rates for high risk drivers tend to be higher. They are not high risk because they are more reckless than adult drivers. There are actually adult drivers out there who are more reckless than a lot of teens. It is just the fact that teen drivers are inexperienced that causes their rates to be higher. As they get older, the rates will go down. However, that doesn’t do much for them or their parents during their teen years.
Facts about auto insurance
There are certain factors that lead to the higher insurance rates. Those factors are age and gender. Unfortunately, insurance rates are higher for males than they are for females because males tend to display more reckless behavior. The truth is that a lot of insurance companies consider drivers under the age of 25 to be high risk. That means the rates see a boost of anywhere between 50% and 100% of what the premium would be if they were over the age of 25.
Fortunately, parents can get a break on their teen’s auto insurance. Since they cannot do anything about age and gender, they can do something about the level of experience of the young driver. There are actually courses that are offered for teenage drivers that can enhance their experience. Upon successful completion of these courses, the insurance rates can go down.
Another thing that is taken into consideration is the town in which the teen is driving and the type of car that they are driving. If the town is a small town, the rates will most likely be lower than that of a large town. As for the type of car, it is a given that the insurance on a sports car is going to be more than that of a coupe. The rates are also going to be higher on a new car than a used car. It is always a good idea to get a teen a used car to start out with and invest in a new car later when the driver has more experience and is older.
How to save some money
Parents can save money on car insurance if their teen has better than average high school or college grades. Insurance companies will offer a good student discount as long as the student’s grades are turned in every time they come out. If grades slip, then the discount may not be applied, but if grades go back up, the discount can be reinstated. This is definitely a useful discount to take advantage of. It rewards the parents in the form of being able to save money. If the teen has a job and pays their own car insurance, the teen gets to take advantage of their good grades even more. It is always good to check with the auto insurance company about this type of discount.
You can also have certain safety devices installed on the car such as antitheft gadgets, antilock brakes, and other safety features. But the most effective way in which you’re going to save money on auto insurance for teens is to look into getting online auto insurance quotes from various companies on the internet. This will enable you to spot those rates that will be the best for you and your family. You can do side-by-side comparisons so that you know which policy has everything you need for the best rate. There are just so many tools, discounts, and programs available for you to save money. It is just a matter of knowing that they are there.
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August 27, 2008
Non Chexsystems Banks
By Lewis Lee
What is chexsystem?
ChexSystems is a network of financial institutions (mainly banks) that regularly contribute information about account holders that mishandle their checking or savings accounts. Nearly all banks within the US are a part of this consortium.
What are non chexsystems banks online?
Before you pay money to any service that claims to give you a non ChexSystems bank account be sure it passes the following tests with flying colors.Make sure the bank is FDIC insured.If it’s a credit union, make sure it’s NCUSIF insured.Make sure the institution has a physical branch. Do some background work on the bank.Make sure the institution doesn’t charge you for common items like monthly statements, telephone services, and withdrawls.
What to do if your reported to the Chex System?
The primary difference between a debit card account and a checking account at your local bank is that with a debit card account you are not issued a set of paper checks. Instead, with a debit card account, you will write your checks, and pay your bills, electronically using a bill payment service.
How the ChexSystems works?
There are several banks On-Line that claim to give checking accounts to individuals who are on the Chex System, but none of these were ever heard of by our staff and therefore had no creditability, so we did not list them on this site. We are however, heard of four reputable banks that include U.S. Bank (50/50 chance of approval), Bank Of America (has a high success rate to get approved, but make sure you apply On-Line.),WaMu (Washington Mutual has a 50/50 chance to get approved.).
What are the options of Chexsystems list?
Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you are entitled to a free copy of your Chex Systems consumer report, at your request, once every 12-months.
How consumer report about ChexSystems?
These are institutions that are prepared to take on prospects with less than stellar credit ratings. Some will approve the application without placing too much weight on the ChexSystems report. Some will require a 1 year waiting period while you pay off your outstanding debts before opening an account.
Why are they so important?
Non ChexSystems banks are important because for many people with bad credit, and who are unfortunate to be on ChexSystems, it represents their opportunity to open a second chance checking account. Many people could never imagine being without a bank account so this is a very important lifeline. Most states have local banks that offer second chance bank accounts and these can be easily sourced from the web.
Why Banks don’t use ChexSystems?
A retail grocer who was tired of getting bad checks, came up with the ideal, and originally created what is now know as ChexSystems. He recognized business institutions needed a way to share information to help stop account abuse and fraud.
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August 26, 2008
The Kinds of Salespeople and What They Do
By Salvador Paez
People who work in sales are called salespersons, brokers, agents, or sales managers. Depending on the field, these sales agents have different ways of fulfilling their duties. Real estate salespersons, for example, assist clients in buying or selling goods. Pharmaceutical salespersons need to know science and medical-related information to be able to sell their products to doctors and hospitals.
An expertise in the objects that they are selling is extremely vital for salespeople. If you are not familiar with the things you are selling, then you don’t have any business selling it.
There are just about as many kinds of sales persons as there are products to sell. Sales brokers or seller agents, for example are the usual salespeople we are familiar with. What they do is represent their companies or employers and try to get a deal with their client.
Transaction brokers are the ones who are neutral in a deal for fairness and are usually found in large transactions involving big money. The disclosed dual agent on the other hand is different in the sense that he or she represents both parties and moves to make the best deal for both.
Finally there are sales managers whose job it is to implement strategies and other management techniques. They manage the team of salespersons under them and lead them to the right direction. An effective sales manager is needed for a company to get the optimum sales performance to be number one. Sales training
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August 26, 2008
Remington Financial Group Private Information
By Chandler Weber
What’s significant about the court decision and the schools? First of all, it prevents Kamehameha Schools from completing what Pauahi intended - the restoration of the Native Hawaiian people through education. However, the court decision could impact all people of color in this country - not just Native Hawaiians. If left standing, the courts in this country potentially could prevent any private person, trust, or organization from giving educational scholarships or financial aid to a disadvantaged ethnic group.Private equity is an alternative asset class that has the potential to deliver long term returns superior to traditional asset classes such as bonds, property and listed shares. Private equity is riskier than these traditional asset classesand investors should consult their financial adviser before making an allocation to this asset class.
Why invest in private equity? Private equity is an alternative asset class that has the potential to deliver long term returns superior to traditional asset classes such as bonds, property and listed shares. Private equity is riskier than these traditional asset classesand investors should consult their financial adviser before making an allocation to this asset class.
Is Vestcom a financially sound company? In a word, yes. We have a 20-year history, with sales exceeding $120 million annually. Vestcom is a profitable, privately held company. We have solid and significant financial equity partners in The Stephens Group, LLC, a Little Rock-based private equity firm and Lake Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm.
What, me break the law? The Funds-Title Page RT Capital Management is one of Canada’s largest and most successful investment management firms. As part of the Royal Bank Financial Group, RT Capital focusses on providing investment services for company and institutional pension plans. It provides private pooled funds which are available only to participants in their clients’ pension, group RRSP or savings plan.
Q4. What does funding cover? Expenses must be related to the person’s or group’s participation in the environmental assessment process. These expenses can include: fees for expert advice, travel expenses, purchase of relevant information materials, information collection and dissemination costs, among others. Certain activities are not funded.First of all, it prevents Kamehameha Schools from completing what Pauahi intended - the restoration of the Native Hawaiian people through education.
Why invest in private equity? Private equity is an alternative asset class that has the potential to deliver long term returns superior to traditional asset classes such as bonds, property and listed shares. Private equity is riskier than these traditional asset classesand investors should consult their financial adviser before making an allocation to this asset class.Federal Reserve Banks, created by an act of Congress in 1913, are operated in the public interest rather than for profit or to benefit any private group. Member banks hold stock in their regional Reserve Banks, but do not control the Federal Reserve System. Holding this stock does not carry with it the control and financial interest that holding publicly traded stock allows.
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August 25, 2008
Business Writing - Is this the most important word to use?
By Mike at Business Writing Courses
In just a few seconds I will mention a word that is vital in business writing. Few realise just how important this word is.
Business writing is all about trying to persuade those who read to take an action
So you could be urging an employee to go the extra mile , or a supplier to do a better deal Most of all is the vital importance of selling in writing!
The first thing to do is to grab attention - without which your message will remain unread, and you have to make your message more interesting than any other.
So you need a headline that makes them want to read your message! - and for that curiosity is helpful
You can do that with the word THIS, or sometimes THESE
The headline “do you make these mistakes with English” helped to sell a fortune in courses!
Do you see how the word THESE draws you in to the copy? - it makes you curious to know which mistakes!
This headline can be used as the basis for almost any situation
Do you make these mistakes in copywriting?
Are you using this little know tax loophole
This is the true secret of minimising tax!
In your next letter use THESE in the headline
MThis is why Business writing courses are so valuable - it saves so much trial and error to know what really works
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August 25, 2008
Best Direct TV Promotional Offers
By Sullivan Wallace
What programming does DIRECTV offer? DIRECTV programming and service features access to more than 250 available channels of entertainment. Customers have access to popular networks like Disney Channel, CNN, ESPN and TNT, as well as up to 55 pay per view choices a day, including major Hollywood films and special events. Hit movies start as often as every 30 minutes and you use your remote control to order.A car consigned for auction for the first time is called an originally consigned car. Aucnets TV Auction system enables dealers to submit cars not sold on first consignment in subsequent auctions.
What is Descriptive Video Service? Descriptive Video Service (DVS) is a free service carried by public television stations to make television accessible to people who are visually impaired. DVS provides narrated descriptions of a television program’s key visual elements without interfering with the program audio or dialogue. The narration describes visual elements such as actions, settings, scene changes and body language.Just walking minutes to Ginza, and the subway stop is located within the building. Good size rooms with spacious bathroom with great shower. Offer amazing bar and lounge, magnificent spa, free high-speed internet access.
Question: Are civilian radio and TV stations legitimate targets? Military attacks on civilian TV or radio stations are prohibited if they are designed primarily to undermine civilian morale or to psychologically harass the civilian population.Grande Digital Cable compares very favorably with DSS systems. With Grande Digital Cable, you receive over 160 channels, including 45 channels of digital quality music.
What do you do with cars that are not auctioned off? A car consigned for auction for the first time is called an originally consigned car. Aucnets TV Auction system enables dealers to submit cars not sold on first consignment in subsequent auctions. A car not sold on first consignment can be submitted at an auction as an originally consigned car again only if it undergoes another inspection. These deals are the result of direct offers from interested buyers to the sellers of cars not sold through the Aucnet TV Auction.Grande Digital Cable compares very favorably with DSS systems. With Grande Digital Cable, you receive over 160 channels, including 45 channels of digital quality music. Grande Digital Cable offers local network channels such as Fox, NBC, and ABC with Basic Cable, as well local public, educational, government and weather channels.Just walking minutes to Ginza, and the subway stop is located within the building. Good size rooms with spacious bathroom with great shower.
Question: Are civilian radio and TV stations legitimate targets? Military attacks on civilian TV or radio stations are prohibited if they are designed primarily to undermine civilian morale or to psychologically harass the civilian population.Military attacks on civilian TV or radio stations are prohibited if they are designed primarily to undermine civilian morale or to psychologically harass the civilian population.The Israel Center receives approximately 65 television stations via Direct-TV, a satellite company. The system allows us to provide up to 3 different television stations in the room at any time.
Who decides what music is played in the room and what stations are on the TV monitors? The Israel Center receives approximately 65 television stations via Direct-TV, a satellite company. The system allows us to provide up to 3 different television stations in the room at any time. Usually the t.v.’s are tuned to CNN News and ESPN Sports. If you would like to watch a particular channel, please ask the attendant on duty and they will accommodate you. Similarly, we subscribe to a commercial free satellite music service that offers more than 30 types of music.Military attacks on civilian TV or radio stations are prohibited if they are designed primarily to undermine civilian morale or to psychologically harass the civilian population.Just walking minutes to Ginza, and the subway stop is located within the building. Good size rooms with spacious bathroom with great shower. Offer amazing bar and lounge, magnificent spa, free high-speed internet access.
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August 24, 2008
PLR Articles Tweaking Tips
By Andy Fah
1. Concentrate the text
Read and look to all the details you have written and relate the arrangement to make a good sense pack in one. Remove unnecessary sentences.
2. Grab the attention of the reader
Effective articles should throw a joke, testing question or remarkable point of view. You need to stop the readers to say “so what” and “what is the point? ” . Learn that you only have seconds to magnetize them.
3. Emphasis on a single message
Remove all the things you do not need because it makes the readers to be confuse. Just put the important details. Do you think that readers can have the message if they read it in seconds?
4. Help readers scan
Divide the message with the aid of a title and a para or two or perhaps a drawing. Insert or modify key point in the material of the articles that will be the initial attraction of your site.
o Titles
PLR articles should have eye-catching titles because consumers focus to it. They read a PLR articles if they find it interesting on the beginning.
o Explanations
Next to titles, the focus is on explanations. Explanations are used not only to describe an image in PLR articles but also to inform.
o Subtitles and tag lists
These are the elements of body that compel a reader to read on.
5. Improving message on the real meaning of each idea
Use 10 to 20 words and 2 to 3 sentences for short paragraphs. This is the time for checking the grammar and to remove not important construction; modifiers, old phases, complex clauses. Remember to use active voice and remove ideas that can confuse the readers.
While you are finishing it, do not forget to have from time to time an overall look to make sure that you are still on the right track of your marketing plan. An article can very easily take a wrong direction. At this point it can be useful to have a team, because the others can tell you what you have forgotten to mention.
1. Write simple PLR articles
People will likely to read your PLR articles if you do not use too many words. Everything should be clear so that readers can find it interesting to read but make sure that is in high quality.
2. The media has a lot of impact on young consumers. So focus on it.
3. Check again once, twice and even once more to see that everything important has been covered.
4. Get another person to check your spelling as we generally tend to miss the ones we ourselves make.
If you take into account these suggestions, your articles will do the sells of your products or services online very easily. Do not disappoint your customers. Remember that most of them, before paying for a product or service wonder why they should purchase it.
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August 24, 2008
The Nseries: Your Latest Nokia Cellular Phones
By Alice Sy
Nokia cellular phones continue to be responsible for pushing the limit as far as mobile phones go. They have advanced to an extent that the brand has been used as a benchmark for standards and features by other mobile phone companies. Still, with the tough competition out there, Nokia remains on top.
The Nokia NSeries is one of the units of Nokia Cellular Phones. It is very famous today because of its multimedia computers. The series is a convergence mobile device that supports multimedia and digital services. With a Nokia NSeries, you can download music, watch shows, and capture videos and pictures. You can also enjoy gaming and surf the net, all at one hand. A special feature of NSeries equipment is a high-speed wireless technology, which includes Wireless LAN, 3G, or HSDPA.
With the Nokia phones from the Nseries, you are given multimedia, digital, and networking support. Like your personal computer and your laptop, the Nseries allows you to connect to the internet. This time, connecting to the internet is faster and much more reliable because the new series supports high-speed wireless technology such as Wireless LAN, HSDPA, and 3G.
Indeed, with the launching of the Nseries in April 2005, the Nokia cellular phones have boasted of multimedia and digital services, including wireless communication. With the Nseries, you can download and listen to music directly from the web. You can also download and watch videos directly from the web. These phones support high-speed wireless technology including 3G, HSDPA, and Wireless LAN.
Its multimedia and digital support allows the user to capture high quality photographs and videos. Sharing your pictures and videos has also been made easier by the brand. Among that and gaming and surfing the net, Nokia cellular phones makes one accessory you can’t do without.
N90 and N70, the first units of the NSeries device, used the old Symbian 8.1 OS. With the coming of newer models, Nokia changed to SymbianOS 9. Aside from the N72, all Nokia NSeries cellphones use the Symbian OS 9. Later generations of the series used the revised Symbian OS9 which comes with Feature Packs.
Together with the N72, the N800 and N810 internet tables also do not utilize the Symbian OS. Instead, they operate the Linux Operating System and the Maemo, an open-source platform.
Whatever lifestyle you live, there is an Nseries that fits you. No matter how young or old you are, the Nseries Nokia cellular phones are available to help you whatever your need specifies, in terms of entertainment and connectivity.
Alice Sy is a cell phone enthusiast. Visit her website about Nokia Cell Phones or get tips all about cell phones.
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August 23, 2008
Make Sure Bankruptcy Filling Is Your Very Last Resort!
By Chris Safin
At the moment when someone is filing bankruptcy they are always going through a lot of hardships, so the task of filing bankruptcy can be all the more intimidating. Nevertheless the action of filing bankruptcy can also help to ease some of the pressure since in doing so you will get protection by law from your financial situation.
If you need to file for bankruptcy, there are a series of things one must know on exactly how you should go about filing for your bankruptcy.
Firstly, you need to ensure that there is in fact no other solution in sight because once you are bankrupt, it will reflect on your credit file for as many years as ten to come!
The different kinds of bankruptcy
Having decided that you are indeed going to file bankruptcy, you next need to consider two important types of bankruptcy that will prove useful to you in your endeavors.
The most sought-after kind of bankruptcy is chapter 7. The reason for this is that if someone can successfully apply for chapter 7 they can have all of their debts eliminated. However only a select few are approved for this bankruptcy type.
You can still try chapter seven but if you aren’t accepted you might have to settle for chapter thirteen, you won’t be able to eradicate all debts but it will be better than nothing.
I’ll Say again at this point, filing for bankruptcy is serious business and one that you should only do once you have exhausted all other options available to you.
Additionally you really should hire a bankruptcy attorney or lawyer. Make sure you do your research well into your lawyer to be sure he or she will do a good job.
Once you have researched and found a suitable lawyer or attorney, disgust your situation with him or her and get their advice on how you should proceed.
Keeping hold of bankruptcy records after you have filed is important so you should hold on to them for a least 12 years from the date that you filed your bankruptcy.
If you have done all the research into your situation necessary, you should have no reason why not to successfully get yourself out of your financial predicament and start to get yourself back on your way to financial Freedom.
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