Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts

Friday, December 18, 2009

The Customer is always not Right!!

I am sure this is always the case when the company takes side of unreasonable, demanding and an angry customers instead of you. I do not believe that this is the sign of a loyal employee.

The customers are always not right for your business

One man who was a frequent visitor of a shop in southwest. He was always disappointed with each and every aspect of that shop's operation. He was often called as the pen pal because whenever he used to come into the shop, he used to write one complain in the customer feedback book.

He didn't like the fact that the shop owner didnt assign any seats for elderly people in his showroom. He didnt like the idea of serving hot dogs inside the shop, he was not satisfied with the billing procedures of the shop and lastly he was not happy with the performance of the shop attendants there. He had to complain in every small issue related to that shop.


His last letter was directly to the CEO of the showroom which went to his desk with a note: 'This one is for you Mr. CEO'. The CEO of the showroom Mr. Koller replied him back with a note which said, "Dear Mr. Roger, we will definitely miss you. Love Koller."

"The Customer is always Right" is a phrase that was introduced in 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge who is also the founder of the departmental store called "Selfridge's". The phrase is used by businesses to :

1.) To make sure that all the customers get the best services from the employees.

2.) To make sure that the employees are giving the best services to their customers.

But in the recent years this concept seems to be absconding because this is leading to a bad customer service.


I wanted to share with my readers the top 4 reasons why The customers are always not right:

1: It gives a negative impact on your employees

I remember when I went to Texas I met a person called Mr. bethune. He was the owner of one of the best fast food center in Texas called "Humble food hub". He believed that the phrase customer is always right is actually wrong. Whenever there was any conflict between his people and the rude customers he always used to take side of his employees.

There is always a possibility to get back a loyal customer but there are always very less chances of getting back a good royal employee. He always used to say that ,"just because you are buying food from our shop and paying us that doesnt mean you will abuse my people."




The foot fall in his shop per day is around 10k and out of those 10k there is always a chances that one or two customers will be demanding jerks. It is your employee who is working for you and not that rude jerk. He never treated his employees like serfs. He knows how to value them. He never allows an environment of resentment in his restaurant.

2. It gives demanding customers an unfair advantage

If you keep on using the slogan "The Customer is always right" in front of your customers, it will give them a right to do whatever they feel like. They will start demanding just anything. At this point of time the job of an employee becomes more difficult.

Abusive customers get better treatment that nice employees. So it is always advisable that be nice to nice customers and be bad to bad customers.

3. Not all but some Customers may be bad for your business

The business owners often feel that more the customers more is the business. But some customers can actually be bad for your company.

I have read this story of a American IT service provider called ServiceGopt. It said, that one of their technicians went to one of the customers house for maintenance task and the customer treated with her very rudely. She finished her task very calmly, returned office and told the entire story to the management. They went ahead and canceled the contract with that customer.



Just like Koller who dismissed that irate gentlemen from coming to his shop, similarly ServiceGopt fired an irate and rue customer. After all it was a matter of dignity and self respect of a female employee.

4. It often results in bad customer service

Roseworth Travel Services took it even further. CEO Sara Roseworth wrote an excellent book called "Your customer comes after your employees". She argues that when you put your employees before your customers there will always be an healthy environment in the office. If employees are happy and satisfied, customers will automatically start feeling satisfied.

Employees who are always happy will provide better customer services at work because:

  • They have a habit of caring people, especially their customers
  • They are always energetic
  • They will interact with them in a better way
  • They are more motivated to work
But if the customers are put before the employees then it clearly indicates that :

  • Employees are not values properly
  • treating employees fairly is less important
  • That employees do not get respect from the customers
If this prevails, employees will stop caring about good service.

So put your people at first and let your people put the customers first.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Performance Pays When It Comes to Business

When it comes to some business activities, the conventional method of paying first and measuring performance last is changing. In the advertising industry, for instance, it's no longer meaningful to simply role out a large advertising campaign without first knowing what the return on the investment will be.





With traditional types of online advertising, like pay-per-click, a campaign is rolled out even before you know if it will generate any sales. Unless you have money to spare (a rare condition in this recession) or business loans for this purpose, you can end up shelling out money that never returns a direct benefit in proportion to what you spent. Take a cue from modern methods and choose strategies that will lower the risk of loss and increase performance from the get go.


Cost-Per-Action Advertising


New affiliate networks call cost-per-action networks seek to reduce the risk and increase advertising performance for its advertisers by generating sales leads from advertising activities. These can later be mined for email marketing campaigns, increasing the performance of your advertising dollars by generating a valid email of a prospective customer. Now, instead of spending a few cents for each click and generating thousands in advertising costs with little to show for it, you can spend a few hundreds and get a valid sales information that helps you market people every time an action is taken. If the action requested is never completed, you don't have to pay for the publishing of your link. You only pay for performance on that link.




cost-per-action networks seek to reduce the risk and increase advertising performance


Hiring High Performance Individuals


Another way that businesses have be lowering the cost of hiring and increasing performance is to hire on a part-time or temporary basis. With the labor pool filled with qualified applicants, hiring people on a short-term basis can be a great way for business owners to try out candidates to see if they will work out. If they don't, then they can just end the relationship at the end of the contract period and start again with a new face. This keeps performance high and lowers costs of employee staffing.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Investing in Balanced Fund is a Better Option


Keep your emotions on check, a strict warning for those investors who loves to invest in this volatile market. When the markets are in good condition then our instincts compels us to join the market but when the market is down we are prone to sell out in panic. The best thing for the investors to do at this time is to remain quiet and keep track on their financial approach for the investments. The most effective strategy is to keep an investment portfolio invested across different assets classes.


A balanced fund which is invested in both share equities and investment bonds in equal proportions should be considered for holding a balanced fund. If we compare the same with equity funds that is suppose 85% the balance will be in fixed income securities and liquid assets.


The most important benefits of investing in balanced funds is that it gives you more stable returns because overall portfolio risk of a balanced fund is reduce automatically. The potentially higher but more volatile returns from equity investments are moderated by the fund’s investment in bonds. Secondly, it helps you to rebalance the portfolio by taking profits on equity investments which have appreciated and re balancing the portfolio to its original equity: bond asset allocation of 60:40.


Always keep in mind that a balanced fund will allow the investors to participate in long term capital growth of equity markets because a sizable portion of up to 60% of the fund is invested in equities. Investing in a balanced fund helps unit trust investors stay focused on achieving their long term investment goals without requiring them to evaluate the prevailing market cycle.

First Asian Economy in Recession

After revising the full growth estimates and eased monetary policies for the first time, government of Singapore and analysts declared that Singapore is the first economy of Asia to fall into recession. The city-state’s full-year growth forecast to was reduced to around three per cent citing a slowdown in the global economy and key domestic sectors by the The Ministry of Trade and Industry. The sudden move came when the ministry released the preliminary data showing that GDP declined by 6.4 % in the third quarter after contracting 5 % in the previous quarter.


The survey did not describe the economy completely in recession but a technical recession the two consecutive quarters were confirmed by the same. It was first time in more than four years as confirmed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. As we all know Singapore is south east Asia's wealthiest economy in terms of GDP per capita and other economic features but still it is entirely dependent on trade. This is not at all acceptable by the developed economies, particularly key export markets of US and Europe. Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.2 % rise in GDP which is a good sign.

Check out this cool video and you will get all answers to your questions:

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Madoff Scandal embroils the Investors

If you ever had a good amount of fortune which you are thinking of investing then it is a request that please start counting your blessings. The world's biggest sophisticated investors are facing the biggest dilema of their lifetime. The reason is very simple here. An alleged fraud like this which can happen anyone of us, you or me. These are the lessons here, though many of them are touted by much of the media. This is not because of the dust that is settling around the Bernard Madoff Scandal, but there are some tendancies in some quarters to blame the actual victims





The annual return of atleast 10% were too good to be true at this time. I would point out only one thing here that is how Mr. Madoff's vague explanations arrived at those results. The way he described his strategy, which involved the simultaneous purchase of stock and sale of option contracts, It was very well noticed that there wasn't sufficient volume in those options trades to account for the reported gains. The best advise that came at this point of time was that we should all turn ourselves into forensic accountants. I am very much sure here that many of the people have lost their savings here. After all, consistent returns in good and bad markets are the selling point for nearly every hedge fund.

Many people have reported much larger annual returns without raising eyebrows. Indeed, Mr. Madoff's returns were good, but not so spectacular as to raise undue suspicion. As for his vague explanations, they were no vaguer than those of many other hedge-fund managers and even mutual-fund managers. Many investors after this examined Mr. Madoff's operation and declined to invest. How that could have happened remains one of the big unanswered questions of this affair. I am sure Mr. Madoff's victims can surely be forgiven for relying on what is supposed to be a watchdog agency.


Let us hear some impacts of Madoff Scandal from bloomberg:






The best advise that comes out here is that never to invest in anything -- hedge fund, partnership, mutual fund, Check your investments for the name of the firm that provides the audit. If you don't recognize it, research it on the Internet. While it's especially hard to reduce an asset that seems to be doing so well. Don't believe anyone who tells you that you can earn higher returns while assuming a lower risk. If you're realizing high returns, then you're also accepting increased risk. Never trust a middleman here. Many of the Madoff investors were reported to be attacked by the middleman which led them into a big trouble. Have faith in human nature sometimes not always. You can better rely on the money managers, some are honest hard-working professionals with their clients' best interests at heart.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Think before you start a new business

think-business
Getting help in Equipment Financing is one of the most important things one should think before starting a new business. Your own business should be maintained skillfully and a special attention should be paid to the entire sphere related to your job. It is not necessary to advise you how you implement your thought and plan. But it should be done systematically. You need a good place as well as good furniture and machineries. To decorate your office you need some good furniture and other official equipments. You can’t buy them all. There are many financial companies and organizations that provide office equipment lease. Then make a regular deal with your expected customers and suppliers.

Marketing is another issue to run your company properly. You need to discuss with some postcard mailing and bulk mailing service companies. When everything is okay and perfect your company will run better. To get loan from any financial organization your credit score will play major role. Be sure you have earned a good score in this field. All the Financial companies including Equipment Financing organizations depend on the credit score while helping you. Check you have acquired all the merits needed and start your own business.