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Taking The Helm: A Dinghy Sailor's View Of Business Startup
IntroductionSailing involves passion! You have to be impelled to do it. It is not even like riding a bicycle, which may be fun but will also enable you to get from A to B. Dinghy sailing is not a practical pursuit. You will only do it if you really love it. Just like starting a business.Dinghy sailing may not immediately seem to have lessons for starting a business. However, my experience with both convinces me that it offers some valuable learning for entrepreneurs. Read why I think this is so.Watching the windBefore you go for a day's sailing in a dinghy, there is a lot to be prepared. It may look like the sailor is fiddling around, looking at the sky, scanning the horizon and seeming to hesitate before getting launched. He is probably going back and forth to the clubhouse, clutching bits and bobs, as well as looking around at pennants fluttering in the breeze, or burgees swivelling at mast heads. He may change his clothes and life jacket. All this has a purpose. Before leaving the shore, he needs to assure himself about the weather conditions, the wind direction and force. It is almost as though he has a checklist in mind.Watching the wind: business startup version<

le International Air Conditioning Ltd., with offices in the UK, Germany, France, North America and South Africa, was keen to find out what its international customers really thought about their business processes. Established in 1974, Airedale is still run by the two founders, and has won both the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement and the CBI Award for Manufacturing Excellence.

Airedale manufactures a wide range of air conditioning products. It also provides service, maintenance and training to its customers. The company exports to more than seventy countries and regularly supplies air conditioning systems to some of the world’s most prestigious high-technology manufacturers. A recent project involved the installation of air conditioning systems at the VESTAS wind turbine factory in Denmark, where Airedale equipment now maintains comfortable conditions in the areas that produce and assemble the massive turbine blades.

As part of a continuing strategy for growth through excellence, Airedale needed to determine the opinions of its international customers in countries as diverse as China, Hong Kong, Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. One very important consideration was the language to be used in the survey.

Traditionally most communications between Airedale and its customers have been in English, but the etiquette and public relations aspects of this customer satisfaction survey demanded that, on this occasion, local languages should be used.

Using local languages might not be as straightforward as it first appears, as the following example clearly illustrates. If an English-speaking supplier corresponded with a Malaysian customer in the Malay language, it could cause offence; the customer may

Oil Prices and Competition Bugs Textile Firms
The Rs.1,30,000 crore Indian textile industry is concerned of rising crude oil prices and fierce competition from China in world trade. The textile industry is less optimistic over their performance in coming quarter than it was in the July-September quarter. This is revealed by the third consecutive survey on Business Confidence of Indian textile industry for the quarter October to December 2005, conducted by YarnsandFibers.The man-made fiber industry, in particular, is worried on the crude price front while cotton textile segment is content with the bumper cotton crop and low fiber prices. However, the entire textile segment is worried over competition from China, as it has cost advantage over India. Textile companies want Government policies to be favourable and in line those in the neighbouring textile nations. The Government also needs to work on infrastructure, labour and power reforms and friendlier fiscal and export policies to enhance competition. A majority of the firms surveyed have indicated that power supply and infrastructure bottlenecks would impede their performance in the current quarter. With trade barriers removed the textile Ministry has set an ambitious export target of US$50 billion by 2010. To achiev

Businesses that succeed in totally satisfying their customers are ahead of the game in terms of customer retention and are likely to be far more profitable than those businesses that don’t focus on customer satisfaction. Recent trends, however, clearly show that traditional survey methods are suffering from falling responses. And when exporters have customers scattered around the globe there is an obvious problem in how do they find out how their customers are feeling?

One of Britain’s more unusual companies working overseas is TRL Limited (the Transport Research Laboratory), based on a purpose-built site at Crowthorne, Berkshire. TRL, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in all issues relating to land transport, is the UK’s leading provider of innovative transport solutions. Well known for its work relating to road safety, the European New Car Assessment programme (NCAP), pedestrian safety and child restraint systems, TRL has built a global reputation second to none for its knowledge, technical application and professional integrity.

Working with consultants, contractors and product suppliers worldwide, TRL provides appropriate and effective solutions to problems of road infrastructure and management, road safety, public transport, undertaking transportation studies and economic analysis, environ-mental assessments and institutional strengthening.

TRL has worked in over 100 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, with a dedicated team working exclusively on international projects. In order to maintain its standard of excellence, TRL decided to survey the opinion of their clients to their business processes. To do this, they engaged the services of InfoQuest Customer Relationship Management Limited

InfoQuest uses a unique methodology, which is neither paper, web nor interview-based. Instead it relies on a game-like box and a deck of cards. Between 40 and 60 questions and statements appear on the cards, chosen from an extensive library, which are replaced into particular segments within the box depending on how the customer wishes to respond. This game-like procedure, which has been applied in more than 50,000 surveys, works in any language in any part of the world.

TRL, whose customers include the World Bank, chose to ask questions about their business processes; management interactions; the quality of their research; their bidding and tendering processes; communication; and flexibility. InfoQuest’s special boxes were packed with the question cards and then sent out to key customers as far away as The Philippines and Tanzania.

Within a few weeks 83% of the boxes had been returned. The high response rate that InfoQuest normally achieves means that those who use this research method can confidently target whom they want to survey.

In a business to consumer (b2c) environment most organisations have plenty of customers to choose from if they want to conduct a survey. I have maintained for many years that the best way of listening to the (b2c) customer is for the Chief Executive and their team to regularly spend time at the point of sale and do literally that. Listen to the customer.

However, in a business to business (b2b) environment many firms have far fewer customers and the relationship is not built on a point of sale contact – more likely it will be a complex matrix, with a number of people on each side of the customer/supplier divide having an input to the smooth running (or not) nature of an ongoing relationship.

Traditional methods for collecting survey data fall into two camps: - paper-based and interview-led surveys.

Paper-based surveys typically have a response rate of between 5% and 15%, which means that the vast majority of the people who are asked their opinion don’t join in.

There are two types of interview-led surveys: - face-to-face or using the telephone. Employing an agency to undertake face-to-face surveys in a b2b context is a very expensive undertaking, in that the agency will be doing exceedingly well if it can arrange to see more than one decision-maker at different customer locations in one single day. Telephone-based surveys have two serious inherent problems. The first is that the interview can be led, albeit unwittingly, by the interviewer’s tone of voice and flirtatiousness (or gravitas). The second problem is that the integrity of the responses tends to drop dramatically after the fourth or fifth question. This means that a sound telephone-based survey should ask no more than five questions and the most important question should be asked first.

TRL’s questions were chosen carefully to reflect what the business was trying to achieve and to ensure that the results were actionable. Too many surveys fail because of poorly designed questions. In a b2b environment the management team are often passionate about the product. Normally this is no bad thing. But as most b2b companies now have some form of quality assurance programme and are not operating in a monopoly situation, a more holistic view is needed when conducting a customer satisfaction survey. The review needs to consider people and processes, the drivers, rather than the quality of the product itself. These drivers are, after all, where businesses succeed or fail.

Since 1990 InfoQuest has included four overall questions and statements in every one of its 50,000 surveys.

“On an overall basis, how satisfied are you with our company?” is the last card in the deck. The available responses to this question are Totally Satisfied; Somewhat Satisfied; Insufficient Information to Evaluate; Somewhat Dissatisfied; and Totally Dissatisfied. The best Totally Satisfied score ever seen was 90% and the worst was just 2%. InfoQuest’s own extensive research revealed, “A Totally Satisfied customer contributes 2.6 times as much revenue to a company as a Somewhat Satisfied customer”. Put another way, the Totally Satisfied customer will be fiercely loyal, will recognise the value of the relationship over and above the cost of the product, and will not be tempted by the overtures of your competitors.

The three other standard questions are: -

“How satisfied are you with the ease of doing business with our company?” (highest score 93%, lowest ever score 3%).

“I would purchase products or services from your company again” and

“I would recommend your company to an associate”.

The last two statements are a counter balance. It is possible to have a score that reflects the sentiment “I am happy that we have a good working relationship but I’m not sure whether I should risk my own personal reputation by recommending you to a friend”.

The results of TRL’s survey were compared with InfoQuest’s database of world-class benchmarks and then delivered to TRL’s executive team, headed by Chief Executive Dr Susan Sharland.

Another exporter of excellence, Airedale International Air Conditioning Ltd., with offices in the UK, Germany, France, North America and South Africa, was keen to find out what its international customers really thought about their business processes. Established in 1974, Airedale is still run by the two founders, and has won both the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement and the CBI Award for Manufacturing Excellence.

Free Barcodes
The barcode, generally called the Universal Product Code, has been in use in America since the 1970s. There are several patterns of codes including dots, concentric circles, and hidden images. As barcodes are very useful in tracking inventory and identifying legitimate record labels, it has become a vital tool in all organizations and firms.One can obtain barcodes free of cost. Many types of barcode fonts are available on the market, and many of these barcode fonts can be owned without paying a single penny. Free barcodes are a great relief for many small businesses unable to buy the costly barcodes.Many companies are providing free barcode fonts through online services. One can easily download these fonts and use them conveniently. These free sample fonts are used to print letters, numbers, and some symbols. Graphics are also used for the creation of barcodes. Individuals and organizations with gross annual revenues of less than $500,000 can use the free barcode fonts. Many educational organizations such as schools and universities also use the free barcodes. But in the case of freeware, choice is limited. The common free barcode font available is the Code 39 TrueType format, which is also known as the 3 of 9. Some

st Customer Relationship Management Limited

Traditional methods for collecting survey data fall into two camps: - paper-based and interview-led surveys.

Paper-based surveys typically have a response rate of between 5% and 15%, which means that the vast majority of the people who are asked their opinion don’t join in.

Since 1990 InfoQuest has included four overall questions and statements in every one of its 50,000 surveys.

The three other standard questions are: -

“How satisfied are you with the ease of doing business with our company?” (highest score 93%, lowest ever score 3%).

“I would purchase products or services from your company again” and

“I would recommend your company to an associate”.

The results of TRL’s survey were compared with InfoQuest’s database of world-class benchmarks and then delivered to TRL’s executive team, headed by Chief Executive Dr Susan Sharland.

Benefits of Virtual Assistance
A virtual assistant is an individual who provides business services to other professionals. They're considered virtual because they perform their services from a remote location. Communications with their clients take place through telephone, fax, email, and snail mail. As a business owner, you can save time, money, and energy by hiring a virtual assistant. Best of all, you’ll have more time to do what you do best – running a business!1. You do not need to provide a physical workspace A virtual assistant works from their own home or office. This is especially convenient if you are running a business from home or if you have limited space at your own office.2. You do not need to provide costly equipment Virtual assistants use their own equipment to provide services to you. This can result is tremendous savings especially if the virtual assistant has access to equipment that you don't already own. Also, you don’t have the worries of dealing with the maintenance and upkeep of office equipment.3. You save valuable time not performing tasks you don’t have time for or are not able to do As a business owner, the highest and best use of your time is to work in your b

g an input to the smooth running (or not) nature of an ongoing relationship.

Traditional methods for collecting survey data fall into two camps: - paper-based and interview-led surveys.

Paper-based surveys typically have a response rate of between 5% and 15%, which means that the vast majority of the people who are asked their opinion don’t join in.

Since 1990 InfoQuest has included four overall questions and statements in every one of its 50,000 surveys.

The three other standard questions are: -

“How satisfied are you with the ease of doing business with our company?” (highest score 93%, lowest ever score 3%).

“I would purchase products or services from your company again” and

“I would recommend your company to an associate”.

The results of TRL’s survey were compared with InfoQuest’s database of world-class benchmarks and then delivered to TRL’s executive team, headed by Chief Executive Dr Susan Sharland.

You Have Rights Too
For three days the temperature hovered around ninety five degrees, not terrible in the shade with the breeze, but insufferable inside. We live on a budget so we just put up with the heat and our broken central air conditioner. It clicked and hummed, then clicked again. But no cool air, no air at all.Then I noticed an air conditioning van in the street, stopped at our drive. One hour later he emerged from our neighbor's door only five feet from mine. I asked him if he would look at our broken air conditioner while he was here. He immediately got on his cell phone and called the office who insisted on collecting the sixty dollar fee for coming out. I argued that he was already here, but to no avail.Fifteen minutes later this boy technician informed me that the compressor was shot and it would cost fifteen hundred dollars to replace it. Not good news. I told him we'd think about it and gave him the sixty dollars. Not being one to give up, I got out my trusty volt ohm meter and proceeded to test the circuitry. Lo and behold I found that the capacitor to the fan was shorted. This device stores electricity to jump start the large fan motor, just like in a refrigerator. There was nothing wrong with the compress

ather than the quality of the product itself. These drivers are, after all, where businesses succeed or fail.

Since 1990 InfoQuest has included four overall questions and statements in every one of its 50,000 surveys.

The three other standard questions are: -

“How satisfied are you with the ease of doing business with our company?” (highest score 93%, lowest ever score 3%).

“I would purchase products or services from your company again” and

“I would recommend your company to an associate”.

The results of TRL’s survey were compared with InfoQuest’s database of world-class benchmarks and then delivered to TRL’s executive team, headed by Chief Executive Dr Susan Sharland.

An Introduction to Motivational Speaking
Everybody speaks. Some people speak and get elected president of the United States. Other people speak and armies of business people take to the streets, generating huge sums of money. Still others speak and people’s lives change. What makes for difference between those who speak and are received by a rapt audience, and those who merely fill the air with noise?Speaking clearly and effectively is a science and that science is called motivational speaking. For some it is more art than science but unlike art, true motivational speaking can be learned, can be taught effectively, and must be practiced. To begin with, the thought of getting up in front of a live audience and speaking about anything at all frightens most people to death. They’d rather do almost anything else, be almost anywhere else than in front of a large audience of people, all of whom are listening to them intently. But for some rare individuals, the idea of speaking to large groups of people is exciting. They thrive on the attention. And if they take the time to learn the basics, and if they have something of value to say, there are brilliant, lucrative careers waiting for them as motivational speakers.The best of the best become motivational keynote s

InfoQuest issued the Airedale’s customers with special boxes in the appropriate local language, used native language speakers to validate the surveys and translate the written responses to ‘open’ questions back into English. Again the world-class benchmarks were used as comparators to help Airedale to not only maintain, but also improve, its high standard of excellence. In this instance 75% of the surveys were returned.

Customer satisfaction surveys are playing an ever-increasing role in quality-based companies. The revised international standard ISO 9000 version 2000 now promotes this practice, and the EFQM (the European Federation of Quality Management)’s Excellence Model, which is separated into nine business process, promotes Customer Results as the most important single element, giving it a rating of 20%.

As a final thought, Alan Duttine, Joint Managing Director of Airedale, states, “At the end of the day, the report itself is not important. What is important is that, as a company, we do something about it.” It is this sort of driving force that makes the difference between a good company and an excellent one.

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Online training could solve the current UK skills shortage, according to new research from an industry expert. Web collaboration company WebEx has said that human resources (HR) managers are not promoting e-learning because they think it is more complex than it is, reports Onrec.com.

According to customer service expert, best-selling author, popular speaker, and President of Customersatisfaction.com, Dr. Gary S. Goodman, there are very effective ways of monitoring and managing customer satisfaction. Happily, according to this radio and TV expert commentator, they're cheaper and more reliable than surveys and other methods.

Teleseminars are a great way to prospect, sell, stay in touch with current customers and clients, build your list, and so much more. Here are just some of the ways you can use teleseminars to boost your business!

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