Small Business Productivity -How to Take Your Company to the Next Level through Efficient Technology
Small businesses thrive when productivity is maximized. The best way to maximize productivity is through efficient technology. Business success is based on having the right product or service at the right price at the right time and in the right place. Efficient technology for small businesses probably will not create the next great product or service, but it will help you with everything else your company must do to get that product or service to market and to deliver it to the customer.Many small businesses fail because they do not utilize technology adequately or efficiently. Key element

Are Your Policies Driving Your Customers Crazy?
Are you inadvertently driving your customers crazy with your company policies? Not sure?Well, imagine that a customer who's been with your company for a while with no complaints finally has a reason to contact customer service because of what appears to be a billing error. She assumes the error will be corrected quickly and she'll go on her way.Instead, your customer service rep recites a convoluted procedure she'll need to go through to rectify the issue, much to the customer's astonishment. The representative explains by saying, "I'm sorry, but that's our policy and we have to follow i

Minimize No Shows For Your Events
Any event will have people who register to attend and fail to show up. There are many reasons for not attending, but it really comes down to priorities.No shows create problems for event planners ranging from wasted meals and poor event atmosphere to listening to excuses and deciding whether or not to charge the posted cancellation fee.Everyone, including the attendees would be better off if people would attend events as planned. Here are some reminders about how you might minimize the number of "no shows" to your event.Get their money (if your event has a fee)ok at it systematically.

QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT

If you come right down to it, what IS quality? It could mean that the product will last a long time. It could be that it is particularly suited to the job it’s supposed to do. It could mean that it really looks good and is pleasing to handle. Putting all of these in a nutshell: quality means the product is well made. The customer buying your product is really the one who makes the final judgment on the quality of your product, even though he may have initially heard about it from someone else. That judgment takes a period of time to develop, but once it’s given, it becomes part of the reputation of the company producing it. So look first at the quality of your product – how does it measure up? Measure up, there’s a good phrase. If you want to really measure the quality of your product you will have to know what the customer says it is. While quality is produced by the manufacturer, it is defined by the customer. So right off, you’ve gotta know what they want. How are you going about doing that? The first step in improving your competitive-ness involves re-evaluating customer requirements for quality, and then seeing how you’re doing against those.

FRIENDLINESS OF THE SERVICE

One of the really interesting statistics floating around out there is that only 15% of manufacturing is actually related to the manufacturing line – the rest is service. Think about it. Evaluating customer needs, dealing with customers before the sale, making the sale, delivering the product, following up with the customer, answering questions or training, servicing the product…what are all of these? Right! They are services. How competitive are you in each of these areas? Have you ever systematically evaluated how you are doing?

In service, especially immediately before the sale and in customer follow up, American companies have a real opportunity to be much more competitive than those who have outsourced these functions. Why is that? The answer lies with idiomatic English. It is one thing to learn English in a university and speak it well, it is wholly another thing to know the idioms that accompany American speech. Think about it. Have you ever been on the phone with a foreign customer service rep with a question, and gotten the phone equivalent of the “deer in the headlights” look? There is almost nothing in existence that is better guaranteed to raise your blood pressure a couple of dozen points!

A recent experience by one consumer seeking to buy new cell phones and service for his business comes to mind. The guy had found a great deal, and put the order in for the phones and service online; so far, so good. But then an email came telling him there was a glitch, and he needed to call this 800 number to get it straightened out. The number put him in touch with an American company’s phone center somewhere in India (they were cutting costs by moving it offshore) and the resulting experience finally caused him to cancel two different purchases that involved four cell phones and several long term contracts. Now, what was the actual bottom line savings to that cell phone company? The loss of that sale probably amounted to about $2,000 a year – but how often did this happen in the course of that month – or that year? What was the overall loss? Interesting to consider, huh? And what about the reputation of the company? Do you think that businessman will be likely to purchase from them in the future?

So there is a very real opportunity to increase both your sales and your competitiveness by having service people who are well trained in customer service, who know your products, AND who are able to communi

ced by the manufacturer, it is defined by the customer. So right off, you’ve gotta know what they want. How are you going about doing that? The first step in improving your competitive-ness involves re-evaluating customer requirements for quality, and then seeing how you’re doing against those.

FRIENDLINESS OF THE SERVICE

One of the really interesting statistics floating around out there is that only 15% of manufacturing is actually related to the manufacturing line – the rest is service. Think about it. Evaluating customer needs, dealing with customers before the sale, making the sale, delivering the product, following up with the customer, answering questions or training, servicing the product…what are all of these? Right! They are services. How competitive are you in each of these areas? Have you ever systematically evaluated how you are doing?

In service, especially immediately before the sale and in customer follow up, American companies have a real opportunity to be much more competitive than those who have outsourced these functions. Why is that? The answer lies with idiomatic English. It is one thing to learn English in a university and speak it well, it is wholly another thing to know the idioms that accompany American speech. Think about it. Have you ever been on the phone with a foreign customer service rep with a question, and gotten the phone equivalent of the “deer in the headlights” look? There is almost nothing in existence that is better guaranteed to raise your blood pressure a couple of dozen points!

A recent experience by one consumer seeking to buy new cell phones and service for his business comes to mind. The guy had found a great deal, and put the order in for the phones and service online; so far, so good. But then an email came telling him there was a glitch, and he needed to call this 800 number to get it straightened out. The number put him in touch with an American company’s phone center somewhere in India (they were cutting costs by moving it offshore) and the resulting experience finally caused him to cancel two different purchases that involved four cell phones and several long term contracts. Now, what was the actual bottom line savings to that cell phone company? The loss of that sale probably amounted to about $2,000 a year – but how often did this happen in the course of that month – or that year? What was the overall loss? Interesting to consider, huh? And what about the reputation of the company? Do you think that businessman will be likely to purchase from them in the future?

So there is a very real opportunity to increase both your sales and your competitiveness by having service people who are well trained in customer service, who know your products, AND who are able to communi

in customer follow up, American companies have a real opportunity to be much more competitive than those who have outsourced these functions. Why is that? The answer lies with idiomatic English. It is one thing to learn English in a university and speak it well, it is wholly another thing to know the idioms that accompany American speech. Think about it. Have you ever been on the phone with a foreign customer service rep with a question, and gotten the phone equivalent of the “deer in the headlights” look? There is almost nothing in existence that is better guaranteed to raise your blood pressure a couple of dozen points!

A recent experience by one consumer seeking to buy new cell phones and service for his business comes to mind. The guy had found a great deal, and put the order in for the phones and service online; so far, so good. But then an email came telling him there was a glitch, and he needed to call this 800 number to get it straightened out. The number put him in touch with an American company’s phone center somewhere in India (they were cutting costs by moving it offshore) and the resulting experience finally caused him to cancel two different purchases that involved four cell phones and several long term contracts. Now, what was the actual bottom line savings to that cell phone company? The loss of that sale probably amounted to about $2,000 a year – but how often did this happen in the course of that month – or that year? What was the overall loss? Interesting to consider, huh? And what about the reputation of the company? Do you think that businessman will be likely to purchase from them in the future?

So there is a very real opportunity to increase both your sales and your competitiveness by having service people who are well trained in customer service, who know your products, AND who are able to communi

is 800 number to get it straightened out. The number put him in touch with an American company’s phone center somewhere in India (they were cutting costs by moving it offshore) and the resulting experience finally caused him to cancel two different purchases that involved four cell phones and several long term contracts. Now, what was the actual bottom line savings to that cell phone company? The loss of that sale probably amounted to about $2,000 a year – but how often did this happen in the course of that month – or that year? What was the overall loss? Interesting to consider, huh? And what about the reputation of the company? Do you think that businessman will be likely to purchase from them in the future?

So there is a very real opportunity to increase both your sales and your competitiveness by having service people who are well trained in customer service, who know your products, AND who are able to communicate easily and quickly with your customers. You are saving them time and money, and they are much more likely to continue with you in future business. Part 2 to follow…