Catha For Council Blog

The President of a 200+ store division of a major retailer learned of a serious communication problem and commented that ‘this was to be expected in large organizations’. Well, that clears everything up. Many retail executives don’t believe that communication is important enough to get it right by coming up with a methodology that will ensure accurate and timely communication to field personnel. They don’t think communication is an issue that will affect the business one way or the other. They readily accept mediocrity in their communication methods because their organization is ‘large’. How interesting. You’ve got to wonder…does this extend to other critical areas of their business such as customer service and product quality? Does it extend to their employment practices and their commitment to labor standards? Does ‘large’ mean cumbersome, ineffective and inefficient?

Consumers know that customer service in the majority of retail stores is indifferent, at best. Of course, there are some retailers who treat their customers with respect and who work very hard to serve them well. I am not talking about those few. I am talking about the majority. Do you know why the majority are indifferent to their customers? It’s because so many leaders are indifferent. Accountability for service at store level rests squarely on the shoulders of upper management.

Let’s look at a Store Manager who is an experienced, intelligent, customer service oriented individual. She wants to do a good job by providing customers with a good shopping experience; by providing the company’s stakeholders with a return on their investment and by providing a decent lifestyle for her family. You may think this individual does not exist in retail, but she does. Unfortunately, the upper management of her company does not realize she is an important part of the organization. They think and say they do but, as evidenced by their actions, clearly they do not.

This Store Manager must receive accurate and timely communication (which includes training) from her Head Office in order to do the job well. Yet she is close to the bottom of the list of people who are deemed worthy of receiving this communication. Below her on the list are the store associates. As backward as that sounds, it’s true. Most customers interact with the Store Manager and associates. Hmmm…could this have something to do with the problems consumers encounter in retail stores every day? I think it has everything to do with it.

Ineffective communication results in aggravated customers - let’s say you receive a promotional offer in the mail and you take it to the store only to find out that the store personnel has no idea that the promotion is in effect. How that store personnel handles your situation will make the difference between satisfaction and aggravation. Hopefully, the store personnel will use good judgment and common sense and will find a way to satisfy you. If not, you are going to be an aggravated customer. You have been inconvenienced - you’ve wasted your time and, once again, you are let down by a retail organization.

Ineffective communication results in high employee turnover - let’s say the scenario mentioned above is just one more in, what seems to be, a never ending communication nightmare. The store personnel are embarrassed and made to look foolish through no fault of their own. They do not want to be continually badgered by disappointed customers. At some point, the management and staff decide to move on, having lost all confidence in their company’s ability to get it together and keep them properly informed. No employee wants to appear uninformed. And, contrary to popular belief, there are many retail employees out there who really want to look after customers properly and who feel embarrassed when they don’t have the information they need to do it.

Ineffective communication results in lost sales - if the store staff doesn’t have product information - features, delivery schedules, pricing, etc. - they can’t advise and inform the customer. The more information they have, the better equipped they will be to influence buying decisions. Isn’t it desirable to have associates who are able to positively influence the customer to purchase what the store has to offer?

Every problem we encounter in a retail store, with the possible exception of rude behavior (and I do mean ‘possible’ exception), can be traced back to a lack of accurate and timely communication.

It’s time for retailers to embrace an effective communications methodology and stop accepting mediocrity just because their organization is ‘large’. It’s time for the self proclaimed ‘highly important’ people at the Head Office of the ‘large’ organization to be brought up to speed as to where, and by whom, sales are made and customers are satisfied.

You can contact Dianne Miethner at dmiethner@dmsretail.com

Dianne Miethner is an experienced senior Retail Manager with a passion and comittment to higher level customer service everywhere. She has written several books and articles about the topic. Some of her other publications and views can be found at http://www.dmsretail.com alternatively, you can reach Dianne miethner at dmiethner@dmsretail.com

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If you have been a home based business entrepreneur for any length of time at all you know by now that there are certain immutable laws that govern success. You know the following:

You have to learn the techniques of marketing your product or service. This usually comes from a combination of reading the volumes of information your are provided with and personal help from your upline coach or mentor.
You then have to advertise aggressively. Some of this is through the various online services such as cost per click for higher search engine placement, through link exchange, through the purchase of targeted email lists, or numerous other types of online advertising. Some of the advertising is free and some can become quite expensive. You can also advertise offline through personal relationships, by distributing business cards and flyers, or by taking out classified ads in newspapers and magazines.

You have discovered that you absolutely must have your own website.
If you haven’t yet thrown in the towel and decided this is all too overwhelming , and you probably haven’t or you wouldn’t be reading this, then you know you have to find ways to get people to your website because real success in an online business is all about numbers.

Liars may use statistics, but statistics don’t lie. You’ll only be successful in getting a small portion of the nearly 1 billion internet users to visit your website, and of those who do visit your website only a small portion will spend serious time looking at the business opportunity. And only a small portion of that group will actually “take the plunge” and sign up.

So it really is all about numbers. According to the most recent U. S. Central Intelligence Agency Fact Book, in the next two years internet users will increase by 516 million worldwide. That’s almost double the current total population of the United States. So the flip side of the funneling down effect based on the information I just provided is that you’re not dealing with a fixed number.

On the contrary, if you do the arithmetic you’ll see that 30,000 new internet users enter the world of cyberspace every hour of every day. So instead of the numbers game being an enemy to our attempts to cash in on the online business opportunity, it is an asset, and one that is growing almost exponentially. The old saying “he who hesitates has lost” cannot be more applicable.

Too many online business prospectors lose out because they become impatient. They want that $4000 check this month. They also lose out because they become overwhelmed with the learning curve. Some lose out because they become victims of over choice and spend themselves out of opportunity by trying to do too many things. They either try to put too many products or services on their shelves (getting into too many online businesses) or they get involved in too many advertising campaigns (while paying too many advertising companies) who are also representing thousands of other businesses.

My Dad was in the online business 50 years ago. He pumped gas and oil through rubber hose lines so gas stations could have gas for their customers and homes could have fuel oil to heat them in the winter to keep their residents warm. He taught me a valuable lesson about the online business. He once said to me, “Dave, it’s more important for me to make sure my (huge underground) tanks have gas and oil in them than it is make sure my customers’ tanks don’t run out. Because if I don’t have fuel I can’t help them even if they do run dry.”

What does this have to do with the online business numbers game. If I don’t take time to check my own tank occasionally, if discouragement and disillusionment sets in and my tank runs dry, if in effect I become overwhelmed and quit because the task seems too formidable, I lose out on a money making opportunity my Dad could not have dreamed would ever be possible. Thirty thousand new potential customers every hour, which calculates out to 720,000 every day, or 21.6 million every month! No, you won’t get all of them, but even if you get one one thousandth of one percent of just the new customers per month, which doesn’t account for 934 million current users, you will have added 72 people to your downline every month.

Sound unrealistic? Maybe you can do better than one one thousandth of one percent. You do the math and then figure out for yourself a strategy whereby you can tap into this enormous wealth potential.

About the Author: David Moore is a member of the Wealth Online Website system. He is a home based online business entrepreneur and teaches Anthropology and Cross-cultural Communications at a University (part-time). David has also served on the administrative staff of a faith-based humanitarian aid organization. He has completed post graduate programs in both Cross Cultural Communications and Higher Education Administration. He believes that all self-generated wealth must include a provision for giving back to the community, the church, and other worthy causes. If you would like more information on his online business, please visit his website at: www.DavidMoore.ws.

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How can we consistently and cost-effectively exceed customer expectations in order to earn repeat business?

This is the challenge many organizations face, especially as competition increases. Smart companies have come up with a novel answer, a low-cost way of exceeding expectations that really makes customers happy.

I do some of my shopping at Pavilions, an upscale grocery chain owned by Safeway. On numerous occasions, when paying my bill, the checker has asked:

“Would you like some help out to your car?”

I’m a fairly big guy, so this line is almost humorous when I’ve only purchased a half-gallon of milk or a six-pack of Coke.

Still, I appreciate the gesture.

And this is precisely the point that Pavilions wants to make. It’s sending a clear signal that it’s WILLING to go out of its way for me. This builds relationship credits in my mental “service bank.”

Noting this pattern, I asked a checker how often people actually accept the offer of additional help.

“I check-out about 300 people a day,” she replied. “And about three of them want help.”

Imagine that!

You can formulate an offer that builds service-wealth, and only have to deliver on your offer one time out of 100. Consider how much profit your company could amass if it kept 99% of everything that came in!

The message is clear. We can’t always exceed customer expectations, but we can do the next best thing.

We can show that we’re ready, willing, and able to do so. Happily, this can convey the same impression at a fraction of the cost.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman
President, Customersatisfaction.com

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. Gary’s programs are offered by UCLA Extension and by numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. When he isn’t consulting, Gary can usually be found in Glendale, California, where he makes his home. He can be reached by calling (818) 243-7338 or at gary@customersatisfaction.com

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If I told you I would give you a part time job where you would
be able to set your own hours, work from the comfort of your
home, and earn a few hundred dollars a month after the first
couple of months, you might think that was pretty cool.

If I then went on to tell you that with that same part time job
you could replace your current income within a year and then
massively exceed that income within a couple you’d probably
think that was incredible.

Would you take me up on it? I bet you would.

So, then why is it that when people venture into Internet
Marketing they waste so much time and money by immediately going
for the “holy grail”? Is it because they’re gullible, or lazy,
or a combination of both?

For some that is the case…and for others I just think they
have bought into the wild pack of lies that gets bandied about
the Internet…they buy into one pipe dream after another.

What’s the answer? One answer is to take the “Right Approach”.
You certainly need focus and a plan, but there is a mentality
that’s required that goes way above and beyond those general
concepts.

When people are looking to earn extra income it is typically
about increasing their monthly cash flow. Since a substantial
number of folks today are living check to check, the idea of
adding more money into the hopper every month is extremely
appealing. It is the main reason people get a second job.

So, how about likening your new Internet Marketing career to a
part time/second job? A second job that will afford you some
extra money every month and which could replace your main source
of income in the long run.

Since we live in a short term, gotta have it now society, why
not attack your Internet Marketing business with short term
goals? I know…I know. Not very flashy…but if you want to be
successful then forget the idea of being rich in 30 days, and
get with the idea of building your business one small step at a
time.

Here is an effective strategy for doing just that; by keeping
the right mindset and taking the Right Approach…

When you get started, pick one monthly bill that aggravates the
heck out of you. For me it was all of them but the one that most
annoyed me was the telephone bill. I hated getting that thing in
the mail every month and decided that it was the first one to
go.

I applied the techniques I had learned about being an affiliate
marketer and began focusing on earning enough a month to pay
that with my online earnings. It was only a short while before I
had that handled. So, now my phone bill was covered and gave me
an extra $100 or so bucks in free cash each month.

Now that I had taken care of those annoying phone bills I picked
the next most hated bill which was my water bill. I could barely
stomach the sight of those things. Again, in a short while I was
earning enough to pay my water bill in addition to my phone
bill. 2 down and even more extra cash in my pocket.

As time passed I became more adept at marketing online and
earned more money each month. I continued to apply the same
strategy and continued to pick off various bills until I got to
the point where I was making more online then I was working my
day job and was able to afford my normal bills and still have
plenty of fun money.

Was this quick? Not by most people’s definition, but in 14
months I was able to make the decision that I would no longer
work for anyone but me and had the ability to support myself and
have a few of the nicer things in life by Internet Marketing
alone.

And guess what? There were thousands of people that began their
marketing careers the same time I did and most of them are in
the exact same boat they were at day 1.

They didn’t take the right approach and they only thought about
making it big and making it fast. Although that can happen from
time to time and some folks do it better and faster than others,
that is the exception and not the rule.

So, how about that part time job now? Are you willing to go the
distance? If you are then set short term goals and take the
Right Approach. That “holy grail” is out there but it takes
patience, work, and focus to get it.

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