Jun
30
Selling Skills
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“I can’t sell”, I hear you say. Nonsense, everybody can sell. If you ever got a job, sold your car or sold yourself to another person (ie. got married or formed a relationship), you have proven your ability to sell. We sell ideas to others all the time, we just don’t see it as selling.
The role of a sales person is to find out what the customer wants rather than whether the customer wants something at all. Once this is done, a sales professional should then help the customer fill that need to the customers’ satisfaction. The principle skills a successful salesman needs are:
* Putting your customers in a acceptance state of mind, making them feel at ease and unpressured.
* Showing interest in their questions or needs.
* Using opinions as selling points (both yours and theirs).
* Supplying facts and helpful information.
* Meeting objections in a positive way and never becoming defensive or aggressive.
* Seeing things from the customer’s point of view.
* Suggesting additional merchandise or services.(Value adding)
* Building repeat business.
It’s important that you learn to apply these techniques, although if you apply courtesy, friendliness, honesty and you know what you’re talking about, you’re 90% there. Not very hard when you consider it.
I know of quite a few owners of small businesses who would never consider themselves sales people but have remarkable success at selling their products and services by just being themselves. Is this being a good sales person? Probably.
An old friend of mine, Rastass owns a pie franchise in one of Perth’s trendier suburbs. He spent many years of his life working for a hospital. It never ceases to amaze me, and his business partner, how this “untrained” person can sell products by just being himself. He is a natural salesman.
On the days he looks after the business instead of his partner, the numbers are always up compared to when he’s not there. If you were to ask him if he thought he was a good salesman he would probably say no, but the sales figures speak for themselves.
He does it by being a friendly, nice guy that loves a joke and a talk with his customers. Most of his customers would never go elsewhere because they like him. I’m sure even if he put his prices up, he would still attract the same clients because they have a rapport with him. They feel good about shopping at his shop; he makes sure they do. Everybody can sell, simply use your own personality and be friendly and courteous. Treat customers the way you would like to be treated.
Top sales people make a point of remembering regular customers’ names, ensuring each time they come to the store they receive a small discount or offering other little extras like helping them to the car with their parcels. As I mentioned before with my friend, he fosters friendships with his regular customers. This fosters loyalty to the business by the customer, quite often regardless of price, because they get preferential treatment. You’ve probably had the feeling yourself when you constantly use a particular business and each time you walk in the people don’t just ask for the order.
Generally, sales people feel awkward about asking the customer for the order. These sales people will never be really successful in sales. A lot of sales are lost simply because the sales person doesn’t put the onus back on the customer to make a decision, they simply leave the decision up in the air which allows the potential customer to quietly drift out the door without having to commit themselves to a decision. How many times do you do this? I do it all the time and think to myself, “I’m glad nobody put me under pressure, I probably would have spent money”.
This article supplied by forex trading, sales course and web design brisbane.
Jun
30
53lb/24kg Russian Red kettlebell - The Next Best Thing for a Great Workout
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Russian kettlebells has is now dubbed as the ultimate tool for all-around fitness as it meets the 6 elements of physical fitness - power, flexibility, coordination, endurance, cardio-respiratory efficiency and body build. Kettlebell exercise programs will help you develop you in all 6 of these areas.
The 53lb/24kg Russian Red kettlebell is ideal for able men who can perform drills with the 35 pounder and who want to go on the next step of the body building program. Moving on to this next level simply proves that one’s prowess is comparable to that of Russian military and elite Russian athletes, as a 53 lb kettlebell is designed to exactly replicate the standard size and weight used by these top group of people.
What’s in it with the Red?
Well, some may find the Classic or the Black Russian Kettlebell costly. Dragondoor, the manufacturer for Russian Kettlebells, has made an alternative solution to that problem without sacrificing quality and efficiency. Hence, the Russian Red Kettlebell. The Russian red is the more affordable version of genuine Russian Kettlebells. It has a polished red coating finish and a thicker handle for grip. It looks a lot more eye-catching as well. When used with proper guidance, one can achieve all the benefits that can be obtained from a Russian Ketlebell.
Kettlebell exercises are not as easy and simple as lifting a dumbbell. There are varied drills and they are require a lot of effort. However, there are programs developed that would help you properly use the equipment, and help you obtain positive results faster than you thought, and more importantly, keep you from getting hurt. This website can provide useful information about buying Russian Kettlebells.
Jun
30
Help and Information for Big Cat Photography Part Two
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Introduction
Welcome to Part Two of Hints and Tips on Big Cat Photography. Here we continue to look at equipment and common mistakes encountered when photographing Big Cats.
Lenses
Here you have quite a few choices , these points are discuss below.
Specific Lenses
Macro - a close focusing lens ranging from 50 to around 110mm in focal length - the longer the lens the further away from the subject you can be. The drawback - foreshortened depth of field - you have just a few millimetres to get the focus point correct - so you’ll need a still subject matter. But you can get some amazing close ups of teeth and paws.
Standard Close Focusing - this would apply to a 30mm or 50mm prime lens but one that has the ability to focus down to around 8 to 12 inches. These lenses can give you close dramatic pictures when on a Big Cats Experience Day.
Standard Zoom - for me this would be a lens similar to an 18 - 70mm or the 17 - 55mm. Similarly there are some longer standard zooms such as the 24 - 70mm or even a 24 - 120mm. The choice is yours and it comes down to which part of the zoom range you want to operate within, remember on a DX body the lens will be multiplied by a factor of 1.4 to 1.6 depending on which make of camera body you have. So your 17 - 55mm multiplies up to around a 25 - 82mm when compared to a 35mm film camera or an FX digital body. On an FX body - being full frame the focal length is as stated. But remember if you use a DX lens on a FX body you’ll get edge fringing , called vignetting.
Fast Zoom Lens -by this we are looking at how much light the lens can let in at its maximum aperture. For example a lens with a minimum aperture of F6.3 will let in far less light than one of F2.8. Remember the smaller the number the bigger the hole in the lens and the more light it lets in. This then gives you quicker shutter speeds, which you need with longer focal length lenses, for example those over 200mm. Tip - you should always keep your shutter speed over your focal length - so if you‘re at 200mm, you need 200th of a second, but hang on you’re using a DX body and lens so you need to add in the crop factor multiply by 1.4 to 1.6 so at 200mm you really need 320th or 400th of a second. Even some standard zooms with F2.8 aperture used by the professional photographer can still be expensive, for example the Nikon 17-55 F2.8 is around £900.
Standard Telephoto - this would be something like a 70 - 300mm lens or some of the more all day lenses - like an 18 - 200 or 55 - 200, all day lenses are covered below. You can get a 70 - 200 F2.8 but these are expensive, most standard telephotos range from F4 to F5.6 in terms of speed and are good all round lenses, just watch the light levels. OK you can up the ISO but again remember the noise compromise.
Super Telephoto - this would apply to either a lens over 300mm or one that I feel is a prime lens, fixed focal length, that sits around F4 or F2.8. These are very expensive lenses and entry levels are around £2,000. Personally I like to use the 200 - 400mm VR lens from Nikon, now checking in at a suggested selling price of £5800, but I didn’t pay that for mine, I got in before the 2009 price rise.
All Day Lenses
A Definition - by this we are discussing an all in one lens, a lens that will cover from wide angle to standard telephoto, for instance an 18- 200mm.
The Benefits - it gets you all the shots you need, no swapping lenses no down time. Often light and compact they are not much to carry about.
The Compromise - optical quality! You’re asking this lens be a jack of all trades master of none. A prime will always out perform a zoom. And an all day lens has to do a job at all levels through the zoom range, the edges of the image will suffer and so too will the speed of the lens, remember the F number and the amount of light it needs. You don’t find professional lens made at F2.8 or faster that cover that wide a range - and there has to be a reason for that - optical quality - Pros carry 2 or more camera bodies with a shot and a long lens set up using matched equipment.
Depth of Field
Depth of Field (DOF) - if you are lucky enough to own f2.8 maximum aperture lenses then be mindful as to how short the DOF can be, especially if the subject comes within the zone where the distance to subject is under the focal length - for example, the DOF on a 200mm lens will be further foreshortened if the subject is inside a 2m (2000mm) range in front of the lens. Some 200mm lenses will focus as close as 1.5 - 1.8m so the impact of this is that you may focus on the nose of say a tiger only to find the eyes are blurred, or out of focus.
Shutter Speed
As a commercial photographer - remember this guide as we mentioned earlier - keep your shutter speed above the focal length of your lens, e.g. 200mm shoot at 250th sec or more, allowing for the crop factor I’d suggest at least 320th sec on a 200mm lens.
RAW or Jpeg
This is probably as much discussed on the camera forums as brand names, each has its advantages and disadvantages. Personally I shoot RAW as it gives you an insurance policy if the shot is slightly out. Added to that I personally think it gives you more post production options. The choice as they is yours. I do shoot Jpeg for press work but only because you don’t have the time for post production.
Image Composition
Detail - this is great option, stripes, spots, eyes, ear noses and tails - there is so much choice.
Action - running, jumping, pawing for food on the ground or in the air, lost of options. And when it all kicks off with the three male lions make sure you’re ready.
Portraits - sitting, lying down with a full belly and a low sun in the sky and the lions look great. Contrast that with an angelic Tiger that just can’t be bothered. All of these give you great options for images.
Close Up - teeth, paws and claws, similar to the details shot but much closer, using macro photography.
Use of flash - this can be done, watch out for green or yellow eye, this is the same as red eye in humans and it’s a lot easier to get and harder to get rid of due to the size of the cats eyes. Also watch out for the wire, make sure the flash gun is a fill to the available light and close to the wire else you get wire stripes.
Common Errors
Wire - while the gauge of wire will have an effect on what can be done, I still see many shots with the wire right through the middle of the shot. It’s best to get the centre of the lens lined up with the square of the wire - i.e. the hole. Ensure you don’t have a vertical or horizontal wire passing in front of your lens or worst still a join, giving a big cross in the shot.
Background - try to get the background as natural as possible use head shots or a short depth of field to bur the background. Also use any landscaping in the enclosure to mask the cage behind or above. Remember to get down low, take the cats perspective.
Machine gunning! - is the photographer that holds down the shutter button for long periods of time, shooting continuously without checking the shots back. This will fill up your memory cards very quickly and give so many similar images to edit, when all you really need are short bursts of 3 to 6 shots. Take your time.
Metering - Try and avoid matrix metering and use spot or centre weighted, remember to metre off the subject. Matrix metering is too general for Big Cats.
Accessories
Tripods - these are not really usable around the Big Cats enclosures as they are awkward and you don’t have the flexibility to move.
Monopods - these are very useful on longer lenses and have the ability to be more manoeuvrable.
Laptops - if you have one it’s a good idea to dump your shots half way through the day. Alternatively use the laptop to check shots back, say at lunchtime, and see how you are getting on. Also remember to back up your cards - the last thing you want is a card failure and no images.
Extra cards - a very good idea, keep them smaller, now-a-days around 4GB. 16GB cards are all well and good but if it fails, that’s a lot of lost data. 1GB used to be considered large, a while back, now using this card in a modern DSLR and it more resembles the number of shots you’d get on a roll of film.
Clothing - Check the weather before you go. Take a few options to allow for a change in the weather or for getting down on the ground.
Author : Peter Davey MA DipM
Jun
28
Finally, Stylish Fishing Clothing Now Available!
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At Bassaholics, you can find the hottest new fishing apparel on the market today! These aren’t your dads fishing t shirts. You know, the ones with a bass jumping out of water after a lure at sunset. These are the freshest bass fishing t shirts available! Stylish fishing t shirts are their specialty, but they also carry hats, hoodies, shorts, jerseys and beanies. With unique designs worn by top bass fisherman, including Joe Everett, this is the place to find the most fashionable fishing clothing available anywhere!
Visit Bassaholics and sign up for their newsletter to get the most up to date info on the newest Bassaholics fishing clothing and happenings. You can also find a list of authorized dealers that carry Bassaholics fishing apparel if you want to shop at a store. If you own a fishing shop and are looking to carry the newest fishing apparel available, you can easily become a Bassaholics fishing clothing authorized dealer! Everyone can also sign up to become a member and gain access to special portions of the site like the photo gallery!
So if you’re looking for t shirts and other fishing clothing that is geared towards bass fishing, then Bassaholics is the place! Hey, I almost forgot, Bassaholics also has something for all the ladies out there! So check out the site for chic womens fishing clothing as well! Fishing apparel is their specialty, so if you want to look slick and show off your love for bass fishing simultaneously, but don’t want to settle for lame run-of-the-mill fishing t shirts, then Bassaholics.com is the place to shop!
Jun
28
Designing A Web Site For A Set Screen Resolution is Outdated
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Introduction
Being a web designer working on website development projects I have learned that it is important to stop and think about what size screen resolution we should be building this latest website to?
I was reading somewhere recently that apparently these days the only answer to that question should be ‘all of them’ and ‘none of them’. What this basically means is that new websites should be built to accommodate all different screen sizes these days, particularly with the increased popularity of hand help web browsers, smart phones, net books and the like. Of course there is also the other end of the spectrum in the new huge wide screen flat screen monitors. I recently treated myself to a 24 inch Asus which does 1920×1080 which is big enough to get two web browser windows on screen side by side, but if you make one of them full size, the majority or websites look, well, just plain silly!
What exactly is screen resolution then?
If you are not familiar with screen resolution, the simple answer is that it is the size of your display. However, this can be quite misleading because it is actually the number of pixels that make up the display area on the screen of your monitor. Still not clear? Well let’s look at some examples to help clarify exactly what screen resolution is.
Currently what would appear to be the most common screen resolution is 1024×768 (accounting for 62% of my website visitors). This is a screen that is 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high. What is a pixel? A Pixel, derived from the phrase Picture Element, is basically one of the thousands of tiny dots that make up your display screen. However, this does not necessarily determine the physical size of your monitor (14 inch, 15 inch, 19 inch etc) because most monitors are capable of displaying the screen in different screen resolutions. It is fairly true to say that if you want to run your monitor at a high screen resolution then you will need a large monitor, the larger the monitor the greater the resolution it can display at (assuming your graphics processor can support a high resolution).
All getting a bit technical? Put simply the larger the screen resolution the more things you can fit on your screen before they have to go onto the next line, or before you have to scroll down or scroll right.
What’s this got to do with Website Design?
When creating the graphics for a new website design, traditionally the experienced graphic designer would be working to a specific resolution in order to make sure that the design fits in your browser window without having to scroll right. (Thankfully most website owners don’t demand you make their pages so that you don’t have to scroll down anymore!)
A common screen resolution is 1024×768 but if pages built to this size are viewed on a larger screen size such as 1600×1200 there will be large sections of the screen that are blank, so a competent ecommerce web design agency will offer a solution to this.
When designing at a fixed resolution you can deal with larger display settings by either aligning the site to the left and having a huge great big gap to the right, or you can centre align the website in the available space and then the extra screen resolution will be on either side of the content area.
However, the sensible, modern day approach is to make the site flexible to accommodate all screen resolutions by creating ‘fluid’ content that will flow to fit the available page space irrespective of what size screen resolution it is viewed at.
Also, because of the increased popularity of the web the challenge for a website owner is how to engage your viewers and get them to stay on your website for as long as possible and show them as much content as possible. One way to help with this is to make full use of all of the available space. Two great big blank areas either side of a tiny web page is simply just a waste of space. Imagine if you picked up a newspaper or magazine and only half of the front page had got any content on it, the editor would get the sack for sure! So by creating fluid content, web site owners can take advantage of larger publishing spaces available on bigger screen users, whilst optimising content for display on smaller screens at the same time.
Another advantage with big screen displays is the ability to use the new area for re-publishing. Re-publishing is a way to put content from another area of your site onto a different page, thereby bringing it forward for the viewer. An example of this that we did on one site we created was to insert an alphabetical list of names of the products available on the website below the left hand menu on pages that were very long.
All pages tend to be different lengths, as determined by the content on the page, so we used a clever widget to create this list of product names and squirt it in the gap until it ran out of space. This was great for SEO too as it gave a direct link to specific product pages based on their product names without having to crawl through category pages first, also website users would often see something in the list they wanted and click straight through to the page and buy the item.
Ultimately this has evolved into what would now be thought of as a web 2.0 ‘tag cloud’ a list of tags that are usually user generated, to indicate and link directly to a specific content group or item. Using a tag cloud is a great way to fill fluid spaces on larger screens that you can fill with what are effectively links to other parts of the website.
How do you create fluid content?
Fluid content is really easy to create, the majority will be words of course, which are naturally fluid so on a small resolution screen you might get 5-10 words to a row, on a larger screen you can get 20-30 words or more. However the challenge comes with images, and particularly website graphics. A photograph, whilst it can be made smaller and larger offline, it can’t be automatically resized by the web browser at the time of viewing (not taking into account the Zoom function in Internet Explorer).
The HTML code that makes up your web pages is again designed to allow fluidity by fitting content into the available page area, so some pointers that can be employed to make content fluid include not using tables in the code (which are depreciated these days now anyway), not setting specific screen width in pixels, use 100% instead. By fading images into blocks of colour in the website graphics, you can create a stretchable element that will scale to fit all window sizes. Use little boxes to put stuff in, these can then flow around the screen as required without having to be in any particular place, they also help to draw the eye to special offers, discounts, newsletter sign ups etc, and can of course be styled by your graphic designer with colours and shadows and gradients to look great.
Conclusion
Most Loughborough web design companies accept that fluid design is the way forward for web design because your website is then compatible with the full spectrum of screen sizes.This increases the opportunity of making a sale by utilising all of the available publishing space.
Jun
28
IOSH Managing safely for healthcare professionals
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After undertaking the IOSH Managing safely for healthcare professionals course
Candidates should be able to:
- Understand the principles of health & safety management practices
- Understand the methods required to generate positive health & safety attitudes by managers & staff & to appreciate the immediate & underlying causes of accident/incident investigation.
- Describe the principles of corporate & local risk management & apply the techniques & practices of risk prevention/control to the working environment.
- Understand the legal system & how it has evolved into current legislation along with the major responsibilities for health & safety that fall on both the Trust & employees.
- To improve communication in the management of health & safety
- Understand the relationship & responsibilities of client & contractors.
- Understand the risks associated with both core & other hazards in the healthcare environment & develop knowledge in their prevention & control.
IOSH Training is available for a number of other areas which give you a rang of other certified skills. Protect Life are a health, safety and protective goods superstore. They offer all the above and much.
Good vendors of this type of training are hard to find. Perhaps the best approach when selecting a supplier is to approach the HSP (Health Safety and Protective) Superstores, they can usually sasitisfy all your health safety and protective training needs. They pridictably have 4 primary training services which we can be delivered locally, nationally or internationally:
1. Defining your needs - Helping clients to evaluate or review theire training requirements and deliver a plan for training which will be flexible enough to work in the designated organisation;
2. Planning - Help customers to present and implement a clear and transparent plan address training all their health safety and protective needs;
3. Deliver one-off or periodic training for individuals/groups. With many of there courses you have the option of Training being delivered face to face, via video, via interactive computer based training or a combination of these methods;
4. Your training department – they can manage all your training issues for you.
They say “training does not have to be costly or restricted to any specific time” As some of their courses can be taken any time of the day and any day of the week.
Jun
28
Apple iPod MP3 Player Accessories
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Most people today spend hours driving to and from school or work each week. They are stuck with a commute which they cannot change. Although they have to commute each day, that doesn’t mean they can’t be productive while traveling or at least enjoy the boring commute. Another fact is that more and more people today own an Apple iPod mp3 player.
Of course most everyone bought the iPod to play their favorite tunes but there are many other uses of this little miracle. College students can record their class lectures and transform them to mp3 format and play them back via their iPod mp3 player. Today, the most popular books are available on cd in mp3 format also. Obviously there is a huge variety of music which can be downloaded as single songs and full albums for your mp3 players also. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the huge variety of ipod mp3 player accessories available.
Even basic vehicles today have better then average sounding audio systems, most drivers would love to be able to play your recorded lectures or music through your car audio system. A few years back you could spend hours on end searching specialty stores looking for the right ipod car adapter for your specific vehicle, but those days are over. I’ve found a website which offers great ipod adapter information as well as a huge supply of iPod mp3 music adapters and accessories.
Locating the correct mp3 music player adapter is quite easy. If you have an after market receiver like Clarion or Pioneer, just match your brand ipod adapter. Of course if you have the original manufacturer’s source unit, just find an adapter made for your specific vehicle be it Ford or Honda or whatever. This is fast and easy when you have access to a good variety of brands. You specific vehicle adapters made by USA Spec, Soundgate and many other manufactures to apply to just about any make of car or truck.
With a new ipod adapter, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite music, audiobooks, lectures, podcasts and more right through your car’s speakers. Your commute will immediately seem much shorter.
Jun
27
Did you ever try to find a lost friend on the Internet?
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Have you ever tried to find a lost friend on the Internet? I have it is not as easy as you might think. I had a good friend in junior high and I have fond memories of hanging out having fun with him. We would hang out listen to music talk just have a great time.
The other day I was thinking about my long-lost friend and I decided to try to find them on the Internet. It seems everyone nowadays uses the Internet so I figured it shouldn’t be difficult to locate him. I pulled up Google typed his name and get pages on pages of results. I checked out page after page but didn’t find any mention of my friend just a lot of people with similar names.
I decided try to narrow my search a bit by including the town and state where we grew up. Unfortunately they were still too many pages to look through for it to be practical to find my lost friend. I decided Google just gave to many results so I would try using a less popular search engine like MSN.
I typed in my friends name and the city and state where we grew up and sure enough I did get a lot fewer results. Instead of hundreds of pages there are only eight. I started looking through those pages of results and I found a couple which I thought would surely lead me to find my lost friend. However, after an hour of searching I still came up empty.
Then I decided to try Yahoo. Since Yahoo search has been around longer than Google or MSN I thought I might have better luck there. Again I entered my friends name the city and state and this time I got about 30 pages of results. I started the arduous task of looking through each and every page and clicking on link after link. Now I was getting frustrated I spent all this time and still cannot find my lost friend.
I pretty much gave up on finding my friend until a couple months later when I discovered reunion.com. I decided to give the site a try and I was amazed at how quickly I was able to turn up results for my lost friend. The service was not free but considering the amount of time I have wasted trying to search in the regular search engines it was definitely worth the small price.
I was able to find a phone number for my friend and I gave them a call. He was very happy to hear from me. In fact, he had been searching for me also. We have a long phone conversation and it turns out that he lived close enough that we could meet for lunch. Although it was more difficult to locate my lost friend than I had imagined it was great to find him and I’m glad I put in the effort.
Jun
27
Writing Customer Satisfaction Surveys that Work
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Why bother?
The life blood of any business is good customer service. Although new customers are very important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat business. With every satisfied customer your business is likely to go on and secure many more customers through recommendations and if you do not take proper care of your customers there is probably a competitor waiting in the wings that will.
A customer satisfaction survey will demonstrate to your customers that you care and are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service that you provide.
Where do you start?
Objective - Before you start compiling your survey consider what the objectives of the survey are, in that way you will remain focused and find it easier to decide what questions to ask.
Analysis - Once the survey has been completed consider how you will analyse the answers.
Keep in mind that ‘closed’ questions (where a respondent is asked to choose from a limited number of responses) are much easier to analyze than ‘open’ questions (where the respondent can reply in anyway they want).
Much will depend on the predicted volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analysing the results.
Opportunity – Keep in mind that as well as obtaining valuable market research data customer surveys are also a good way to publicise aspects of your service that your customers may not be aware of.
Before publishing the survey read through the survey from a market research view point to confirm that you are asking the right questions in the right way and that your chosen answer format will provide you with feedback that will allow you to make informed decisions.
Then, from a marketing view point read through the survey, confirm that you have phrased each question so that every opportunity has been taken to promote your business?
The ideal question will perform the following three functions:-
- Market research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
- Marketing - promote aspects of your business
- Information/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of
For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?
In asking this question the store will hopefully not only receive useful feedback on the baby changing facility but they will also promote the store as being a child-friendly and caring store even to those the customers who do not actually require the facility.
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst.
A customer satisfaction survey should be designed to identify any problem areas so that they can be fixed; conducting regular customer satisfaction will help prevent complacency and will also give early warning on where you may be losing business to your competitors initiatives.
What questions should you ask?
Although it is a given that each business is likely to have specific and unique factors that are important in providing good customer services there are common areas that are relevant to all businesses be they a physical store, online internet store or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - What do you do to help your customers communicate with you?
When customers telephone are their calls answered quickly; are their enquiries about products or services handled properly? A good business will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person, politely, quickly and fairly.
If a problem is not resolvable immediately do you promise to respond in a given time period and do you deliver on your promise?
Use a customer satisfaction survey to ensure that all your staff are considered by your customers to be knowledgeable, courteous and helpful.
Location – Do your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical bricks and mortar store, is it conveniently located with good access?
Making it pleasant, making it easy - For a virtual business it is important to ensure that your website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Physical store or online website, is the store properly laid out, can your customers find what they need and is there sufficient information and help on hand to explain how a particular product works?
The right quality products – Not only should you measure the quality of the service that you provide but you should check that the products and services that you market are what the customer wants and closely match their expectations.
Value for money – Cheap or expensive is hardly ever a good measure, value for money is.
Do your current customers consider the products you sell or the services you provide as value for money, if not, why not?
Speed and attention – Customers want their enquiries or queries to be dealt with quickly but attentively.
Are you doing everything to prevent any delays?
A good business will try to treat each customer as an individual, does yours? Customers appreciate attention but only if it leads to a quick and satisfactory resolution of the query.
Demographics and Specific issues – Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example their gender, age group and where they live?
By understanding your customers more, the better your chances of correctly targeting your business.
Encourage customers to highlight their specific problems and provide contact details so that their concerns can be followed up.
What next?
Once the survey has been completed analyse the results.
Trends – Look for common and specific areas where the service needs improving.
Ask yourself if any criticism is valid, be honest to yourself, is there anything that can be done to properly resolve, or at the very least, minimise the problem?
Training – Are all employees properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge?
If customer service training programs have been implemented have they improved the customer experience?
Follow-up – If a customer who has completed a survey has raised a specific issue do all you can to ensure that their complaint is addressed.
Do not waste an opportunity to resolve a problem and keep a customer.
Continuously Monitor - Make changes based on the survey results and then re-measure by issuing further surveys.
If you are concerned about customer satisfaction and would like to view a sample survey for a store that will demonstrate some of the above advice please view the Sample Customer Survey
Jun
25
They Stole My Laptop But I had Insurance!
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You always think that bad things happen to other people. You never think that you will be the victim of a crime. That is a pretty normal feeling, but also pretty naive and rather silly when you think about it. Anyone can be the victim of a crime, yes, anyone. I am proof of that. I had the extra lock on my apartment, the high tech security system and someone still broke into my home and stole my belongings. Yes, I lost a great deal, but it could have been worse. Luckily, I had laptop Insurance and this saved me a great deal.
On that terrible morning, I went to work as usual. I set my alarm, locked my door and was off. When I returned home hours later, I found my door ajar. I pushed it open oh, so carefully and was met with utter chaos. Everything in my home had been turned upside down. The entire contents of my home had been ransacked and destroyed. My furniture was overturned; books pulled off of the shelves, even the contents of my wastebaskets were strewn across the floor. Someone had broken into my home and had made off with many of my possessions.
I began to take inventory of what was missing. My television, DVD player, jewellery, stereo, I ticked off the items one by one. Then it hit me, my laptop was missing. It felt as if someone had kicked me in the stomach! I have a second job that requires my use of my laptop. It is how I supplement my income from my regular job. Without that laptop I may not even be able to make my rent! Of all my possessions that had been stolen, this hit me the hardest. Then I remembered that I had laptop Insurance uk. What a life saver!
Laptop theft is common. People break into homes, offices and even government building all the time to get the laptops and steal them. I knew that this was true and a very common problem, so when I purchased my laptop I went ahead and got laptop insurance as well. I am so glad that I did! It was well worth the money and it has literally paid for itself. Filing a claim was super easy and I had a replacement in no time at all. I wish the replacement of my other belongings had been so easy and painless.
If you incur the expense to purchase a laptop then you owe it to yourself to have it insured. The cost in minimal and just a drop in the bucket when compared to replacing it in the event it is damaged or stolen. There are two things that you should always do to protect yourself when you are working with a computer. Always back up your hard drive on a CD and keep it in a separate place so that your records aren’t lost, and always keep laptop insurance on your computer. You will be so glad that you did, I know that I am!