Archive for December 2011
Telephone Customer Service – 10 Tips To Make It Great
How many times have you called a telephone customer service line and been told to wait several minutes. When you do manage to get through, you felt like your complaint wasn’t taken seriously? Disappointing customer service is not new. Now apply the same thing to the business you own or are running. Are your customers and clients getting quality telephone service from you and your staff? Do you put your customers on hold for a long time? Are your phone customer service representatives able to answer customer questions and respond to complaints or issues in an appropriate and timely manner? Even if you are primarily conducting your transactions and communications with customers and clients online, it is still important to have a quality phone customer service in place for most businesses. There are times when issues are much easier and more quickly resolved on the phone rather than online using e-mail, instant messaging or live chat programs.
Providing quality telephone customer service is essential to the success of any business. A lot of companies boast of having great customer service, but few actually do. Below are some ways you can improve and provide quality phone service to your customers. The overall principles of these points apply whether you manage an offline business or an eBiz.
1. Be friendly on the phone. Don’t be rude with your customers and make them feel like they’re wasting your time.
2. Don’t put a customer on hold without asking them if doing so is all right. No customer wants to hear, “Please hold” as soon as their call gets through, even before they can say hello. It gives the impression that their call is less important than another call you are taking.
3. Even though customers can’t see you, pay attention to how you conduct yourself over the phone. Be professional. The customer on the other end of the line can hear you if you’re chewing, smoking, or drinking while on call.
4. Listen attentively to the customer. Don’t make them repeat themselves. Let the customer finish what they have to say instead of interrupting him. Don’t give your customers the impression that you are incompetent. It’s not good if a customer has to repeat his problem three times to three different customer service representative before it can get resolved.
The Ethical Component of Business
Business owners face many struggles on the road to success. They must make decisions on a daily basis that could alter the likelihood of survival in today’s market. Some of the decisions are straight forward in nature and include things such as the business product or service, location of operation, the size of the target market (local, national, global, or other), and identifying sources of capital. Each of these decisions forces business owners to weigh pros and cons regarding benefiting the business, shareholder needs, legality issues, geographic concerns and other easily discernible matters. The decisions that tend to be more difficult in nature are the same decisions that seem to offer less formal guidance. These decisions involve ethics of business. Business owners at one time or another are often forced to identify a code of ethics for application in their daily business operations. Typically, at least some part the code of ethics designed for the business will vary from an individual’s personal ethics. A code of ethics is necessary for business owners and their employees to ensure everyone knows and understands which behavior is acceptable as right and wrong as it pertains to the individuals and the business as a whole.
The idea of good ethics is generally expected in the business landscape of the United States. A popular term used in conjunction with the idea of good business ethics is accountability. Accountability refers to the fact that every “person is responsible or answerable to someone.” (Robinson, 2009 Another common term with regard to ethics is liability. Liability insists that every person “is responsible for something or someone.” (Robinson, 2009) By looking at these two terms, the importance of good business ethics can be identified as something that affects coworker-manager relations, as well as customer-client relations. Because ethics can involve so many relationships in business, practicing ethics that support a prosperous business is essential.
The Main Ways of Doing Online Business
E-business – is entrepreneurship, which uses the capabilities of information technology to create profits.
The main sectors of the market or market models of interaction between actors in computer networks are:
B2B – Business to Business (Business-to-Business);
B2C – Business to consumer (Business-to-Consumer).
C2C – consumer to consumer or business-oriented end-user;
B2A – business – administration, determines the interaction of companies with the administrative authorities;
C2A – consumer Administration, defines the interaction of consumers with the administration
Business-to-Business – a business – a model of interaction between companies are using computer networks.The basis of business – B2C model of retailing, iecompanies interact with consumers on the Internet.
The main types of network or electronic (virtual) business presented in the section”Management of electronic or online business”:
Trading platforms;
Online Stores;
Financial services;
Investment funds;
Internet marketing;
Advertising business;
Software and digital products;
MLM or network marketing;
Affiliate programs;
Let us consider some types of e-business.
Marketplace
Marketplace (model B2B – E-site) – is a portal where users are able to exercise the full range of trade and purchasing activities: search for products from catalogs, conduct on-line negotiations to conclude transactions, make payments, etc.Trading platforms are generally used for wholesale transactions.
Exchange
Exchange – a marketplace for trading commodities (securities, currencies, commodities), the price of a commodity is determined by supply and demand.Divided into stock exchanges, foreign exchange, commodities, futures (trading futures contracts), Universal and other RTS provides securities trading: stock companies, bonds, stocks or other securities.
Online auctions (OnLine Auctions)
Auction – trading floor, where the vendor puts on the sale of their goods, the buyer is one who offers the product for a large sum.The most popular online auction include: eBay.com (and Bay); Molotok.ru; AUCTION.ua.Auction eBay – a marketplace for the acquisition cost necessary goods for own business.
In online auctions, bids made through the auction site.At the end of the internet auction the buyer must transfer money to the seller and the seller is obliged to send goods to the buyer.
Goods & Services
Catalog – a commercial site (B2B e-market), which is a list of goods and services for sale or purchase.Using the directory saves time searching for products and services.Go to directories of products and services include: Electronic Catalogue of goods and services, Union catalog of goods and services, online directory of Kharkov and other sites.
Online Stores
E-shop – it is (Model B2C – retail) site on which the specialized program (script), so-called “virtual store”.The site posted the goods, placed ads to promote the product, the form for ordering the goods specified ways of payment for goods.
Knowing The 4 Vital Facts Of Career Counseling
Some of the things you should understand about career counseling are that it is an objective and systematic approach to determining career options for a person, it can help assess different individuals, it can help people match their skills with the right job, and it may lead to a more fulfilling job experience.
Santa Clarita career counseling may be an option for fresh graduates wishing to pursue a different career path. The following list contains things you should know more about career counseling:
It determines a person’s career option in an objective and systematic way
Career advising and career coaching are the other terms of career counseling. It uses an objective and systematic approach to finding out which professions are suitable for an individual based on certain measurable and subjective factors. Career counseling involves planning out long-term careers, listing down probable career opportunities, evaluating one’s strengths and personality, as well as reviewing job options. There are many activities involved in career counseling. This includes seminars on job hunting, making the right choices from among career options, making long-term career plans, going through different examinations and learning different ways to adopt into a workplace.
It aids in assessing different individuals
The help of a career counselor may be used by individuals with various educational backgrounds. Usually, universities and schools employ these professionals to help their students. Counseling sessions may be in an individual setting, or in a group setting. Seeking the guidance of a career counselor is best for people who would want to start working or change their career path. Specialized career counseling services may also be required in some aspects. In these instances, career counselors may be specially trained to assist a specific group of people like minorities, single parents or people who are recuperating from an illness.
This program matches a person’s skills with the right career
Career counselors provide services to help people assess their skills, educational background and knowledge, personality, interests, and strengths and to possibly discover other potential they may have. The career counselor will identify the career options suited for the person basing on the results of the program and will make recommendations. An individual usually goes through aptitude tests and different exams that integrate career assessment and training given by career advisers. Aside from the career assessment services, they may also teach you things like occupation research, compiling references, interviewing lessons and resume writing.
TEM – Total Ethical Management
TOTAL ETHICAL MANAGEMENT – A SYSTEMS APPROACH
By
VIKRAM KARVE
A Manager must possess the requisite proficiency in analyzing and managing ethical situations in the contextual scenario which, at times, are quite complex.
There is, thus, a need for present day management education to prepare future managers to tackle such dilemmas and contingencies.
This author’s interactions with faculty, students and practicing managers reveal that very few management courses include Ethical Management in their curriculum and even those that do seem to view Managerial Ethics from a limited perspective restricted to just three aspects:
(i) Economic Analysis, based on impersonal market forces. The belief is that a manager should always act to maximize revenues and minimize costs, for this strategy, over the long term, will produce the greatest material benefits for society.
(ii) Legal Analysis, based on impersonal social and political processes. The belief is that a manager should always act in accordance with the law, and strictly implement rules and regulations. Relying on economic or legal analyses, either by themselves, or in conjunction with each other may help a manger seek shelter under the umbrella of “situational ethics”.
(iii) Philosophical Analysis, based on rational thought process. The view is that a manager should always act in accordance with principles of behaviour or beliefs that are “right” “proper” and “just”. Such black-and-white moral reasoning manifests itself in formulation of codes of conduct which, more often than not, are deceivable vessels full of promise but empty of intention.
Owing to this non-sytemic perspective of Managerial Ethics, the management student views the ethical domain as consisting of cut-and-dry unimplementable and unrealistic codes of ethics comprising platitudinous moral verbiage at one end of the spectrum, and the “loopholes” of situational ethics at the other end.
How then does one equip the management student to make the transition from the domain of codes of conduct and situational ethics, which are grossly inadequate to analyze and manage real-life ethical dilemmas, to a more holistic Total Ethical Management [TEM]
It is the author’s view that application of Systems concepts is sine qua non for implementation of Total Ethical Management [TEM] in a holistic manner.
The salient aspects of application of the Systems Approach in the context of TEM are described below in a nutshell.
Collaboration Software for Online Business
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Should Advertising Agencies Be Called Advertising Agencies?
Should Agencies Be Called Agencies?
by
Mike Carlton
What’s In a Name?
Juliet, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet proclaimed; “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
At a recent management meeting the American Association of Advertising Agencies announced that henceforth it would be officially called by its long-standing acronym, the “4As.”
In a stroke, the venerable industry association, which since 1917 has ably represented the interests of advertising agencies, was removing the words “advertising agencies” from its name.
Is this rebranding just an effort to simplify its handle? Or is it a reflection of more profound underlying changes in the marketplace?
Has the name “advertising agency” lost its relevance? And if so, by what name should they be called?
Definitions
My 30 year old desk dictionary has this definition:
“An advertising agency is a business that creates and issues advertising for its clients.”
That’s it. Pretty simple. And probably quite appropriate for its time.
Today, Wikipedia has an expanded definition:
“An advertising agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for its clients. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotion.”
And then, continuing under the heading of Advertising Agencies, Wikipedia goes on for six more pages defining; Full-Service Agencies, Limited-Service Agencies, Specialist Advertising Agencies, Interactive Agencies, Search Engine Agencies, Social Media Agencies and a bunch of more kinds of agencies.
But, perhaps not surprisingly, they keep Public Relations Firms, Direct Marketing Firms, Branding Agencies, Design Firms each under their own separate headings. Not connected at all to the Advertising Agency heading.
And what’s more, Wikipedia does not have separate listings at all for Market Communications Firms, Integrated Agencies, Digital Advertising Agencies, Creative Collaboratives, Idea Factories or Marketing Architecture Firms.
(note: if you use one of these descriptions you might want to consider staking out that real estate on Wikipedia).
Obviously, agencies have a big category mess on their hands. No, maybe it is more like a category train wreck. What was quite clear and simple a few decades ago has fragmented in to a whole bunch of disparate and often overlapping pieces.
Five C’s to Remember in Branding
If you’re a small business enterpreneur, you are most likely marketing on several fronts simultaneously. You are no longer thinking just in terms of “offline” and “online” but rather using a number of channels within both categories — print media, sponsoring events, web site marketing, social media marketing etc. Yet you are most likely struggling to
So why are you not able to build your brand?
You haven’t been able to build your brand for one simple reason: you’re not trying to build your brand! You’re focused separately on marketing, selling and customer service, without using each channel to strengthen and gain from the others. As long as you are busy creating strategies and measuring ROIs within fragmented channels, your brand is going to keep suffering.
What is a brand?
A logo is not a brand. A product is not a brand, either. Your brand is an intangible entity that connects all parts of your company together. But what is a brand? Let’s say you sell an e-book today. If you marketed this e-book as a “how To” guide and made it useful, you’ll probably sell a few and even make some profit on the whole. But tomorrow when you try to sell another e-book, you’ll have to market it in the same way, and for similar profits.
If, on the other hand, while you were marketing your first e-book, you had also spent time building your brand through multiple media channels, then your next e-book would not only sell easier but make more profit, and its quality would continue to add to your brand’s value.
Brands are additive.
Brands are long-lasting.
Brands are powerful.
So what do you need to build a brand?
Brand-building needs cross-channel strategization, including significant investment of time and brand savvy. But remember that every step you take towards building your brand will actually increase your product’s value manifold, and that most of what it requires is simply good business sense. And keep the following five C’s of branding in mind:
1. Consistency. Your brand should be consistent in the quality of its products and content. If, for instance, you’re using a blog or social media for brand-building, be consistent in the quality of your posts and also in your involvement within each channel.
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