Don’t Lose a Customer to Bad Customer Service

Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by admin in Customer Service

Four years ago my husband received his first paycheck from his new job so we decided to celebrate. We went out to our favorite sushi restaurant for dinner. The excitement and pleasure we normally experienced was soon shattered by disappointment and a little rage.

The wonderful service we received was replaced by a waitress who was too busy to take care of us. She had no problem serving the tables to the left and right of us, but we seemed to be an inconvenience. We had to call her over for our order and for refills. She forgot our straws, forgot our wasabi, forgot my daughter’s dipping sauce, and forgot my husband’s soup. She finally brought the soup and straws upon our second request, but the wasabi and dipping sauce never arrived.

“That’s okay,” I thought. “Everyone has a bad day sometimes.” But then came the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my entire life! It was heavily suggested that my husband and I were LIARS!

When we received our bill, I noticed that we had been charged for two coffee drinks. The problem was that while I had ordered two coffees, we only received one.

When the hostess came by, I explained that I would like the second coffee taken off because I never received it. Her reply, “yes you did. I brought it to you.” I looked at her and said, “Yes, you brought me the first coffee I ordered. The second coffee never arrived.” She left the table to discuss the matter with our waitress.

The waitress returned and said, “You had two coffees. I picked up a glass.” My husband and I looked at her and politely said, “Yes. You picked up the first glass. We never received the second coffee.” She then said, “Well the bartender made two drinks.” We said, “That may be so, but we never received it.” She walked away to discuss the matter with her manager who in turn went to discuss the matter with the bartender.

The bartender swore he made the drink. We didn’t deny the fact that he made the drink, we simply stated that we had never received the drink. The manager came to our table and said, “We have a dilemma here. My waitress, the hostess, and the bartender said you received your drink.”

We looked at him and said, “We don’t deny that the bartender made the drink or that we ordered two coffees (Baileys Irish Cream and coffee, to be exact.), but that second coffee never made it to this table.”

Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here’s the kicker! The manager looked us dead in the face with a look of anger and in a harsh voice said, “Well, I can always go look in the dishwasher for the second glass. My bartender assures me that you are the only ones who ordered one of those drinks.”

My husband looked at him in disbelief.

“Did the manager just call us liars?” I asked myself.

My husband simply replied, “Look, we understand your position, but we never received the second coffee. Go look in the dishwasher.”

Frustrated, the manger threw his hands up in the air, and with a disgusted voice said, “Well here is what I am going to do. I am going to credit you this drink.” No apology. No sorry for the misunderstanding. No sorry for the inconvenience. Nothing.

I looked at the manager and said, “We come here every other week. We never had a problem before.” He just walked away—no reply, no words.

The manager came back with the check and a tally that showed the times each of our orders were put into the system. Guess what? The second coffee was not listed on that sheet, but he had written down two times in blue pen and said, “The first coffee was put in at 5:58 and the second coffee was put in at 6:40.”

We looked at him and said, “We aren’t denying we ordered two coffees; just that the second one never came.”

Then my husband added, “Look at this table. Everything from the second order is here. Do you see that cup here?” The manager didn’t even look, he just walked away disgusted.

We paid our bill, left a $10 tip since the bill was $100 and we didn’t want to stiff the sushi makers, and walked out.

My son, who hates waiting for the bill because he always feels bad when we spend too much money on eating out, had gone outside when we asked the waitress for the bill. The look of bewilderment and anger on my face must have given me away because my son asked, “What’s wrong?”

After a little nagging, I finally told him what happened. He looked at me and said, “Mom, you never got that second cup of coffee.” I said, “I know and you can bet we will never eat there again.”

The moral of this story…sometimes bad customer service can cost you a long-time repeat customer. If you’re having a bad day, try to take a deep breath and don’t take it out on your customers. And remember, sometimes, employees lie to cover their butts. And sometimes, mistakes just happen.

7 Article Writing Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make

Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

It is worth bearing in mind that not all article directories have the same rules for your article submission. Using the following article writing tips will give you the very best chance of having your articles accepted by the editors at first reading without you having to do re-writes or, at worst, having your article rejected because of some minor technicality.

Just the other day I received an email from a directory owner, (only 1 spelling mistake and no paragraphs but hey!, they make the rules), with a warning to it’s authors that any spelling mistakes, bad punctuation, grammar and so on would result in the article being rejected out of hand.

From an authors point of view this is a little drastic as, whilst we don’t expect the article editors to spend an excessive amount of time proofing the article, we would like the opportunity to adjust minor errors.

Not everybody has friends and family who can help proof their articles prior to submission and no matter how much care you take to grammar and spell check, the odd mistake is bound to happen. The more prominent article directories and submitters, like Ezine Articles, Article Marketer and Go Articles to name just 3, always give you a chance to correct any errors.

Remember that different sites have different formatting and submission rules and ezines /newsletters may require each line formatted to a certain CPL.

Here we go.

Tip 1:

Use Title Case For Your Article Titles – The first letter of each word is capitalized. Do not use a period at the end of a sentence but you may use a ? and an !

Here is a little known tip about article titles. I once made the mistake of using a bland headline. Well, it was basically my initial heading for the article when I first starting writing it without any of the “punch” to draw in the readers and I forgot to amend it.

The article was rejected and it was only because an article editor took the trouble to tell me about it that I became aware of this issue. So, put some punch in your titles!

Tip 2:

If you have a choice of, say, 3 categories and your article will fit only one then just use that category. You do not have to use all 3 just because the options are there. An article can be rejected if you have selected a “close” but not relevant category.

Tip 3:

Check the number of links you are allowed in your resource box. If in doubt then just use 1. If possible you must use anchor text links to help you with off-page search engine optimization. The use of anchor text links is very important. Keep the information in your resource box factual and hype-free.

Tip 4:

Do not use links or HTML in the body of your article. Some sites will allow the use of certain tags but if you are mass submitting your article you probably won’t even see the allowable tags anyway.

Tip 5:

Avoid using repetitive decorative symbols to form dividers in the article body such as the double underline, hash or dollar signs.

Tip 6:

Do not write an advertisement for your affiliate product and definitely no affiliate links, even in your resource box.

Tip 7:

Some article directories will not accept a series of articles in parts so don’t put Part 1 or Part 2 in the title. Also refrain from placing wording similar to “the next article in the series will be about ” at the end of your article.

Warning : Don’t Even Think About Running With Chronic Knee Pain Without A Knee Brace

Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by admin in Running

Has chronic knee pain when running gotten the best of your knees?

Have you ever considered giving up the sport of running because of your knee issues?

Are you worried that the solution might involve drawn out therapy or painful surgery or other costly ventures?

Often times knee issues from running come from the fact that there is a significant amount of stress placed on your knee. The knee and its surrounding anatomical structures must deal with a lot of stress when running. When you take a moment, and think about it, the knee can take an extraordinary amount of stress… This is especially true if you’re a distance runner, or if you run on hard surfaces (such as concrete or asphalt).

Dislocating knee caps, meniscus tears, ligament tears and other knee problems can all happen when you are out there pushing yourself. Maybe you can relate, due to personal experience. Whatever your particular situation, it is important that you face your knee issues, instead of trying to out run them.

Do not let chronic knee pain stop you from doing the things you want to do. The answer to your chronic knee pain when running might be something as simple and easy to use as a lightweight, low profile knee brace. These braces can be extremely helpful when you are running because of the extra support that they can provide to you. Many people refer to them as a “pain killer” because the knee support takes the place of the medication that they are consuming everyday to stop the discomfort.

Other conventional treatments, such as ice therapy, rest, and over-the-counter pain medications, generally address the symptoms without addressing the problems that cause the symptoms to begin with. Yes, they can be helpful, but they do not necessarily promote healing? A knee brace is designed to help support the knee when running and to help keep the knee in its proper position. This, in turn, can help promote healing of an injured knee.

A support can help reduce the impact running has upon the knee joint and can therefore help alleviate the issues that may lead to chronic knee pain when running. For instance, if the chronic pain is being caused by dislocating knees, or any of the other problems mentioned above, a knee support can help limit excessive movements at the knee, or simply act as a reminder to you not to make a movement that hurts you.

In the end the choice to get a knee brace, or to try other treatment options is yours to make… We are just writing from personal experience, because we have seen what a knee support can do for people that have knee pain when they run.

Don’t Make This Forum Networking Mistake

Posted on 28. Mar, 2010 by admin in Forums

A little more than a year ago, I was browsing a forum and noticed a forum networking mistake.  It was on a forum related to dating advice for men.

A “guru” named RL posted an unsolicited article explaining his philosophy on how to meet women.  Depending on a forum’s rules, there may be nothing wrong with that.  Some forums might even encourage it, if the guru is a respectable and established expert. 

But the problem was that RL was not established at all.  He just waltzed right in and posted an article.  Hardly anyone knew who he was.  Yet he came in there assuming he was an expert and started preaching to everyone.  Not many people were willing to immediately accept him as a guru, bow down to him, and listen to his advice.

The result was that a lot of people responded negatively to RL’s post.  They refuted it and argued with him.  Generally, they weren’t very nice.  One of them accused him of trying to sell a product.

What made matters worse was that RL argued back and even threw an insult to one of the posters.  He most likely damaged his own reputation by doing that.

What RL should have done was to take the time to get himself established on the forum.  He should participate in discussions like a regular forum member.  He should befriend other posters and give advice whenever someone asks a question.  This takes time, but it builds relationships with the forum members. 

During the entire time, he can have a signature in each of his posts that has a link to his Web site.  If people like the advice he gives or even just like him in general, they’ll click on his signature to visit his site.

After he has offered enough advice to people’s questions and established himself on the forum, posting an article, like he did initially, would receive a much more positive response.

There’s another forum I used to visit regularly.  It was an independent game developer forum.  One of the forum members JL was selling marketing services.  Unlike RL, JL was successful with his forum networking.  Everyone liked him and saw him as an expert.

The difference between RL and JL was their approach.  Unlike RL, JL took the time to build relationships.  He participated in discussions like any other forum member.  He shared jokes.  And he offered advice whenever someone had a question.  During the entire time, he had a link to his Web site in his signature.

Some of the forum members hired JL for his services.

At some point later, JL wrote an e-book and promoted it directly on the forum.  Because he was a well-liked and respectable expert on the forum, no one accused him of blatantly promoting his e-book.  In fact, people responded positively to it.  Many forum members bought his e-book.

So if you decide to do forum networking, make sure you do it right.  Before you post, check the forum’s rules.  Browse the forum for a while before posting to get a feel of the forum.  And then network your way to success.

5 Reasons Why You Are Losing Money If You Don’t Podcast

Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by admin in Podcasts

Why should any business podcast? Probably not, unless of course they realize how much they are losing if they do not podcast. After all, there are so many benefits that businesses stand to gain from podcasts.

1. The 1st reason and most important reason why any business should podcast is of course to increase traffic to their website. And we all know that traffic is the lifeblood of any online business.

The reason podcast can increase traffic and bring more visitors to your web site is because podcast uses RSS, a technology for content syndication on the Internet.

You don’t need to go into technical complexities to understand RSS or to enjoy the benefits of podcast. The reason is because most of the time, the process of syndication is done in the background and in a way is ‘transparent’ to the user.

Furthermore, there are many free services that automates the creation of Podcast such as AudioBlogger.com or AudioBlog.com. The difference is that the first is free, whereas AudioBlog.com is a paid service and has more features useful for podcasting.

2. Increase Market Share, Gain New Subscribers and New Buyers.

The second reason why any business should podcast is because they can increase their market share and gain new subscribers and buyers.

This is related to the reason number 1. With more traffic to your site, naturally you’ll be able
to reach out to people you normally would not have access to.

Many podcsters have reported an increase in web site traffic once they started podcasting.

Personally I myself have experienced increased subscribers and sales through the simple use of my voice with podcasts.

3. Thirdly, you can brand yourself quickly and easily. Ever watch the TV show hosted by Donald Trump “The Apprentice”? Behind all that glitz, suspense, glamour is an ingenious way of branding the “Trump” name.

It’s the same with Podcasting. Through podcasts, you can easily build a brand name around your services or products. This will help you gain brand recognition and build market share.

4. Advertise To Millions For Free With Podcasts

You can submit your Podcast to iTunes. If you didn’t know, iTunes is used by millions of iPod and other mp3 device owners for managing their mp3 or music sound files.

By submitting your Podcast to iTunes, you stand to gain from this huge and hungry market. There are millions of people with mp3 players who would happily download podcasts to listen. Even if you only capture 0.1% of this amount, we’re talking about potentially thousands of new visitors and customers for your products or services. Imagine the huge market you have at your fingertips.

Besides, iTunes, did you also know that Yahoo has came
up with their own Audio search?

Probably not many people know about this yet, but you can also submit your Podcast to Yahoo. With Yahoo in the picture, will Google follow suit? After all, they already have a Blog search. You can see the trend here.

5. Money Making Opportunities.

Podcasts open up a whole new world and new ways of making money.

As the technology and concept is relatively new, there is little competition in this area, which means you stand to gain a lot if you embrace this technology early.

When the Internet was first used as a marketing tool, ebooks were most popular with these groups of internet marketers. As time and technology evolved, the marketing effort soon focused on ‘niche marketing’ or select groups of people searching for solutions to their problems in niche areas such as ‘athritis cure’, ‘grow tropical fish’, ‘dieting tips’ and so on.

With Podcasts, you can offer more than just the usual ‘boring’ ebooks to the people in your chosen niche markets. You can create what I term ‘niche podcasts’.

There are many ways that you can monetize your niche podcasts. For example, you can charge a fee for listeners who want to subscribe and download your podcast, especially if you have some specialized skill or knowledge that others don’t. If you’re an expert at options trading, you can create your own ‘options podcast’ giving tips on what to buy
when to buy, what to sell, and charge your listeners a fee for subscribing.

They will be willing to pay you if you can prove you have a track record of winning and making money at options trading. This is only one example of how you can make money from your niche podcasts.

These are just some of the many examples how podcast and podcasting can help your online business.

With such a big potential and the technology being in it’s early unsaturated stage, this is truly the best time to leverage on podcasting technology to grow and multiply your online business.

Now, are you convinced how much money you are leaving on the table if you DON’T start your own podcast?

Computer Security: Don?t Steal My Information

Posted on 17. Mar, 2010 by admin in Computer Certification

It’s important to take the precautions to protect you and your products from information theft these days, because it’s getting easier and easier for people to share digital products.  Information theft is a type of computer security risk and it’s defined as stealing an individual’s personal or confidential information.  When this is stolen this can cause as much damage, or possibly more then hardware or software theft.  Business or home users are both at risk of information theft.

One example is a malicious individual stealing credit cards so they can make unauthorized purchases on another person’s account. If information is transmitted over a network then it has a very high chance for malicious users to intercept the information. Every computer in the path of your data can see what you send, and they can also see what you send.  A lot of companies try to stop information from being stolen by applying some user identification and authentication controls. These constraints are best for protecting computers along a company’s premise.

However, to protect information on the Internet and on networks, companies use a handful of encryption methods.  Encryption refers to the process of converting data into an unreadable form. One type of encryption software is Obfuscated code which is a programming language that is extremely hard to read. Encrypted data is like any other data because you can send it through a lot of options, but to read it you must decrypt or decipher it into a more readable form. Throughout the encryption process, the unencrypted data or input is known as plaintext and the encrypted data, or output is known as ciphertext.  To encrypt information, the programmer converts the plaintext into ciphertext using some type of encryption key.

An encryption key is the programmed formula that the person who receives the data uses to decrypt the ciphertext. There are a variety of encryption or algorithm methods. However, with an encryption key formula, you will be using more then one of these techniques.  Some business use available software, while others develop their own. When an individual send information online such as through an email for example, they will never know who might intercept it, or to whom it could possibly be forwarded to.  That’s why it’s not such a good idea to send confidential information online. However, an individual can help protect themselves by encrypting the information, or signing it digitally. Some very popular email encryption software is known as Pretty Good Piracy (PGP) and Centurion Soft Secure Protection. 

Pretty Good Piracy is known as freeware, which means that individuals can use it for their personal needs but not for commercial purposes. You can download this for no cost. A digital signature is a type of encrypted code that a individual, website, or company pastes to an electronic document to make sure that the individual is who they claim to be.  The code will most likely consist of the user name and a hash of usually part of the message. A hash is a type of mathematical formula that generates content from a specific message, so it is different from a message. The recipient will have to generate a new hash from the received message and compares it from the one with the digital signature to make sure that they match appropriately.

The main purpose behind using digital signatures is to make sure that it’s not a deceiver participating in the transaction. So, digital signatures help narrow down e-mail scams. A digital signature can also make sure that contents of a message have not been changed. A lot of web browsers use encryption that is regarded as 40 bit encryption, and this is a very low level. A variety of browsers also offer 128 bit encryption which has a higher level of protection because the encryption key is longer.  Some important places that require extremely hire security like banks, and online retailers needs at least 128-bit encryption. A website that successfully uses encryption methods to secure information is known as a secure site.  A secure site uses digital certificate with security protocol. 

The two most popular security protocols are secure sockets layer, and secure HTTP.  A digital certificate is a notice that verifies that a user or a website is for real or not a scam. A lot of ecommerce websites will usually have digital certificates. A certificate authority (CA) is an authorized company or individual for that matter that has the ability to issue and verify digital certificates.  There are several of websites that offer a digital certificate. Some popular ones are Verisign http://www.verisign.com/, Godaddy www.godaddy.com, Digicert http://www.digicert.com/, and Thawte http://www.thawte.com/.The digital certificate will usually contain information such as the username and the serial number of the certificate. By the way, the information in the digital certificate is also encrypted. Next, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides encryption of every detail that passes between a server and a client. 

SSL also requires the client to have a digital certificate, so the web browser can communicate securely with the client.  The web pages that use SSL will usually begin with https as opposed to http. SSL is available in 40 and 128-bit encryption. Secured HTTP (S-HTTP) allows individuals to choose encryption for data that pass through a client and a server.  When using S-HTTP, the client and the server must have a digital certificate.  This makes S-HTTP more difficult to use then SSL, but on the other hand, it is more secured. Companies that have to use verify a client such as online banking companies use S-HTTP.

Also, mobile users can also access computer networks through a virtual private network. When mobile users successfully logon to a main office using some type of standard Internet connection, a virtual private network (VPN) allows the mobile user to secure the connection.  VPNs encrypt data as it passes from a notebook computer or any other mobile device so it won’t be intercepted.  Regardless of your security method, I will highly recommend using the most powerfulness safeguard which is a backup. It prevents data loss from several of sources such as system failure for one.  A backup is simply a backup of a file, program, or desk that can be used in place of the original if its loss, destroyed, or corrupted.  If the files are destroyed, then you can replace them by restoring it, which copies the backed up files into their original position in the computer.

Goal Setting Theory – Don’t Ask How!

Posted on 16. Mar, 2010 by admin in Goal Setting

Copyright (c) 2009 Michael A Jones

Is a goal setting theory that is easy to comprehend and employ and which produces spectacular results just an elusive dream? Thankfully no. Although we may be forgiven for thinking so in view of the wealth of information available on goal setting, some of which makes it appear unnecessarily complicated. Perhaps that explains why many who set goals also fail to get results as they drop by the wayside.

Here are two goal setting theory approaches. You can pick the best out of each or use the approach that suits your personality and style. They can be summarized as follows:

Goal Setting Theory 1: You don’t need to know how you are going to reach your goal, just set the goal and keep it in front of you.

Goal Setting Theory 2: To achieve your goal you need a specific detailed definition of what you want to achieve and a step by step plan on how to get there.

Let’s explore these two aspects of goal setting theory.

Jack Black, a popular motivational speaker in the UK, used a catch phrase “Don’t ask how!”. His view was, by asking “how”, you kill the goal right there. Perhaps the goal seems totally unrealistic given a person’s circumstances in life. If a person born in poverty with no connections in life dreamed of being a famous actor, those around them might naturally ask “How?”.

Yet there are many life stories of individuals born in very difficult circumstances, with it seems, everything set against them in life, who hold on to a dream, and eventually get there! They don’t ask “How?” because, if they did, the desire and the goal would die. They just keep it in the front of their mind day in day out, year in year out, and they get there.

RAS (Reticular Activating System) has a role in this. Here is a definition of RAS: “the network in the reticular formation that serves an alerting or arousal function”. It describes a particular way the brain works. Have you ever had the experience of wanting a particular automobile? You have in mind an exact model, color, specific extras etc. that you would like. You can just see yourself driving it. Then, within a short time, you start seeing this exact vehicle all over the place. Why? Because your brain is filtering information and as you have alerted it to a specific object, you now begin to notice it whereas before it was there but you didn’t pay any attention to it.

This really is the secret behind goal setting theory that says, “Don’t ask how”. By keeping the goal in the front of the mind, reminding oneself of it daily, constantly thinking about it, dreaming about it, you are training your brain to identify opportunities and the means or tools needed to get to that goal. They were there all the time, but the brain now filters information in such a way that they now leap out at you.

Goal setting theory number 2 some would say is much more realistic. You set an attainable goal. You craft a carefully worded ‘mission statement’ of what you want to accomplish. You research, find out the resources you will need. You identify pitfalls and things to avoid. You make a plan. You then take action on the plan. You break the goal setting exercise into bite size pieces. You set time limits on each section, etc. etc.

Perhaps some are put off with this approach. After all, it does sound like hard work. You might well be exhausted before you even start! However, many high performers in business, in sports, and other areas of life, have used this kind of formula and achieved outstanding results.

Aristotle is quoted as saying: “Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.”

So the choice is up to you. Perhaps you can combine the main concept of approach number 1 and allow your brain to filter the information you need naturally, with a basic framework suggested in approach number 2.

Maybe goal setting theory number one appeals to your temperament while goal setting theory number two doesn’t have any appeal at all. Or it could be the other way round. Whatever your viewpoint, do set goals! There is no doubt they are an essential ingredient in high achievement and satisfaction in life!

Prostate Cancer What you Don’t Know Can Kill you

Posted on 15. Mar, 2010 by admin in Prostate Cancer

You won’t believe it but it is true. Prostate cancer is one of the top leading causes of death among men and many of the industrialized countries of the world. This information is based on continued monitoring of data that suggests men and ignore prostate health until cancer situations become critical.

Here’s some more information:

The statistics now have it that one in every ten men will eventually develop significant prostate cancer at one stage in their lifetime! The reason for this has more to do with our living longer than the rate of cancer growing out of control.

The fact is that the risk of contracting prostate cancer increases as we age, and the baby boomer bubble is reaching the age where prostate cancer becomes a significant risk factor.

So, do we keep running away from this reality? Or brave up and do something about it! We could change our diet, exercise more and try to prevent it from happening to us. The biggest thing we can do to take control of our lives is to get a regular yearly prostate exam.

Prostate cancer is a slow growing carcinoma that when diagnosed early can be treated and even cured. The key to prostate cancer survival, his early detection and treatment

The good news is that the sooner a prostate cancer is detected, the better and easier it would be to treat. So, with prostate cancer, the sooner you discover and treat it the better your chances of survival.

So, instead of hiding your head and ignoring the fact that your aging, learn all you can about good prostate health and the symptoms of prostate cancer. while the rest of your body is exposed it is wise to learn all you can about prostate cancer so that you can be better protected about it.

This knowledge will allow you to quickly identify the symptoms and go for full treatment. Better still, the knowledge you will get will help you to always go for check ups once or twice every year, to know immediately prostate cancer develops, so that you can fight it before it spreads.

With prostate cancer, early detection is the best way of surviving it.

” I Don’t Have Anyone to Coach.” and Other Myths?

Posted on 14. Mar, 2010 by admin in Coaching

Are these statements coaching truths or coaching myths? You decide.

“Everything’s fine we don’t really have any problems and so we don’t need any coaching.”

Many people believe that coaching is about putting wrong things right. They would argue that things must be pretty poor in the organization if it needs armies of people going round solving other peoples’ problems. If coaching is required then it should be a quick fix and when it’s done the coaches should go back and get on with some proper work.

“I’m not a manager or team leader so I don’t have anyone to coach.”

We know that coaching is a people development tool so, by definition that means we must have people to coach. What then is the point of developing good coaching skills if we do not currently operate as a manager, supervisor or team leader and do not have any people reporting to us?

“I haven’t time to coach.”

If we think for a moment that a typical team will have at least 6 to 8 people working in it, then we can begin to see that the team leader’s task is almost hopeless. 6 to 8 people, all wanting coaching every six weeks or so, in sessions lasting up to an hour. How would we do any work?

“I can’t coach – I’ve no expertise in the underlying subject.”

How can we coach somebody to do something we can’t do ourselves? How can we keep up with all the changes in the way people do their jobs? How can we expect people to take us seriously as managers if we’re not prepared or able to do what we ask them to do?

“I went on a course about this, but then it was called feedback. That’s all coaching really is.”

For many people, coaching is something that happens as part of the organization’s Performance Management or Appraisal system. In some organizations coaches have been known to sit behind a colleague whilst they’re dealing with a customer and make notes on the things they did well or badly. Usually, the individual and the coach would then retire to a quiet area where the coach could run through the list and make suggestions for improvement.

“This is just a fancy new name for what I’ve been doing for years – training people!”

Can we really see any daylight between coaching and other methods of developing people? Coaching is ultimately about making people better at what they do, but then so is teaching, training, mentoring, counselling etc.

In fact, each of these statements is a myth.

“Everything fine we don’t really have any problems and so we don’t need any coaching.”

Coaching is a marvellous tool for problem solving and whilst in most cases people will seek coaching because they have a problem to solve, it would be a mistake to limit it to this purpose alone.

Some managers suffer a sort of ‘prodigal son’ mentality and spend all of their time and energy addressing the poorest performers. But let’s not assume that people who are currently performing really well do not have vast reserves of potential that might be released through coaching.

The very best performers in any field still benefit from coaching. We need only look at the world of sport to know that this is true.

“I’m not a manager or team leader so I don’t have anyone to coach.”

Typically coaching is delivered by managers to staff or by team leaders to team members and this is usually because companies and other businesses are organized in a hierarchy. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Anyone can be a coach. The skills of coaching have nothing to do with age, status, gender or experience. Similarly, coaching can be delivered in any direction and should not be limited to a top down approach from team leader to team member. Why not have nurses coaching consultants, printers coaching designers or classroom assistants coaching teachers?

“I haven’t time to coach.”

We might respond to this by suggesting that there isn’t time not to coach! We must however recognize that coaching is in many ways an investment that pays back in the medium to long term. It can be very difficult for managers to decide whether to take the time and coach an individual through a problem or to deal with the situation themselves. This is a matter of choice and taking responsibility. Effective managers base their decision on an evaluation of the needs of the situation and the people involved and make an informed choice. Less effective managers will tend to see it as part of their role to solve all of the team’s problems themselves, perhaps in the mistaken belief that this is the essence of strong leadership.

Managers who coach however are constantly generating responsibility and building trust with the teams and individuals they manage and as such are able to take on a more authoritative style when the need arises without alienating the team or damaging trust.

“I can’t coach – I’ve no expertise in the underlying subject.”

We need expertise to teach but not to coach. In coaching, expertise can be quite dangerous as it provides a huge temptation to slip back into telling people what to do, giving advice and ‘rescuing’ people rather than letting them learn.

Where we find ourselves coaching people in matters we have expertise in, we must work hard to resist this temptation and remember that coaching is about helping people to lean and to become independent and resourceful. This is to everyone’s benefit over time.

“I went on a course about this, but then it was called feedback. That’s all coaching really is.”

Well-constructed feedback can be extremely valuable to people as they try to improve performance in any area. However, it is limited to what we can observe and notice and this is of no consequence if the performance issue is to do with how people feel.

Poorly constructed feedback can do lasting damage and reinforce limiting beliefs. Coaching avoids the pitfalls by concentrating on the needs and experiences of the person being coached.

“This is just a fancy new name for what I’ve been doing for years – training people!”

Training has its place of course, and when done well, is an excellent way of arming people with the basic skills and knowledge they need to perform in their roles. Coaching comes into its own when we want to develop performance and allow people to utilise the full extent of the knowledge and skills they have gained through training.

Unlike training coaching derives its agenda from the needs of the individual, takes place at work (which is where learning really happens) and can be more or less be delivered anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

Don?t be Crunched by the Credit Crunch ? Upgrade Your Marketing!

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by admin in Marketing

Are you going to let the “Credit Crunch” crunch you? Even though the present negative press and media coverage is enough to make you pack up and head for the hills – don’t! Or, burying your head in the sand isn’t going to help either – you need to take some positive action!

In ignorance, many companies pull the plug on their marketing budgets when times get tough – but that is very short sighted. Why is your business in decline? It’s because you have less clients, or your current clients are spending less.

So what is the solution?

Yes, you need more clients or encourage those you work with to spend more with you. As a marketing company, we often have people come to us when they are in trouble. Through months or possibly years of neglect of their sales pipeline, they have reached difficultly where their cash flow dries up, and their forward forecasts will no longer gain them credit with their bankers. That’s such an awful place to reach! So, please learn from other’s mistakes and concentrate your efforts on sales and marketing.

So – how’s your sales pipeline?

Have you dedicated sufficient man hours or staff to ensure that new business will continue to flow your way? It’s highly recommended to introduce new practices in the current climate and here are a few suggestions to get you going:

Re-educate your sales staff to the new demands of business under the Credit Crunch i.e. you are going to have to negotiate harder than before and deliver more

Re-evaluate your current spend on marketing and where possible increase it

Adapt new methods of lead generation and find new sources

Network with increased intensity amongst your clients, prospects, collaborators, partners, suppliers and competitors

Rekindle your relationship with current clients and ensure you are getting your share of business if other suppliers are involved

Tighten your credit control to ensure constant cash flow

Take fewer financial risks than before, and if possible, increase the level of deposits on orders to spread your risk or costs (if applicable)

Introduce something new (Product or service) to make sure your visibility levels remain high with current and potential clients

Automate your sales pipeline using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like www.salesforce.com – so you never ever miss another lead or opportunity, and you can track your sales pipeline accurately

Ensure that you confirm at least 30% of this quarter’s pipeline – more if possible

Ensure you are using the internet to your advantage using Search Engine Optimisation, Web 2 practices such as blogging, and raise your presence in social networking and book-marking sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc