Other Added - Business

Business Communication: Which Is Your Need?
Business communication needs to be thorough and complete. If you are the owner of a business, you need to find ways to fill your needs of reaching your employees anywhere and everywhere and to do so quickly. If you are client based personnel, you too need to have the ability to reach those you need to whenever the demand is there. Because the world is so large and offers so many wonderful things, business communication needs to be immediate and effective or your customers will look elsewhere for their needs.There are several types of communications that you need. First, you need in office support. There are many telephone set ups to consider including VOIP. Or, you can look towards computers, instant messages, and fax connections. These need to be secure and reliable of course. They need to provide your employees with the ability to do their job effectively and whenever the need is there.But, communication doesn’t stop in the office. In many cases, you need business to be there for you throughout the world. You need to contact your employee that is overseas selling your product. Or, you need to check your daily sales from home. You can do any of these things when you have the right tools to do the job. No matter who you are, where you are and what you need, you have to stay connected.The good news is that there are a number of excellent opportunities out there to serve these needs. You will undoubtedly have many options to take advantage of. Yet, you will also want to insure that you are not paying to much for the business communications options that you have. You can find options in quality, reliability, and affordability though. Look for what you need on the web and secure your business as a tight communication wonder.

in the company and, therefore, should be set up to optimize this relationship from the start. An equally compelling case can be made for preventing the fall-out associated with not making customer service a priority from the beginning. This particular circumstance can have much more serious and long-lasting consequences than that of losing out on the benefit of early resource optimization.

In even the most successful early stage ventures (maybe, especially in those), the lack of attention paid to the customer service function (in the form of systems and processes) will result in some serious fire-fighting “opportunities”. Let’s continue on with the earlier example of Company X. If Company X (like so many startups) has not taken the time to set up (even the most rudimentary) customer service processes and systems by the time they are in “production” (vs. alpha or beta) mode with their first customers, they may only (to date) suffer the loss of optimizing those early customer interactions.

Asking for Feedback - Improving Your Performance at Work
Most companies have a set method for providing feedback to their employees. This usually comes in the form of a formal review process maybe twice a year, or whenever they change roles. However, it doesn't help you very much if somebody tells you what you need to improve after you are done with your role (and have no chance to correct it) or after the raises and promotions have been decided for the year. You need to be proactive in asking for feedback from your supervisors, or even the team you manage, so you can make that formal review a good one.This can be a very intimidating task for a lot of people. It's never easy hearing criticism, and this is what many people fear. However, the only way to improve yourself and subsequently your career advancement is to get this kind of feedback and improve upon it. Let's break this down into two parts: getting feedback from your supervisor and getting feedback from your team.Supervisor FeedbackGetting feedback from your supervisor: Daunting? Absolutely. Impossible? Absolutely not. While it may seem scary at first, not only is it necessary as they will be writing your review in most cases, but they will actually appreciate the fact that you are looking for ways you can improve your performance.How do you approach them? This is relatively simple as well. All you really have to do is ask. I would do this in person as opposed to over email, because you can make it more of a fluid question and answer session. Once they agree to provide you with some feedback, set up a meeting time and reserve a private room. This is not something that you should do at your cubicle or theirs, as you want honest, unedited feedback (read: not censored for everybody around you). Send a meeting invite if possible so that it appears on their calendar, mainly because if they are very busy you don't want it to slip their mind (or yours for that matter).Now that the meeting is setup, you need to prepare for it. I would brainstorm for any specific questions you have about areas where you think you might not be performing as well as you could be. Conversely, if you think you are performing at a high level in a certain area, you might want to ask their opinion. Write these down as bullet points to bring up during the meeting.At the meeting, be sure to write down any improvements that they suggest. If you don't agree with something, discuss it with t

Setting the Stage

The startup environment is one in which feathers are flying and those involved are in perpetual motion (both mentally and physically). Often, in the course of developing products and/or services, chasing down funding and looking for those first precious customers, the concept of a customer service organization falls way behind the back burner. And, while staffing this function and fully equipping it with all of the bells and whistles that are available to customer service organizations may not be the best move in these early stages, it is never too early to build the foundation for this vital function.

There are few, if any, entrepreneurs who would actively and knowingly reject the concept of customer service. Of course, everyone knows how important the customer is – right? Well, yes and no. While the idea of providing good customer service seems like an obvious one at any stage of a company’s life, the actual delivery of great service takes much more than just a passing thought or general presumption. In fact, the earliest seeds that need to be planted in any new organization are those representing “top of mind” placement given to customer service at every step in the growing process of that enterprise. This is absolutely not limited to those with the term “customer service” in their job title.

As previously stated, it is not necessarily the case that there will be anyone with a “customer service” title or primary functional responsibility in the early days of the company. It is, therefore, all the more important that those who are there at the beginning and who are, literally, setting the stage for the success (or not) of that new organization integrate the process of delivering superior customer service into everything that they do. So, without people explicitly tasked with the customer service function and in taking it beyond the concept stage, how is this done?

Systems and processes (never mind documentation) are not always a primary focal point for those attempting to achieve the above referenced “tasks” (i.e., product/service development, funding, early customer acquisition, etc.). However, more often than not, the need for these systems and processes rises to the surface relatively early in the building of a company. This may be the result of requirements placed on the organization by their current and/or future investors. That is a good thing. It would be an even better thing if the same level of attention paid to establishing systems and process for functions such as accounting, engineering development, sales and manufacturing was equally applied to the customer service function (marketing is often also an afterthought in this category – that’s a topic for another time).

Optimizing the Organization

Interestingly, one (certainly, I) could argue that customer service is the one organization in most companies that touches and interfaces with each of the others. Therefore, it might even make sense to get that one started first. This is true based on the fact that, by definition of the function (again, in most companies), Customer Service is the only place (and time) where/when someone inside the company is actively engaged with the customer while that customer is in the process of using the company’s product and/or service. This is one of the best (if not the best) opportunities to optimize everything else the company does (from accounting to engineering to sales and marketing).

For example, let’s assume that alpha Customer A calls in to report a bug on the newly released product they’ve just received from Company X. Beyond the basics of providing a prompt, professional and knowledgeable response to Customer A, Company X can (and should) benefit from that interaction in several other ways. Of course, the details of the bug being reported need to be clearly, completely and accurately communicated to engineering. Depending on the nature of the issue (often there is a very gray area between a bug and an RFE – request for enhancement), this information should also be shared with marketing. If that same customer is operating under a service contract, has outstanding (unpaid) invoices and/or has any other financially oriented “association” with Company X (i.e., a “pay for bug” reporting agreement), the accounting/finance function in the company may need to be notified as well. If the bug/issue being reported has to do with how it was shipped and/or received (especially, if it requires an RMA – return materials authorization), the manufacturing/shipping organization needs to get into the loop. Last, but never least, is the opportunity for sales to create and maintain an ongoing bond with their customer. In the case of a bug report, the salesperson responsible for that customer may want to place a follow-up call to assure that the customer was satisfied with the response to their call. Additionally, and (once again) depending on the nature of the issue, the salesperson may even be presented with an opportunity to “up-sell” another product and/or service to that customer.

Fire Prevention

Hopefully, this most generic of examples makes a strong case for the argument that the customer service function is most tightly integrated with that of the others in the company and, therefore, should be set up to optimize this relationship from the start. An equally compelling case can be made for preventing the fall-out associated with not making customer service a priority from the beginning. This particular circumstance can have much more serious and long-lasting consequences than that of losing out on the benefit of early resource optimization.

Managing the Bottom Line
Managing a business is not as simple as one might think it is. As a matter of fact, in order for your business to succeed, one must exert extra effort. Also, you must always monitor the current condition of your business. In order to know how well your business is doing is by monitoring the monetary flow of your business. When we say "monetary flow" or more known by many as "cash flow", it represents the entire gross sales and revenues. Also, you must always keep track of your net income or "net profit" so as to know how to enhance the performance of your business.One of the essential factors in making your business successful is by creating a financial scheme and periodically checking its status against certain particulars that will pop up monthly. If certain problems are encountered, it is essential that you must solve the problems immediately. Listed below are some of the actions that you must take so that your business will run smoothly and for it to succeed eventually:Design a financial scheme. Estimate the profit that you expect to earn on a monthly basis and calculate your expenses.Also, bear in mind that the profits that you have lost can not be recovered. Once businessmen assess their estimated calculations to the actual calculations and discover that the profits are much lower than they expect it would be or the expenses are higher than projected, they would normally decide to “make it up later”. The truth is that, on each month or months when the projections are either too low or too high – low for profit and high for expenses -, that month is gone and can not be regained.Take immediate action. In an event when the profit or revenues are much lower that the projection, take immediate actions by increasing efforts in the sales and marketing aspects. Better yet, it is essential that you find means to raise your rates. Cut your overhead costs if you think that they are too high. Most of the businesses these days do that in order to become more profitable.Be “money wise”. It is very important that you must consider various consequences before spending. If you are taking into consideration another business expense – this includes the marketing and sales aspect of the business –, it is important that you must assess the increased profits that you projected against the expense before you proceed.Measure the success of your business based on its profits not on its revenue. Remember, the succes

n their job title.

Optimizing the Organization

Fire Prevention

Reviving Your Resume
A resume may not be who you are, but to a potential employer, it may be all they see of you and make or break your chance for your next interview. While many of us either spend long hours crafting the perfect resume (or pay someone else big bucks to do it for you) and may not want to mess with perfection, not updating your resume may cause more harm than good.If you are currently in the job market, evaluate your resume, and whether it's been six months or six years since you dusted it off, chances are you've acquired a new skill, shown leadership in an organization, or somehow improved since you last met with your resume.Add in anything new that will aid you in your job search, and as much as it hurts, delete anything that is outdated or is no longer applicable or important for the types of positions you are applying for.Some experts suggest, in fact having more of a bare bones resume that you tailor, along with your cover letter, to the individual position and company you are applying for.Universal resume advice includes being clear and concise, use verbs (power and action words) to describe you and your achievements or job responsibilities, and work from the vantage point of the company -- what you'll bring onboard to them.Another common problem with resumes is that they are not prioritized -- drawing attention to the most important or relevant skills and job titles first. The person going through dozens of resume sis more likely to have his or her attention drawn to one that immediately illustrates the skills for the position.By crafting a strong resume and updating it frequently, you’ll be more than ready when an opportunity arises.

mer service function (marketing is often also an afterthought in this category – that’s a topic for another time).

Optimizing the Organization

Fire Prevention

Necessary Psychological Skills When Working in the Executive Protection Field
The “hard” skills necessary for an executive protection specialist (EPS) and/or personal protection specialist (PPS) are often perceived as being that of a policeman or (elite) soldier. Though there can be certain similarities i.e. the use of handguns, hand-to-hand combat and the ability to control a vehicle, most people having worked both in executive protection and either of the latter careers, will deny that the skills are parallel. They may look alike but the methodology of each skill differs from segment to segment.However, the psychological skills needed are almost identical. Knowing basic psychological skills is essential in this line of business, as it is in law enforcement and military combat. Any person taking responsibility for another person’s life will have to consider the adaptability of his/her psychological capabilities in a variety of situations. These will include but are not limited to; adaptability in awkward situations (state of mind going from humble to authoritative or vice versa), adaptability in different work atmospheres (Keeping body and mind relaxed when waiting for a client and suddenly change to a high stress level) and the ever so popular question of considering life-or-death situations (can I kill or will I freeze?).Knowing, and openly accepting, your physical and psychological limits are a lifesaver. Not only will it save your own life, but it could very well save the lives of your teammates and your client.Since training in this area is almost non-existing in the private sector, allow me to suggest a few easy-to-conduct training scenarios:1. Take a student or new EPS/PPS to a party and assign him to a “VIP”. It can be your own private party and the “VIP” can be whomever you choose, but be sure to let the “VIP” know that the EPS/PPS are there to look out for them. Depending on your assessment of the EPS the assignment can be a very attractive woman (possible problem: jealousy or multiple worshippers) or a man with a tendency towards drinking (possible problem: inappropriate and/or reckless behavior). Now observe the EPS/PPS throughout the night. If you deem it necessary, have someone help you creating a scene, so as to provoke the right behavior from your “VIP” and hopefully your EPS/PPS.The direct goal of this scenario will be to find signs of insecurity and/or confusion in the moment where the EPS/PPS has to decide whether or not to intervene. The secondary goal could

(often there is a very gray area between a bug and an RFE – request for enhancement), this information should also be shared with marketing. If that same customer is operating under a service contract, has outstanding (unpaid) invoices and/or has any other financially oriented “association” with Company X (i.e., a “pay for bug” reporting agreement), the accounting/finance function in the company may need to be notified as well. If the bug/issue being reported has to do with how it was shipped and/or received (especially, if it requires an RMA – return materials authorization), the manufacturing/shipping organization needs to get into the loop. Last, but never least, is the opportunity for sales to create and maintain an ongoing bond with their customer. In the case of a bug report, the salesperson responsible for that customer may want to place a follow-up call to assure that the customer was satisfied with the response to their call. Additionally, and (once again) depending on the nature of the issue, the salesperson may even be presented with an opportunity to “up-sell” another product and/or service to that customer.

Fire Prevention

Entrepreneur Speaks on Brand Extension in the Franchise Cleaning Business
On question I have been asked over and over again from prospective franchisees of our companies has been one in which I am very adamant about it; do we require prior experience? No, like many franchise companies we actually frown upon it and think it is such a detriment that we usually disqualify the franchise candidate if they do have prior experience. And we always ask the prospective franchise buyer what sort of experience they have in our industry. When people find out we specifically do not want to sell franchises to those in our industry we are often ask; “Why Not,” as it would appear that a franchisee with prior experience has a leg up on the world and would have a better chance of instant success in our business models.Generally it is like Ray Kroc found, I would rather take someone with no experience than one with experience. What he was saying in "Grinding It Out," his autobiography, which I recommend was someone with restaurant experience comes with preconceived notions, and since he was re-inventing the restaurant business, that would only hinder his progress. I agree. So I do not want people in my industry as franchisees, only to join the Founders Round Table (my master mind group). Mostly people I met by chance at places like Starbucks: Venti Mocha Power frappachino please...no whip." Need to go where people's neurons are transmitting fastest otherwise I get board and have to leave. Our business is customer driven; we cannot stop it if we had too. They want service and they want it now, and they demand that it be us, we are in the cleaning business and our franchise system has grown from customers desires to have things cleaned. The problem is how do you wash every house, roof, awning, mini-blind, window, deck, dock, boat, plane, tractor, truck, car, and then change the oil, wax them, and coat them? You have to divide it into smaller pieces because it is too ominous of a task. KISS-keep it simple. Specialize and over deliver, thus strengthening the brand.' THE GUYS." So what we did is what we had to do. If our franchisees are in a neighborhood washing houses but are suppose to be washing cars at the golf course, then how can we give good service? We can't. So we find the best people in the world at each type of washing and have them join our team, we train the team from those best and knock out the 20-year learning curve. Presto! We have a franchise that is actually worth more than just a nam

This is generally the time when many new companies decide that it’s finally time to start thinking about the “Customer Service Department”. This may mean hiring their first one or two customer support representatives (technical support engineers) or may even lead to a search for the Customer Service executive who will build that organization. Again, generally speaking, the job of putting processes and systems in place is left to those who eventually are tasked with running this function.

As someone who has previously built and run several customer service operations, I don’t deny the satisfaction of starting something from scratch. However, putting (never mind changing) tires on the proverbial “moving bus” is not a pleasant experience for anyone (the new service person/people, the executive management of the company and, most especially, the customer). In fact, in the worst of circumstances, it can endanger good work done by the company thus far by compromising those critical early relationships. It also has the very real tendency to provide significant disruption in the rest of the business while all attention gets focused on putting out these new fires.

Best Case Scenario?

Up to this point in the discussion, there has only been talk of the risks/results and no more than a general reference to the cause(s). To better illustrate the point, a more specific example is in order. Okay, so now Company X has 15 new customers and each of them is in “production” mode (vs. alpha or beta) with Company X’s products/services. To date, all communication with these customers has been handled (and, very likely, not recorded) by representatives from Engineering, Sales, Marketing or even by the chief executive. While not ideal, this hasn’t caused any major heartburn (yet) on anyone’s part. In fact, to be fair, direct contact by all of these organizations with the customer in the early stages may be very beneficial.

Company X, having reached this production stage of the business, has now hired Customer Service Representative P and Customer Service Representative Q to begin taking customer calls from this point forward. Hey, there are only 15 customers – that should be plenty of coverage, right? Without going into too many details (every company, product/service and customer combination represents an endless number of possibilities), the best case scenario for the new customer service reps is that the calls will come in no more that two at a time (one for each rep). Further, this best case situation would assume that the questions/problems will be either easily answered/resolved by whatever training the rep may have received prior to answering their first call or that someone (i.e., an engineer) with that answer is readily available to assist. Staying with the best case, these first few callers/customers may not even notice that there has been a change. Further, these reps may even go so far as to document (in an Excel spreadsheet, in email or even on paper) the nature of the call for future reference. Taking all of this into consideration, under the best of circumstances, it still substantially limits the organization’s ability to optimize the customer service function (and to enhance its customer relationships).

A Touch of Reality

That was an example of a best case scenario – one that only exists in a “perfect world” (one in which we do not live). In a more likely situation, more calls will come in than only the 2 reps can handle at one time. Given that little or no consideration was previously given to customer service systems, it is unlikely that there is a queuing feature set up on the phones to handle such a backlog. This may send customers to a generic voicemail, an operator or (heaven forbid) an RNA – ring no answer – state. Now things begin to get interesting (and not in a good way). The customer has become aware of the fact that things have changed (and not in a good way).

Let’s add another level of “less than perfect world” reality to this picture. One of the customers gets through to a customer service rep and wants to follow-up on a call previously placed to Company X on an outstanding issue. Given that there are no systems in place and little or no record keeping to date, the rep (and the customer) is at a definite disadvantage. The best that can be hoped for now is that either 1) the individual who originally handled this issue (i.e., an engineer) can be identified and is readily available to take over the call or 2) the customer service rep takes a message and promises that someone will get back to the customer. Yikes! That does not present a very professional face of Company X to its (relatively) new customer.

Take that same customer, who is, by now, probably pretty frustrated at having to wait on hold (or worse), having to be transferred off to another person and/or having been told that someone will get back to them (because whoever answered the phone had no knowledge of this customer or their outstanding problem). Put this customer on the phone with their salesperson. Let’s say that the sales team is really on the ball and is “proactively” checking in with all of their new customers to make sure that all is well and even venturing so far as to look for another sale. What a surprise that salesperson will get when they hear, from their now very frustrated customer, that “No, things are not going all that well and what’s happening with my outstanding issue?” Whoops! A smart salesperson will do their best to de-ruffle the feathers and promise to get right back to the customer w

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