The Death of the Loyal CustomerWritten by Wayne Patterson
One of my classes in management focused on repeat customer. The course stressed importance of repeat customer to financial welfare of business. We spent hours discussing ways to turn "first time" buyers into repeat customers. This is not a new concept. We've all heard term "the customer is always right". And then there is movie we watch every Christmas where Macy tries to out "customer satisfaction" Gimbel. I prefer to take that concept one step further with what I consider most valuable asset of a business, loyal customer. The loyal customer is one who will buy your product or service even when it is more expensive or at a personal inconvenience. The loyal customer is one who will recommend you to his competitors. The loyal customer is one who will stand up and defend your company against unfair comments. The loyal customer is one who will teach his children to purchase your product or service because they can depend on your company to treat them with fairness and honesty. The businesses of America, large and small, have been built on backs of loyal customer. In his inauguration address, President Bush stated, " as citizens we must uphold principles of civility, courage, compassion, and character that a civil society demands from each of us". Civility is a word we don't hear much anymore. As companies have merged and as pressure from investors has increased, businesses have lost their civility. The concepts of respect and fair dealing that have been cornerstones of American business are crumbling. In age of computer and voicemail, companies are ignoring fact that on other end of line is a living breathing person. They will spend millions on advertising to gain a new customer and then banish them to what I term "Customer Service Hell". Take case of Denise in New Mexico "I have been MORE than patient with Dell Computer Corporation. It has taken me 6 months, a minimum of 100 hours of my time, 20 different people, 10 phone calls to service, 5 to rebate ripoff department, close to 30 mails, several faxes, daily blue screens which switched to daily black blank screens, all three drives not working, still not receiving a confirmed rebate on a machine I ordered in August, 2002, an ordered part I've yet to receive, two individuals saying they will call RIGHT BACK who still haven't called, and problems growing on an EPPurchased machine literally by day ~ to get THIS upset.
| | CRACKING THE BILLABLE HOURS CEILINGWritten by C.J. Hayden, MCC
How many of you made as much money as you wanted to last year? Don't be shy; raise your hands. Hmm, I don't see too many hands out there. What would you say is cause of this gap between your goals and your earnings? While you could certainly name economy or inadequate marketing as culprit, I'd like to suggest a third alternative. It may be constraints of billable hours model that keep you from your financial goals. Let's face it, there are only so many hours you can actually bill to clients. For example, national average for consultants is 22 billable hours per week. You can only raise your rates so high and still find enough customers. And if you spend more time on marketing, that's less time you have available to bill. But there's a way out of this trap. No matter what type of business you're in, you can use intellectual property to crack billable hours ceiling. Here are just some of ways to start tapping into this resource today: 1. Package your process. What if every time you began work with a new client, they paid an up-front fee before you spent even one hour with them? If you sell a process rather than your time, clients will pay for access to your previously developed materials. Examples are workbooks, forms, assessments, surveys, games, self-paced programs, and train-the-trainer packages. 2. Give a class. When you assemble a group of people to learn together, you can earn more per hour than working with them separately. Classes can be given at your office, at a rented (or borrowed) facility, on phone, or on web. Your market for classes is not just your clients -- think about what you could teach your colleagues as well. 3. Record a tape, CD, or video. The simplest way to make recordings is to capture your live classes or speaking engagements on audio or video. Make your unedited recordings available immediately on web or by phone. More polished recordings can be made with help of a local studio or editor, or you can learn to do this yourself with right
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