Customer Service - The Bedrock of the Global Economy

When a country is experiencing an era of prosperity we so often see the level of customer service slipping greatly. People who work in retail, especially those who are on commission, often feel that they can let their customer service skills slide because there’s always another buyer right around the corner, and for many years, most countries have experienced prosperity. Nowadays, looking at the global economy, it’s patently clear that the economy is in deep trouble, customer service has hit a new low, and if we don’t change our attitudes about work and service, more businesses will be forced to close and more people will lose their jobs and be out of work.

You cannot separate customer service from the bottom line. With so many people competing for business, the only ones who will survive this economic downturn will be those who know how to give excellent service.

Studies show that a typical dissatisfied customer will tell 6-10 people about the problem. A typical satisfied customer will tell 1-2 people. It costs 6x more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one. Of those customers who stop doing business with you 68% do so because of an attitude of indifference by the company or a specific individual. About 7-10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favour. If you resolve a complaint on the spot, 95% of your customers will do business with you again.

How can you afford to ignore these statistics? As a business owner you stand to lose a lot of money and perhaps even your business if you ignore these statistics. As an employee you stand to lose your job if you don’t pay attention to your customer’s needs.

In the old days, people were expected to do their job and to do it well. And if they didn’t, they were fired. Today, we’re living in litigious times. Due to the recent spate of lawsuits, companies are afraid to fire people for fear of being taken to court. So now they are stuck with employees who don’t really care about the company, who are poorly trained, and whose attitude of indifference gives customer service a bad name. This has contributed greatly to the failing economy.

Good customer service is so rare that nowadays we find ourselves praising company employees profusely just for doing their job. In other words, we are getting accustomed to employees who are not properly trained, who have no job skills, who cannot think their way out of a paper bag and who are absolutely indifferent to their customer’s needs – and we wonder why the economy is in such bad shape.

Look at the culture we have accepted as our norm. It’s pitiful. It’s disgraceful. When you buy an expensive item, you probably want something that works, a company that stands behind its warranty and a salesperson who can tell you something about the product and be reasonably correct in the information they are disseminating.
And if that’s the case, why wouldn’t you give that same level of service to your customers?

We’ve already seen how manufacturers use the concept of planned obsolescence. If your washing machine has a warranty of 3 years - we can almost be sure that it’s going to be ready for the rubbish heap in 3 years and 1 week. There was a time when a washing machine would last for ever and a day, and if you needed service, the store would send someone who was reliable and knowledgeable and capable of fixing that machine.

Customer service is the bedrock of any business whether you provide a service or a product. If you are diligent about keeping appointments, being on top of follow-ups, correcting problems immediately and having a cheerful, cooperative attitude, you can’t help but be successful, no matter what the economy.

During the Great depression of 1929, with 23% of the population unemployed and standing on bread lines in the US, there were still enterprising people who opened businesses or continued businesses that had been in operation and who made a great deal of money.
People who were willing to work hard and go above and beyond what was expected of them. People who persevered, who did not give up hope, but who forged ahead in spite of every hardship they encountered.

I worry about people being unprepared emotionally and financially for the hard times yet to come.
Of all the things that we can do to turn this economy around, good customer service seems the easiest in theory. What could be easier than having one of your employees greet people at the door with a smile and welcoming them to the store and asking how they can help them? Yet more often than not, a potential customer walks into a store, no one says hello to them, no one asks them if they need help, no one is anxious to handle their complaints and no one seems anxious to get their business.

Several years ago, I heard of a store manager of a high end department store who had a customer who had just bought an expensive outfit from the store and she had no shoes to go with it. The store manager sent her 32 pairs of shoes delivered to her home the next day and told her to take what she needed and send the rest back. I am sure that that customer will do business with that store for the rest of her life – and that store manager will not only have gained the most loyal customer and all her family and friends but he will have increased the store’s profitability just by that one act.

Great customer service doesn’t only extend to external customers, but it extends to internal customers as well – namely, the employees. The companies that stay operational through the tough times are most likely to be the companies that take good care of their employees. The common reaction with a downturn economy is to try to pare down your costs – but the unwise employer often pares down the very things that motivate employees to be loyal and to take good care of their customers.

I know of a company in the US that scouted around for really qualified employees shortly after the economy came tumbling down. The CEO said that those he hired during this time were the cream of the crop, they were out of work because their companies had downsized, and they would be very loyal for having been hired during these tough times. He knew he was going to have to put a great deal of money into the training but his rationale was that when things are slow this is the best time to do these trainings. When business is brisk there is no time to do a really good job. So his people are well trained and he is doing great business and it’s doubtful that even if the economy goes through the roof, these people will be looking elsewhere for a better job. `

There’s a luggage company in the US that stands behind their products 100%. If a piece of their luggage ever gets damaged beyond repair, they replace it free of charge.
A man had an attaché case and he put it on the kichen counter too near a pot that was cooking on the stove. The attaché case caught fire and was badly damaged. He called the company, and told them what happened. He said: I know this is my fault, I did a stupid thing- I put the attaché case too close to the pan that was on the stove… they said “ we’ll send out a new one in tomorrow’s mail. He said “no, I’m not looking for a new one, this was my fault, I just want to know how much it will cost to repair it. They said – your attaché case is fully warrantied for any kind of damage and we’ll send you out a new one in tomorrow’s mail – which they did.

This is a customer who will never buy luggage from another company. Instead of telling 1-2 people about how satisfied he was, he told everyone he could think of about the company. This man singlehandedly caused that company’s new sales to skyrocket.

He told friends and neighbours and relatives about this company – and one of those people told a friend of mine who bought all her luggage from them too – and as a result I bought all my luggage from them as well. That’s the correlation between great customer service and the economy.

So an attaché case that cost $300 - $500 probably netted the company $1/2M in new sales.

I have never seen so many businesses with so few people at the helm who understood the meaning of business. I find it incredible that in this downturn economy, businesses are not rushing to do business with you, instead they are turning it away in droves. For the past couple of months, I have been looking to rent office space for classes on a weekly basis. I need a year’s lease and nobody wants to give it to me. The most the anyone has offered has been for two months and for the stupidest of reasons that are underscored by their inability to understand economics and how their business can survive this downturn economy.

Let me give you some examples of what I’m talking about.

I went to one place and asked for a year’s lease and she said that couldn’t be done, because once a month they hold a board meeting in that room (and by the way there’s only one room that will accommodate a large enough space for classes) – and she said that first they have dinner and then they have their board meeting. So I asked her if they couldn’t have their board meeting on another night. She said, no – that’s the night we’ve been having the meeting for many years. I asked he how many people came to these board meetings – she said there are 12 of them. So I thought to myself this makes absolutely no sense. This room is supposed to generate an income and yet, business is being turned away because these 12 people would be inconvenienced by having their meeting on another night.

If I owned that building, and these were my board members, you can be sure that if they wanted to have their meeting on that night and they wanted to have dinner, I would host the meeting in my house, order in pizza and have the meeting at my place for just 12 people.

Another building had a perfectly lovely room and they would only give me 2 months – because just in case they needed it for other events that may want to come in during the year. There’s an old saying: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” – they turned down a year’s lease that was guaranteed income for them, just in case, in the downturn economy, someone else wanted to use the room for a different event.

Then I went to a school with the same request for a year’s lease and they turned it down simply because twice a year they give exams to their students and they needed that room for their exams. With the economy being the way it is, and the exams being given just twice a year, you would think that even if they had to give those exams on a Saturday, they would have had the business sense to give me a year’s lease. Again, a guaranteed income for them.

Let me give you another example of really poor customer service. I bought a highly specialised software programme and there’s only one technician in my entire community who is licensed to do repairs, upgrades and tutorials. His fees are much higher than anyone else’s. He doesn’t get back to you when he promises. He only gets back to you when he knows he’s going to make some more money from you.

Up to this point, he’s been riding high. In his mind, he thinks that he will continue to thrive – what he doesn’t realise is that with so many people wanting our money, if he continues with such poor customer service – people like me will throw up our hands in disgust and buy a different software programme from someone else. And this deplorable level of customer service doesn’t only hold true in my country, but in a neighbouring country as well. I am trying to buy a $500 programme and they haven’t returned my telephone calls. And the sad part about all of this is that when their business fails and they have no income, they won’t even realise that they were the ones who caused their own downfall.

The heart of an economy is based on the numbers of employed people. A country cannot survive without people buying goods. If you are out of work, you cannot afford to buy anything. If you can’t afford to buy anything, the economy crashes. So it makes sense to look at why people need to hone up on their customer service skills as a way of generating new business and retaining existing business.

Everything that we do or fail to do has a direct correlation to our income and by extension to the economy of our country and the economy of the world.

To sum up:
1. If you are the boss, examine the things you can do to generate business
2. Don’t let convenience or habit stand in the way of taking advantage of a good business opportunity.
3. If your business involves performing a service, make sure you give 100% of yourself to your customers.
4. Be on time for your appointments
5. Return phone calls promptly
6. Make sure you follow through with all your commitments
7. At the end of the service you are providing, ask your customer if they are satisfied with the level of service they have received and don’t be offended if you have to hear criticism. Take it to heart and try to do better for the next customer
8. Be courteous, be cheerful, be helpful, be knowledgeable. If you don’t know the answer, or cannot perform the service, admit it. Don’t be afraid to refer that person to someone else who may be able to help, because that customer will probably come back to you in the future, just for your honesty.

Silver - to buy or not to buy?

Everything that uses electricity or electronics requires silver, almost. Think about it: your cell phone, your laptop, your CD player, plasma screen, refrigerator, washing machine . . . everything you can think of that uses electrical current or is an electronic item, like an iPod, uses silver to some level.

So even though it’s a miniscule amount, if you’ve got a billion people seeking these type of gizmos, gadgets, and just raw power or something as basic as a washing machine, that puts an upward pressure on the silver price from an industrial perspective.

There is much talk about China at the moment being a possible huge investor in silver. How much silver investment demand there will be and how it will catch on, no one knows at this point. Many pundits suggest that it will catch on and I am inclined to agree with them. People have a survival instinct and when there is panic and chaos, especially in financial markets, they seek anything that they perceive will preserve their wealth or protect them. Silver promises to do just that.
At over USD$900 per ounce at present, gold is too expensive for many people therefore silver is a very attractive and affordable option. We do not have a massive supply of silver worldwide and we have a much larger base of people willing to get into the silver market than ever before. It is quite possible that silver will reach in excess of USD$50 per ounce.

So for those of you who are afraid of having all your money in banking institutions and who either do not have the funds to buy gold at all, or who can buy only a little, then silver is a wonderful option. It is inexpensive, but one of the drawbacks is that it is very bulky and difficult to store. You may have to consider having it stored by a company overseas – there are several online and I suggest you check them out. www.goldmoney.com and www.bullionvault.com are a couple of options for you to start out.

For a relatively small amount of money, you can have some physical coins that will give you protection should the whole system collapse.

More on Written Agreements and Protecting your Assets

Contracts and agreements e.g. rental agreement, mortgage agreement, loan from family member or friend, credit card agreement, hire purchase agreement etc. affect most of us at some stage in our lives. and what you should be looking for to protect yourself and your assets.

Whether we are making these contracts and agreements with people we love and trust or whether we are making them with strangers. There are some simple rules of thumb that we should all be looking at as they apply to most of us.

Historically, 100-200 years ago, most countries did not recognise women’s rights to own property. They could not get a mortgage or credit without their husband’s permission. They themselves were treated as chattels.

If they wanted to know about money, they were told not to worry their pretty little heads – so it became the man’s job to worry about money and the woman’s job to take care of his personal needs and to be the heart of the house. He worked, he provided for their needs, she took care of the children, the household chores and her husband’s needs. Consequently when a husband died or divorced her or just disappeared, she was left not knowing how to balance a chequebook, not knowing what her mortgage rates were, or how responsible she was for paying that mortgage down. She had no knowledge of insurance and was often left without insurance coverage for herself and her family. As far as her car was concerned, she knew how to put the key in the ignition and get to the nearest service station.

Nowadays, women are in top positions in corporations but many of them still have their husband’s making the major decisions on things like insurance, mortgage rates, investments, medical coverage and pension plans.

Historically, when a woman gets into a relationship, she’s always given her husband dominion over her assets. She could come into a marriage with a house completely in her name and once she gets married and he wants to be put on the title to it, she doesn’t question it.

Also, historically, a woman takes the softer view. I love him, everything we have is ours. We share and share alike. I should be putting the house in both of our names. WRONG, wrong, wrong.

If he wants to be put on the title, or you want him to be put on the title, get 3 evaluations of the house and let him give you his share of the money for that house. After all if you are going into a business partnership and someone wants to buy into your business, you would have your business valued at current prices, and that partner would have to buy in cash at the current value. A house is no different.

Once he is on that title, he can do anything with that house, he can take out loans against it, and he can walk out on you, or he can mortgage it to the hilt and die leaving you with debt.

The same can be true of a man who owns property, but men usually cover themselves with pre-nuptial agreements. Women, historically have not been that smart. They have got smarter in recent years, but because their emotions are engaged so quickly and so deeply, they often have to be reminded to protect their assets.

The same thing holds true if you own your own house and your spouse wants you to sell it so that you can move into a larger place – once again, that partner should be compensating you with the value of his or her share of the house before you sell it. Because if the marriage falls apart, either way you would lose out because when it comes to a division of assets – you only own half of the new house and none of the house that you had in your own name before the partnership.

For example, I knew someone who had her own home that she had bought with her own money and had been living there for a number of years and that house was almost paid off. Then she got married. The new husband moved in. A few months later, he decided he didn’t want to live in that house. He wanted them to sell it and live in another house. After their divorce 15 years later, all she was able to get was half of the new house and nothing of the house that she had originally.

When you are dealing with monies, even if you are in a deep relationship, with a family member, a friendship, your spouse and you trust the other person deeply. You have had a lot of experience over the years and you think to yourself that you don’t need a written agreement – think again. You can never tell if or when the other person is going to back off and leave you with the debts and responsibilities or if the other person is going to sell off their half of the partnership leaving you unprotected.

On a professional level, I have a client who is having a house built, and she has known her builder for many years and he’s done work on other houses of hers. He has given her a quote for the work and said that it will not be above $120,000 for his labour costs – but she has decided that she doesn’t need a written agreement. I advised her that no matter how well she knows her builder, she does need a written agreement stating that his costs will not be above $120K. What happens if he is injured and he hasn’t been paying his public liability insurance? What if he goes into bankruptcy and just leaves the job halfway done and leaves the country?

If you have a quote from a builder with materials included, their suppliers could go out of business, the builders costs could go up and your costs could go up accordingly. If you want to protect yourself on materials, open up an account at a builder’s merchant so that you can buy the materials yourself and you can get the most competitive prices. That way, when your builder is quoting you prices for labour, you know you are just paying for labour and you can negotiate his labour costs, especially now when construction work is in such short supply.

So as you can see, on a personal and a professional level, you always need a written agreement.

You can be in a romantic relationship or a marriage and all of a sudden your partner goes to the bank and draws all your money and you are left with all the debts. And no matter how much you love someone, where there is money involved, make sure everything is spelled out really well. Make sure your lawyer has covered everything and you are not leaving any loopholes.

For example, I knew someone who had been married for 25 years and their only daughter was getting married. The wedding was very expensive and as soon as they got home from their daughter’s wedding, she started preparing for bed. She sees her husband has a suitcase and he is emptying his drawers out into the suitcase. What are you doing? I am packing, I’m leaving you. I just wanted to wait until our daughter got married and was out of the house so I could leave you. I have found someone else. After 25 years of marriage, he just walked out and left her with a pile of debts.

If you being asked to sign anything e.g. a husband of 30 years – make sure a lawyer checks the paperwork. Ensure that someone can explain it to you and don’t be led like a lamb to the slaughter. In the end that partner may leave you, divorce you or die and may leave you with a lot of debt. You need to know what you are going to be responsible for.

Another important point to remember is that if anyone wants you to sign papers quickly, your answer has to be NO. Don’t ever allow yourself to be rushed into a financial agreement. No matter how good the deal might sound, you need time to assess whether it is right for you.

Written Agreements

When you are dealing with monies, even if you are in a deep relationship, with a family member, a friendship, your spouse and you think to yourself that you don’t need a written agreement – think again. If you are going to have any agreement drawn up always go through a lawyer. You can never tell if or when the other person is going to back off and leave you with the debts and responsibilities or if the other person is going to sell of their half of the partnership leaving you unprotected.

You may trust this person wholeheartedly and may never had cause to doubt them – but circumstances can and often do change. For example, I had a client who had all his monies tied up with his wife and their business. On Christmas Eve, she threw him out of the house and would not allow him to come back. Luckily, he had done as I had advised previously which was to put some money aside in a separate bank account. Had he not done this, he would not have had the money for a month’s deposit on a lease and he would have been out in the street.

You can be in a romantic relationship or a marriage and all of a sudden your partner goes to the bank and draws all your money and you are left with all the debts. And no matter how much you love someone, where there is money involved, make sure everything is spelled out really well. Make sure your lawyer has covered everything and you are not leaving any loopholes.

If you being asked to sign anything e.g. a husband of 30 years – make sure it a lawyer checks the paperwork. Ensure that someone can explain it to you and don’t be led like a lamb to the slaughter. In the end that partner may leave you, divorce you or die and may leave you with a lot of debt. You need to know what you are going to be responsible for.

Another important point to remember is that if anyone wants you to sign papers quickly, your answer has to be NO. Don’t ever allow yourself to be rushed into a financial agreement. No matter how good the deal might sound, you need time to assess whether it is right for you.

If you are ever asked to sign a lease, or a mortgage with your partner or spouse, make sure you understand it thoroughly. Take it to a lawyer. Make sure you can afford it, even if the incomes between you are reduced to one income. People have a tendency when they sign a lease or a mortgage, that they figure out how much they can afford to spend each month. What they DON’T calculate into these costs is a failing economy, or one of the partners being laid off or fired and out of work, or other expenses that go through the roof.

So if you are contemplating signing a lease or a mortgage with a partner, make sure you calculate it for just one income, because if you are basing it on two incomes in this economy you may find that you do not have enough money to cover the rent or the mortgage. You must ensure that your property is not foreclosed on you risk being evicted.

Don’t be embarrassed to tell your spouse or business partner that you want to speak to a lawyer to have him go over the fine print with you. When signing a legal document, many people don’t bother to read the fine print – or if they do bother to read the fine print, they don’t understand all the details. Wherever your money is being spent, that’s where you need to be very vigilant about your role in protecting it.

There are always options

We are living in increasingly uncertain times. Whilst the stock markets seem to be rallying unerringly and governments keep reiterating that we are over the worst, more and more people are losing their jobs, their homes, their pensions and their future security.

In the USA, Michigan has one of the highest unemployment rates right now. I was talking to a client whose house was originally $1M a year ago and now at $250K she still cannot find a buyer. California and many other states are going through terrible times, yet the banks, having taken taxpayers money, continue to pay out huge salaries and bonuses to their employees.

What can we do about it?
First of all, be ready to speak out, to write to your representatives in Congress if you live in the US, or if you live elsewhere, to those in power. Don’t accept their excuses and get together with like-minded people and make your views known. For too long we have trusted our governments and the powers that be and now they are proving themselves untrustworthy and incompetent. It’s time to stand up and be counted.

If you are one of the unfortunate ones who have reached the stage that you are filing for bankruptcy, remember that JC Penny said that anyone who hasn’t gone bankrupt three times is a failure. If you find you have to sell everything for 10 cents on the dollar, at least it still gives you something. The tighter you hold onto what you have, the more desperate it becomes. For those of you who are struggling but who are not yet bankrupt, only buy goods that are on sale that you must have.

If you are locked into any contract, try to renegotiate your contract or your mortgage. There are always different options at your disposal. It may look very bleak one day, but you always have options. You may not like all your options, but there will always be some if you look hard enough.

Try to economise wherever you can. Here are a few ideas:
- don’t buy ready-made meals, start from scratch. It may take a little longer, but you will save money and it will be much healthier without all the additives and preservatives.
- avoid the fizzy drinks aisle in the supermarket – do you really need all those sugary, unhealthy liquids? If not, you will save yourself a lot of money.
- you don’t need a different cleaner for each part of the house e.g. bathroom, kitchen etc. For about $3 you can buy one cleaner that will do the entire house in different dilutions.
- when something is on offer that you like, buy it in bulk and stock up.
- buy toilet paper instead of tissues.
- start building up a storage cupboard of dried, tinned and dehydrated foods. You will then have some supplies should supermarkets be unable to stock their shelves, or if you experience a lean financial spell.