Will You Add? - Business

The Dawn Of Paralegal Ascendancy
Increasingly the Paralegal job is finding wider use in law and the judiciary all over the world. In the so called developed countries, Paralegals have been recognized as an important and integral part of both the law firms and the judiciary.That took some time in coming; the roles of Paralegals have come to be accepted in the last two decades, with Universities and diverse institutions taking up the challenge of providing specialist training for Paralegals on different fields of human endeavour. To day, you can obtain both Paralegal certificates/degrees online on just about any field.But in the so called developing countries, Paralegals are still seen as mere lawyer's secretaries and judiciary clerks even though they, in most cases without formal training, have learnt to carry out most of the duties of a lawyer, including conducting legal research, document preparation, client interviews and drafting of

rough the series of events as an interesting example of managing “the customer experience”. My airline goes to the trouble of writing hand written thank you notes each time I fly with them, and yet when it looses all my belongings – all they give me is a piece of paper and that’s it.

It’s great that it’s free – but is it useful?

The hotel gave me a nice free breakfast but I would have preferred a shaver & some deodorant! If I think about a number of the budget hotel chains in the UK where they are happy to give you free shaver, foam, combs, deodorant etc. if you’ve forgotten them, there’s much their my American hotel & airline could learn from them.

Running a Small Business - The Seven Fatal Mistakes
The failure rate for young small businesses is apallingly high. Any business is definitely a risk. But your chances of success will be dramatically increased if you aviod these seven fatal mistakes.1. Inexplicitness.Succes in business and life has never been achieved through vagueness. Explicit objectives are the drivers of achievement. Setting out clear goals for your business allows you to develop strategies to achieve your goals and to create plans which will ultimately drive your business to success. Without goals, strategies and plans, you are just depending on luck- and how has that worked for you so far?2. Apathy.Few human activities require a greater commitment than operating a business. Success without commitment just doesn't happen. And apathy for your business will mean commitment is impossible. Commitment requires passion. You are the closest person to your business, and if you

It must be one my personal business nightmares, if you can imagine having just flown to New York to meet a new client and the airline has lost all your clothes! So what can one learn from such events about delivering great customer service experiences?

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

To give you the background, I’d just been to California and had arranged to meet the COO of a potential great new client in New York on my way back home to England. I’d visited them a few weeks before and I’d felt as though I’d wandered onto the set of “The Devil Wears Prada” (or should that be “Ugly Betty”?). So not wanting to be left too far behind the “New York Chic look” of my hosts, I’d gone out and purchased the very best of shirts & ties that London has to offer (OK anyone from Milan is allowed a note of scepticism at this point) combined with my new Italian suit & cuff links, I knew I’d look the part ;-)

My plane was several hours late into New York due to “unexpected delays” – I was little nervous as I’d arranged to go out to dinner that evening. Still with my Platinum Frequent Flyer card my suitcase had qualified for a special “Priority Handling” label so I was looking forward to getting my suitcase quickly and rushing off ahead of the pack to the taxi rank. Sadly, after all of the luggage had disappeared off the carousel there was no sign of my case, so I made my way to the airline’s baggage handling office. I was joined by another passenger who had experienced a similar fate. The Airline staff assured me that my suitcase had landed and recommended I went back to check the carousel again. This experience was repeated another 3 times. From my interactions with the airline staff, I managed to get the impression that losing one’s baggage was not a completely unusual experience. My heart sank as I looked at the back wall of the hall which was filled floor to ceiling with damaged suitcases in glass cases awaiting collection from their owners.

After an hour and a half of going back & forth from the luggage carousel to the airline desk, the airline staff finally conceded that perhaps my bag was lost after all and I was given a claim form to fill in. I was given an 0800 number to contact and a tracking reference number and that was it. I had a sense of disappointment and unfinished business but I had to move on and let other passengers register their lost baggage too.

There’s no such thing as a “free breakfast”

I headed off to my hotel (minus any luggage) and checked in. The receptionist noted down my comment that my luggage had been lost and hopefully it might arrive in the next 24 hours. The receptionist realised I was a Gold member of their hotel loyalty system, so she kindly gave me vouchers for free breakfasts for my stay in Manhattan. Sadly, by this time it was too late for the dinner out I’d planned, so I went off to bed to dream the night away with visions of lost clothes, deodorants and shavers! I guess I wasn’t too worried that I could replace my lost items in the morning, after all America is the land of retail plenty. And as I was staying just off 5th Avenue, which is lined with clothes stores, it wasn’t going to be too difficult to get replacements in the morning.

In the morning, fortified by my free breakfast, though looking a little rough, unshaven (or should I say with designer stubble) and with crumpled clothes, I headed off to the shops and quickly purchased everything I needed. I guess as they were happy to process my credit card without phone verification I can’t have looked too bad. So at this point, it was an opportunity for me to think through the series of events as an interesting example of managing “the customer experience”. My airline goes to the trouble of writing hand written thank you notes each time I fly with them, and yet when it looses all my belongings – all they give me is a piece of paper and that’s it.

It’s great that it’s free – but is it useful?

CV Writing - Why You Need A Web CV?
1. In this age of technology a CV put together on an old typewriter and sent ‘snail mail’ is not enough. A Web CV is simply a copy of your CV produced on a web page that can be accessed via the Internet rather than held on your PC at home. It is an ideal addition to your job hunting toolkit if you intend to spend any time away from your PC.2. Imagine being away for the weekend, whether on a wild trip to Amsterdam or a cosy hotel in Paris. You pop into an Internet caf? to find the nearest Italian restaurant and browse the web to use up the rest of your pre-paid time. You come across the perfect job! With a Web CV you can send an email with your CV Web address and password to the employer or recruitment agency and they can view your CV immediately. Indeed, whether you are moving house, taking a gap year abroad or travelling extensively in your current job you can give employers and agencies instant access to

’d look the part ;-)

There’s no such thing as a “free breakfast”

It’s great that it’s free – but is it useful?

A Day In The Life Of A Mystery Shopper
Read on to know how you would spend your day once you become a Mystery Shopper.A typical day would start around 10 A.M after you get free with all your daily chores and errands. You would then turn to your computer and check your e-mail to see what all assignments you have for the day. After taking a look at the list, you would either select the ones you want, or go for all of them.You then start to get ready for a great Mystery Shopping day ahead!Let’s say your first Mystery Shopping assignment for the day is visiting a grocery shop. You reach the shop and confirm the name and address before going in. Once you go in, you check upon some basic things like whether you are greeted by the employees, whether they are wearing their badges, how neat and tidy is the shop and so on. Also, since its morning time, you’ll definitely check whether the vegetables are fresh or not. Once you are finished with y

heart sank as I looked at the back wall of the hall which was filled floor to ceiling with damaged suitcases in glass cases awaiting collection from their owners.

There’s no such thing as a “free breakfast”

It’s great that it’s free – but is it useful?

Too Dull? Too Sharp?
You work hard getting the right cover message and words for your brochure. Now, you want to give it a look, an image.Why a look? Most consultants see themselves as hard working and pragmatic. They believe the look of their materials is unimportant. After-all, clients are hiring expertise not looks, right? Not so!People buy people first, ideas second and things third. Your brochure represents you. It is you when you’re not around.What sort of image do you want to convey? Would you visit a prospect wearing a cheap, out-of-date suit, looking sad and second-class? Unlikely. However, many people do just that, when they use low-quality, poorly designed brochures. Your brochure represents you when you are not there. Make sure it is dressed in the fashion and quality you would use for yourself. Before you run out and find yourself a tailor or take up sewing, you should first look at you

, so she kindly gave me vouchers for free breakfasts for my stay in Manhattan. Sadly, by this time it was too late for the dinner out I’d planned, so I went off to bed to dream the night away with visions of lost clothes, deodorants and shavers! I guess I wasn’t too worried that I could replace my lost items in the morning, after all America is the land of retail plenty. And as I was staying just off 5th Avenue, which is lined with clothes stores, it wasn’t going to be too difficult to get replacements in the morning.

It’s great that it’s free – but is it useful?

Pebbles in Your Shoe Don't Only Hurt your Foot But Cause Back and Hip Problems!
CIO Magazine ran an article entitled, "Ten Mistakes CIO's Too Often Make" written by Susan H. Cramm, former CIO and vice president of IT at Taco Bell and CFO and executive vice president at Chevys, a Taco Bell subsidiary.I was thunderstruck by her ninth mistake---Pretend that your organizational weeds are really untended flowers.My mind immediately went to a comparison with what it is like to spend a day walking with a pebble in your shoe. If you haven't done this before, imagine a pebble in your shoe, not just for 5 seconds, but what I is like to have a small hard rock under your foot for 12 hours.It hurts, it moves around in the shoe sometimes disappearing and then re-appearing in a different place. Most people attempt to compensate by walking differently, thus affecting their posture or stride, causing pain to the back and hip in their effort to minimize the discomfort.Too often, organi

It’s great that it’s free – but is it useful?

A great technique for managing these unfortunate experiences was pioneered by Jan Carlson (former CEO of SAS Scandinavian Airlines) who coined the expression “moments of truth”. A “moment of truth” occurred whenever an employee interacted with a customer; Carlson said that these moments left an impression – good bad or exceptional. Carlson applied 4 guiding principles for managing these “moments of truth” positively: • Everyone needs to know and feel they are needed • Everyone wants to be treated as an individual • Giving someone the freedom to take responsibility releases resources that would otherwise remain concealed • An individual without information can not take responsibility whereas an individual given responsibility can not help but take responsibility

The technique is fairly straightforward to implement. I guess a start is to get your service operations team together and ask them to map out the service experience from the customer perspective. Whenever you come across a “moment of truth”, you can then work out with your team just how best you can handle that sticky situation. I like to use the high-tech toolset of 2 sets of Post-It notes in different colours for such work – available from all good stationers ;-) Use one pack of Post-Its to map out the service experience from a customer perspective, and then use the other pack to define the main alternative events that can occur at each “moment of truth” and the best options for your own staff in how to deal with these. [For a more extensive and sophisticated approach try the “moment mapping” technique described in “Building Great Customer Experiences” by Colin Shaw & John Ivens]. I guess an even simpler approach is the Nordstrom approach; their employees are given the freedom to decide for themselves and have the single rule “do whatever you think is right for the customer”.

Don’t let disappointing service lose you your most valuable customers

And the end to this tale. Well my suitcase was located during the morning and arrived over at my hotel. I was able to locate my special shirt, tie & cuff links. [On a fashion point here – I’m convinced English mens’ shirts are more stylish than American shirts]. It made my day when the client’s PA complimented me on my cufflinks (OK – it’s a small pleasure but still a delight). On the business front though, one of the key lessons is that a poor service experience is one of the key drivers for customers switching suppliers. The disappointing experience causes customers to shop around other suppliers and they may well find a better value option losing you a very valuable customer. Best to make sure that your “moments of truth” are well managed.

As for me, I’m now minded to try out Silverjet Airways (see www.flysilverjet.com) the new low-cost all business class airline – they offer fantastic service (flat beds, 30 minute check-in and even fly Carbon neutral) with much lower prices.

I’ll update you on the experience hopefully after my next trip to New York :-)

Best wishes John

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There is a new concept in branding: online branding. If you want to know exactly what that means, you only have to take the traditional definitions of branding and adapt them to the Web. Then you'll get a simple definition: online branding makes your visitors believe that you are the only answer to their problems.

If you are serious about excelling in the field of audio engineering, you will likely want to seek a degree in the field. Though many people have become extremely successful without a degree, you should never count on that as a rule.

Is it possible to change without having (using) a break? For instance you write a series of articles, day in day out without losing one, you just continue writing about different topics, but with the same mindset.

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Will You Add? - Building Great Customer Experiences - Or Beware Consultants With No Clothes!

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