Check out TED.com. Look for Rory Sutherland – perspective is everything. You will find the time spent quite interesting.
The time is now.
The world is more malleable than you think, and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape.
Bono, musician
Well here we are. After some resistance I seem to be surviving the travails of a blog. This is my 100th posting. I hope you are enjoying my blathering on about this and that. I appreciate the comments that you are sending my way and look forward to more.
Doon’t forget that we had a reading assignment earlier this week. The Goal. And I hope you have found some time to read it. It is a timeless classic in my view and one that bears rereading occassionally to keep on your toes. Complacency is the enemy, Don’t forget that “Good” and “Great” are the enemy of what is “Possible.”
The time is now.
Just a short note. A good man with a world of experience is starting into the world of the blog. His blog is – growth without pain. Check it out you won’t be sorry. The time is now.
Has anyone had any experience with GoToMeeting or GoToWebinar on the video side?
With GoToMeeting you can have six images on the screen with live video and fifteen participants. With GoToWebinar you can have 1,000 participants and still just six video.
I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you. The time is now…
A fall into a ditch makes you wise.
Chinese Proverb
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain
I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.
Michael Jordan
April fool’s day has long been a fun day for me. I suppose that shows – what kind of fool I am (sic).
Over the years I have had several penguins in the backyard when we lived in Montreal. Flamingo’s in the front yard in Edmonton. You get the drift. I am not at home this year and I have asked my daughter to continue the shenanigans without me. She got my grandson with the Flamingo rerun and he tried to get his sister with the same and was met with a yawn. Oh well.
The time is now.
One of the truly remarkable things that has happened through my work life has been the availability of air travel. It is not as if airplanes were just invented and brought to the market but it is the availability of flights to almost everywhere you want to go and at a price that would once seem stupid low.
That having been said to some degree air travel has become a victim of “an industry.” We have many competing influences. The employer, the employee, the governments, shareholders and oh I nearly forget the customer. Yes there is that pesky little customer.
I spent most of the day flying across the country and through a connection in Chicago. Wonderful experience that is you know. A little wind and the place basically shuts down. It really is a shame to see a once proud airport, the one with the most take offs and landings of any airport in the world brought to its knees. I m not sure there is anyone to blame as there is more than enough blame to go around. What I do know is that the Customer is that last one of the stakeholders that anyone seems to care about in the chain of influencers. I feel much more like a victim than a respected customer. Am I alone? I certainly doubt it.
I use this metaphorically as well as literally as an entry point to the world of customer service. Customer service in America has gotten so bad that customers have stopped complaining. What do your employees do to make your customers feel special? In this world of service dominant marketing it is important that each customer touch be memorable. How do your customers respond to you? It is all about how your employees, your heroes, perform with your customers? The time is now.
The “New” Quest Service Management – Unit I
What it looks like when it is Right
A more professional, productive and profitable Service Operation is necessary for the distributors in the Capitals Goods Industries to be successful. To assist in the development of this Service Management team we have designed a new series of training courses aimed at enhancing the skills of those charged with this responsibility. The “New Quest Service Management Level I” consists of 4 elements presented during a two day seminar.
The Principles of Management
The Basic Principles of Management – what we call the Pursuit of Performance: Planning, Organizing and Control; Job Descriptions and Responsibilities, Performance Standards and Targets – what it looks like when it is right; Employee counseling with praise and constructive criticism in Personnel Management; Time Management to set yourself free; The Business of Change and how to overcome resistance to change; How to survive in spite of ourselves.
Introduction to Accounting & Finance for Service Personnel
Understand Financial Statements from the Service Department Perspective. Clear and understandable definitions of the main financial terminology a supervisor/manager must have. Learn the Dealership Financial Fitness Model; and Profitability Pyramid. Asset Management and the value of Return On Assets. Pricing and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) Discover new truths about the famous “Discount” and the consequences of it on the customer and the business.
The Operational and Process Foundation
Balancing Labor and Skills Availability with Customer Service: Work Order Process Management; simplification is not just a nice word it is very possible in this clear exposure of the flow and needs of a service management job function. The impossible made understandable. Completion Dates and Meeting Them. Unleash your true power of knowledge by learning about flat rating and shop floor scheduling.
It’s All about Customers
Satisfying everyone’s requirements and developing relationships: “Inspections” to ensure Machine Reliability, Technical knowledge and advice. How you should use price as a marketing tool; variable labor rates and their application. Value added selling; and the value of Customer Retention. Surveys to develop satisfied customers for life: Customer Profiles and all the background required to make customers your apostles.
This “New Quest Service Management Level I” provides a broad base introduction to Service Management for the 21st Century. It is intended for Service Lead hands, Instore Sales Lead hands, Supervisors, Managers and Executives. The material covers all management and operational disciplines of a Professional Service Manager.
Well here we are – the first weekend in March. The leap February got things all cross ways – a friend of mine had his birthday on Wednesday – he is now 17. Now wouldn’t that be amazing? I can’t say that I would want to go back to seventeen again. Once was enough.
Well I hope you all had a great week last week and that the coming week will be even better. Of course that is up to you. In the meantime enjoy your weekend. Get some chores done around your home. Share quality time with family and friends.
The time is now.