Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Work Place Initiative -- A New Organization
Has your business survived the start-up phase? Are you ready to move to the next level? Are you ready to work smarter – not harder – to grow your business? And do you want the support and guidance of people in the same boat as you?
The purpose and mission of the Initiative is to provide effective business growth strategies to small and medium sized businesses through networking, educational forums and peer support. The focus is on owners and managers of businesses that have been in business for more than one year and have reached a level of growth where they need help getting to the next level.
One aspect of the Initiative, Insight, is an Advisory Board -- a group of professionals whose knowledge, skills and/or influence offer input and advice pertaining to a specific goal or objective.
Through the sharing of thoughts and goals with a small group of respected advisors, businesses involved in Insight learn how to put first things first, optimize their capability and widen their circle of influence. They find win/win situations while developing an abundance mentality.
The other part of the Initiative is monthly networking and educational forums where experts in their field present information on topics of interest to small business owners and managers. Areas such as health insurance, marketing, management and more are all envisioned to be on the agenda in the coming months.
MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES:
Membership Costs:
Annual -- $75.00
Roundtable Discussions (Insight):
Groups of no more than 6 members gather on a weekly basis to discuss issues of concern to themselves and other members of the group.
Shared Office Space:
Use of The Work Place conference room and computer/printer/Internet access (no rental on room; reduced charges on equipment)
Monthly Networking Meetings:
Provide a business networking environment where members and non-members can meet and greet each other (non-members pay entrance fees).
Access to Member Forums, Blogs and Articles
The purpose and mission of the Initiative is to provide effective business growth strategies to small and medium sized businesses through networking, educational forums and peer support. The focus is on owners and managers of businesses that have been in business for more than one year and have reached a level of growth where they need help getting to the next level.
One aspect of the Initiative, Insight, is an Advisory Board -- a group of professionals whose knowledge, skills and/or influence offer input and advice pertaining to a specific goal or objective.
Through the sharing of thoughts and goals with a small group of respected advisors, businesses involved in Insight learn how to put first things first, optimize their capability and widen their circle of influence. They find win/win situations while developing an abundance mentality.
The other part of the Initiative is monthly networking and educational forums where experts in their field present information on topics of interest to small business owners and managers. Areas such as health insurance, marketing, management and more are all envisioned to be on the agenda in the coming months.
MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES:
Membership Costs:
Annual -- $75.00
Roundtable Discussions (Insight):
Groups of no more than 6 members gather on a weekly basis to discuss issues of concern to themselves and other members of the group.
Shared Office Space:
Use of The Work Place conference room and computer/printer/Internet access (no rental on room; reduced charges on equipment)
Monthly Networking Meetings:
Provide a business networking environment where members and non-members can meet and greet each other (non-members pay entrance fees).
Access to Member Forums, Blogs and Articles
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
ARGGGGGG ---
We’ve all been there. Life happens. Things go wrong. But how do we deal with them when they do? A perfect example is my day today. I have a client in Washington, DC (lawyers for that matter) that send me audio files of interviews to transcribe for their monthly magazine – a magazine that goes to thousands of readers around the world. They are never proactive; always waiting until the last minute to get me the file before the deadline. This month, their regular audio/visual tech was out of town doing work for another of his clients and he sent in the “back-up team”. This guy, needless to say, did not know what he was doing, and the production of the file to send me got messed up. Instead of a 40 minute interview, I only got 9 minutes. They tried for three days to get me the right file but it never seemed to get here. Finally, she overnighted me what should have been a CD but when it got here it was a tape. OH NO!!!! I haven’t used tape transcription equipment in two years. And all my gear was packed away in my storage shed.
Off I went to dig through boxes to find my equipment (the tape was supposed to be transcribed and back to DC by tonight). When I finally found it and got it back to my office – guess what! It didn’t work. Something that had worked fine when packed away was not working now. What was I to do? Afterall, it wasn’t my fault that something I should have had to do a week ago was just now getting to me! It was, by all means, the fault of the audio/visual company and the lawyers – right? Well, yes it was but that’s not the right answer. When something goes wrong, and it will, we as business owners need to stand up and take responsibility. Do what we can to make things right, or we’re liable to lose our customers – whether it was our fault or not.
We’re trying to build relationships here with our customers, aren’t we? How do we feel when we buy something and it comes broken? Or we need our phones or our televisions repaired and have to wait a week to get service? We get angry right? And when the person on the other end of the phone says, I’m sorry but we’re really busy right now, that doesn’t help much does it? We don’t want our customers feeling that way about us, that’s for sure.
What we do know is that when you quickly and professionally handle the problem, the customer loyalty will actually improve. First of all, say you’re sorry. Give a sincere apology, immediately, and then work to fix the problem as quickly as you can. Listen to the customer’s concerns and keep them posted as to the progress on the problem’s fix. All of this shows the customer that you really do care about their business and are doing whatever it takes to make it right.
For me, I called my customer. I told her that the tape had arrived but that my old equipment which I don’t use any more was not working. So, knowing that she was under a deadline, I tried to find some way to fix the equipment – no luck. I then ran down to the local discount store and bought a small digital transcriber. I’m in the process of taping the interview onto the small piece of equipment so that I can then download it onto my computer and use my state-of-the-art equipment that we normally use for these projects. She gets her job completed (a little late but still relatively on time) and I get a happy customer who knows that I went the extra mile to help her. You can be this type of business as well.
Off I went to dig through boxes to find my equipment (the tape was supposed to be transcribed and back to DC by tonight). When I finally found it and got it back to my office – guess what! It didn’t work. Something that had worked fine when packed away was not working now. What was I to do? Afterall, it wasn’t my fault that something I should have had to do a week ago was just now getting to me! It was, by all means, the fault of the audio/visual company and the lawyers – right? Well, yes it was but that’s not the right answer. When something goes wrong, and it will, we as business owners need to stand up and take responsibility. Do what we can to make things right, or we’re liable to lose our customers – whether it was our fault or not.
We’re trying to build relationships here with our customers, aren’t we? How do we feel when we buy something and it comes broken? Or we need our phones or our televisions repaired and have to wait a week to get service? We get angry right? And when the person on the other end of the phone says, I’m sorry but we’re really busy right now, that doesn’t help much does it? We don’t want our customers feeling that way about us, that’s for sure.
What we do know is that when you quickly and professionally handle the problem, the customer loyalty will actually improve. First of all, say you’re sorry. Give a sincere apology, immediately, and then work to fix the problem as quickly as you can. Listen to the customer’s concerns and keep them posted as to the progress on the problem’s fix. All of this shows the customer that you really do care about their business and are doing whatever it takes to make it right.
For me, I called my customer. I told her that the tape had arrived but that my old equipment which I don’t use any more was not working. So, knowing that she was under a deadline, I tried to find some way to fix the equipment – no luck. I then ran down to the local discount store and bought a small digital transcriber. I’m in the process of taping the interview onto the small piece of equipment so that I can then download it onto my computer and use my state-of-the-art equipment that we normally use for these projects. She gets her job completed (a little late but still relatively on time) and I get a happy customer who knows that I went the extra mile to help her. You can be this type of business as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
