Economic recession presents suppliers with a golden opportunity to build closer relationships with their customers according to Prof Colin Coulson-Thomas. He told a gathering of customer service practitioners in Oman that: “Successful companies work with customers to find better ways of helping them to cope with tough times.”

The professor believes “Economic hardship brings latent qualities to the surface. While the self-centred worry about how they will be impacted, caring companies distinguish themselves by enabling their customers to confront the challenges and opportunities of economic hardship. A friend in need really is a friend indeed.”

For Coulson-Thomas “How people behave in a down turn is an acid test. Customers are not fools. They see how suppliers react and whether ‘customer focus’ is rhetoric or reality. They are also becoming more demanding. As people travel they become aware of standards in other parts of the world, and their expectations rise. Increasingly customers seek respect and want to be treated as individuals rather than as ‘targets’.”

Coulson-Thomas showed how pioneering companies use a new generation of tools to support people in the front line. “They enable customer facing staff to quickly respond to the distinct requirements of individual customers. Built in checks ensure bespoke responses do not cause quality, commercial or regulatory problems. Staff are liberated to do what they feel is best for a particular client. ”

The professor emphasizes that “Employees, managers and directors need to understand that customers are the source of value, corporate revenues and their salaries. Where and whenever there are competitors people may take their custom elsewhere. In many cases they can simply go on-line and buy over the internet. Customers can no longer be taken for granted.”

It may not be too late to change. Coulson-Thomas finds: “Customer disappointment, frustration and dissatisfaction can represent an opportunity rather than a problem for organizations that are committed to raising their customer service standards. Improved customer service might enable them to differentiate themselves from competitors and win customers from them.”

It may not be necessary to improve every aspect of customer service at once. Coulson-Thomas suggests: “One should start by endeavoring to better understand what represents value to customers and addressing areas that will have the greatest, quickest and most visible impact upon customers. People can be equipped to emulate the approaches of high performers and successfully tackle difficult challenges.”

Coulson-Thomas’ experience is that “A new approach that transforms customer relationships while making it easier for people to do their jobs is usually welcomed. Most employees do not wake up each morning eager to rush to work in order to frustrate customers. Once improvements occur they are likely to themselves become more fulfilled. Helping others can be both satisfying and rewarding.”

Mutually beneficial relationships with customers require a customer focused approach. The professor’s research reveals that “In place of the ‘hard sell’ successful companies devote much effort to helping customers understand their requirements and making it very easy for them to obtain what they need. In tough times when margins are thin a customer’s survival can depend upon a quick and bespoke response.”

The professor emphasizes that “Excellence in customer service in one context may be unacceptable in another. Requirements can vary from business to business, and not all customers may require the same level of service. A person’s expectations in a supermarket when doing a weekly shop may vary from those in a boutique when searching for a special present for a loved one. Customer expectations and requirements need to be understood before they can be addressed.”

Coulson-Thomas feels: “There is little excuse for badly trained, indifferently supported or inadequately paid staff. People should be fairly rewarded and properly equipped to do what is expected of them. Smart companies recognize that a smaller number of better trained, equipped and supported staff may be preferable to a larger number of less capable ones. In some cases it may be possible to ‘segment the market’ and offer different levels of service to different categories of customers.”

The right tools can help users to raise their game. Coulson-Thomas reports “Initial steps can trigger an upwards spiral of improvement as positive customer reaction to noticeable progress spurs further initiatives. Both commercial success and greater personal fulfillment for front line staff can result. Working with customers sometimes leads to new service offerings for which they may be prepared to pay a premium.”

Tools can also protect a supplier against naïve and simplistic responses. The professor warns: “Delighting every customer by gold plating all aspects of service may cost too much and lead to corporate insolvency when greedy customers take unfair advantage of corporate generosity. Built in checks ensure outcomes are mutually beneficial.”

Coulson-Thomas suggests companies keep their feet on the ground. “There may be good and bad customers, those which are highly profitable and those which may be more trouble than they are worth. The customers to retain are the profitable ones, and the first steps to improvement should be in the areas of greatest positive impact.”

Over 2,000 companies have participated in the professor’s research programme which examines what the most successful people, teams and companies do differently in areas such as building relationships with customers. Reports setting out identified critical success factors and his book Winning Companies; Winning People can be obtained from: http://www.policypublications.com

The two day ‘Excellence in Customer Service’ event in Oman took place in the Safeer Ballroom of the Zakher Mall in Al Khuwair, Muscat. Organized by Eventscom with the support of the Times of Oman, it allowed delegates to share the findings of recent projects to build more mutually beneficial relationships with customers.

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas is an experienced consultant and author of ‘Winning Companies: Winning People’. He has reviewed the processes and practices of over 100 companies, helped over 100 boards to improve board and/or corporate performance, and spoken at over 200 national, international and corporate conferences in 35 countries. He can be contacted via http://www.colincoulson-thomas.com

Stress at work can be reduced even when difficult jobs have to be done in limited time according to Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas. Speaking at a CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) event he showed personnel practitioners how the jobs of front line staff can be made less stressful.

Corporate responses to the credit crunch and economic down turn are putting people under greater pressure. According to Coulson-Thomas, “Just when family budgets are being squeezed companies are restructuring and introducing changes that cause anxiety and stress. Yet by the time many of these change programmes have delivered the world will have moved on, and precious experience and expertise may have been lost.”

The Professor believes, “It need not be like this. Smart companies look for cost effective ways of helping their people and building their capabilities. Stress at work can be reduced, responses speeded up and performance greatly improved, even in the case of difficult front-line jobs.”

Coulson-Thomas explains, “People dealing directly with customers and citizens are often required to quickly understand complex situations and develop a bespoke response. The penalties for failure may be high, particularly where they are operating in a regulated sector and under pressure to increase their performance”.

Some are at breaking point. Coulson-Thomas finds: “Far too often performance improvement is a question of speeding up the treadmills people feel they are on and requiring them to do more with less. Many corporate responses are limited to addressing symptoms rather than the root causes of stress such as the difficulty of doing many jobs against tight timescales.”

Coulson-Thomas believes: “Many directors and boards may be leaving themselves open to future claims for compensation by not adopting known ways of making it much easier for people to understand complex issues and do difficult jobs. Pioneering companies use a new generation of support tools to help staff handle such situations”

The Professor favours cost effective ways of making front line jobs less stressful: “Building controls and enablers into the processes and support tools used by key workgroups can allow their users to quickly design a bespoke solution for a particular customer without breaching a quality, regulatory or cost requirement.”

Coulson-Thomas suggests: “Boards should ensure people with difficult jobs are given appropriate support. Directors wishing to increase personal fulfilment at work should explore how support tools that increase understanding of complex issues, boost productivity and make it easy for people to do difficult jobs can also reduce stress.”

Examples of how job support tools can be used to make it very easy for average performers to adopt winning ways are given in Prof. Coulson-Thomas’ book ‘Winning Companies; Winning People’ which can be ordered from: http://www.policypublications.com

The event at which Prof. Coulson-Thomas spoke was organised by the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) and held in The King’s Room at The Angel and Royal Hotel, Grantham, the oldest Inn in England, dating from 1206. The purpose of the event was to share the experience of recent projects to significantly improve the performance of key work groups while at the same time reducing people’s stress in the workplace.

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas is an experienced chairman of award winning companies and author of ‘Winning Companies: Winning People’. He has reviewed the processes and practices of over 100 companies, helped over 100 boards to improve board and/or corporate performance, and spoken at over 200 national, international and corporate conferences in 35 countries. He can be contacted via http://www.colincoulson-thomas.com

Lots of people want to know the secret to easy money and making money online but have no idea how to start, where to start or where to look. The majority of supposed money making opportunites aren’t what they pretend to be; many of them are just scams or theory based and just don’t work.

(Press Release) 15th September 2008 Birkenhead Uk. It’s one thing knowing you can make good money online but completely another knowing how to go about it. There are so many make money online opportunites available that it’s difficult to know where to turn, who to trust or how to start. But the harsh reality is if you are not careful you’ll get burnt fingers, will lose your own money and won’t make a single penny.

The majority of secrets to easy money information will turn out to be get rich quick scams that don’t work.
But it is possible to make good money online without too much effort so long as you observe the golden rules. The secret to easy money is found in avoiding anything that promises money for nothing, there is no such thing. It is possible to set up a system that will continue to make money once it is up and running but you still have to put the inital work in.

The people who make the most money run their own businesses. To many people that may be a scary concept but its possible to run a lucrative online business from home without all of the usual hassles of a standard business. What’s more it can be run on a part time basis until it generates enough income to make it a viable full time concern.

The secret to easy money tips are:

First look for a large group of people that require information on a particular subject, the more specific the better. This is the niche marketing concept.

Next, having found a target market look for or create an information product that you can promote. Ensure the product provides accurate information and excellent value for money.

Finally promote and advertise your information product to the target market from step 1.

This is the way the top online marketers generate huge annual incomes with very little work in a short space of time. With a little perserverance, practice and awareness of the secrets to easy money anyone could do the same.

For further information go to http://www.intrepreuner.com

Zivlyn, one of Rai’s eighteen companies, operates as an open company with very clear lines of responsibility and opportunity. Rai believes that people are learning to be people again instead of corporate robots spouting corporate rhetoric that they don’t necessarily agree with. Everyone has their areas of expertise and responsibility and the company is ripe with opportunity for those who rise to the occasion.

As an expansion of the open company concept, Rai mentions that you have to be willing to stick your neck out with new ideas. Don’t be afraid to put the idea out there and see if it is viable and if you have associates who are also formulating the same idea.

Working with David Hall on Hall’s company Guru Connector, Rai states, “David is not afraid to try. He is always making things better to help people. David is a great networker and his greatest strength is his integrity—it organically part of him. That is why I am David’s partner.”

Hall has been involved with Fortune 500 companies, is well travelled and is passionate and compassionate for people. “David has his hands in many things that have value and integrity; in things that he enjoys, loves and creates. He is not afraid to be who he is,” states Rai.

You could say that Rai and Hall are a perfect match with respect to clarity, a system of values and integrity. Together, they create hope and alternatives. And they have fast-track access to many like–minded people. Between them, they boast a network in excess of 1.3 million people. That is a lot of contacts.

Considering that your network may be a tad smaller than the combined network of Hall and Rai, Rai says that there is a chance that you may not always be able to find something that you need within your network of associates. In that situation, he says you need to create it yourself. Don’t be afraid to try; make things work for you.