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Jun30
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 With the confidence in customer service waning, consumers are demanding more control when making transactions and purchase according to new reseach.
Intervoice commissioned reseach specialist TNS to conduct the survey. The results show that self-service is becoming a larger part of consumers' decision-making process. Over 25 percet of the consumers surveyed said that offering more self-service options would make them switch service providers, while a third indicated that it would give them a more positive view of customer service overall.
Richard Arnold, deputy managing director, EMEA at Intervoice, said: “ “If one considers the spending power at stake then the market opportunity for those providers that will ramp up first can be estimated in the billions.
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Jun29
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Last post we talked about sticking to our strengths and understanding what we are personally good at. Once we understand that about ourselves as managers, we need to take it another step and apply it to our employees. There is...
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Jun28
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In reading a post by Curt Rosengren today, some comments he made helped me recall something I had learned long ago that we always need to keep as part of our makeup if we are to be successful managers. He...
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Jun27
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There is a lot of talk that goes around these days about the difference between leaders and managers. I'm not going to quibble about terms, but one thing that defines both is vision. Now what some usually try to distinguish...
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Jun26
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No matter what business we're in, we are in the age of employees changing jobs much more often than ever before. With the power of the exit interview, there is a great opportunity to mine some knowledge from them that...
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In numerous studies and surveys it is said that in 75 percent of businesses, the climate created within the business is what determined whether profits were high or low. The key to that statistic and success had to do with...
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Jun24
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Sometimes it can be hard to know whether you should try to go further in your management career or not. Somewhere you will find your limits and it can be disappointing when you do. When considering this we need to...
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Jun23
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Home Depot (HD) has had a lot of buzz lately about its customer service plan of paying cash for customer service excellence by putting aside $30 million for that purpose. I've worked with big-box stores before and I agree with...
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One of the major ways people get rewarded with promotions in management is by ending up with responsibility for assignments needed to get done. The trick is to be the one that receives the assignment and get it done great....
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We all know that the great majority of people will respond to the possibilty of change by resisting it. It's simply human nature for that to be the initial response. What we have to be careful of is that we...
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Jun22
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There has been a strong reluctance by businesses, especially IT departments, to allow the use of instant messaging (IM) by their employees. Scott Werndorfer, cofounder and head developer at Cerulean Studios says, "IM is a good thing, but you need...
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There are a number of qualities that make up good manager. When searching for those that have potential to take on more responsibility, here is one trait to make sure they have: A healthy discontent. What is the difference between...
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Jun21
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Have you ever thought that you could become irrelevant by being too far ahead of others? We can plan, project and think of what it may like 5, 10 or even 50 years ahead; it may not be wrong to...
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Most companies project a certain image and brand. As a result, we must remain true to what we have marketed ourselves as and make sure everything we do works within those parameters. This is especially true in our customer service...
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Jun20
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While there has been some movement in the area of using blogs internally, I think that this could be a tremendous opportunity to keep lines of communication open and allow employees to sound off and add input to the company...
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A business or department must be considered a living thing; an organism. As such, we all must understand that it will always constantly changing. Because that's true, we must keep the attitude of being flexible always within ourselves. Any type...
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High gas prices are a reality that is going to be around for a long time to come. We must face this issue and deal with the hard realities. Probably the greatest effect upon businesses are those that have offered...
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Jun19
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Depending on the industry you're in, summer can be an excellent time to catch up on a lot of things that busy seasons make it difficult to do. Here are several things you can check up on to make sure...
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For those of you who don't follow the world markets, we've had one of the biggest sell-offs worldwide in history. Everything, everywhere got hit. In less than a month stock markets all over the world have plunged. India stocks were...
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Jun18
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The uniqueness of employees and what it means to a business, is one of the characteristics that distinguish fair managers from great managers. It's the difference of seeing the world in multiple colors or being color blind and seeing things...
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Jun17
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My favorite example to use with success is Warren Buffett, because he's so well known, people in his field have studied his way of investing and for the most part he doesn't really hide his method of doing things. So...
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A posting from Andre Durand on his visit to Seattle to discuss open source and the current state of security. He talks about a comment made by a moderator that works for "Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, an agency comprised mostly...
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Probably one of the great dangers of the information age is the endless banter and chatter that basically amounts to nothing. As managers do we want to end up in endless fruitless discussions, or make decisions put them into practice...
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Jun16
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Sometimes over the years we can get to feel that we don't enjoy managing anymore and either think about quitting or dropping out of management altogether. Now sometimes it may just be the time and right thing to do, but...
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The most profitable way to learn what is happening is to interact and visit with your employees on a daily basis. Many managers have been finding out that this is the key to knowing what is really happening in the...
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Jun15
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A global survey performed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for AT&T (T) found that about three fourths of senior executives say that the most important benefit of network convergence is the improving collaboration between customers, suppliers and partners. The...
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There are times when our reaction to events will determine the type of manager and person we will be. When something happens at work that triggers strong emotions in you, it is what you do with them that will determine...
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Jun14
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If you some of you have heard of the recent tape that was put on MySpace and picked up on the Internet, you'll see why it is still extremely risky to just have your product attached to a video. In...
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Jun13
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An interesting paradox that I have found in managing during high-stress situations, is that the tougher the situation is, the softer you must be. The opposite goes for "soft" issues. I have found that sometimes those things that are more...
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Every person that has success in managing and leadership, has at their inner core a high level of integrity. If you find yourself in a management position, but nobody is really following you, first look within honestly to see if...
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Jun12
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A book named Supply Chain Redesign (Handfield and Nichols, 2002 Financial Times Management) gives a good definition of what a "value chain" is. They describe it like this: A connected series of organizations, resources, and knowledge streams involved in the...
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We now face a new era in business that centers on customers and not our products and services. The value is now inherent in the customer and not what WE have to offer them. What does this mean? Customers are...
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Jun11
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Businesses exist for the purpose of serving human wants and needs, people don't exist for businesses. Nonetheless people and businesses need each other. Specifically employees need jobs, satisfaction, opportunities and fulfillment on the job. Businesses on the other hand need...
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Jun10
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When your business or department starts to grow, retaining your employess will eventually become "your job." When you keep your good employees, you keep your good customers. They work together hand-in-hand. A saying that is easy to remember and understand...
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Workers need to know that management cares about them. As a result we have to take time occasionally to ask them what it is they need to make the workplace better. The reason I say 'occasionally' up above is because...
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Jun 9
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There is no other way to say it: Dell (DELL) is in trouble. With its core strategy being cost efficiency, and others now able to match that, they have developed another problem - poor customer service. Let me say first...
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Unless you're a sole proprietor, managing involves being envisioned by someone else and taking that vision and making it a reality. To do this you must first buy into what it is being shown to you. That's the beginning of...
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The one thing that all of us know won't change, is the fact that everything is going to change. How do we as managers and leaders handle this reality? I think one thing we all need to consider, that's different...
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Jun 8
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All great managers have within them the desire to know their people. Not necessarily because they have some great feelings for them, but because they know that there is no way that there can be a team created that will...
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Reuters Photo a In an interesting article by Del Jones of USA Today, he looks at executives and what it means to be an introvert or extrovert in those various leadership positions. Here are some of the findings in this...
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We've talked about some of the things that must be done to advance in your management position here before. Dave Lorenzo at the career intensity blog offers some of his input into this area as well. He asks a good...
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What happens when you're working on a project and for whatever reason it gets behind schedule, has glitches in it or didn't deliver what was expected to the client? Before we get into management at this stage, let's look at...
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Products or services, are very similar to human beings in that they have cycles in their life span. You have the birth or introduction stage, growth, maturity and then decline. We need to understand each stage the offering is in...
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Jun 7
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a a a As globalization and interaction between cultures grows, the strain between management practices and cultural practices does also. What is the answer to the problem? The solution is integration. W. P. Carey Management Professor...
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Do you find that there are things going on in your department or company that are causing real problems but you aren't able to pinpoint or find out where they are coming from? You may have internal saboteurs who are...
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In living all over the U.S., I have come across tons of ideas that businesses use to enhance their operations. One of the best I've seen for retail stores is regard to shopping carts. I've worked with companies that...
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Jun 6
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The very nature of working in an information and knowledge based world, demands certain things of managers that years ago didn't exist. By being an information society, it means that workers have now become specialists. This is something much newer...
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When putting a team together for any reason, we need to take into account a couple of important things. One way to look at it is to think of the team as an orchestra. Each one has their ability and...
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There has always been a thing within me that has resisted this branding hype. Everybody that has said for years how we must "manage our brand." Now the reason I have trouble with this is it deals a lot with...
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We hear a lot about innovation, creativity, inputs, focus groups and all other things that deal with coming up with new ideas. Certain people thrive in the more chaotic stage of brainstorming and throwing ideas around, while others are waiting...
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Jun 5
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One of the things that all of us do, but probably don't get too much out of, is reading those motivational management books that make everything look so inspiring and glamorous. While I read and have read a ton of...
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Sometimes we encounter some of those "cute" sayings that make their rounds and end up circling over and over again to be heard and heeded. We must learn which ones really have meaning and which ones are worthless. The reason...
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Managing change has become one of the key skills that managers need to have. To manage change, there must be a commitment by the company to having this as part of the corporate model. To manage change, we must embrace...
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Jun 4
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Helen Keller said one time: "Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will...
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All of us that have managed for a while have to deal with the dividing lines between team, departments and sometimes even personalities. There is one easy technique to introduce to your department or business that can help to eliminate...
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Every once in a while on any job, no matter how much you like it, you can begin to get that feeling of burnout, or not being able to draw any deeper within, and you feel tired. You even begin...
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With all the focus on Internet social-networking and creating of communities, it can sometimes be lost on brick and mortar businesses that many successful ventures have started there, far before the online version. Whether it's local restaurants, Starbucks (SBUX) or...
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Why do small businesses have less corruption than some large ones? There is really a simple answer that we need to embrace if we want to enhance our reputations. What is it that keeps most small businesses on an honest...
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Jun 3
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It doesn't matter what it is you're trying to accomplish in life: only those that continue at it win. Management is an area that can cause the unprepared and unlearned to go through wild emotional swings that eventually causes them...
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Every business needs to have a crisis management program in effect at all times. In the world of instant media attention, we must know how to deal with these circumstances before they ever come upon us. Here are several...
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When a company introduces new, innovative ideas that are expected to be embraced across the entire organization, there arises the problem of the push and pull between the old and the new. This is simply part of human nature and...
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Jun 2
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Probably the biggest problem the HR departments or business owners have in performance reviews is putting too much emphasis on ratings and paperwork, rather than working on improving communication between employees and managers. Performance feedback should be put into practice...
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Do you read about the endless chatter concerning companies are having struggles finding "talent?" It's almost becoming a contagion. Why do I hate this so much? Because it's my true belief that this is the wrong thing to look for...
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In any endeavor in life, there is one thing that separates the successful from those that don't succeed: their ignoring of time. I mean this in a positive way in this context. When you go about trying to achieve something,...
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We can never allow ourselves to get to a place of complacency and self-satisfaction in our businesses or departments, but must be always looking for ways to improve. On the other hand many people I have talked to misunderstand the...
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When we are going through a successful time in our business, it is easy to get complacent and self-satisfied. Sometimes we stop looking for ways to improve or look for weaknesses. One major way that you can combat this is...
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Jun 1
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The staff of Entrepreneur.com recently released a list of America's Hottest New Companies. One in particular reminded me of how managing and running a company isn't as complicated as many make it out to be. According to MSNBC.com: It took...
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True leaders and great managers, when it comes down to the bottom line, are one thing: servants. I have seen time after time when someone who has never been in management or leadership are unexpectantly installed there, that their entire...
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Sometimes you hire employees that have extremely strong gifts and abilities, but lack in the area of interactions with customers and their fellow workers. Here are some ways you can that person to be more cooperative and successful in...
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