Ever feel that the world around you is actually under a certain control of some people, or companies, perhaps? And this world around you does include you yourself and everything that is related to you. This is just a feeling, of course, but to say that you could completely ignore such feeling is also impossible.

Probably, what the people out there are fond of saying about the conspiracy theory is right. Or perhaps, like they always like to say it, the conspiracy is happening right at the moment you speak of it, or even when you choose not to speak of it because you do not allow yourself to believe it.

And it could also be the case that believing is not what is at stake here. Believe it or not, the conspiracy might indeed take place, or not at all. What is definitive is that you need alternate point of views, completely different perspectives to learn about the existence of such conspiracy. Decide for yourself whether such a clandestine plot is all but a theory or a very hard truth reality. Of course, you need to maintain your own clear perspective over this case. Who knows you might ever know the real truth that is always out there?

How to Attract More Customers Online in a Tough Economy

The digital culture leaves many companies in uncharted territory today. Marketing, especially, has been transformed by the explosion of the new media-sphere driven by relentless waves of technology. To find qualified leads and convert them into revenue requires new patience, tenacity, creativity — and a new emphasis on multi-channel content. Becoming a prolific content provider serves multiple purposes.

Generating and delivering useful, compelling information in all forms to your customers and prospects not only leverages the new technology, it builds the credibility pre-requisite to attract the right prospects today. Ideally, your content should motivate the recipients to share it with others as a way to enhance their own reputations. The ideal blend: your own material combined third-party (public domain) content that substantiates it. The tools you need to find and reach your audiences are readily available. The final step is adaptation: being sure your content conforms to multiple channels and destinations as you repeatedly cast as wide a net as possible.

Lost in the media-sphere?

Google, Facebook and Twitter are but three of the many waves of technology that have altered marketing and selling. The way customers utilize each has abruptly changed the way products are bought and sold today — emphasis on “bought” because marketers don’t actually sell things anymore so much as customers are now enabled to buy them and to talk to each other publicly about their experience with them.

Starting years ago with search and keywords, and accelerated by the proliferation of social networking sites, the techno-waves are crashing down on marketers with greater frequency and force. The good news is that you can prosper in the web-driven age of social media, etc., without advanced degrees in computer science or web analytics or having a social-media guru on retainer.

What it does require, however, is recognition that the old model of “broadcasting” your offerings to herds of captive and attentive customers has lost its effectiveness. The new model, that of approaching and engaging independent-minded (read: skeptical) prospects, and building their trust and goodwill–one at a time–is what the new audience demands and expects. You can’t direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails and plot a course to your revenue destination just the same.

Earn customers’ attention by serving their interests

Finding audiences in the online world and attracting them to your site isn’t as cut-and-dried as it was short while ago. The old tools are showing wear. Click-throughs are minimal, paid search is on the wane and email has lost impact. Customers can go to hundreds, even thousands of blogs, wikis, boards, podcasts, etc., all of which gather and disseminate facts about new product and service offerings, industry gossip and technology trends.

They can also join industry groups on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to share information, do research, and market products and services of their own. So marketing has become increasingly interactive, interpersonal, collaborative, conversational — and competitive. Yes, your competitors are there, too. Digital marketing expert Tod Defren compares this environment to “the world’s biggest neighborhood potluck”. What kind of neighbor will you be? Too reserved to bring a dish or strike up a conversation? Or will you plunge right in and bring burgers and steaks–unaware that it’s a gathering of vegetarians?

Or perhaps you’ll do your homework and learn about the neighbors. You’ll bring a fruit salad and have everyone buzzing, telling their friends about the great quality of your ingredients.

Some things have not changed in the new web-driven marketing world. We still need qualified and motivated prospects to call us, ask to talk to our salespeople, sign up for demos and invite us to bid on the RFP. What has changed is the comprehensiveness of the research and homework that we, as marketers, need to do and then the kind of outreach we execute. You can’t simply run ad campaigns in the leading trades anymore and supplement them with direct mail.

Or buy key words and banners in the hope that someone–anyone–will download your latest white paper. You must learn where the highest quality prospects gather, where get their information, what kinds of searches they do, which blogs they read, which social-network groups they belong to, and the names and contacts of all the people to whom to they go for opinions and industry guidance. Or, if they even do any of the above at all. Once you’ve made these determinations you’re ready to reach out to them in your new role in the new world order of marketing. The role of content provider. It is somewhat similar to your old-world role but much more customer-centric.

You must think like your customers as never before. What is the information they value most? In what form do they want it? What can you provide them that will enable them to do their jobs better? Make their life less complicated? Your priority activity is not about awareness, hits, or leads. It’s about generating and continuously distributing relevant content to your highest-quality prospects and customers. You will succeed to the extent that you deliver content by which they can judge for themselves your worthiness of their attention, time, and business. And distinguish yourself competitively, as well.

The contents of the “content” and why it matters

Recall the potluck analogy. Never dismiss the social aspects of social media or forget that customers are skeptical today as never before. They have more choices and alternatives than ever and they talk about them, publicly, with candor and passion. So which vendor is most likely to earn their goodwill: the one who climbs onto the speaker’s platform, bullhorn in hand, and trumpets praise about his offerings — the carnivore at the vegetarian picnic?

Or the one who regularly shares news you can use: results of surveys with relevance to your company, tips on getting more done for less, ideas for improving productivity, new insights about your own competitors, technology, and industry, etc., etc.? In other words, the guest who brings the salad everyone is buzzing about. Which one will be seen as the most helpful, credible, and useful? An attractive business partner?

The fact is that customers today will take their own time to find you and read your propaganda. So don’t waste your time reciting it to them. Your first task is to get their interest and establish credibility so they’re willing to take that next step and visit your site.

Creating a trove of relevant, compelling, engaging content is a tried-and-true way of doing this. The most effective marketers are doing it now. It might include videos of interviews with your customers describing how they solved a particular problem or took advantage of an opportunity, or blog entries citing new survey findings. Maybe you conduct a survey of your own customers and use their comments in new white papers. Or you share links to research studies and analyses in your industry, distribute third-party observations about your customers’ competitors or relevant academic research on various aspects of your industry or hot issues in your industry.

Content isn’t easy

Being a producer, not a consumer, requires thinking like a consumer. You have to think about the problems your customers are trying to solve, what would be useful to them, and what they would pass along to their associates via Twitter, Facebook and email. You have to come up with great ways to show that you understand what it’s like to be on the buying end of the transaction and all the anxieties that go along with it. You’ve always had to be able to explain your product and make it compelling. Today, you must package it in relevant, compelling content that recipients are eager to pass along and share. The trick is to do it indirectly, without talking about your offerings so much as engaging your audience with irresistible,valuable information.

Modifying your existing content is one way to get started. But it must be re-purposed and re-cast along the lines described above. Just remember that no one watches ten-minute videos describing something they’re not already interested in and nobody listens to 20-minute podcasts. Before you cue the choir, you have get people into the tent. To get them in, you have to demonstrate that you know what they’re interested in. As skeptical and aloof as customers are today, they are also under more pressure than ever to do more with less. And there lies an opportunity to establish and maintain your reputation as friend and ally. Contribute to their productivity. Solve their problems. Identify yourself as having what it takes to improve their quality of business life.

The next step is where high-quality third-party material comes into play. Blend your self-produced material with what an authoritative third-party — an industry analyst, academician, or prominent observer — has to say about a position you’ve taken or an issue of hot interest to your prospect. The trick is to substantiate your claims with the findings of disinterested third-parties. The challenge is to make the connection timely and tightly coupled to your own positions Still, the key ingredient is compelling interest. Whatever you distribute must pass the “pass-it-along” test. This is the multiplier effect of getting the word out that you are a valuable member of the community with important information to share that is substantiated and verified.

Summary: Locate, create, adapt and distribute

Plenty of tools enable you to locate of your highest-quality prospects. Then the work of creating content begins. You can re-purpose existing material as long as you make it pass the “pass-it-along” test. Supplementing your proprietary content with high-quality material from third parties lends further credibility. But all of it must be adapted to multiple channels. Its value or relevance will be evident by how readily and often your recipients share it with their peers. Experts agree that the best way to gain prominence in the new environment is to become known for being helpful. It’s the way to make your way in the new world and flourish in it, too.

Rigorous upfront research today includes a review of websites, blogs, trade magazines and professional journals, industry associations, industry watchers and analysts, and more. Tools such as Technorati, Google, Google Alerts, Google Analytics and Backtype to help identify where the most traffic is and over what periods of time, advise experts Defren and Laura Fitton. The objective remains the same: the delivery of content that cuts through the clutter and the noise.

In the movie business, it’s about distribution. Getting your content out to the venues where the audiences can consume it. To get your marketing content in front of the right eyes in the digital culture, it’s about adapting your material to the channel. Blog entries must conform to the context of whatever blog you want to mention you.

Tweets, or status updates to Facebook and LinkedIn, must be carefully edited the same way. If content is king, context is the castle. Above all, whatever you distribute must bring something of usefulness and add thoughtfully to the discussion underway in whatever venue (channel) you’re utilizing. This means paying attention to that particular environment and observing its customs, it’s netiquette and neighborhood. Think “serve”, not “sell”.

I was recently engaged with a company which was getting ready to launch a branded social network. They were all excited about brining in the top names in their industry to join their network and selling their goods. They were getting ready to tell the top named people to join the network and just cut and paste ” stuff ” from these peoples own web sites and post the information onto their newly formed network. I went and looked at a few of the web sites for the proposed top names then I told the parties STOP THE PRESSES! Most of the “stuff” on the proposed web pages was selling and selling hard! The parties I was talking to were well established successful adults in their own niche.

The problem however was they were trying to apply what made them successful in the physical world to the virtual world of social networking, put simply it doesn’t work! In the physical world of the past individuals, organizations and institutions “sold” their products and services by using certain established methods of selling. The methods primarily were aimed at telling the market how good your product is, why its better than the competition and marketing a value proposition that appealed to the needs of the masses.

The past methods of selling were aimed at using media to appeal to the emotions to a need aimed at invoking a purchase or inquiry vs. the fundamentals of building relationships which is driven by the psychology of sharing and giving vs. selling and taking.

Enter social networking as a new medium. What many adults don’t understand about “social networking” is the basics of building relationships on line and the methods of establishing credibility. Lets use a physical life example. You live in a neighborhood. If you had a neighbor who constantly knocked on your door and tried to selling you his/her wares sooner or later you would simply stop answering the knock on the door. Door to door selling in neighborhoods has been banned by many city ordnances. Then why would we think it different in the virtual world?

In the virtual world people tend to migrate to others who have something in common or an experience to share. People migrate to forums and networks that connect them to like minded people and issues. The postings in social networks are more of a sharing experiences and giving information method than it is about directly selling a product or service. The virtual world of social networking is much like the neighborhoods of the physical world, “your home page, your brand, your postings, pictures, videos and connections” represent your personal virtual real estate”.

If you want to build lasting, meaningful relationships you don’t approach the relationships and others “real estate” in a constant selling mode and if you do you will fail and hurt your personal brand.In my physical neighborhood my neighbors get to know me and what I do for a living. My neighbors may approach me with a questions about something that I may be identified as knowing something about. In turn I would share information which may help them find or learn what it is they may be inquiring about. Subsequently if what I shared was helpful to them it just increases my credibility with my neighbors and my brands worth.

In the virtual world relationship building works much in the same way. The method of selling something is about reverse thinking. Give to the community and you earn the right and the natural human response from the community to get. A huge shift in thinking for many adults who try and apply old rules to a new world.

What say you?

News Corp famous move in acquiring MySpace early in the social networking market is a superb case study of how social networks can produce economic returns for their owners. Rupert Murdoch reports that MySpace is “on track” to pull in $800M in 2008. Facebook, which has only started monetizing, is north of a $150M revenue run rate. Most of the revenue created for the network owners has been largely driven by advertising income generated from ad placements in their networks within user generated content areas. As previously reported many other brands are jumping into the social networking arena for fear of missing out on both the significant growth of the space and the additional revenue opportunities the mediums can bring them.

On the other side of the coin are models where users actual generate economic return, in this case that would be Second Life, where more than 800 users spent over 1 million Linden dollars, or about $4,000 in one month, buying virtual property from others users. The models for user generated revenue are still early in there development however as the market further matures there are some interesting models being developed based on exchanges of products and services between users. Additionally there are developments for networks where users will actually share in the advertising revenue with the operators, thus motivating users to join and to populate the site with interesting content.

Money attracts the masses:

When you look at the two models, operators making money and users making money, which model would attract the masses? Let’s consider the fact that much of what builds value in a social network is user generated content. That being said one would expect users to migrate to networking opportunities that reward them economically for their time and effort populating the network. The technology that enables the processes has become a commodity which in many cases is being given away free to entice users to set up their own social network, i.e. Ning, Ziki and a host of others. But the free network model is aimed at providing economic gain to the operators from advertising revenues. So while the medium of social networking is deemed as value by the users, given the mass adoption rates, the next shift which will accelerate adoption is providing users with models that generate economic return for their participation. A natural migration of human behavior, money attracts the masses.

Given that this model is already emerging the next major shift will come from user creativity in content creation. Content opportunities will be segmented by topics, industry and geography, just look at the blogging world to see the type of content segmentation which has already emerged and many blogs are using the advertising model Google provides to generate income, although minimal. When you combine blogging with advanced social networking technologies you create a new medium and one which accelerates the power of both existing mediums. Add to this advanced broadcasting capabilities and new models for video, both live and on demand, and the exponential curve of creativity that creates an economy points to a clear shift that will create the next major disruption of media, economics and relationships.

Enter an Exchange of Connectivity, Products, Services and Advertising: Convergence of technology that enables users and operators to generate economic value through the exchange of products, services and advertising while leveraging “relationship connectivity” will become the new paradigm that will ignite new markets. We will expound on the models, the players and the timing later but for now just think about the logic and natural progression of these dynamics. You should conclude “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto”.

What say you? Read more at www.relationship-economy.com

Most intangible asset measurements have been top-down: Investors theorize a contributing factor and then try to figure out how to measure it. Studies have been performed using different approaches to determine such value. What has been developed is now known as EVA, or economic value added.

Some perceived value drivers translate into market value; others do not.

It suggests that in the connected economy, connections matter. Alliances are incredibly, even decisively, important.

HERE’S WHAT DRIVES VALUE (IN RANK ORDER):

Studies have shown a set of value drivers for Internet companies, because in no other industry are accounting values less relevant in explaining market capitalization. These drivers were culled from a stand-alone studies Forbes did on e-commerce firms. Here’s their list, in order of importance:

(1) alliances, (2) innovation, (3) eyeballs (usage traffic), (4) brand investment, (5) stickiness (minutes spent on Web pages).

Three categories had substantial effects on e-commerce market values. The most important was the number of alliances and alliance partners. Investments in innovation (captured by research and development and capital expenditures) ranked close behind. Perhaps the most widely discussed driver of e-commerce value–the number of “eyeballs” viewing a Web site–was measured by using data on a site’s visitors, reach, or market share, and the number of hyperlinks to other sites.

Forbes found that a high visitor count also was strongly associated with market values, supporting the push by e-commerce companies to drive traffic through their sites at almost any cost. Taken together, these three category relations indicate that the strength of an e-commerce company’s network–both in connections to its customers and alliances within its economic web of suppliers and other partners–has a profound effect on a firm’s value.

By contrast, investment in building brand awareness has no statistical association with market values. So much for those millions spent on Super Bowl ads. Big marketing campaigns may boost the egos of company executives, but the research suggests they do little to raise a firm’s value. Equally surprising, “stickiness”–vaunted as the next competitive step after eyeballs–proved only a minor contributor to value. This analysis was completed in the year 2000.

So what does this all mean to us as individuals? For individuals involved in the networked economy, it provides a set of levers that, if effectively applied, can prepare you for individual performance and increase in market value.Consider what we do with the medium of social networking and the related emergence of adoption. What are the attributes of participation within adult and business communities leveraging social networks as the medium? It appears obvious that the attributes closely match the drivers of value defined in the older study by Forbes. These include:

alliances with others for both personal and professional gains

innovation, our collective communities repeatedly fine news ways to leverage the medium

eyeballs, Have you noticed the craze for expanding ones quantity and quality of connections and viewers to your blog post?

brand investment, whether our businesses or us as individuals we investing time to build our brand for future opportunities

stickiness- time spent on our profiles and in our communities reviewing our content
As time goes by, a model will evolve to identify new value-creation drivers, while maintaining enough flexibility to adapt to the constantly changing nature of the companies and individuals that are producing value in the connected economy, The Relationship Economy. Our individual strategies should be aimed at thinking through what value we can create and exchange with other individuals and communities as a whole.

The definition of ones value is the critical answer which facilitates the five drivers of value previously mentioned. When you define your value offering and how it can be leveraged through the medium of social networks you have defined a new means for wealth creation.

Today developers and networking platform operators are capturing the economic values. Tomorrow, when individuals define their value and unite with a purpose, the economic gains will be afforded to the users who leverage the five drivers of value creation. The shift will create The Relationship Economy and it will disrupt markets globally.

What say you?

Quantum Economics – Philosophy of the Economy – Social Policies & Infrastructure

Social and building Infrastructure Expenses in a Market Economy of Marketism are considered as equities and as economic tools for minimizing the effect of overcapitalization, therefore these are not a meter of political disputes but a meter of balancing Demand-to-Supply ratios.

There is not any more powerful tool for keeping certain income level to the middle class and the pour then the Social and Infrastructural Expenses when a rising because of these expenses individual income will trigger higher salaries in the private sector; a market competition only cannot balance Demand-to-Supply ratios because of the rapidly growing productivity and the Globalization of investment.

Among other differences between Marketism and Socialism in this case is the market dependence of Social and Infrastructural Expenses which is more pragmatically inclined then the Social and Infrastructural Expenses in a Socialistic political structure. Among many differences between Marketism and Capitalism in this case is the accounting system of Social and Infrastructural Expenses which in a Market Economics are equitable when in a Capitalistic Economics are expenses only.

The Social and Infrastructural Expenses as said above are more like an economics tool for balancing the Demand-to-Supply ratios but at the same time these expenses should not expand to a point of disturbing a market, so there are formulas out coming from other economic indicators that will approximately locate their quantities, as a Quantum Economics’ scheme of limiting the Grid’s vibrations and fluctuations these formulas are purely practical.

As stated in my other writings the Monetary and Fiscal Quantities are about to expand quite rapidly under a Marketism Economics because of the rising “security” of the economic structures: financial system and exchanges, business and investment structures and entities, so in order an adequate distribution of wealth is so badly needed through such rapid expansion to maintain the balance of Demand-to-Supply ratios: Social and Infrastructural Expenses are major tools for such balancing.

Stable Economy – 15 Ways to Create and Sustain an Economy

A stable economy is one of the chief contributors to the feeling of well being and safety among individuals. We believe that each one of you can make a small difference in your own way to ensure that the economy of the future will be stable and safe. Knowing about your rights and following the rules and regulations pertaining to an economic environment will make you to contribute towards building a stable economy. Mentioned below are some tips and ideas following which you can help building a stable economy:

Support independent local businesses that create local jobs, preserve economic diversity and contribute to a just global economy.
Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of any growing economy. Encourage entrepreneurship.
Businesses and consumers should buy supplies or products from companies that create benefit for the community.
Businesses should keep a tab on the cost of doing business because when businesses do well, economy does well.
Every year increase the percentage of your assets that are invested in responsible financial institutions.
Be sure that any project or initiative using public money has prevailing-wage jobs. It’s your money, make it work for you.
The best thing people can do for the economy is to be aware of what is going on and how their actions affect the world.
Step it up a notch at the job you have; be more productive. More individual productivity means a stable economy in the long run.
Impact on the economy needs to be monitored while creating jobs or enhancing shareholder value.
Focus on creating jobs. Even one job you create will create increased consumption and help the economy to go stable.
Pay taxes on time.
Try to limit the usage of credit cards and money that is borrowed from others.
Any financial deal should be brought under legal contract to avoid any fraudulent activity in the future.
Don’t spend more than you have and use credit cards wisely.
Do not allow illegal advertising – compare prices.

Customer Service – Its Importance in Today’s Economy and in the World

This article is about customer service and how it affects the global economy.

When a country is experiencing an era of prosperity we so often see the level of customer service slipping greatly. People who work in retail, especially those who are on commission, often feel that they can let their customer service skills slide because there’s always another buyer right around the corner, and for many years, most countries have experienced prosperity. Nowadays, looking at the global economy, it’s patently clear that the economy is in deep trouble, customer service has hit a new low, and if we don’t change our attitudes about work and service, more businesses will be forced to close and more people will lose their jobs and be out of work.

You cannot separate customer service from the bottom line. With so many people competing for business, the only ones who will survive this economic downturn will be those who know how to give excellent service.

Studies show that a typical dissatisfied customer will tell 6-10 people about the problem. A typical satisfied customer will tell 1-2 people. It costs 6x more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one. Of those customers who stop doing business with you 68% do so because of an attitude of indifference by the company or a specific individual. About 7-10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favour. If you resolve a complaint on the spot, 95% of your customers will do business with you again.

How can you afford to ignore these statistics? As a business owner you stand to lose a lot of money and perhaps even your business if you ignore these statistics. As an employee you stand to lose your job if you don’t pay attention to your customer’s needs.

In the old days, people were expected to do their job and to do it well. And if they didn’t, they were fired. Today, we’re living in litigious times. Due to the recent spate of lawsuits, companies are afraid to fire people for fear of being taken to court. So now they are stuck with employees who don’t really care about the company, who are poorly trained, and whose attitude of indifference gives customer service a bad name. This has contributed greatly to the failing economy.

Good customer service is so rare that nowadays we find ourselves praising company employees profusely just for doing their job. In other words, we are getting accustomed to employees who are not properly trained, who have no job skills, who cannot think their way out of a paper bag and who are absolutely indifferent to their customer’s needs – and we wonder why the economy is in such bad shape.

Look at the culture we have accepted as our norm. It’s pitiful. It’s disgraceful. When you buy an expensive item, you probably want something that works, a company that stands behind its warranty and a salesperson who can tell you something about the product and be reasonably correct in the information they are disseminating.And if that’s the case, why wouldn’t you give that same level of service to your customers?

We’ve already seen how manufacturers use the concept of planned obsolescence. If your washing machine has a warranty of 3 years – we can almost be sure that it’s going to be ready for the rubbish heap in 3 years and 1 week. There was a time when a washing machine would last for ever and a day, and if you needed service, the store would send someone who was reliable and knowledgeable and capable of fixing that machine.

Customer service is the bedrock of any business whether you provide a service or a product. If you are diligent about keeping appointments, being on top of follow-ups, correcting problems immediately and having a cheerful, cooperative attitude, you can’t help but be successful, no matter what the economy.

During the Great depression of 1929, with 23% of the population unemployed and standing on bread lines in the US, there were still enterprising people who opened businesses or continued businesses that had been in operation and who made a great deal of money.

People who were willing to work hard and go above and beyond what was expected of them. People who persevered, who did not give up hope, but who forged ahead in spite of every hardship they encountered.

I worry about people being unprepared emotionally and financially for the hard times yet to come. Of all the things that we can do to turn this economy around, good customer service seems the easiest in theory. What could be easier than having one of your employees greet people at the door with a smile and welcoming them to the store and asking how they can help them? Yet more often than not, a potential customer walks into a store, no one says hello to them, no one asks them if they need help, no one is anxious to handle their complaints and no one seems anxious to get their business.

Several years ago, I heard of a store manager of a high end department store who had a customer who had just bought an expensive outfit from the store and she had no shoes to go with it. The store manager sent her 32 pairs of shoes delivered to her home the next day and told her to take what she needed and send the rest back. I am sure that that customer will do business with that store for the rest of her life – and that store manager will not only have gained the most loyal customer and all her family and friends but he will have increased the store’s profitability just by that one act.

Great customer service doesn’t only extend to external customers, but it extends to internal customers as well – namely, the employees. The companies that stay operational through the tough times are most likely to be the companies that take good care of their employees. The common reaction with a downturn economy is to try to pare down your costs – but the unwise employer often pares down the very things that motivate employees to be loyal and to take good care of their customers.

I know of a company in the US that scouted around for really qualified employees shortly after the economy came tumbling down. The CEO said that those he hired during this time were the cream of the crop, they were out of work because their companies had downsized, and they would be very loyal for having been hired during these tough times. He knew he was going to have to put a great deal of money into the training but his rationale was that when things are slow this is the best time to do these trainings. When business is brisk there is no time to do a really good job. So his people are well trained and he is doing great business and it’s doubtful that even if the economy goes through the roof, these people will be looking elsewhere for a better job.

There’s a luggage company in the US that stands behind their products 100%. If a piece of their luggage ever gets damaged beyond repair, they replace it free of charge. A man had an attaché case and he put it on the kitchen counter too near a pot that was cooking on the stove. The attaché case caught fire and was badly damaged. He called the company, and told them what happened. He said “I know this is my fault, I did a stupid thing; I put the attaché case too close to the pan that was on the stove.” They said “We’ll send out a new one in tomorrow’s mail.” He said “No, I’m not looking for a new one, this was my fault, I just want to know how much it will cost to repair it.” They said, “Your attaché case is fully warrantied for any kind of damage and we’ll send you out a new one in tomorrow’s mail” – which they did.

This is a customer who will never buy luggage from another company. Instead of telling 1-2 people about how satisfied he was, he told everyone he could think of about the company. This man singlehandedly caused that company’s new sales to skyrocket.

He told friends and neighbours and relatives about this company – and one of those people told a friend of mine who bought all her luggage from them too – and as a result I bought all my luggage from them as well. That’s the correlation between great customer service and the economy.

So an attaché case that cost $300 – $500 probably netted the company $1/2M in new sales.

I have never seen so many businesses with so few people at the helm who understood the meaning of business. I find it incredible that in this downturn economy, businesses are not rushing to do business with you, instead they are turning it away in droves. For the past couple of months, I have been looking to rent office space for classes on a weekly basis. I need a year’s lease and nobody wants to give it to me. The most the anyone has offered has been for two months and for the stupidest of reasons that are underscored by their inability to understand economics and how their business can survive this downturn economy.

Let me give you some examples of what I’m talking about.

I went to one place and asked for a year’s lease and she said that couldn’t be done, because once a month they hold a board meeting in that room (and by the way there’s only one room that will accommodate a large enough space for classes) – and she said that first they have dinner and then they have their board meeting. So I asked her if they couldn’t have their board meeting on another night. She said, no – that’s the night we’ve been having the meeting for many years. I asked he how many people came to these board meetings – she said there are 12 of them. So I thought to myself this makes absolutely no sense. This room is supposed to generate an income and yet, business is being turned away because these 12 people would be inconvenienced by having their meeting on another night.

If I owned that building, and these were my board members, you can be sure that if they wanted to have their meeting on that night and they wanted to have dinner, I would host the meeting in my house, order in pizza and have the meeting at my place for just 12 people.

Another building had a perfectly lovely room and they would only give me 2 months – because just in case they needed it for other events that may want to come in during the year. There’s an old saying: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – they turned down a year’s lease that was guaranteed income for them, just in case, in the downturn economy, someone else wanted to use the room for a different event.

Then I went to a school with the same request for a year’s lease and they turned it down simply because twice a year they give exams to their students and they needed that room for their exams. With the economy being the way it is, and the exams being given just twice a year, you would think that even if they had to give those exams on a Saturday, they would have had the business sense to give me a year’s lease. Again, a guaranteed income for them.

Let me give you another example of really poor customer service. I bought a highly specialised software programme and there’s only one technician in my entire community who is licensed to do repairs, upgrades and tutorials. His fees are much higher than anyone else’s. He doesn’t get back to you when he promises. He only gets back to you when he knows he is going to make some more money from you.

Up to this point, he’s been riding high. In his mind, he thinks that he will continue to thrive. What he doesn’t realise is that with so many people wanting our money, if he continues with such poor customer service – people like me will throw up our hands in disgust and buy a different software programme from someone else. And this deplorable level of customer service doesn’t only hold true in my country, but in a neighbouring country as well. I am trying to buy a $500 programme and they haven’t returned my telephone calls. And the sad part about all of this is that when their business fails and they have no income, they won’t even realise that they were the ones who caused their own downfall.

The heart of an economy is based on the numbers of employed people. A country cannot survive without people buying goods. If you are out of work, you cannot afford to buy anything. If you can’t afford to buy anything, the economy crashes. So it makes sense to look at why people need to hone up on their customer service skills as a way of generating new business and retaining existing business.

Everything that we do or fail to do has a direct correlation to our income and by extension to the economy of our country and the economy of the world.

To sum up:

1.If you are the boss, examine the things you can do to generate business2.Don’t let convenience or habit stand in the way of taking advantage of a good business opportunity. 3.If your business involves performing a service, make sure you give 100% of yourself to your customers.4.Be on time for your appointments5.Return phone calls promptly6.Make sure you follow through with all your commitments7.At the end of the service you are providing, ask your customer if they are satisfied with the level of service they have received and don’t be offended if you have to hear criticism. Take it to heart and try to do better for the next customer8.Be courteous, be cheerful, be helpful, be knowledgeable. If you don’t know the answer, or cannot perform the service, admit it. Don’t be afraid to refer that person to someone else who may be able to help, because that customer will probably come back to you in the future, just for your honesty.

How to Improve the US Economy – A Political Perspective

The United States has been in a recession since December, 2007, as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonprofit research organization. But the American people, and the Obama administration along with the democrat majority congress, seem to be at odds on how to fix the US economy.

A robust US economy means companies expand which results in job creation. Currently, the American people are not spending because many are not working, and those who are working are spending less, most likely due to the possibility of losing their job. Current unemployment rate stands at 10.2% as of October, 2009. A decrease in spending by the American people results in a decrease in company profits, company non expansion, and more layoffs.

Reporting on a survey by Watson Wyatt, a consulting firm, the HRSpecialist.com reported in November of 2008 that one-fourth of U.S. employers plan to have staff reductions during the following calendar year. We are now seeing this come to fruition for 2009.

So how can the US economy improve? Improvement being defined as two consecutive quarters where we do not have negative growth in the GDP (gross domestic product). The following is what we call the Steps to Economic Improvement. These are steps for consideration which hopefully result in a healthy bipartisan discussion between our elected congressman and their constituency. These steps may result in non-recessionary growth of the US economy.

You may or may not agree with these steps, but at a bare minimum, these are points to consider, and ideally result in a healthy discussion with our elected congressmen, which at last check, is one of the unchanged notions of a free democratic society.

Steps to Economic Improvement:

The first step is to realize that it is business and not government that creates jobs and wealth within the American society. This is where we believe is the heart of the problem. It is evident that the Obama administration believes it is government that will lead Americans to economic prosperity. This is why the federal government has put forth a $780 billion stimulus package. So where is this money really going. Let’s take a look at the breakdown. (source Republican Senate office, CNN.com AC360)

$780 Billion Stimulus Package:

More than $43 billion in transportation infrastructure investments
$27 billion for highway, road and bridge investments
$8.4 billion for public transit investment
$2 billion for high speed rail
$1.3 billion for faa airport improvement facilities and equipment
$850 million for amtrak
$250 million for grants to states for investment in high speed and inner city passenger rail
$100 million to maritime administration for assistance to small shipyards
$76.8 billion in education investments
$39 billion for state fiscal relief targeted directly for education
$13.9 billion for pell grants
$13.5 billion for special education funding
$10.4 billion for title I
$6.4 billion for water and sewer infrastructure
$3 billion for job training
$3.25 billion for workforce investment programs
$160 million for job corps
$87 billion in temporary and targeted medicaid relief to states
$5 billion for supplemental grants to public housing authorities for capital needs
$4.7 billion for state and local energy efficiency block grants
$4.4 billion for smart grid
$2.9 billion for weatherization programs
$2 billion for advanced battery manufacturing
$7 billion for loan guarantees for standard renewables
$800 million for construction of ports of entry
$500 million for firefighters assistance grants
$1.2 billion for national science foundation

As part of the 2010 budget proposal, the Obama administration has also proposed additional measures to attempt to stabilize the US economy, including a $2-3 trillion measure aimed at stabilizing the financial system and freeing up credit. In a nutshell, auditors from the Congressional Budget Office have said that Obama’s budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

This is a large chunk of change that needs to be provided by the American taxpayer! But the question is, will all of this spending help the long term growth of the US economy? Growth being during the period of not just the next few years, but rather 10 to 15 years. We believe it will not and here is why.

These programs burden the tax payer. History has shown that long sustained economic growth can not take place when the tax payer is over burdened by a federal deficit. Also, when the government spends money they do not have, they print more money, which results in a devaluation of the US dollar. This results in inflation.

Small businesses employ just over half of U.S. workers. How do you define a small business. The Office of Advocacy defines a small business for research purposes as an independent business having fewer than 500 employees. In examining the $780 billion stimulus package, you can see that there is no real help for small business. Remember, job creation is needed for economic recovery.

The socializing of America will not result in long term economic growth. The massive spending that the Obama administration has proposed will result in an even greater tax burden to the American people.

Most Americans believe in the frame work and meaning of The Constitution of the United States. The first words of the Constitution “We the People” make it clear that our government was established to serve the people. The essence of a democracy was eloquently stated by President Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” This simply means that our elected president and congress have a responsibility to listen to the American people.

And it can be said that most Americans do not want a socialistic society for the United States. Government needs to stop spending the American tax dollar, simply because an escalating government deficit will not result in an overall improvement in the US economy.

Programs such as Cash for Clunkers, auto industry bailouts, and the like, only in the end increase the tax burden on the American people. These massively expensive programs do very little to improve the viability and strength of most small business. Based on 2008 figures, there are 155 million workers in the United States. The car industry accounts for about 13 million of these workers. Therefore, most Americans will not benefit from the bailout of the auto industry. There is only a marginal at best improvement in the US economy from such programs.

We do applaud the Obama administration for the injection of capital into the financial institutions, because for small business to flourish, there needs to be capital available, and commercial banks and other depository institutions are the largest lenders of capital to small business.

The US economy will do much better when companies are left to compete in the market place with minimal government involvement. A case in point, the Reagan administration had a policy of less government during the 1980s. This resulted in long term economic growth. This is the exact opposite of what the Obama administration is trying to do.

The Obama administration was given a bad economy when Barack Obama took office. But the Obama administration has taken a bad situation and made it much worse. Many economists believe that the US economy would return anyway, with minimal government involvement. In terms of the economy, the government many times creates or prolongs problems and really does not solve them. A case in point, the deregulation of the banking industry which resulted in sub-prime lending. This created an eventual financial collapse, which resulted in the down turn in the US economy and our current economic meltdown.

To conclude, the concept of minimal government is an important component for a strong US economy. Letting companies naturally compete within a free democratic society, with minimal government involvement, produces a robust US economy, which benefits all Americans. The writers of the Constitution of the United Sates, our founding fathers, believed that the role of government in the lives of people should be minimal. Should we not adhere to the principles of our Constitution?

By letting your voice be heard, it is the American people who in the end control the destiny of the United States. And in the end, it is the American people who will control the destiny of the US economy. Go to your congressman’s website and contact them, discuss these points, express your opinion, and let them know how you feel. It is your right and duty as an American citizen.

America needs neither the terrifying tsunami of new programs overwhelming it from the White House nor the violent volcanic eruption of legislative magma and ash under which the Congress is burying us…can you say “DEBT?”

Some Americans voted for “change” during last year’s presidential sweepstakes – clearly a gamble. However, a very small but consequential minority of far left politicians, union bosses at the helm of sinking ships loaded with working American’s gold they claim as their own, and cabinet members turned bureaucrats conspire to takeover the US economy.

There are other contributors to and beneficiaries of these catastrophic changes:

oACORN, a vile and secretive organization that manipulates good-hearted Americans for the benefit of its intentionally obscure ideology and the financial benefit of its dishonest leadersoTheAARP – Americas largest insurance seller masquerading as the voice of older citizens while it lobbies for programs that damage seniors but that will enhance its bottom-line and increase the political power it wields in the White House and on Capitol Hill oAl Gore’s army of uninformed global warming crusaders who would willingly weaken the US economy – and therefore the personal economy of every US citizen – while China, India, the Oil States and other economic powerhouses buy America with money made by ignoring the same unrealistic and unnecessary protocols the Dolts in DC impose on American citizens and businessesoOther vocal interests in the non-profit and for profit sectors that hope to benefit from the “re-interpretation” if the US Constitution, the restructuring of the US economy, and the re-definition of what it means to be an American.

The question – or perhaps answer – the title to this article addresses is…”How can you protect yourself and your family from the almost certain economic crises financed by the unimaginable debt these ill-advised and programs incur?”

The answer: Change your mind about money. Americans have been taught to compartmentalize money issues. We’ve been led to believe that we can fix our personal economic problems by focusing on one issue at a time: the mortgage, the 401(k), creating the mythical six months savings account, taxes. As an example, a TV commercial running currently suggests that you can fix your monthly budget by changing from your existing satellite TV company to theirs – a savings of a few dollars per month.

Personal economies don’t work that way.

Personal economic success results from adopting a personal economic model that allows you to address all of the challenges you face during your lifetime; that allows you to flexibly and creatively deal with them as they arise without losing focus on the big picture.

Here’s how: Focus on four – and only four – uses of your money.

1. Ready cash…There is a myth in America that you should have three to six months of expenses set aside to deal with emergencies.

BUNK!Consider how many American families today are facing foreclosure, repossession of their cars and furniture, bankruptcy…all because they believed in the myth and ran out of money way too soon.

Consider how many of these same folks would have spent the Fourth of July sitting on the patio, drinking a beer, and watching the kids play if they had based their personal economies on cash instead of credit.American’s need to base their personal economies on cash money and not monthly interest charges that make others wealthy from their repayments for borrowed money.

In addition, they need enough ready cash to deal with life’s surprisingly unsurprising surprises not just emergencies.

There’s another myth that plays into the failure of personal economies…

2. Income you don’t have to work for and you won’t outlive…Most Americans are convinced that retirement is both desirable and achievable.

BUNK!

Most Americans believe that they are saving for retirement by putting money into a tax qualified retirement plan like a 401(k), IRA, or the like.

First of all, chances are better than even that money in a tax qualified plan will not produce the income it was projected to deliver when it was sold to you 20, 30, or 40 years earlier (Yes, it is the purchase of an investment that guarantees only that it guarantees nothing. It is not a savings plan). Moreover, it is equally likely that the taxes on that income will be higher than those shown in the hypothetical illustration from decades earlier.

Everyone dies. People who retire, i.e., dissolve into inactivity, die sooner. Life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past fifty years. If you are reading this, are in decent health, and don’t engage in stupid life-threatening activities, you can expect to live to be 100 years old – or older.

What’s the point? Most retirement income plans – including tax qualified plans – and planners use life expectancy tables to determine how you should allocate your resources from the time you retire until the date of your death at average life expectancy, which is most likely a decade or two less than your actual life span will be. Sounds like bad planning to me.

Better to have a proven model that makes sure you have the income you need whether you work or not but doesn’t strap you with the limitations and probable failures of a hypothetical plan that neither guarantees nor promises specific results.

3. Freedom from debt…There are pundits and advisors who would have you believe that there is such a thing as “good debt.”

BUNK!

It is essential to reduce and eliminate debt to others. This may not be the first item on the “to do” list if you have a mortgage, auto loans, credit card debt, etc. but is equally as important as the others.

The USA Today article referenced above illustrates that America is “in debt up to [its] eyeballs” and has no reasonable chance of escaping the dungeon it’s creating for itself. As Peggy Lee sang a few decades ago, “Is that all there is?…If that’s all there is, my friend, then let’s keep dancing. Let’s bring out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all there is…”

Reliance on debt for the essentials and perks of living in the US is financial nihilism; keep using it until you can’t, embrace failure, and start again. Unfortunately, there are thousands of homeless Americans that discovered that it is nearly impossible to regain what they lost to debt. There are millions more that find themselves in diminished circumstances or relying on public assistance and charitable largess.

None of the above denies that there are occasions when incurring debt can be useful. Our economy permits it and encourages it when there are no other reasonable alternatives; the home mortgage being the prime example. However, relying on debt to build your personal economy is just as silly as relying on a poor diet to assure your health.

4. Your legacy…There is a class of Americans that believe you should die broke and leave no legacy to your heirs or anyone else.

BUNK!

I personally feel that leaving a legacy of wisdom and wealth (if you have it) is one of the main reasons God put us here. The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution embody the economic wisdom we need to pass on based on their Judeo-Christian value system.

Creating family wealth has allowed America to grow into the most powerful economy in history. The simple truths found in the financial admonitions of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and other lesser knowns are why Americans have amassed more wealth in 200 years than the rest of the world did in two millennia.

Perhaps those who have received no legacy find it difficult to comprehend these ideas. If that’s you, let me ask you to imagine your life had you received the guidance of wise counsel and the benefit of a financial foundation. If you do so honestly, you will recognize the value of legacy – and do something about it.These four pillars are essential to every successful personal economy.

Money is the essential foundation for that success. Debt may play a role, but it erodes the foundation and weakens the structure so must be used sparingly and cautiously.

Remember the paradox of frugality: When individuals strengthen their personal economies by following the practices of the Money for Life Model they weaken the hold of The Debt Paradigm on the economy that is being promoted in Washington and on Wall Street .

The “solution” to the thrift paradox may be as elusive as Nessie (the Lock Ness monster) to the Dolts in DC and the Wonks on Wall Street, so I expect the US economy to muddle along until we replace them with representatives that actually understand economics and have a modicum of wisdom.

In the meantime, take care of yourself. Build your personal economy on a solid foundation that supports the Four Pillars.