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    You too can increase profits without necessarily increasing sales!

    How?

    NewsletterThe “Profits Leak Detective Newsletter” offers regular tips and strategies to help you identify and plug those leaking profits.

    You may never have known you have them.

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    BONUS free report “7 Clues to a Profit Leak”, valued at $47.

    How do you know that you should be looking for leaks?

    Are there some clues or symptoms that are telltales saying that a
    bit of drilling down into your business might pay some dividends?
    Possible leaks could be anywhere.

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    "Adam, over the past six years, I've had the pleasure of 'bumping into you' on at least three business and marketing related forums. Your contributionsto discussions have always been courteous, astute, incisive and practical,delivered with good humour, and based upon 'real-world' business experience. You are clearly an experienced business professional who actually knows what he is talking about. I wonder if your clients know what a gem they have in you? As one business professional to another, I salute you.

    Good Wishes,
    John Williamson - The Wealth Coach
    www.thewealthcoach.com
    www.retaildisplaysecrets.com

    +++++++++++++++++++

    I just LOVED "7 Clues to a Profits Leak".

    Steven Walker - Profit Improvement Advisors
    Calgary, Canada

    +++++++++++++++++++

    You will be proud how your protégés are proceeding!  We have expanded the business to Katherine and Alice (Tennant is also on the list). T he catering side of the business is far less stressful and is actually profitable, now that we only take the good jobs.  
    We will never forget the assistance you gave us in re-inventing our business!

    Karen Sheldon
    Managing Director
    Karen Sheldon Catering
    Darwin, Australia

    +++++++++++++++++++

    The chap is Adam Gordon whom I have known for many years.   He is a former resident of Darwin having lived here for perhaps 25 years, is an excellent communicator and has a very good appreciation of small business, business plans and all that goes with it.  In fact Adam is regarded as a business guru.

    Charles Wright, QS Services, Darwin, Australia

    +++++++++++++++++++++

    Thanks for the catch-up the other day. It's great to be working with a legend in the small business community.

    AJ Kulatunga, BLKMGK ICT

    Darwin, Australia

    +++++++++++++++++++

    The 7 Clues is a great.

    What I like the most in the Seven Clues report is that it clearly explains that accounting is merely a subset of proper financial management and
    that only the business owner can practise financial management. The accountant does the accounting, and in doing so supports the business owner's financial management. And the business owner uses the accountant's information, but relying on the accountant to do full-blown financial management is short-sighted.
    The report nicely "grounds" an otherwise complex topic which many business owners are afraid of touching, so they often move ahead in blissful ignorance. The water hose and the soggy soil under the leak makes an excellent and easy-to-comprehend example, upon which the financial management concept is nicely built.

    Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan, Organisational Provocateur Dynamic Innovations Squad
    Personal and Firm-Wide Performance Improvement for Management Consulting Firms

    Vancouver, BC Canada

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    You have played a very important role in my development in business.

    You were there with the right information at the right time, I thank you for that.
    By adding the next level of systems, and marketing knowledge that you brought to the table we able to identify our objectives, acknowledge the gaps in our business and put in place the planning so as to achieve those objectives. Within 5 years we achieved 9 of our ten stated objectives.  In that same year we won the NT Telstra Small business of the year"

    Greg Haigh
    Director - Trade Group
    Regional And Northern maintenance services
    RANms

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Recent newsletters include:

    • How well do you know your market?
    • How turning away customers leads to profits
    • How to create Superior Value
    • How to win against your competition
    • Do you need to make changes to your business?
    • "Our customers are costing us too much!"
    • Why competition is good news
    • What makes a web site effective?
    • Most businesses have one, but...
    • How to improve your quotations
    • How to raise prices without losing sales
    • Is your business resilient?
    • How to develop a new product in your niche
    • How big is your profit gap?
    • How discounting destroyed value
    • Benchmarking for best practice
    • From all customers to some customers
    • How to take the guesswork out of growth
    • Should your USP be based on logic or emotion?
    • How to triple your quotation success rate
    • How to dramatically improve your quotations
    • How to make more effective decisions?
    • How to develop your USP
    • Do you want to make better planning choices?
    • Are youmaking these mistakes in planning?
    • How to use SWOT properly
    • Does your sales conversation balance the scales of justice?
    • The perils of profitless cash flow!
    • So what is more important, cash flow or profit?
    • Are you getting value from your pricing?
    • Do you report to yourself monthly?
    • Follow the money trail!
    • Performance also counts!
    • Get more bang for your buck!
    • Without measurement there can be no improvement!
    • Where would your business be without customers?
    • Using your monthly report to improve your profits
    • Just who is your customer?
    • And what do you know about your customer?
    • How branding can increase your profits!
    • Can branding make you more money?
    • How to balance the value equation
    • Tilting the balance in your favour
    • How to pin the tail on the donkey
    • Are you groping in the dark with your real cost of labour
    • Mastering core marketing principles
    • Building a 5P marketing plan
    • Profit leaking processes
    • Should you be trying to increase or decrease cash flow
    • At times it is folly to hasten
    • 5 steps to create your future
    • What will be the X-Factor in 2009
    • Lies, damn lies & statistics
    • How to use a squad profit leak detectives
    • Confidence leads to action
    • Increase sales - so easy to say
    • So you want to know how to increase sales
    • Is selling a necessary evil?

    Perception is reality in customer service Print E-mail

    I wanted to comment further on the ‘customer service system' of which we spoke in the previous blog.  And to support that I found a quote that really said very effectively the point I was trying to make.  But before I get to this I just wanted to discuss the importance of the perceptions that customers form of our business.

    The perception that the customer forms of your business's ability to satisfy their expectations will determine their response to the actual goods and services they receive from you.  Unless your customer's needs and preferences are satisfied the image of your business, in the mind of your customer, may be quite different from the identity you believe your business has.  This is sometimes referred to as a "Moment of Truth".  Every time a person comes in contact with a business they form a perception of it.

    And now to the quote:

    "It is commonly accepted today that meeting customer expectations on quality and service is merely a ticket to play the game.  The long-term winners are those organisations which consistently exceed expectations or delight their customers with cheaper, better products and services that are delivered faster.  Too often however organisations, particularly in service industries, striving to provide better service than their competition, focus their attention exclusively on the people and practices at the interface with their customers.

    This attention is usually in the form of customer service training supported by a number of customer service measures.  The training, at worst, takes the form of so-called "smile training".  At best it equips frontline staff with the knowledge and skills to deal quickly and pleasantly with customer queries, problems or complaints.

    Neglecting the processes and support functions behind customer service staff is often the cause of many service improvement initiatives stalling.  Frequent delays, errors or inefficiencies in the processes that deliver the end product or service to customer service staff, eventually lead to frustration, demotivation, and a reluctance to take the initiative. 

    Even the best customer service training soon begins to lose its impact and as customers complain, managers lament the wasted investment."

    'Achieving Service Quality'   Rod Smart, General Manager, Zenger-Miller Australia.

    I couldn't have said it better myself. 

    Note the comment on "managers lament the wasted investment".  I don't have to tell you what a wasted investment is; another profit leak.

    Adam GordonAdamG

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