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Affluent Market May Disappoint Retailers by Spending Less for December Holiday Gifts
About 25% of the total estimated December holiday (Christmas and Hanukah) gift market will be produced by the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households, despite a reduction of 1.6% in their spending to about $57 billion. Approximately two-thirds of...
Creating a Vision
Creating a Vision (reprinted from Semiconductor Magazine, March 2000) by Dr. Marilyn Manning CSP, CMC To sell your product or service, you need vision. To attract investors, you need vision. To market yourself, you need vision. Is this article, I...
Professionalizing The Family Business
Professionalizing the Family Business Family business expert discusses the difficult and emotionally destructive problems confronted In the 30 years I have been working as a family business consultant, the most difficult and emotionally...
Temporary Staffing Agency: How to Start
The temporary staffing industry continues to expand, with yearly double-digit growth being commonplace. Companies find it convenient and cost-effective to work with a temporary staffing agency to fulfill unforeseen demand, fill short-term...
Thoughtleading: The Art of Separating Yourself from the Pack
Lately the age-old business dilemma of how to stand out from the crowd has been haunting companies and professional service firms more than ever before. All too many firms nowadays look too much alike, with marketing strategies seemingly unable...
 
Leadership and customer service - is there a link?

It's your first day in a new job.

This is the job that you really wanted. The one that you saw advertised and immediately knew was for you. The one that you spent hours crafting an application letter for. The one that required you to beat all the other applicants at interview. The one where you anxiously awaited the postman to see if you'd been successful.

New suit. Clean shirt and your favourite tie. Shoes freshly polished. Hair cut just the way your Mum would like it.

You're keen. You arrive early. You greet each new person with a warm smile. Trying hard to build rapport without seeming to be over confident. You go out of your way for customers. There's a spring in your step and a friendly ring to your voice.

Now look around. No matter what job you're in and no matter how long you've been there. Does everyone around you have the energy and enthusiasm of new starters? Or has their energy and enthusiasm dwindled? Are they still there because they love what they do or are they simply there because they haven't been able to escape yet?

Is there a link between leadership, customer service and business success? Absolutely! Research by the Strategic Planning Institute found that businesses which gave good service grew twice as fast as those with poor service. And, in all my years of researching customer service, I've yet to find a business with weak leadership giving great service.

So what are the qualities that I've observed?

Leaders need to have a vision of what they want to achieve. How will anyone ever sign up to a cause if there is no cause to sign up to?

The vision needs to be communicated. Let everyone share in it. Let them see what is in it for them by becoming a follower.

Great leaders have passion. The strength and the energy to work against the odds to achieve their vision.

Great leaders delegate and empower. That doesn't mean that they simply dump on their people. But they create structure, they allocate responsibility, they help to create systems, they provide support and training and resources. And they empower their people to make decisions. This is part of what makes people feel significant.

There's respect. Great leaders sometimes have to take tough decisions but there's always respect for their people. They treat their employees as customers - internal customers.

More communication. How are we doing? What are we doing? What new is happening? Successful business leaders are masters at keeping their people informed. Notice boards are up to date and informative. Key performance indicators are understood and displayed. Targets are set and success is celebrated. This is how leaders create a sense of community.

People are motivated to do what's important. If you believe that customer service is


important to your business what are you doing to motivate your people to deliver great service? Bonuses based purely on profits are not the answer.

Great leaders stick to principles. In my previous article I told the story of Pret A Manger and what great service they give their customers. I once wrote to their Chief Executive, Julian Metcalfe, and asked if I could spend time in his business researching what they do and how they do it. I promised that I was only looking to report a positive view and that Julian would have the final say on anything that I wanted to publish.

The next day, Julian called me up to thank me for my interest but explained that he would decline my offer. He went on to explain that he is incredibly proud of his people and what they achieve but he could not collaborate on any project that might be seen to praise his business. Julian told me of an old Chinese proverb - "The higher that the monkey climbs the tree the more that you can see of it's backside". I understood what he meant and admired his principle.

Great leaders walk the walk and talk the talk.

There's a famous story about a group of visitors to Disney. They were walking in the Magic Kingdom when they saw a grey haired man walk out of his way to pick up a piece of litter. One of the group approached the man and asked, "How many custodians are there here?" The man replied, "45,000". The guest was surprised at so many.

The next day the group attended a Traditions meeting and the same grey haired man was there. His name was Michael Eisner, Chairman and CEO of Disney.

And great leaders keep the energy going.

I have been fortunate enough to spend some time at Richer Sounds. Richer Sounds is a hi-fi store that has been in the Guinness Book of Records six years running for the highest retail sales per square foot of any retail business anywhere in the world.

Throughout my day at Richer Sounds, members of the Team were regularly checking their performance against target. They kept reminding each other about hitting target and getting together for a drink at the end of the week. There was a buzz and the Team was loving it.

How would I sum up leadership in one sentence? It's simply creating a Team of people with the skills and experience of older employees but the energy and enthusiasm of new employees. If you're the boss, does this describe the people who work in your business?



About the author:

Derek Williams is creator of The WOW! Awards™ an International Professional Speaker and Chief Executive for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Europe.

For more information about Derek Williams visit www.MrWow.co.uk. For The WOW! Awards (including access to a FREE customer service newsletter) visit www.TheWowAwards.com

 

Strategic Planning (in nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... First, a Point About For-Profit and Nonprofit Strategic Planning ...
www.managementhelp.org
 
Basic Description of Strategic Planning (including key terms to know)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... Strategic planning often includes use of several key terms. ...
www.managementhelp.org
 
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Strategic planning advice with free strategic planner & sample strategic plan covering mission statement, SWOT analysis with business plan software for cash ...
www.planware.org
 
Strategic Planning
FAQs regarding strategic planning - geared primarily toward non-profit organizations but with enough detail and general information to provide useful ...
www.allianceonline.org
 
Frequently Asked Questions
Strategic Planning · Fundraising · Financial Management · Risk Management · Credit Card Acceptance. The FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) listed on this ...
www.allianceonline.org
 
Strategic planning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Strategic planning involves defining objectives and developing ... Strategic planning uses "the big picture" to pursue large scale, long term objectives. ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
08/26/96 STRATEGIC PLANNING
You guessed it: strategic planning. Suddenly, the idea of rising above the ... But if strategic planning is back with a vengeance, it's also back with a ...
www.businessweek.com
 
Dr. Strategy - Dr. Pete Johnson, Keynote Speaker, Marketing ...
StrategicPlanning.com “Turning Change Into A Competitive Advantage”. Dr. Pete's Preview Video Click Here. Take-Away Value Sample Program Handouts ...
strategicplanning.com
 
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation.
www.sps.org.uk
 
Guide 7
Strategic Planning in Smaller Nonprofit Organizations ... In short, as a result of a strategic planning process, an organization will have a clearer idea of ...
www.wmich.edu
 
STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Your browser may not have a PDF reader available. Google recommends visiting our text version of this document.
 
BPubs.com: Strategic Planning & Business Planning Articles
Business Publications related to Corporate Strategic Planning.
www.bpubs.com
 
Strategic Planning Tools
Strategic Planning is a method for positioning an organization to take ... A strategic planning process incorporates an in-depth planning model that takes ...
www.nsba.org
 
Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc.
The Center for Simplified Strategic Planning offers training, seminars, consulting, speakers, workshops, a book and a newsletter on strategic management for ...
www.cssp.com
 
LEADERSHIP: Strategic Planning and Strategic Management
Introduction: Is strategic planning really worth it? ... The purpose of strategic planning is to encourage thinking about your organization's "big ...
vskn.ca
 
The CEO Refresher Archives - Strategic Planning
When done right, the integrated strategic planning process can take a ... Strategic Planning and Project Management: The Key to Successful Implementation ...
www.refresher.com
 
HEFCE : Publications : 2000 : 00/24 - Strategic planning in higher ...
This guide reviews good practice in strategic planning in higher education (HE). It originated in a consultation exercise which we held in 1998 to review ...
www.hefce.ac.uk
 
The Association for Strategic Planning
The Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), is a non-profit professional society whose mission is to enable people and organizations to succeed through ...
www.strategyplus.org
 
Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A ...
Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook: Books: Michael Allison,Jude Kaye by Michael Allison,Jude Kaye.
www.amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for ...
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!: Books: Robert W. Bradford,Robert W. Bradford,J. Peter ...
www.amazon.com
 
 

 
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