Self Catering - Self Service Is the Best Service

By Terry Pinto

The idea of enjoying an outing has undergone a huge change. Things which were considered as comforting earlier are seen as an irritant and invasion of privacy these days. Unlike earlier times, people these days don't want to be surrounded by waiters, stewards and home service.
Instead, their wish is to be left all alone with no one to bother them, to the extent that they would be allowed to prepare food themselves and at any point of time. It is due to these demands of modern travellers that self catering destinations have come into existence. Their popularity can be gauged from the fact that these self catering centres have left hotels and rest houses far behind as places largely favoured by enthusiasts.

There are plenty of advantages that these self catering centres offer to guests. First of which undoubtedly is the fact that they are less expensive as compared to hotels and rest houses, and they come with very good facilities. Also, there is abundance of space here which makes it just perfect not only for couples but also for families with kids. The greatest advantage that these centers offer to them is that they are allowed to cook their own food and that too at any point of time.

These self catering destinations are also in great demand by business units who often arrange their official parties at these places. Most of these places are set in less urban areas, so they are perfect for get together and actually go a long way in developing team spirit amongst colleagues. Also, over achieving employees are gifted these trips as reward by their employers.

With people exhibiting sharp change in their taste, it can well be said that these self catering centers will slowly clamp their authority over traditional choices like hotels and rest houses.

Terry is a globe-trotter specialising in travel writing. Having toured all over Britain, he has a fair idea of the best resorts, Self catering, hotels, and other places of accommodation and entertainment, including self catering cottages services in the British Isles. He has been using his vast knowledge of geography and languages to guide tourists and holiday-makers to enjoy their touring time.

Secret Service Much Too Careful - Hurt President's Image

By L. Winslow

It is risky business in this day and age to be a politician, no mater which country you are in. If you are a member of a legislative branch or the leader of an entire country, there is a trade off between security of self and being one with the people. If you are loved and respected things are much easier, but you will never be loved by all and thus enemies are made, whether you like it or not.

Often in the United States our secret service is way too careful and this can hurt the image of a President, in their hyper vigilance to play it safe and keep the leader out of harms way. If something happens by accident or due to some nut case out there, either way, the entire nation is a risk of losing confidence in the government, leadership or ability to run the nation.

Public perception and public confidence can make or break markets, economies or the backs of nations, that too is a fine line. If the Secret Service is too careful the President misses opportunities to be one with the people, if they are too lax and do not do due diligence, then there is personal danger or risks of upsetting the people's confidence.

Better safe than sorry, seems to be a very good policy, but it is not always what is best for the nation. Being a leader means taking some risks and thus, more discussion on what's good for the nation needs to enter the frame work of the complex decision matrix on these issues.

If you are a leader you must take risks, for your future and the future of the nation. No, I never said it would be easy, I am just an observer, observing the reality, behind the methods, that bring us to where we are today. Think on it.

L. Winslow is an Economic, Political and Technology Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entrepreneur http://www.worldthinktank.net . Currently Mr. Winslow is planning a bicycle ride from Canada to Mexico and in Spring across the US from San Diego to Virginia Beach to raise money for charity. Previously he was a track star athlete, private pilot, involved in politics, community volunteerism and a Franchising Founder. Mr. Winslow has choosen 100 titles of Books he wishes to write and has completed ten thus far. The subjects include; Community Planning, Future Tech, Franchising, Small Business, and Third World Issues.

Work From Home - Customer Service

By Rebekah Mack Bono

Are you looking for customer service work from home? Work at home employment that is legitimate, is much harder to find online than one might think.

There are some, however, not nearly as many as you would think considering the amount of interest there is in working from home. Research is key in obtaining legitimate employment. You also must weed through the many online scams. Many people who locate customer service work from home start out working in an office, but are able to make arrangements with their employer to work some or all of the time at home.

We all know someone who works part-time from the office and part-time from home in order to accommodate their children's school schedules. People who have good relationships with their employers, are more easily able to negotiate flexible work schedules including at home employment.

There are companies that hire people directly to work from their homes. Many of these positions are those where you cover a territory for an insurance company or a consumer products or publishing company, for example, and spend some time on the road and some time in your home office. There are also jobs available in:

- Customer Service
- Recruiting
- Sales
- Technical Writing
- Telemarketing
- Virtual Assistant ...and many more.

In many cases, the jobs are commission based, part-time or pay a flat rate for a completed project. Full-time jobs that provide health insurance, vacation, a pension and other benefits while you work full-time from home are few and far between.

Finding them online is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Flexibility is one of the most factors in finding home employment. If you are willing to consider freelance or contract work, or are willing to combine a couple of part-time positions, you will have greater success in locating work at home employment opportunities.

Customer service work from home is really like any other work from home job. If you have the skills and the right mindset, you just have to get out there and give it a good solid effort. If you do your research, and truly dedicate yourself to your work at home venture, you will succeed.
Program yourself right here and now, that quitting is not an option, and in one year from today you will look back and see just far you have come.

You can do this! There is nothing holding you back but you, so go out there and find your perfect customer service work from home job, or whatever you feel would be the best match for your skills.

Rebekah Mack Bono is a specialist in the work at home field. She operates two successful online businesses.
http://www.best-work-at-home-resource.com
http://www.glamourgal.net

Customer Service Processes – Companies Still Don't Get It!

By Derrick Strand

A key component of customer loyalty is how well a company handles complaints. I have a fresh example to illustrate! I bought a top of the line, king size memory foam mattress six months ago and it already has a lump in the middle. It has a 15 year warranty on it so I called customer service. They are sending out a third party to determine if there is a defect which is fine.

The customer service representative then informed me that if the mattress is defective and needs to be replaced, there is a $50 charge that I must pay for them to deliver the new one and take away the defective one. I told her that doesn’t make sense that I would have to pay a delivery charge for their defective mattress. She calmly and politely informed me that in the small print of the agreement that I signed, it clearly stated that I was responsible for these charges if the mattress was defective. I didn't check the small print but I’m sure it is there.

I’m not sure what occurred in their customer service process design meetings (if there were any) but they were obviously looking at the process from an internal, short term financial point of view. The cost to deliver goods was to be passed on to the consumer...for their defect!!

Although this may satisfy a short term financial metric, it fails miserably on the longer term, more critical metric, customer satisfaction. I believe there is a simple solution that satisfies both metrics. They could deliver the new replacement mattress free of charge (what a concept!).

This satisfies the customer who is upset that the product was defective but at least the company stands by their product and makes the replacement as positive of an experience as possible.

From the financial perspective, a financial analyst could determine the defective mattress rate (for simplicity, lets say one defect for every 50 sold). If the average delivery cost is $50/replacement, then that cost could be spread over every 50 mattresses sold by adding a dollar to every initial delivery or adding a dollar to the sales price. The customer, at the time of sale, could care less if the delivery fee is $20 or $21 or if the sales price goes up a dollar. It would be transparent to them.

The end result is a satisfied customer who would consider buying from the same store again and the cost of redelivery is covered indirectly. The result of their current process is that I will never buy another mattress from them.

They won’t be able to measure that directly but it will show up in future sales since there will be less repeat business over the long term. I know this sounds basic but I am continually amazed at how many companies do not understand customer service and satisfaction.

Some companies just don’t get it and they will pay dearly in the long run!

Consultant, writer and speaker Derrick Strand is not your typical management consultant. Derrick spends most of his time helping companies get rid of him. It is his philosophy that companies have most of the answers already inside of their business and inside the minds of their people. His job is to help them unleash that power to drive bottom line results. For more information, please visit http://www.derrickstrand.com