Los Angeles Tvfilmvideoradio Jobs Craigslist

For the longest time I have been uncomfortable with the various labels we place on our customer facing activities. They are referred to as:

Customer Service

Customer Care

Customer Support

Customer Relationship Management

Client Services

Client Relations.

Most of these titles and designations focus on what we DO without focusing on the results we are hoping to achieve.

We engage in these activities, presumably to promote:

Customer Satisfaction

Client Retention

Customer Loyalty.

And we trust that these aims and practices will contribute to PROFITS.

But as a long time management consultant and President of Customersatisfaction.com, Im not at all convinced were headed in the right direction, that these words and phrases are helping us or our clients and customers as much as an alternative model, which Im going to introduce, here.

I believe all would be better served by focusing our efforts on IMPROVING CUSTOMER VALUE.

Peter F. Drucker, renowned management guru, used to point out to those of us who studied with him, that customer service Must be defined from the customers point of view.

The true test of valuable service is whether, if unbundled, customers will pay extra money for what is being dispensed to them.

A fellow student, in senior management with a financial services company, boasted that his firm was superior to competitors because it had a network of local branches close to customers.

When grilled by Drucker as to whether he had PROOF that these expensive deployments had any significant value in the minds of customers, my colleague balked and stammered.

It was merely an ARTICLE OF FAITH on his part; and in fairness to him, also in the minds of many at his company, that all of their efforts to serve were actually serving.

Upon closer scrutiny, the local service centers were found to have slight, if any, marginal utility to the customers in whose name they were built.

So, what IS value to customers? And how is it linked to achieving value to companies?

It is a moving target, for one thing. Yesterdays first class air traveler insisted on a larger seat with more leg room. Todays requires sleeper seats, independent audio and video programming, expedited baggage services, and an amenities kit on international flights.

One of the key components of providing value to customers is by offering an attractive PRICE. Take the shopper at a 99 Cents Only store. He or she can expect to find a tube of toothpaste for 99 cents, where the same item costs three times as much at a typical drug store or supermarket.

Thats value, without question. The amount and quality tendered should offer substantial utility to the customer.

But stark utility and functionality are only part of the equation.

The Mercedes dealer that has a Hall of Fame, a Polaroid portrait gallery of every buyer dating back decades displayed on the wall, insists on awarding men and women a dozen long-stem roses with each car purchase. Its a moment in which every customer feels special and important, and a snapshot commemorates it, and is placed on the wall joining similar images of Hollywood celebrities such as Clark Gable, that have bought cars over more than a half-century at this famous dealership.

Thats value, too. Compared to the cost of an upscale car, the roses and the photo are very inexpensive. But they are part of a much greater ritual that the dealership has orchestrated to create an ELITE club, consisting of mostly ordinary purchasers.

This example shows the possibilities for IMPROVING CUSTOMER VALUE are practically endless.

Frequency marketing plans, based on airline miles, cash-back rebates, and even free dinners and haircuts, have had a dramatic impact on generating repeat business and a perception of value for buyers. At the same time, they have introduced loyalty and more predictable revenue streams into otherwise fickle industries.

These promotions show the Win-Win potential of focusing on creating VALUE.

From the businesss standpoint, when a customer can be induced to spend more, to buy the higher profit items, to resist the siren songs of competitors, and to be a source of referrals, then a CUSTOMERS VALUE has been increased, and for that matter, so has the value of the overall enterprise.

The trick is to create better FITS and ALIGNMENTS between what a company offers by way of customer-facing practices and to increase the willingness of customers to select and prefer their vendors.

Does the company that answers the phone more pleasantly and faster than its competitor, win more business and better retain its customer base? We presume it does, and millions of dollars are invested annually by firms to train their personnel in telephone etiquette and call handling techniques.

As the author of MONITORING, MEASURING & MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICE, let me ask you to consider these questions:

Where are the MEASURES that show such a correlation between good calls and good business? Where are the MONITORING techniques that capture and compare the RESULTS achieved by well trained versus poorly trained reps? How many customers have been DETECTED grumbling instead of singing as conversations conclude, or have explicitly responded to post-mortems and surveys by stating, I went to your competitor because your call handling is inferior?

Instead of focusing mostly on what we do, we need to ask What are customers achieving? and equally important, What are we getting, in return?

I have often said the truest test of customer satisfaction is this question:

Will your customers reorder, or permit you to up-sell or to suggestively sell them more, RIGHT NOW?

If not, you have not increased a customers VALUE to your firm, and you have demonstrated that you have not dispensed enough value to the customer, up to that point.

There is a VALUE DEFICIT that should be detected and remedied, immediately, but all too often it evades review and repair.

How do we create better FITS and ALIGNMENTS?

We need to (1) Seek and obtain FEEDBACK from clients on an ongoing basis that were delivering what they value. We should employ explicit and implicit measures of value tendered and received. (2) We should benchmark our processes against known BEST PRACTICES in the field and across industries.

But we cant be satisfied with these initiatives, important as they are.

We also need to (3) CREATE NEW SATISFACTIONS and NEW VALUE for customers and for our companies.

This means taking risks.

For example, todays hybrid vehicles cost more off the showroom floor, but they deliver more over time, including long-range economy and an increasingly important perception that the buyer is doing his share to reduce dependency on foreign energy sources, making his country more safe and secure in the process.

But when hybrids were designed, gas cost about $1.80 per gallon, and manufacturers had to get in front of their customers and entice them into the future.

Toyota made the bet that the market, and global events would catch up with their vision, and they bet right, winning a leading worldwide market share in the process.

You dont have to be big to emulate them.

For the price of a few roses or a snapshot, you might accomplish the same thing, providing customers find VALUE in it.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard" in negotiation, sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

# posted by digg63835 : 5:23 PM  0 comments

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is a 1969 autobiographical novel that focuses on the early years of author Maya Angelou's life. Written at the end of the American Civil Rights movement, the work explores the isolation and loneliness Angelou faced.

Up far too late into the wee hours of the morning, an all too often zone in which I find myself, on one of these occasions, I also found myself considering Angelou's story and its parallel to the life of not only my own, but to many musicians.

As a musician, it is more often than not, difficult to find a true friend aside from another musician (actually, the same is often true within the music community itself). But, for this article's purpose, as an example, non musicians seem to either view musicians as demigods due to their talent, or they are deemed freaks of society (a few choice fans may view us as both...simultaneously).

After all, as musicians, we do not fit the status quo...the "blend in business as usual" scenario...the all encompassing process of graduating high school, going to college, and getting a job that we will retire from forty years later.

No, even if we attend and complete college, then take a job in a local school district teaching the school band or choir in the interest of "normalizing" our lives, inevitably, we will be placed in society's one of two "demigod" or "freak" molds (again, perhaps, both simultaneously) dare we ever exit our nether world to perform publicly to a crowd of more than one.

In my own personal experience, as well as the experiences of my musician friends/acquaintances, if you have been a musician for most of your life, it can be said that your existence within the world of music supersedes your playing an instrument, singing, performing, or composing.

It is likely and, otherwise, a spiritual "calling" that will not let go. And, it can easily be said to have an inescapable hold on you...a blessing in a sense, yet and perhaps, even a curse...much like that dreaded 30-day interval of the silvery moon that your friendly neighborhood werewolf must endure and survive
lifelong without bringing undue attention to himself or herself.

And, it is a unique level of human spirituality that most non artists cannot and will likely never comprehend. In comparison to Ms. Angelou's work, along with our musical talent and the enjoyment of being blessed as a creator, comes a slightly seething loneliness that, in turn, maintains our honesty to our "calling."

Regardless of your favorite genre that you dare not admit chose you, as opposed to your choosing it, you will likely agree that the common elements of anger, sadness, and other related and indifferent emotions can be derived from, at least, one song of any given artist's repertoire, whether that artist is Enya with her "Caribbean Blue" (Celtic), Roy Ayer's "Searching" (Jazz) Sting's "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" (Progressive Rock), Jill Scott's "Golden" (RnB), or any of Eryka Badu's works, as well as those of many other artists.

And, as sad as it is for me to admit it, I have also found that many artists (including myself) can remain too close, too long, to their music without a vitally necessary unrelated diversion to overtly distract and save us from instituting a "Curt Cobain."

Because, music has a uniquely powerful way of forcing a suppressed (and, often painful) personal history to the surface for re-evaluation and analysis. And, as musicians, and because we are creators, this is, possibly, the reason for our high degree of emotional response to it more so than non artists.

While this article has been intended to serve as "body filler" for this newsletter, it also serves me well as a few moments of self-reflective therapy, as my spirit eclipse's the oh so soothing albeit depressing sounds of Ms. Lalah Hathaway's vocal lead (lyrics by Ms. Bette Midler) that cascade Mr. Joe Sample's rendition of Ms. Midler's "When Your Life Was Low" (it's on my playlist on my MySpace page, but don't listen too often, lest ye fall victim to and become a might painfully enthralled, such as my wretched soul hath done time and time again).

Ignorance is bliss, and I often wish that I remained a non artist who had never learned what I now know about creating music, its mechanics, or its intricacies, such as how to arrange a particular chord inversion or a drum part's backbeat that not only evokes memories and/or emotions that either make me want to soar higher than Kal El could ever dream of doing, or seek the closest gunshop for "El Fin," but which either can draw the positive or negative tear from a too often dry bloody eye.

And, after having self-analyzed, self-explored and self-purged, I too now know (and understand succinctly) why the werewolf howls at the first light of the beautiful silvery moon.

Editor's Note: Kenny Love is a radio/video promoter and media publicist, as well as co-owner and Director of Marketing for Eartastic Records. Get more information regarding him from his MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/jazzman795

# posted by digg63835 : 2:11 PM  0 comments

Again if you are just interested in downloading this movie, just have a look at the bottom of the article.

The Mummy, Tomb of the dragon is the latest and the third installment in the the blockbuster Mummy series. Though both the Mummy movies have met outstanding box office performance, there were complaints about The Mummy Returns. For example, there were complaints about poor graphics, especially when the part where the Rock is morphed into the scorpion as the scorpion king. Not so good storyline was another common complaint. But personally I liked both the parts equally. Both were unique in their own aspects,though they was no much humor in Mummy returns especially from Luke Ford.

Well many people are very excited about the announcement of the release of this movie. However many people are doubly excited because it is also starring Jet Li, the martial art expert and Shaolin temple student and mainly a already huge established Hollywood action star. Personally i want to check out the chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.

Just to make a reminder here. The Mummy series is the reason why Brendan Fraser is catapulted to the status of a action hero. The Mummy series is popular because of the ancient Egyptians and pyramids. Ancient Egyptians were experts in many fields, but they are still referred to as geniuses as they built the famous pyramids in such huge sizes, that it would put a modern football field to shame, without using any machinery and modern equipment !

So people are naturally curious about Egyptians. So I think this is the major factor, which helped to make the Mummy series so successful. People are really intrigued and fascinated by anything which comes from Egypt.

At the end if you wish to check out the movie snapshots and download the full movie check here

Want to download the whole movie and millions of other movies and TV shows, music etc, check out my blog http://the-mummy-3.blogspot.com/

# posted by digg63835 : 10:35 AM  0 comments

Important Update:I wanted to let you know about a great program that I found since you were interested in Avant - Makin' Good Love. It's called SuperMedia Downloader! It's absolutley the best program out there to download videos, music, images, and mp3s! No Kidding, you need to check it out. Not only that you can download them in mass from YouTube, MySpace, and many MP3 sites!

Be sure to check out SuperMedia Downloader Suite. You can mass download YouTube Videos, mass download Myspace Music, mass download Mp3s, and mass download images!Click Here To Check Out SuperMedia Downloader Suite.

Music video by Avant performing Makin' Good Love
with Steve Huff [Producer], Billie Woodruff [Video Director], Maz Makhani [Director of Photography], Veronica Zelle [Video Producer]
(C) 2001 Geffen Records

Click Here To Download "Avant - Makin' Good Love" Now!

Avant - Makin' Good Love Video

photography Pictures (Click For Larger Image)

If you would like to download Avant - Makin' Good Love click here.

Check Out photography Products On Ebay:

Ebay photography Products:

PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO CONTINUOUS LIGHTING UMBRELLA KIT DK2

ROLEV 72mm RED FILTER F/ B & W PHOTOGRAPHY W/CASE - NEW

NEW Digital SLR Cameras & Photography for Dummies ...

Also, Interested In "Avant - Makin' Good Love"? You May Be Interested In Some of The photography Products Below:

If you like Avant - Makin' Good Love then you might like:

You Can Also Check Out Other Articles I've Posted Below:

# posted by digg63835 : 6:48 AM  0 comments