114篇 Yeah, well, I think a lot of it is to do with capturing and disseminating information, and whether we do that effectively or not. We're not alone in encouraging employees to come up with ideas for improvements in procedures, etcetera,
particularly those aimed at enhancing customer service levels.
No.
But I'd like to see the outcomes of that publicised internally, we could have a
kind of magazine to supplement the annual report, and it could come out several
times a year.
I guess that could help.
It all ties up with where the company thinks it might be going.
Yeah, that's the big issue. I'd say that boils down to identity.
Which we need to work on developing over the internet.
I think that probably comes later. What we need to ask is - and this is surely
where we're heading - is how to build recognition. If you look at who succeeds in selling globally.
Our role models.
Being readily identifiable helps companies to sell in on and off-line environments and cross old-fashioned national boundaries.
It's certainly quite a challenge.I

116篇I know what you mean, but I do have faith in things getting better, if the
current initiatives go ahead.
I'll believe them when I see them, especially these glamorous new systems IT are
proposing.
I just wish everything could be as straightforward as the production team manage to make it - what they're proposing is so practical that it's bound to go through,
while the rest of us are sitting around, considering every possible aspect and
application, and drawing up endless finance projections.
Time will tell. I must say, I'm not entirely happy about the way things are going.
No?
Well, I just don't think information is being handled very well - it's a skill that's neglected here. We have, in theory at least, a good team system, but we still end up running late at crucial stages on many projects simply due to our own
over-elaborate processes - which, in terms of quality and efficiency, is clearly
far from ideal.
I

117篇 You probably know what bad customer service looks like. We've all been there. Maybe you've stood in line at a computer store to return a defective piece of equipment and the clerk asks you rudely "Well, how do you know it's broken? Did you plug it in?" Or you've called your phone company to change your service and when you
finally make it through the voice menus to a real person, you get put on hold for
ten minutes. It's crazy, right? We are paying customers, and we get treated like this? So if you've ever felt your blood boil in situations like these, listen up.
Let's talk about how to get good customer service.I

118 篇 What you should do, however, is give them your customer story. Tell them why you bought the product or service. Don't hesitate to say something about the positive aspects of whatever it is you bought. This shows that you've got a balanced perspective. Still, tell them what your expectations and needs are. But remember,
don't get too verbose.
So, what might a customer story sound like? How about something like this: "Well,
you guys came highly recommended by a marketing buddy. I told him we wanted T-shirts for our event that people would keep for a long time, and he said you folks would do a bang-up job. The quality of the shirts is fantastic. But I'm concerned about how the colors look. Our event is in two weeks and we need to make sure these
shirts look awesome." That's a much better tack than "We ordered shirts and they
don'tlook good."
At the end of the day, you can't expect people to do backflips for you just because you say you've got a problem. So avoid the busy times, stay calm, be nice, make a
personal connection, and stick to your customer story.
I

119篇 Okay, what we really need to do is focus on this event and try to break down all the reasons external and internal why it didn't happen the way we wanted.
I totally agree. And I feel I need to explain a couple of things here. Gavin, you
know that we haven't dealt with that paper in about a year now because of that piece they ran about our hiring policies. And correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you
involved in the creation of that plan?
Yeah, I was there, but I certainly didn't endorse the plan. And if I recall, I
questioned the whole approach.
Well, you had your chance to put in your two cents and now you are unhappy with the outcome.
Actually, I didn't have a chance. I was completely out of the loop about those
radio ads. I really didn't have a chance to hear them before they aired.
You were out of the loop? Are you saying people deliberately cut the ads from you? Come on, Gavin. You could have come to the meetings, but you didn't.I

120 篇
15 Business consultancy is one of the most competitive areas in the service sector. Huge fees are charged to the customers, but the customers have huge expectations in return. This has led to a growing feeling of disillusionment 'What do these people do that we couldn't do for ourselves?' Well, here we have a uniquely creative
consultancy company that produces revolutionary ideas for projecting a corporate
image to the outside world. Their methods are starting, but they certainly get
results.
16 Some of us can remember the days when a visit to the supermarket was no fun. If you needed information, there was never an assistant in sight. And when you did
find one, they knew less than you. Well, that time is long past, and the seminar
I watched recently at our award-winning supermarket was a revelation.
It endeavoured to keep sales assistants up-to-date with information about food technology, how to access product information on the store intranet, and so on. And
that's what gave this supermarket its edge.
17 Has this happened to you? You're paid small fortune to have a kitchen installed. The fitters have gone, you switch on the dishwasher, and the next thing you know,
the kitchen's flooded. Our award-winning company has a 24-hour phone service,
seven days a week, with a reply guaranteed by real people within three minutes. And if it's an emergency with one of their appliances, an engineer is out to you on the
same day. Service like this is rare these days.I

121 篇
121篇 18 My feeling is that we should leave aside VSB's offer. It's obviously very competitive way below the others. but how do we know they'd complete the project on time and to the required standard? They're a small company. Would they have the
skilled labour or equipment? We could request references from former customers, I suppose. That'd mean putting off the decision and personally I have very little
confidence in recommendations. They're easily manufactured. Let's look at the other
companies.
19 You've been in this department for three months, John, and I'm very pleased with your work. You've obviously mastered the regular things, paperwork, customer enquiries etcetera, and you've made some excellent proposals for improvements. I think it's time to see how you manage more challenging work. How would you feel about
taking on my responsibility for the finance committee? It'd mean taking minutes and liaising with the chair. You'd find it interesting and I could concentrate on the
end-of-year report.I

123 篇 Many thanks for your attention. So now I'm very interested in hearing your comments.
Well, thank you very much. I'm sure we all agree that it's an interesting proposal.
Thank you.
Now, going back to what you were saying about our product lacking a clear value
proposition.
Uh huh.
You're saying that our salespeople are not successfully differentiating our product from the competitors'.
Yes, that's right. They're not communicating to the customer the experience of
using ColorMax, not just facts and figures, but what makes ColorMax different, in terms that customer can relate to.
Then why would you say that our market surveys are ranking us 30% ahead of the
competition in the key values that we are promoting?
That's a fair question, Bryan. I know your team has worked very hard on the launch, and I've studied the latest survey results. But the proof is in the pudding. We
have to ask ourselves, why aren't we selling more steel?
So you just don't lend any credence to the survey?
That's not what I'm saying.

124 篇 With such positive results, has it occurred to you that it might be just a little bit too early to make such a sweeping indictment of our training?
Look, Bryan, I didn't say the survey's not important. But all of us can read the numbers differently. It's a little like painting with figures sometimes. But the
facts on the ground tell a different story. Why isn't our order volume going up?
Nonsense. I think you have to take into consideration the fact that we have a lag
time.
Nick, Bryan, hold your horses. I can see we're butting heads a little bit, and it's not productive. Let's use the time we have left to sound out Nick's proposal.
Can I come in here?
Go ahead Cindy.
If we retrain all the salespeople...
Sorry, hold on a sec Cindy, perhaps that wasn't totally clear.
Oh?
In the first phase, I'm just proposing we retrain the project engineers and key account managers, not the whole sales force. Just the people with the greatest customer contact.
All right, but it's still a lot of people.
Right, I can see what you're getting at. However, I expect that with proper
implementation, we can get the job done in a month.
But how do we measure success?
You mean, how can we tell if it's working?
Yes, that's right.
That's a good question.

125 All right. Is everybody here? Great. I think we can get started. Well, good
morning everyone. I'm sorry I had to call this meeting at such short notice. Did
you all get a copy of the agenda?
Sorry, Martin, do you have an extra copy?
Haven't checked your email yet this morning Sandra? Late again, huh?
Oh, come on Martin. You know I'm never late. I think our server is down or
something.
Here, you can have a look at mine.
Thanks, Dave.
After the meeting, make sure to call IT.
Already have.
Good. Okay. As you know, the main objective of this meeting is to agree on ways to make up the budget shortfall of $154,000 we're facing.

126 篇 I hate to say it, but it's belt-tightening time.
Speaking of belt-tightening, whatever we do we can't cut the free gym memberships. That would be totally demotivating, don't you think?
Let's get to that in a moment, Sam. Let me first go through the agenda. As you can see, we have a lot to cover. From the agenda, there are ten areas we've identified for potential cuts. We'll run through them in order. Any questions before we start?
No.
No.
We'll break for lunch at 11:30, if that's OK with you guys.
That's fine.
Fine by me.
Sure.
Good. OK, let's move straight to the first point on the agenda: outsourcing
cleaning. Sandra, could you please kick off?

127篇 Good afternoon, De Groot and Smit. This is Anna. How can I help you?Yes, this is Wim Zeldenhuis in the Rotterdam office. I'm here with Andre De Vries.Uh huh.We
have a conference scheduled with Benny McClenahan. Could you put us through?Yes, of course. Sorry, I didn't quite catch your name. Mr. ...?Zeldenhuis.
Z-E-L-D-E-N-H-U-I-S. Zeldenhuis.Thank you. Can you hold please?Yes, of course.Benny speaking. How can I help you?Hi Benny. This is Anna. I've got a Mr. Zeldenhuis on
the line from Rotterdam.Sorry, who did you say?Mr. Zeldenhuis. Z-E-L-D...Oh, I know.He's calling together with a Mr. De Vries.Great. Put them right through.All right. Here they are.

128篇 Wim? Andre?Yes. Hello Benny. This is Wim.Hi Benny. This is Andre.Wow, it's
great to hear you two. How have you been holding up?Sorry, Benny, I missed that.
Could you say that again?No problem. I said how have you two been doing. I hear
it's cold there.It sure is. It's freezing. There's ice everywhere.Oh my goodness.
But it's not much better in Boston, right Benny?No, it's not. We haven't seen
weather like this for years. So, is ice slowing down shipping on the river any?
Hello? Wim? Andre? Maybe your phone is on mute.Oh, sorry about that.That's okay.Sorry, what did you just say?Yeah, no worries. I said, is the weather affecting
shipping on the river.Yeah. Well, I think Andre can tell you about that.You
wouldn't believe it.

129篇 The news isn't great I'm afraid. I know all of us had very high expectations for the launch, but we're going to have come to grips with the situation.Sorry, but I don't quite see what you mean. What are you getting at?Well, Rachel, what I'm saying is we've had a closer look at the numbers, and it isn't pretty.I see. So in other words, you're saying it's been a complete failure? Is that right?That would be
one way of looking at it. I prefer to see it as a challenge. But to salvage this
situation, we really have our work cut out for us.What exactly do you mean by
"salvage"? Do you think we are going to have to scrap the whole product line?I'm
afraid so.

130篇 Well, from what we're seeing on the U.K. side, the salespeople just don't
feel our promotional materials are getting through to our most important customers.I'm talking about the decision makers, project managers, architects, etc. How do
you think we can adjust?That's a very interesting issue. But I'm not fully up to
speed on the marketing situation in the U.K.. Bryan, would you like to comment on
that?We can go into more detail about that in this afternoon's marketing meeting.
But I would just like to point out that what you're saying just flat out
contradicts the results from our market survey.So, right, I'm afraid that's just about all we have time for.Yes, thank you Nick. We really are running on a tight schedule today, as I think everyone can appreciate. Now, Nick's proposal is
definitely a go, and needs
our full support. Bryan, I want your team to work with Nick's on the value proposition for the new training material, and get back to me next Tuesday with a
timeframe for rollout. I'd like to have country managers retrained during next
month's sales meeting. And we need to work fast.