The reason why UK and others did not join the Euro

The euro ‘family’ has shown it is capable of real cruelty

Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker seek to justify their Greek bailout deal, but what kind of family asset-strips one of its members in broad daylight?

These  two countries that exacerbated the problems within the Euro monteray system, why you may ask?

The simple answer is that they are ones with most too lose having pumped in billions of Euros into the Greek economy creating the problems of today.

The machinations of financial institutions (the troika) have been exposed as much as the institutions themselves. Who runs these banks, and for whom? Twitter slogans talk of the three world wars: the first waged with guns, the second with tanks and this third world war waged by banks. Extreme? Well, there clearly is more than one way to take over a country.

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Customer Service – simple Do’s and Dont’s that work

We all know and understand what Customer Service is supposed to be, but, why do we still hear the horror stories of indifference and downright insulting behaviour, mainly from companies that espouse their commitment to customer care?

So what is Customer Service?

“Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.”

“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”

Unfortunately many companies fail to recognise the importance of customer service and only pay lip service believing that most customers are wrong. This happens mainly in Monopolised markets, where there is one major player and the competition is not strong enough to compete or there is no competition at all. State owned industries where there is a “Jobs for Life” culture and Governmental departments.

Where does Customer Service begin?

Customer service starts before the customer even walks through your door or calls your business, finds your website, etc. It starts with your vision and mission. It starts with the first person you hire or partner with. It starts as you create the culture of your organisation. It starts before the customer starts doing business with you.

Customer service in a business is not limited to the department that happens to boast that title.

Customer service starts with the first contact with your company and this does not mean the first human interaction, first contact can be your marketing or publicity.

Your initial advertising can convey either the right or wrong message, as to whether you are serious about customer care. Is your advertising be factual and truthful? Does it give your potential customer the confidence to follow the lead?

Everyone in your business should be responsible for the customer service experience.

This should be happening right from the beginning.

Any person in your organisation who comes into contact with a potential customer is also part of the experience.

Paying attention to social media is a valuable source of how your customers perceive your product and services, you should be looking for negative AND positive comments this will show you where you are going wrong. Do not be put off by the negative comments, instead, use them as a learning experience, we can all learn something. Comments from current and former employees are they disgruntled? Why are they making these comments?

Some of the simplest things can be your biggest weapon in attracting new customers

Answering the Phone:

• How long does a customer wait for a call to be answered? The longer a customer waits the sooner you lose them.
• Human interaction is essential, having customers constantly pressing numbers to get to the right department can be frustrating and again sets the tone.
• If you do decide to use an automated menu… KEEP IT SIMPLE.. what may seem logical to you when you set up the system makes no sense to your customer.
• If your customer is on the line for too long waiting, this increases their frustration level, have somebody available to take the customers number and OFFER to call them back, let them know a time frame when someone will call them, keep to it and make sure you do at the first opportunity,
• The first person to answer the phone is going to be the one person that starts the experience for your customer and if their reaction to the call is not positive this will set the tone for the next person to take the call, in effect this has already set a negative tone.

Face to Face:

• Smile – “A smile is the universal welcome.”
• Greeting, come to meet your customer, shake their hand, enquire their name, make them feel as though they are welcome. Do not sit behind a desk or if you are in retail behind the counter do not create a barrier between you and your customer.
• LISTEN – listen to the grievances of your customer, to them it is a major problem, have they been given the right information? Remember it is a fact we all only hear what we want to hear, so listen closely ascertain if they were given the full facts. You may be surprised, but sometimes the customer is actually right.
• Body Language – do not look as though you are aggressive or defensive, as humans we naturally react to the other person’s body language and we need to be aware of your customer needs
• Speed – resolve the problem quickly, do not delay.
• Mobile Phones – when meeting somebody with a complaint leave your mobile to one side – if you respond to your mobile while dealing with a complaint, you are displaying disrespect and they will assume you are not interested in their problem, thus, creating a bigger obstacle to resolve.
• Be polite – no matter how the customer initially appears, if you exhibit a calm attitude, this will also be reflected in their responses as the conversation continues.
• Knowledge – ensure that the person who deals with your customer is the best one suited to the task – they have expert knowledge.
• Be True to Your Word – Only ever offer a customer or client something that you are sure you can give them. It is better not to mention a delivery date and then deliver tomorrow than it is to say you’ll deliver tomorrow and then don’t. Stick to deadlines, make sure you turn up promptly for any appointments and never make promises you cannot keep. If situations change then let the customer know as soon as possible
• Be Memorable – For the Right Reasons We tend to remember positive and negative experiences more vividly than average day-to-day ones. Try to make every customer’s experience a positive one that they’ll remember and talk to others about.
• Be helpful – be courteous and polite – give a little extra if possible, even if it is just some advice or extra information about the product or service they are buying or interested in buying.
• At the end of the meeting, thank them for their time: your customers have chosen you but they could have gone to thousands of other organisations, each one probably offering a similar range of merchandise, qualifications and experience. Your clients pay your salary, so treat them with respect. They deserve it.

ALWAYS REMEMBER WHEN A CUSTOMER HAS A GOOD EXPERIENCE THEY WILL TELL 10 PEOPLE, IF A BAD EXPERIENCE THEY WILL TELL THE WORLD

You think you know where your AID money goes?

At least 20% of the aid money countries claim they are giving to developing countries never leaves, according to new research.

Researchers at the Bristol-based group Development Initiatives estimate that at least $22bn (£13.7bn) of the $100bn-plus reported by donors in 2011 was never transferred to developing countries.

“Large headline figures are presented as if aid is entirely a cash lump sum passed directly from donor to recipient,” added the researchers. “[But] aid is a bundle of different things. Some of it is money. Some is food and other goods. Some is people: the costs of consultants and staff providing technical advice and training.”

Countries report their aid spending annually to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, though their submissions are rarely subjected to rigorous independent scrutiny.

The researchers found that while Italy reported giving about $2bn in bilateral (country-to-country) aid in 2011, less than $300m was transferred to developing countries.

In contrast, Denmark, which also reported giving about $2bn in aid, transferred roughly $1.85bn to developing countries in the form of cash grants, loans, project support or technical advice.

Less than 70% of French aid – and less than 50% of Austrian aid – was transferred to developing countries in 2011.

At least 8% of British bilateral aid was not transferred to developing countries – a relatively low proportion compared with other donors.

The report doesn’t examine which companies or consultants win contracts for technical advice or other projects, which means the real figures on how much aid stays in donor countries could be significantly higher.

Last year, the Sunday Telegraph revealed just how lucrative the UK aid business has been for a small group of primarily British consultants.

Aid statistics therefore fail to reflect the resources that developing countries receive, the report argues, making it difficult for poor countries to understand exactly how much money is coming in from donors.

Researchers found, for example,

“that more than $5bn of aid supposedly given to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011 was never transferred to the country. Instead, most of this figure represented debt relief.”

So where does it go?

The real problem is that aid is actually rising but much of it never reaches poor countries and, when it does, it causes economic, social and political damage.

Almost 50% of donor aid fails to target poverty, but instead aims to meet other donor priorities.

• Consultants

 

In the UK almost £500million was paid in 2011 to consultants, many of whom earn six, even seven-figure incomes, courtesy of the donors.

• £6million was paid to the University of Cape Town to investigate mental health issues in southern Africa and millions of pounds to US-based organisations, including the Clinton Foundation, the International Food Policy Research Institute and Family Health Inter-national.
• It is paying a Washington-based group, Search for Common Ground, £3.9million to “support the electoral cycle in Sierra Leone”. Consultancy firms in India and Uganda are also receiving large sums.

• More than £20million last year was spent on hotels for these consultants, including many five-star ones.

• Corruption

(The abuse of power for Personal gain)

 

Corruption comes in many forms through the various AID programmes starting with the Customs Offices of the recipient country and then filters down the system, which, results in some instances no AID actually being received for the original recipients.

• Corruption manifests at three different levels. These include:

• Petty corruption where small favours are exchanged between small groups of people. This level of corruption is rampant in developing countries where civil servants are poorly paid. These people will exchange small gifts just to obtain some small favours.

• Grand corruption, which occurs at the highest levels of government. This form of corruption necessitates considerable insurrection of the economic, legal and political systems. This is the sort of corruption that precipitated the significant cutting of foreign aid in Uganda. It is characterised with despotic governments and those without strong anti-corruption agencies.

• Also known as endemic corruption, systematic corruption occurs due to the failing of the system. Corruption can occur in the different economic sectors, both public and private, and even in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as these are not immune to it. Corruption in the public sector occurring in the legislative (political), executive (police) and the judiciary systems is considerably dangerous as it affects public service delivery.

This is just scratching the surface of the problems of giving AID to people that are most in need, seems that the politicians and others in the so called developed countries like to play with the figures saying how wonderful they are.

There is obviously no accountability and/or transparency from either the Donors or the recipients.

Most research has shown that there is plenty of smoke and mirrors to mask the fact that the well intentioned donations are being siphoned off into the pockets of the people who least need it and away from the people who most need it.