Friday, January 21, 2011

Customer Service

If you are in the service industry and want your customers to keep coming back to you, follow these guidelines:-

• Always keep your promises: Be on time for each meeting with your customers. Stay ready and prepared to work. Deliver exactly what you promise. Charge exactly what you publish. Stand behind your work by offering a satisfaction guarantee.
• Be willing to help: Show that your desire to help your customers is not just motivated by money. Help your customers move forward in life. Let your customers leave you feeling better than when they came to you.
• Inspire confidence: Make your customers feel confident in your ability to help them. Make them view you as an expert in your field. Demonstrate your expertise as you work.
• Treat customers with respect: Treat customers as individuals by customizing your work to meet their needs. Treat them with kindness, politeness and courtesy.
• Make it easy to do business with you: Keep good records of all your customer information. Let customers feel confident that you will respond to their concerns quickly and professionally. Keep all customer information confidential.
• Do an excellent job: Let all aspects of your products or services communicate high quality and consummate professionalism. Let your customers expect high standard from you and get it. Whatever you do always do an excellent job.


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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Some 'do's and don'ts

Follow these 'do’s and don’ts to become successful:

'Do’s

• Value mistakes as necessary feedbacks for improvement.
• Love without conditions or expectations.
• Forgive others as everyone acts according to their current level of consciousness and understanding.
• Help others with the understanding that ultimately they are responsible for their life.
• Make a conscious choice to be free. Hold your freedom as a priority which can’t be compromised.
• Take full responsibility for your state of mind. Value your inner peace more than winning or proving your point.
• Commit yourself to awareness of your inner dialogue and states of mind.
• Prioritize well- being over negativity.
• Value your energy and conserve it by not wasting it on anger, fear, jealousy, hatred and negativity.
• Do your best to face challenges and fulfill responsibilities.
• Understand the difference between what exists in thought and what exists in reality.

Don’ts

• Don’t be satisfied with a superficial change of behavior. Make an inner change which is the source of all behavior.
• Don’t let your emotions be controlled by others.
• Don’t engage in self-defeating behavior.
• Don’t let anger guide your hand.
• Don’t let fear inhibit your actions.
• Don’t let desires govern your life.
• Don’t let attachments bind you.
• Don’t cheat yourself by wasting your time.
• Do not put yourself in a box. Your limited identity is self-defined and self-imposed.
• Don’t carry a strict idea of yourself to which you must conform.
• Don’t make any comparisons with others, as you are neither above nor below anyone.
• Don’t try to control or possess others.
• Don’t depend upon others for validation or approval.
• Don’t wait for an external authority to tell you what is right and what is wrong. You are your own authority.
• Don’t attempt to appear different than you are, regardless of who you are around.
• Don’t judge others or attempt to change them. Allow them the freedom to be themselves.
• Don’t allow your past to interfere with your present; learn from it and let it go.
• Don’t react to situations and people.
• Don’t run from your problems or put off responsibilities.


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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Do you love yourself?

Loving ourselves is an important step towards achieving success in life. Some of us think that we are unworthy of love while some think that it is inappropriate to love ourselves, but the fact remains that until we can love ourselves, we can’t achieve our highest potential.

Each one of us is a combination of positive, negative, and neutral qualities. Each unique combination makes us who we are; with some good bits which we admire and some tendencies that we wish we didn’t have. This is a part of being human.

If you can’t embrace your imperfections, pick at least one attribute that you admire in yourself. Perhaps you can pick many such attributes. Can you love yourself for these positive qualities?

Now ask your near and dear ones what they love about you. Add this quality to your list of things to love yourself for. Say loudly, “I deeply and completely love myself.” How does it feel? If it feels good, repeat it as often as you can.

The benefits of loving ourselves

• When we love and care for ourselves, we can truly love others without ‘needing’ their love in return.
• We remain healthy and happy.
• We become more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity.
• We maintain broad perspective and identify solutions.
• We make better decisions and perform at a higher level.
• We find it easy to be grateful.
• We appreciate others more easily.
• We make friends easily and garner more support from our colleagues.
• We give from the ‘over-flow’ and do not deplete our own energy.
• We become more successful at whatever we do.


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Don't get bullied

Bullies are found everywhere and create unnecessary stress in the environment. More often than not they are very insecure people. Hence, they want to control everything and everyone in order to feel secure.

Here are some characteristics of a typical bully:

• Bullies use demeaning language, humiliation, intimidation, threats and violence to promote their own selfish agenda.
• Bullies make constant belittling comments, resort to name calling and put others down.
• Bullies prefer easy targets. If they sense that someone will not succumb to their ways, or will take action against them, they look for another target.
• Bullies pay attention to those targets who are not prepared to fight back.
• Bullies prefer to target those people who get upset and emotional when harassed.
• Bullies prefer to attack when there are not many witnesses.

How to tackle a bully?

• Refuse to be bullied
• Walk away from an abusive situation
• Establish a clear boundary between you and the bully
• Document your experiences and gather witnesses.
• Write down dates, times and incidents of bullying.
• Be specific in your details.
• Report the bullying behavior to appropriate authority by handing over the documents.
• Look for better environment.


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Personal SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a management tool that can effectively be used for our personal growth. SWOT stands for: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Take a sheet of paper and divide it into four quadrants. Label each area as S, W, O, T. Write down the answers to following questions in the allotted quadrant.

Strengths:

• What skills and capabilities do I possess?
• Which areas do I excel in?
• What are my unique gifts?
• Which personal qualities, values and beliefs help me stand out?

Weaknesses:

• What negative belief- viruses am I carrying?
• What are the gaps in my capabilities?
• What skills do I need to develop?
• Which areas of my life can I improve upon?
• Which personal difficulties do I need to work through to reach my goals?

Opportunities:

• Which opportunities are currently available to me?
• Which circumstances can help me achieve my goals?
• Which people could offer me support in achieving my goals?
• Which tools are available to help me grow?
• What steps am I taking to create changes in my life?

Threats:

• What obstacles am I currently facing?
• Which thought processes can hinder my growth?
• Which fears are holding me back?
• Which people could be a hindrance in my progress?

This analysis will help you highlight the aspects of your growth story that you may not have ever considered. This will provide you with a different perspective on your personality.

Go ahead, review your strengths, and consider ways to address your weaknesses. Develop your skills and capabilities. Review your opportunities and use them to your advantage. Think of ways to minimize or eliminate your threats. Such actions are a one way ticket to success. Failure has no role to play here, as it just does not exist. All that exists and always did are opportunities and challenges!


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Winners vs. Losers

There are some habits which distinguish a winner from a loser. Some of these habits are:

• Losers decide to do something but don’t do it or decide not to do something, but go ahead and do it, under external pressure; winners do just the opposite. They decide to do something and do it, or decide not to do something and don’t do it.
• Losers see problems in every opportunity; winners see opportunity in every problem.
• Losers move based on instinct or impulse; winners act upon much deliberated decisions.
• Losers are too proud to admit their mistakes; winners are proud that they learn from their mistakes.
• Losers reject suggestions because the acceptance makes them feel inferior; winners welcome suggestions because they are open to learning.
• Losers call it quits at the first signs of failure; winners treat failures as stepping stones to success. Losers don’t have the power of persistence; winners always go after their dreams.
• Losers envy winners; winners congratulate every successful person.
• Losers only want to have pleasure; winners manage a proper balance between work and leisure.
• Losers want an easy life without any suffering or hardship; winners know that what one sows is what one reaps. They know that efforts and action don’t go unnoticed. They make through trials and errors, without giving up.
• Losers dream but don’t act; winners are always willing to do everything which is necessary to achieve their dreams.
• Losers don’t move forward, because they are afraid to come out of their comfort zone; winners move forward by refusing to tolerate all negative things which hold them back. They create space in their life for positive experiences.
• Losers think of all that is impossible; winners think of infinite possibilities.
• Losers submit passively to surroundings and events; winners make choices based upon what they want to do, have and become.
• Losers let others change their goals; winners believe in themselves and their dreams.

Are you a loser or a winner?


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