REVIEW REASSESS Then ADJUST
Even business guru’s make adjustments to the way that they do business. Steve Yastrow, author of "Ideas for Creating Profitable Customer Relationships", recently wrote, This is Not a Recession This is worthwhile reading material and will give you food for thought.
“Don’t think of our current economic crisis as a recession. Instead, think of it as a recalibration.
Everything is different now.
If you think of it as a recession, you may be tempted to “hunker down” and wait for the economy to cycle back.
If you think of it as a recalibration, you will be motivated to focus on what you have to do differently, since everything is different now.
The way your business generates results is different, now.
Your customers think differently, now.
Your customers care about different things, now.
Your customers act differently, now.
Your customers may actually be different people, now.
Customers aren’t disposable anymore; more than ever, you have to create sustainable customer
relationships.
Everything is different now.
One thing I’m convinced of is that the world I am working in today is different from any world I have ever done business in. The world has been reset. We can no longer look at the “LY” column on reports to use last year as a benchmark for what will happen this year.”
So how do we apply this to the casual furniture industry? Simply review who your customers used to be and who are they now? What type of things do they care about versus the past? How does this new information help you? You can utilize the answers to redefine how you market and what products you market to your customers. It has always been a good business practice to review your business model, now is a good time to review, reassess, and adjust to the changing times.
Write and tell me what you find different about your customers and how you are conducting business differently?
These are my outside views…Marcia Blake
Koushik commented:
PhilYour comments on the need for CRM are very eirntesting. Indeed the outsourcing industry is an example of that when organisations will go so far as to ask specialist subcontractors to handle their customers for them instead of doing it themselves. This may make perfect sense financially, but the reaction of customers when they telephone their bank to solve a problem and get a contact centre operator has shown that the customers do not always appreciate it.How about taking the concept of CRM one stage further? How do individual managers handle their own internal customers? I hve seen examples of some specialist support departments that regard themselves as the experts' on certain areas who, instead of supporting the production function, expect them to come to them begging for their assistance. In this instance, when the people from the production function did not understand certain forms that needed to be filled in, the experts' dismissed them as being too stupid to do anything without help instead of reflecting that maybe their processes and forms were too complex to meet the needs of someone who is basically the internal customer and has more important things to do in terms of business priority. If functional units within an organisation also adopted a CRM approach to their internal customers and adapted their processes to make it easier for their internal customers, it might actually make the working environment less stressful and more efficient.Best wishes and happy new yearLiam
Marco commented:
We have owned two of these criahs for just over a week now, and we love them. Everyone who has seen them seems to like the criahs too. They are made of solid wood a plus in today's furniture market. The wood has subtle grains and is a nice honey color. The criahs are heavier than I expected, but also shorter than we had guessed (the back probably stands 3-4 inches shorter than your standard dining room chair). They appear to be made in Vietnam. The assembly was simple (only six bolts) and the criahs went together in no time. My wife had both assembled in less than 15 minutes. When putting the criahs together, I recommend that you tighten the bolts as you would lug nuts on a tire namely, don't fully cinch one down until all of the bolts are snug. The first chair was a little wobbly when first put together, which I think was a result of trying to fully tighten one of the bolts before the rest were in place. It was a quick fix, however; all we did was snug-tighten each bolt and then once that was done, we cinched each one. Having learned that, the second chair came together well and both do not have any wobble to them. The criahs are attractive enough that we are using them inside the house for extra seating. I am not sure how they would hold up outside under the elements. My guess is not as well as something more expensive such as teak, but would still do fairly well outside. Overall, we are very pleased with the purchase.
Amberly commented:
You get a lot of respect from me for wrtiing these helpful articles.
Steve Yastrow commented:
Cinde W. Ingram commented:
