| Greetings!
Hello Everyone, SEPTEMBER is back-to-school for ALL of the United States. Please be careful and watch out for those kids.
Paul
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Marketing Your Business
Our book of the month this month is about Customer Service. I want to relate it to our vacation experience with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Right from the start I knew we were going to have fun because they were organized and prepared for us. We landed in Anchorage on Sunday night at 9: 00 PM and it was still daylight. After an 8 hour flight from Cincinnati seeing the sun was a welcome treat. The temperature, on the other hand, was 40 degrees and we only had sweatshirts. After we got our luggage we looked for our ride to the Mariott Hotel. Our name was on a placard and a driver was already waiting. The driver, who worked for RCCL, said that all of the stores were already closed but showed us where to go in the morning for winter jackets. When we got to the hotel they had a special reservations clerk to check us in and get our luggage to our room. They had maps with restaurant locations and their hours of operation. They also volunteered to drive us to any one of them if we wanted.
Our tour guide, Jenn, was great. She found us, introduced herself and gave us some informational reading so we could decide what we wanted to do when we got to each town on our tour. The next day we all met to board the bus to the train station and start our land tour, and again the organization of the RCCL staff was fabulous. They got our day-to-day luggage on one bus and the rest went to storage for the cruise. Everything was like clock work.
When we got to the station we were escorted to the double-decker train. Breakfast was already waiting for us. The food was good and the service was great and friendly. During our whole tour the customer service was excellent, and you could tell everyone was working to make our vacation the best ever. We stopped at 4 different towns and each was different in size as well as character. Jenn had some adventures planned for us in each one.
Finally it was Friday and we were headed to the ship. I wondered how long we were going to wait before they let us aboard. I was surprised when they dropped us off at the front entrance and staff were there to take our luggage and to check us into our rooms. Our group was the only one on the ship at the time! I was more than happy to be drinking a cup of coffee from the balcony of our room within a half hour! They even had lunch ready for the early guests. The service on the ship was the best I have had on a cruise; in the competitive environment of the travel and tourism industry, RCCL understands the importance of customer service. They understand the importance of raving fans and now you can see I am one of those! Now you need to look at your business and see how you can turn your customers into raving fans like Royal Caribbean Cruises has done. BTW, we took lots of videos and pictures and my computer guy is going to get them up on the web page. So look for them at www.pauljdacosta.com.
One more thought for this month: I started a new blog, my first ever! Please go to it and leave a message. Spelling errors will be excused (my wife made me say that) The web address is www.pauldacosta.wordpress.com
Have a great month and see you next month
paul
pjdacosta@comcast.net
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A number of you asked me to send you this information again. So I decided to reprint it.
HUB
Every now and then an opportunity comes your way that you just have to get involved with. That's what happened to me with HUB (Humanity Unites Brilliance) One of my business friends told me about HUB and I knew this was a no-brainer. The first thing that got me fired up was the goal of giving to the world in need. Some of the charities they work with are FEED THE CHILDREN , RAIN CATCHER, GREEN CHILDREN, CHILD OF DESTINY and YOUTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL. They also are involved in the importance of using MICROCREDIT to improve the lives of over 190 million women by over 3,000 agencies . HUB is also working hard right here in the USA, helping organizations like Inner City Spring Break Outreach, Pachamama Symposium and FEED333. I liked knowing how membership in HUB helps others. Every month I help feed 3 people, educate 3 people, provide clean water for 10 people and provide training for 16 people. That means I help 32 people!! As a member of HUB I also receive training from some of the best personal trainers in the business, Mark Victor Hansen, Marcie Martin and Jack Canfield, and that's just the beginning. Now you can see why I'm so excited about HUB. Take a few minutes and check out the web site:
Check out the Web Site Look at all the opportunities that are available to a HUB member, and all the chances to help others and help yourself. Please check into this wonderful organization and join me in making HUB a force in the world!!!
If you have any question call me at 941-716-2597 or send me an
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BOOK OF THE MONTH
PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED
BY
ROHIT BHARGAVA
WOW, one more book to make you think how to better serve your customers. Mr. Bhargava is SVP of Digital Strategy and a founding member of the 360 Digital Influence Group at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. This book brings to life the principle that your business must have a personality. Gone are the days of the faceless, heartless mega company. Your company's personality must come out for the public to see. One key point I liked was "The moment an organization loses its personality its employees become 'People' rather than 'Individuals' ." How many companies come to mind after that statement? Is this your company? Ask yourself this question, "Does my company have personality that I am proud of or is it just going through the motions?" There are many key points in this book and here are a few.
Every company has a spokesman. Bhargava talks about a few specific types. 1) Accidental Spokesperson( Jared from Subway is one. He lost weight eating their sandwiches and they capitalized on it. When Jared spoke about his weight loss we believed him.) 2) The Deliberate Spokesperson. There are 5 types of deliberate spokespeople: The Founder; The character; The Celebrity; The Authority; and the Enthusiast. Bhargava goes into depth on each type and you can see how they each affect your business differently. And the last thing I would like to bring to you about this excellent book is this: Make your business unique. Think about all the companies you do business with and why. Which ones make you feel good about doing business with them? Which ones have a unique twist on what they do?
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MONEY MAKING IDEAS
In the past I've talked about ways to diversify your income. I discussed working with partners and doing joint ventures, tele-seminars with your product and other peoples' lists, or your list and other peoples' products. Join networking groups; they are a good source of leads.
One other place you should be looking is Multi Level Marketing. There are quite a few good companies available, with great products. Some MLM's have fantastic training, and are a good way to network for your other business relationships.
So just don't pooh pooh MLM's. Take the time to look over some of the programs that are out there. If you are involved in a great MLM, please let me know via e-mail,
I will put together a list and pass it on to my readers.
As always, if you know someone who would enjoy getting my newsletter, please let me know.
Thanks,
Paul
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It is easier to confess a defect than to claim a quality.
Max Beerbohm
Focus on remedies, not faults.
Jack Nicklaus
A man can become so accustomed to the thought of his own faults that he will begin to cherish them as charming little" personal characteristics"
Helen Rowland
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If I can help you in any way please call me at:
941-716-2597
Sincerely,
Paul J. DaCosta
Paul J Da Costa and Associates INC |
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