Welcome to the November 17, 2004 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

New! Human Resources Blog - We're very excited to announce our new Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts.  Reply to this email how to syndicate our blogs on your commercial websites or intranets.

In the News!

Business2Business - November 2004

What Is Keeping Human Resource Professionals Awake at Night?

(This original article written by Ira S. Wolfe was the November 2004 cover story.)

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - October 31, 2004

Firms probing employees' pasts

Central Penn Business Journal - October 8, 2004

Companies struggle to replace good, retiring managers

What's Inside

1. Customer Satisfaction Survey Says Customer Rage On The Rise

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #291 to #295

3. Tips You Can Use - NEW!   Background Checks

4. How to Hire High Motivation Employee

5. The Complete Manager's Pocket Guide Library

6. SMILE!   A true story out of San Francisco.

7.  Over 250 Supervisors Have Attended Managing to Excel Workshops

8 . Fall Workshop and Speaking Schedule

9 . You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees

10 . Thousands of Small Business Owner Now Build High Motivation Teams Who Never Thought They Could

1.  Customer Satisfaction Survey Says Customer Rage On The Rise
How to Prevent Customer Dissatisfaction Rage

Written by Ira S. Wolfe and Special Guest Columnist, David Wolfe, Wolfe Promotional Services

We all know that keeping customers happy is the key to a successful business. Sure, sometimes it's a challenge. One of the key areas of complaint is actually how the complaint itself is handled. It's one thing to have an unhappy customer. It's another to get the customer even more upset by not handling the complaint in a "satisfactory" manner.

A recent survey of customer households by the Customer Care Alliance found that an increasing number of Americans (73 percent of those with a product or service problem) are extremely upset about how "serious" complaints are being handled by companies. In fact, the CCA has termed this dissatisfaction as "customer rage". On the other hand, only 16 percent felt completely satisfied or received more than they asked for.

What do they want? After having a product repaired or service fixed, the overwhelming majority don't want something free or other compensation. Instead, they want an explanation why the problem occurred (78 percent), assurance that it won't happen again (78 percent), an apology (59 percent) and/or a chance to vent (58 percent).

Here's the problem: what they wanted didn't happen. For example, only 38 percent got a chance to vent and 25 percent got an apology. Fewer got an assurance for the future or explanation.

As a result, more than half of all respondents with problems decided never to do business with the company again or threatened to talk with the company's management. Ninety percent shared the story with friends or others.

Another major complaint in problem resolution is "ping-ponging" the customer. Unfortunately, we've all been victims of this. That's when you come into contact with a customer service rep that either a) isn't given the authority to resolve issues, b) isn't trained properly or worse yet, or c) both. The customer gets "ping-ponged" from person to person, even department to department until someone can provide any form of solution.

Although this survey was based on consumer purchase problems, all businesses can also learn from it. After all, we are dealing with people first. The survey verifies the idea customers don't become dissatisfied because of problems. It's the way the problem is handled that will determine if they become dissatisfied. When you "tick" people off, brand or company loyalty can be ruined by not handling a complaint effectively.

What's amazing is that you don't need to spend lots of time and money resolving these problems. According to the survey, monetary solutions of discounts and refunds are not necessarily the solutions.

What can you do? Develop a real plan for problem resolution. Resolving problems requires different skills from providing sales oriented information. Putting the wrong person in front of your customers is ineffective with enormous costs. Add the loss of the lifetime value of a customer to the cost hiring and replacing an employee and you'll take one heck of a hit on the bottom line. Pre-screening candidates for customer service skills and attitudes is easy and inexpensive. Online assessments like SELECT Associate System and FirstView Job Fit from Success Performance Solutions can tell you in just minutes if a candidate has a positive customer attitude, how they handle frustration and raging customers, and even if they will show up for work.

When you have the right people, make sure they are well trained to listen, give apologies when appropriate and have the authority to offer solutions. Then, let your customers know that you have a trained staff for solving problems. Instead of customers calling sales people, their managers and the top company management, urge customers to deal with your best of class customer service staff. Even if they call you directly, tell them you're personally going to refer them to the best person for this matter! Of course, if you want to handle these matters, you should get training too.

Finally, even though the survey says that customers aren't looking for any compensation for the problem, a follow up to the problem resolution is a nice touch. A hand written note or a small gift can go a long way. After all, you know how good it feels to get a thank you note after a meeting or a new major purchase. It's no different when a problem arises. For example, imagine if you received a plant with a personalized message after having a problem with a company. You would probably be even more favorably impressed with how they handled the problem. Although you would tell others about the problem, you'd probably end with a very positive remark. Contact a promotional products professional to discuss how to turn raging customers into raving fans.

To paraphrase a famous advertising campaign, "Only you can prevent customer rage."

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #291 to #295
Visit our blog, too.

Will Retail Workers Sell Out Their Employers?  According to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey, it appears retail workers will jump ship just as hiring steps up.

Fact  #291:   21 percent of retail workers plan to change job in the fourth quarter of 2004. (Source: CareerBuilder.com)

Fact  #292:   49 percent of retail hiring managers say they'll add workers to their staffs by the end of 2004.  (Source: CareerBuilder.com)

Fact  #293;   50 percent of retail workers say they're upset with their pay and have not received a raise this year.. (Source: CareerBuilder.com)

Fact  #294:   62 percent of those polled said their workloads have increased in the last six months. (Source: CareerBuilder.com)

Fact  #295:   44 percent of retail workers say they're being asked to do too much. (Source: CareerBuilder.com)

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3.  Tips You Can Use - Background Checks

Leaders of Rejoice Ministries thought they were being extra careful when they hired James Poole.  That's because its last pastor bilked them out of $10,000.  Three months after they hired him, he skipped town with $3,344.  After reporting the  losses, they discoverd both men were veteran con artisits. The church is now debating whether to hire yet another pastor or close the church.

Last month, the Arizona Diamondbacks hired......then fired their manager.  Wally Beckman admitted to several "mistakes" in his past life - arrests for domestic disputes, drunken-driving, restraining orders - only after he was hired.  Ken Kendrick, one of the Diamondbacks' managing partners, after the "mistakes" became public stated they will now make background checks a layer of their hiring.

The owner of a motel in New Holland PA might want to do the same.  A young couple working as managers were arrested for stealing the cash payments received by guests.

If, like Pinocchio's nose, each lie a candidate told on his/her resume or during the interview became immediately apparent, business owners could easily weed out employees who cheat and deceive. So, how can you tell if an employee is lying about their work experience,

To provide our clients with one-stop shopping for employee evaluation from pre-employment to career succession, we are very pleased to introduce our new partnership with Information Architects, a leading provider of Employment Screening and Background Investigations.

BACKGROUND CHECKS.  Sixty-one percent of the human resource (HR) professionals surveyed said they find inaccuracies in résumés after carrying out background checks. (Source: SHRM Background Checks/ Résumé Inaccuracies online survey, 2004)

Services include:

• Employment Verification
• Criminal Records Search
• Civil Records Search
• Workers Comp Search
• SSN Verification
• Credit Reports
• DMV Reports
• Bankruptcy Search
• Degree Verification
• Professional License Verification
• Drug Screening

Learn more about background checks here.

4.  How to Hire High Motivation Employees.

Begin to Hire The High Motivation Employee with The Interpreter's Guide to The TotalView Assessment System.  This e-book, written by employee selection expert Ira S. Wolfe, describes in easy to understand detail how to differentiate the winner takes all candidate from the employee who'll give away the store, the nit-picking-controller from the why-get-it-done-today-when-you-can-put-it-off-until-tomorrow candidate, the cool-calm-collected from the easily frazzled-sky-is-falling employee.....and more.

Why TotalView? It is simply the best job matching and employee evaluation system on the market today.

For a limited time this $197 value will be offered to Total View subscribers for only $69. 

Order How to Hire The High Motivation Employee Interpreter's Guide.

5.  The Complete Manager's Pocket Guide Library

Today's busy leaders and knowledge workers are looking for informative, to the point self-study resources that will answer questions, stimulate new thinking and help solve problems.

These management development pocket guides are ideal for self-directed learning, training and coaching workers, corporate universities, or to use in seminars and workshops.

Each guide covers an important topic such as managing generations, mentoring, creativity, project management, knowledge management or strategies for handling people issues such as conflict management, sexual harassment and performance.

Order the complete library of these 32 best selling Manager's Pocket Guides for only $279 - that's like getting 5 books free, a savings of $39. 

Order the Manager's Pocket Guide Library for Management Development today.

Plus this bonus!  We'll include a copy of "Understanding Business Values and Motivators"

at nor additional charge, a $12.95 value.

6.  SMILE!  Recommendation Letter

While working with Mr. Jones, I have always found him

working studiously and sincerely at his table without idling or

gossiping with colleagues in the office. He seldom

wastes his time on useless things. Given a job, he always

finishes the given assignment in time. He will always be

deeply engrossed in his official work, and can never be

found chit-chatting in the cafeteria. He has absolutely no

vanity in spite of his high accomplishment and profound

knowledge of his field. I think he can easily be

classed as outstanding, and should on no account be

dispensed with. I strongly feel that Mr. Jones should be

pushed to accept promotion, and a proposal to administration be

sent as soon as possible.

Signed,
Branch Manager

PS: MR. JONES WAS PRESENT WHEN I WAS WRITING THIS REPORT EARLIER TODAY. KINDLY READ ONLY THE ALTERNATE LINES 1,3,5... FOR MY TRUE ASSESSMENT OF HIM.

7. Over 250 Supervisors Have Attended Managing to Excel Workshops

Ever since Success Performance Solutions introduced Managing to Excel in 2002, Central PA supervisors and managers have been learning and developing proficiency in the twelve competencies that highly effective managers and supervisors have that average performers don't. 

To read more about Managing to Excel, visit Managing to Excel - Management Competency Workshops.

Managing to Excel is also available for purchase by in-house trainers and human resource professionals.  The per participant cost per program is as low as $20!

8.  Fall 2004 Workshop and Speaking Schedule

January 16, 2005 - 2005 International Builders Show,  Orlando, FL

February 28, 2005 - IQPC''s Best Practices in Disease Management,   Las Vegas, NV

9. You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees

Eliminate The Hassles and Headaches Associated With Screening Candidate with Total APS.

The Total Applicant Processing System enables the small and medium sized employer to do online recruiting and screen applicants with customizable and scorable filtering questions with a click of the mouse.

Use Total APS to recruit and screen applicants for your next job opening.

10. Wondering if you have the right people on your team?

Everyone wants to build the High Motivation Employee Team. Do it with team building activities packaged exclusively for small businesses and home businesses.

Contact Information:
Success Performance Solutions 2481 New Holland Pike, Suite 2, Lancaster, PA 17601

email: tv@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com

To learn more about Success Performance Solutions or read back issues of The Total View, stop by our website at www.super-solutions.com.

Order your personal copy of Understanding Business Values and Motivators.


Order your personal copy of The Perfect Labor Storm


Ira S. Wolfe. 2004 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.

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