Corporate Culture Tips
Read these 9 Corporate Culture Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Businesses tips and hundreds of other topics.
When Rebates are Not So Great
Customers are usually attracted to rebate offers. Investors may not find some rebates as attractive as others. Slowing car sales often force car manufacturers to offer rebates to attract buyers and to maintain market share. But rebates aren't cheap. The incentives eat into the car makers profit margins, which hit the bottom line. Due to costly rebates, DaimlerChrysler AG informed investors last month to expect lower profits in the third quarter.
Customer Relationships
E-commerce and other recent business developments are changing the way we think about customers. Now customers are considered to be anyone with whom you interrelate and communicate. Our focus has changed from just those who buy our products or services, our "external" customers, to include a new concept, "internal" customers. Internal customers are the people you interact and work with, i.e., your boss, employees, and stockholders. Treating everyone as a customer puts things in a different perspective. Communications will be more thoughtful, you'll constantly be looking for ways to improve your relationships, and you'll think more long-term with everyone.
Defining Customer Service - Products
Product-oriented companies often believe the quality of their product is the foremost benefit to their customers. Customer service is important, but comes after the sale. This is true, however, only if your product is unique and in high demand. If that's not the case, customers will buy from the company that best services the product.
Treat Customers with Respect
When you go to a fast food place, how does it make you feel to be ignored or given bad service? In your professional life, you should remember to do unto others (including co-workers) as you would have done unto you. It simply makes good business sense.
Invest in Your Own Company
Think about the types of companies that you like to invest in. What are their common characteristics? If you're analytical, they are probably financially sound and involved in a dynamic industry. If you're impressed by outward public perception, you probably invest in the companies that you view to be successful.
One of the biggest mistakes made by small, new companies is the failure to meet these two criteria. In particular, the scarcity of start-up capital usually results in an appearance that the company is barely surviving. No outward trappings of success are apparent. Public promotion pieces (letterhead, brochures, business cards) are purchased based on price rather than on quality. The perception created by underbuying these products is a poor one in the eyes of the public. Make your company a company that investors will want to invest in.
Defining Customer Service - Services
Service-oriented companies can't hide behind a product. Customer service IS the product. Gaps in service result in lost customers. In either case, customer service must be understood to be achieved. The concept isn't difficult: customer service is meeting your customers' (and potential customers') needs and desires. Find out what they want and give it to them.
Running Of The Bull
If you can't get enough of Wall Street during market hours, then stay tuned to TNT during prime time. Cable Channel TNT's first series, "Bull," focuses on six Wall Street traders and investment bankers attempting to start their own firm. TNT has ordered 13 episodes of the one-hour drama. Check your local cable company to find out when the show is airing in your area.
Experience Diverse Workplaces
Always citizens of a melting pot, we are more likely than ever to live in multicultural neighborhoods and to work with people from many other countries. Here are some suggestions for getting comfortable with increasingly diverse workplaces:
--Travel outside the U.S. and experience other cultures firsthand. Don't be surprised when you see that values are much the same wherever you go.
--Attend a diversity workshop for pointers about communicating, relating, and being sensitive to cultural differences.
--Read about other cultures and their mannerisms, particularly in the business climate. Simple things like the use of business cards can be quite different from culture to culture.
--Join a university's international club or host students from other countries. There's no better way to learn about other countries than by developing personal relationships.
Rule of 72
Want to double your money? Although picking the investment is up to you, figuring out how long it will take is a lot easier by simply using the Rule of 72. Divide 72 by any rate of return to calculate how many years it will take to double your investment. For example at 8% interest $1 would double in 9 years (72 divided by 8 = 9). At 10% your $1 doubles in 7.2 years (72 divided by 10 = 7.2) This rule assumes the rate of return and principal remain the same and that all returns are invested.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Jerry Mayo |
