"There aren't no rules around there. We're trying to accomplish something."
Recent Posts
- The death of customer service
- The power of focus
- Energy for Life
- Arab women in business
- How to be creatively professional at work
- Why aren't you making enough money?
- ideas group takes it to the street with Beirut Marathon
- Do you Coach or Tell
- The greatest CEO of all time
- What Can you Do to Make your Exercise More Enjoyable?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
DO WHAT YOU LOVE, LOVE WHAT YOU DO
Most people live their life as reaction to events that happen around them, and very few create events and define how they will live their Lives...
ideas group blog
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Everywhere you go it seems that the level of service is dropping; and I am not talking about luxury, over the top outstanding service, I am just pointing out to the minimal expected service.
I don’t know if this is due to the discerning new needs of customers, or the fact that people through the overflow of information are exposed to more outlets than the past. What I know is that as a customer, 1 out of 3 customer service experiences is painful to me and only 1 out of 20 exceeds my expectations; this wasn’t so bad 5 years ago.
Recently I was staying in a reputable hotel chain in Riyadh- Saudi Arabia- and for $250 a night, the service was merely acceptable. After settling my bill I had to extend one more night and paid that extra night by using my credit card.
A month later, the extra night charge was billed 3 times to my credit card; Mistakes happen, however the disaster happened when I tried to reach the hotel.
I had trouble reaching the hotel as the number displayed on the website never answers. The email addresses provided are all inactive or wrong as all the emails kept bouncing back. After my 4th call, the accounting department got back to me, talked to me for about 30 seconds and asked me to send an email. The line was cut without having the proper email address and with no other call from the accounting department.
I tried calling the hotel again but no one answered my call. I had to be creative and change the number combinations at the end till I got ahold of the reception. I thought for a moment that I am calling the post office or an old government department as I got transferred so many times with no answer from the duty manager nor the GM.
I called the worldwide customer service number. The lady over the phone was extremely nice going the extra mile to resolve my issue. She promised me that the hotel GM will call me, and gave me a quick reference number to follow up my case with a 48 hours resolution promise.
That made me think; Obviously this chain cares a lot about customer service and thus at the corporate level, they walk the extra mile in service, however at the bottom line, where the customer interacts, the service is distorted.
What is happening with large organizations, is that they weigh a lot on customer service as a strategic goal, and do not take the time to translate it to the bottom line.
This issue could be resolved very quickly by conducting proper employee and organizational competency assessments, listening to customers and walking in the customers' shoes through mystery shopping or other observation techniques.
Camil el Khoury
Posted By Ideas Group at
08:17 - AM
0 Comments
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Many of us, business managers and entrepreneurs, would like to achieve a lot. We take the examples of successful people and try to emulate them: Richard Branson and his Virgin brand does everything from retail to transport, banking, telecom and many other industries. Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault and Nissan, two huge companies on different continents, adding to this Ghosn is an active investor in an environmental friendly winery in Lebanon.
Most of the entrepreneurs at the beginning want to run multiple businesses and we get excited by the idea to wear many hats and play different roles. As rewarding and fulfilling as this may sound, it is a big mistake that entrepreneurs commit at the beginning; they want a limitless world, they see opportunities and want to grab them all. Unfortunately by doing this, entrepreneurs lose track and fail in their ventures.
Successful business people who run companies in multiple industries rarely succeed in all industries at once. What they do instead is succeed at one, create a system so that the business runs itself -by hiring great people of course- and then move to create the next venture.
So to succeed in the first venture here are three essential elements that should be available in your toolkit:
1- Focus: Focus on one thing at a time and become the best in the world in that thing. The power of focus is so immense that it will create wonders. When you focus on a goal, your mind is going to start detecting everything related to that specific goal, and this is when you will start identifying opportunities.
2- Passion: Work on goals that you are passionate about, the money will eventually come. Passion fuels your motivation and helps you overcome any challenges. So resist the temptation to start new things based on how easy or profitable they are.
3- Discipline: No goal will be realized without discipline. Set a plan and commit to that plan. When you respect your goal and be strict and disciplined in dealing with it, the chances of success are tenfolds higher. A good way to create self discipline is to share your goals with a partner, mentor or a coach.
Camil el Khoury
Posted By Ideas Group at
07:47 - AM
0 Comments
Thursday, March 29, 2012
While reading an article in a business magazine, I have stumbled upon Newton’s famous 3rd law of physics "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."
That made me think that people’s habits go unnoticed because getting away with it is easy or because they do not know what opposite reaction their habit will bring.
One of the bad habits that I can relate to in our society is the garbage that people leave when they litter as well as- stealing or abusive consumption of energy resources.
So how can we simply change some habits to make sure that the inverse relation is not negative? Here are a few tips
Green Light
Many companies keep all their lights on across the night- even during closed hours. Research pointed out that turning off the lights when you leave the office could squeeze around 20% of your electric bill.
Follow these tricks to live better:
o A lot of organizations rely on natural daylight as a free source of lighting for the office- a study showed that it actually improves worker productivity and satisfaction.
o If you don’t need to use the coffee maker or the microwave, unplug the appliance.
o Make an effort to shut down your laptop/ computer before you leave work for the day: making sure you disconnect adaptor / UPS etc.
o If you are done using the phone charger, unplug it.
o If you don’t have any use for this light on, then switch it off.
You Have a Love Hate Relationship with Paper:
Some people hate going paperless. It’s true. I see millions of receipts stacked into the ATM and around on a weekly basis. If you are at the ATM machine making transactions and do not need a receipt, there’s an option that gives you a choice. You can choose whether you do or do not want to print a receipt.
As a result:
o You will not get caught with a printed receipt you have no use for.
o Less electric energy and paper is wasted.
o More paper is saved.
Green Take-Out?
A great way to preserve energy is to use recycled resources. So many options are available at your local store. For example: ideas group business cards are printed on recycled cardboard. Another option would be using ceramic/ glass cups and saving extra ones for guests- eliminating the use of paper/plastic cups.
Gasoline: With the fuel prices going up and the cities air congested with pollution you can do you part by:
o Turn off your vehicle if there is heavy car congestion.
o Share a cab or carpool with friends/ neighbors.
o I’m not going to advise you to ride a bicycle but walking would be an ideal option during rush hour.
Cleaning it Makes it shine longer:
Every team member cleans his desktop computer twice per week. Keeping your appliances free of dust, grime and dirt is the best way to ensure that they will last as long as the possibly can research showed.
The Digital Generation:
A study showed about 97 billion emails are exchanged daily on a global. Do you really need every email printed? Print only when it is extremely urgent.
Small actions can make a difference, and it is you who will feel it not only your children.
Shirley Gerges
Posted By Ideas Group at
06:38 - AM
0 Comments
Recent comments
1 year 14 weeks ago
1 year 14 weeks ago
1 year 23 weeks ago