Well we survived hurricane Dean. A few lessons for any business person here.

1. Get a generator, you cannot work without power. Even in the absence of a storm you can be without power for some time.
2. Check a good Hurricane tracking map regularly.
3. Do as much work as possible before it hits.
4. Let all your international clients know you will be having problems for the next week or so
5. Expect your local clients to rebook times, they are in the same boat.
6. Be flexible and remember someone is worse off than you.
7. Don't expect to be on your PC or preparing presentations etc for the next week, see number 1.
8. Buy a bottle of rum, put your feet up and relax, as when the power is on you'll be working twice as hard to catch up.

Dean has gone and we were a lucky island, fortunately Dominica does not get many hurricanes. I was realy impressed about the way people checked up on everyone before and after and how quickly people were out and about with cutlasses and chainsaws.

Customer service award to DOWASCO the water company, they got our water back on exactly when they said they would after Dean. Its refreshing that a utility monopoly acts as if it has competition and cares about its customers. Also the set staff targets and expect staff to achieve them, managers to assist staff in achieving them and celebrate high performance........radical.

Money, Money, Money

OK, Here is a universal business truth, unless you get paid upfront expect to wait for your money. Often its not a unwillingness to pay, its a payment process problem, it takes ages to draft, approve and get cheques signed for payment.

Be strict about payments and don't fall for the smile, however always remember to be nice as money is very tight and cut some slack to the small guy, his cash flow is always critical and he may not be able to pay you until he gets paid. Sometimes just sometimes a little bit of consideration goes a long way.

If you are visiting the Island, stay at Caribbean Sea View Holiday Apartments, The company is taking over its management for 5 months in September due to the absence of the owner.

Anyway I am off to play with my new e-learning design software, unfortunately its raining so I cant watch the sunset, but the rum is still so good.

A busy time

Hi ages since my last post but I have been really busy. delivering program's for the National Development Foundation of Dominica, Training for the Red Cross, Job interview preparation etc.

I have had a positive couple of weeks, I have been asked to tender for 3 capacity building and training and development programme's, All 3 have come to me as I said before Reputation, Reputation, Reputation.

The most rewarding thing I have done recently is deliver a Job Interview Programme for the Dominica Grammar School 5th formers on behalf of the Rotary Club, some of these young school leavers have so much potential, I would put many of them up against their UK counterparts and expect them to beat the UK young people to the Job.

I was approached by the DGS head and asked if I would mind doing a half day a month business training with his next group of 5th formers as the students were so complimentary about the training they received. That's great to hear it from someone else.

Here is one universal truth about business here that exists world wide. When you speak to Dominican managers they say that their workers are so bad, my reply is usually "They must of had a spark that made you want to employ them, the trick is to find out what extinguished it."

Not surprisingly when you speak to the staff they say its their managers,....Ummm.

Before apportioning blame look in the mirror.

Excellence in Customer Service

Congratulations to Jollys Pharmacy, I wanted to go into their toy shop but it was closed due to restocking, I asked when it would be open, a lady without being asked offered to open it just for us, she then help us find items we wanted, then accompanied us next door and gave us what amounted to a personal shopping service and help me located everything I needed for my daughters party. Truly exceeding expectations.

Oh yes I will try to blog every few days.

Have a rum and watch the sunset and don't let it get you down.

Lessons in exceeding expectations

OK I will admit that my last two posts may of been a bit negative, but this one is a real positive.

Two lessons for Dominica

Lesson 1 Always strive to deliver the best you can it is really appreciated. Reputation + Quality + Innovation = a lack of vulnerability. I have been dealing with a client for the first time recently and the fact that I believe we delivered superior quality product has resulted in repeat business from a key target customer within our business plan, that was an expectation, but without always thinking deliver the best we can and thinking reputation, quality and inovation it wouldn't of happened.

Lesson 2. What goes around comes around. I did a small piece of work (1 day) some time ago for one of my first clients, this client required assistance above that contracted and as it was always small requests for assistance, they went on for a long time, I never charged as the person was also a friend. They then came to us with a second job, again small requests for assistance above agreed terms and never charged for. A couple of days ago they phoned us up and offered the company a management contract over a 6 month period (in a taget sector). What goes around comes around.

Customer Service Excellence

Hats off to New Charles Pharmacy for without question replacing free of charge an item that a customer said was not dispensed as it was not in their bag when they got home. No "are you sure you didn't drop it," or "you will have to buy another one" Just a smile and "of course we will replace it, you obviously have not got something you paid for".

Its not our job and where is your stamp?

Why is it so difficult to get a complete service? I have someone who wants pay as you go electricity, we asked about it, well once I can prove ownership of the property they will sign us up. Great I thought, so I said, "You will come and install it all them" The conversation went like this.

"No sir you have to measure the distance from the meter to where you want the pay as u go key pad, then come back to us, we will then give you some cable of the correct length, you then have to get a electrician to put the cable from the meter to where you want the key pad to go, once this is done then come back to us and then we will install the key pad and install the new meter, fill out some forms, zero the account, fill out some more forms and then we will come and install it".

The same happened about the television, "Yes sir we can put in a extension in the bedroom, but you need to go to a electrical shop by three connectors and a cable splitter, as the engineers will need this". When the engineers turned up they would not put in the extension as they could not drill a hole in the wall, that was my job." Aaaaaaah!


Total service providers.....I think not.

If you are ever going to do business here your most important tool is your company rubber stamp. In the 21st Century, insurance firms, banks, governments all want you to put your rubber stamp on a document. Yes a rubber stamp, I said to a bank how does e-commerce deal with a stamp. The law does not require me to have a stamp so why does everyone demand it. Any old stamp as long as it has the company name on it.

My children are bugging me so I have found a few potatoes.. I used to make stamps out of these at school. "hey kids want to have some fun"

Where is my rum bottle

Customer Relations Training

People here always complaining about service standards. After running training here I have realised that retail do not invest in training their staff. 8% of people attending our CR training are from the retail sector. There is plenty of service providers recognising that it is important to provide service excellence, but as for retail, I talked to a retail provider who thought that 2 hours should be sufficient training for their shop floor staff. I suspect that they spend more on uniforms than they do training.

Companies also do not ask their customers what they want, they give them what they always have. Asking customers what they actively dislike about their experiences is in many cases so scary as never to be considered.

I put a challenge to retailers to try to replicate the above smiles on their customers faces.

If you can provide what the customer wants, at a fair price, when and where they want it you will always sell it.

Don't ask what your customers can do for you, but what you can do for your customers.

This is my favorite Customer Relations Video Clip. It just makes me smile, enjoy.

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

No rain for ages and the moment someone turns up the view my property it starts to rain, in Dominica its never a light drizzle. Good news is I have three interested people. All want a second look.

The weekend is here and I am going to watch the sunset and sip a rum and reflect on the week. I will laze around for the rest of the weekend reflecting on my place in the universe.

My wife then reminded me that I have to fix a curtain rod, finish the fence, update the website, do some SEO, prepare for the workshops next week, prepare to meet some clients etc. I am determined to go to the beach on Sunday.

Ummm........I rember why I came here, 3 bed apartment in Woking or same job here in Dominica......Ummmm, lets think.