THE CHOSEN ONE!

My Favourite workshop among all is Delighting your customers!

From this workshop, from the video of the FISH! company, i learnt that, not only Disneyland can bring joy and happiness to people, bring magic to people's lives, other company also can, and FISH! is a great example.




FISH! company started out as a small stall in US selling fish, their business was just like any other fish stalls in the city, nothing special about their business. Until someday, they realise if they want to make their business boost, they might first delight their customers. Thus they adopted this 4 principles:

• be there
  
• play


• make their day
  
• chose your attitude

this 4 principles enabled them to attract more customers each day, and now, they have became a very famous company in the world. Now they are not only selling fish, but also teach other companies how to sell their product.

Take a look at their website, http://www.charthouse.com/ and you will realise how successful their "fishy" business is!

I was largely impacted by the video and their attitude towards their work. Although most of the company cant throw things in the office like what they do ( throw fishes, crabs ) but, the important point is not the fun of throwing, is the joy that they brought to their customers, and they themselves also enjoying. I think, in any corporate, the stressful environment made people hard to breathe, but if we can relax ourselves a bit, just like the fish mongers in FISH! company, have a right attitude towards our job, take it as a fun thing, but not as a mundane and boring chore. Always be there for the customers, and make their day, i think our lives and attitude will be changed as well.

This topic is relevant to me, because we are all in the hospitality industry, we will be dealing with people every single day. If we lose the passion to serve in us, and find it boring to serve our customers, find it mundane about our jobs, then we will never success in our work nor enjoy our work.

In my opinion, this 4 principles are very useful in the industry.

• be there , customers need our attention, when we gave them our undivided attention, they will feel they are treated well, and they are important to us and to the company.

• play , not playing with your work, but with joyful heart in work, as if you are playing and doing something that you enjoy doing.

• make their day , when you make a customer his/her day, they will be extremely delighted, this is the key to customer satisfaction.

• chose your attitude, a right attitude is everything that we need. Do not bring your unhappiness to work and show it to your customers, because your unhappiness is not customers fault. A right attitude to work will also enable us to work better.
  

7.Delighting Your Customers

When comes to delighting customers, the only thing and place that i can think of is Disneyland. A place full of laughter, happiness and joy. However during the workshop i learnt something new. This a video about this company call FISH!

This is just a small company selling seafood in a market in the US. At first the business what so so, but after they adopt their own way of selling their fishes, they have now become one of the best company in the US.

From the video, i can see that there are customers and passers-by standing and looking at how they work. When someone buys a fish, they would throw the fish around to create an atmosphere. Customers are delighted, because they have never see fish mongers selling fish in such a way.

This workshop teaches me, how important delighting your customer is. When customers are happy, they are willing to spend money on your product, and when they are delighted, this is higher chance for them to return. When your sales is UP, the staff morale is UP too.

6.The Art of Corporate Entertainment

In this workshop, it's not only talk about food and dining etiquette, a business dinner is more than a meal. It's the chance to know your customer better, to keep a present client happy and to prospect a new customer.

Prior to the meal, select a restaurant that you often visit, do not try something new now. Too exotic food might not be acceptable as well. when you invite the guests, do let them know if there is anyone joining. Plan sitting arrangement in advance, the best seat always look out, and it goes to your guest.

During a meal, for aperitif, never order hot drinks, dry sherry, juices would be a better choice. When you ordering wine, consider the main course of your guest, and it's safe to order a mid-range priced wine.

Helping your guest order by suggesting the speciality of the restaurant. Let your guest order first and mirror what what your guest order, because, if your guest order a 3 course meal, you cant just possibly order a 5 course meal.

Food to avoid are like messy food, whole lobster, a big hamburger, chicken wing.

End of the meal. Arrange the bill ahead of time, make it quick and easy. DO NOT pull out a calculator! Avoid being obvious when calculating the tips. When it's end of the meal, the host should thank the guest for coming and the guest should return a thank you note within 2 days.

There is a lot more about dinning etiquette that is taught in the workshop, i think it's very useful as someday we will be someone who is inviting a business client for a meal, and in order to leave a good impression on the client, proper dining etiquette is crucial for a good start to clinch a business deal.

5.Building a Service Culture.

From this Chapter, I learn how customer's satisfaction is so important in any business. Service culture is customer's goals , aims, ethics, and drivers on a daily basis.

1.Service culture need a good leadership, the leader must have a vision and a mission to be able to identify your customers. Then, the service vision must be translate into service mission.

2. You need to have a customer focus. identify who are your customers, what your customer wants, recognize the internal customers and determine the team's position in the service chain.

4 steps to customer satisfaction

1. Feedback. feedback is the foundation of customers service. A company who takes feedback seriously, will have continuous improvement on their services.

2. Behaviour. Take things professionally, not personally. Although the fault might not at you, but it's not at the customers either. So, keep the spotlight at the issue, not the individual, solve the problem professionally.

3. Reinforcement. Building a relationship with customers are very important, thus this step is to emphasize on building a relationship not rightness. We should solve problem without blaming your customers, yourself and your co-workers. Continue to encourage customers to write feedback and develop ways to measure and evaluate it.

4. Satisfaction & Success. If customers are satisfied it means success, because, you created a lasting impression., you provide better services, and you empower your staff.

It is important to keep customers satisfied, unsatisfied customers will create a service gap, where service promised is not delivered. It is important to have service guarantees for customers. You tell customers what to expect, but do not over promise, keep the customer loyal, as you satisfied customers they have confident in your product.

4.Corporate Politics in Perspective.

From this workshop that i know this is not an ideal world, we have to laugh at boss's un-funny jokes, write appreciation card for someone who does not deserve it, and even cultivate that you cant stand.



Because it is not an ideal world, politics happen in offices is normal, to climb up to your highest peak of your career and to size up your boss is crucial for survival in a company.

To impress the higher-ups

shine at meetings, appear articulate, ask diligent questions.

appear cool under pressure.

display business manners and etiquette.

Gaining support from co-workers

team player.

avoid being despised and hated.

size up your boss

do not make favourite comments about your boss's enemies.

understand what your boss regard as good performance.

what kind of office policies does my boss practise.

getting your boss to your side

cover your boss's bloopers

help your boss to succeed and avoid upstaging him

maintain frequent contact with your boss, such as planning business trip with him.

I learnt that in a corporate, politics within the office is inevitable, if you want to shine and emerge above the rest, the best is to know how to tackle office politics. Be a team player, do not do your job blindly, do your job with recognition from your boss. Know when to appear indispensable, because appear indispensable might hamper your chances of a promotion.

3.International Business Etiquette

in this workshop, i learnt international business etiquette about India. Moreover, our project also require us to research on a country that we chose.

In the lecture, i learnt that doing business in another country, you have to know the basic knowledge, even the geography of the country. on top of that, every little detail of the place you have to bear in mind also. Such as, for airport transfer in New Delhi it's about US$9 to downtown, as such, you would know to have some small change in your pocket to pay for the transportation fees.

Business Etiquette in France

Appearances are important at all times in France.They will perceive the way you dress as a reflection of your social status and relative success. Generally, dressing tends to be on the formal side for both men and women, whether in business or social situations.

Men

When conducting business in France, Men should wear patterned fabrics, dark-coloured, conservative business suits for the initial meeting. French businessmen also do not loosen their ties or take off their jackets in the office.

WomenWomen are advised to dress simply but with elegance, wearing either business suits or elegant dresses in soft colours. They should also put on good quality accessories that helps add flair to even the simplest outfits.Things to avoid for women are bright coloured and revealing clothing.

Dining etiquette
Business entertainment is done mostly in restaurants. The French do not like to discuss business during dinner. Spouses may be included in business dinners. At dinnertime, most French customers will not arrive until after 8.30pm.

Smoking in bars, cafés and restaurants has been banned since January 2008.

You and the service staff should first exchange a formal “bonjour/bonsoir Monsieur/Madame” . It is wise to ask advice on what wine to drink if you are clueless about wine.

Never start eating until your host and hostess have begun. Wait until toast has been proposed before you drink wine. It is also acceptable in France for women to propose toasts.

In restaurants, water normally has to be asked for . Do not ask for a martini or scotch before dinner -- they are viewed as palate numbing.

When finished eating, place knife and fork side by side on the plate at the 5:25 position. If you have not finish eating, cross your knife and fork on your plate with the fork over the knife.

Tipping is simple as a 15% service charge is automatically added to your restaurant bill. However, if you intend to return just leave a modest amount.

Lastly, send a thank-you note or telephone the next day to thank hostess.

Meetings

Before meeting, one should make an appointment at least 2 weeks in advance, either via writing or telephone. There should not be meetings in July or August or two weeks before and after Christmas as it is a common vacation period.

During a meeting, shake hands with everyone present when arriving and leaving. A handshake may be quick with a light grip, which men might initiate with women.

Meetings are to discuss issues and not to make decisions. The French tend to analyze every detail of a proposal, regardless of how minute.

Presentation should be in a formal, rational and professional manner, which appeals to the intellect.

When first meeting a person, business cards are exchanged after the initial introductions.

From this workshop, i understand more about French business culture, the business etiquette in the country, and from the presentations that each group made, i also understand more about other countries business etiquette as well.

2.Customers’ Perception

customer perception contribute to customer satisfaction, while customer perception vary from person to person, this depends on the mood, stress level and also time of the day. Though we cannot control one's perception, but in the service industry we still have to serve our customers up to the standard.

3 basic truth about customer satisfaction

• customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal
  

in my opinion, for any company that is dealing with service, their ultimate goal is not to promote their product, but to obtain customer satisfaction. Because, once customers are satisfied, they will in turn boost your sales and their influence is far more than what you can image.

• customer satisfaction is an investment
  

To invest in customer satisfaction will also contribute to your company's sales in a long term. image if customers are satisfied, they will spread good word -of- mouth to their friends, families and colleagues. In turn, they bring revenue to your company.

• everyone must be involved in customer satisfaction
  

Only not the top and the middle management should involved in customer satisfaction. Even the lower rank service staff should also be involved. if the company want to make good customer satisfaction happen, every single member of the company should be involved to achieve the same goal. If only the top management put in effort, the rest do not follow, it will be useless.

Short-term expectation creator

• first impression


• marketing effort


• advertising and promotion


• decor ambiance

Long- term expectation creator

• product design


• pricing policies


• consistency of service delivery

elements that are beyond company's control

• competitors


• word of mouth


• first impression


• recommendation

although some of this elements are out of our control, but we still can do our best to achieve customer satisfaction, thus word of mouth also can turn into good word of mouth, first impression can also turn into good first impression. If customers are satisfied, they would patronize our company more rather than our competitors.

From this workshop, i learnt that in any company that is dealing with services, the ultimate goal is to achieve customer satisfaction. Moreover, i learnt that when customers complain take it as a chance for improvement. when you take customers complains seriously, this is another chance to win customers back from you competitors.

1.Building a Professional Presence

A professional presence

First impression is very important. The right impression will make the first impression right. Because people judge by what they see, and once they judged us, it is difficult to change.


From this workshop, i learnt that a professional presence is depend on 4 factors.

personal presence
grooming
body language
first words

On top of that, i learnt about our skin, it is the largest organ in our body,our skin consists of 3 layers ,Epidermis, Demis and Subcutis. 10% of the skin ageing is genetic,while 90% is caused by sun-damage. In order to prevent our skin ageing accelerate, we should prevent it by quit smoking, less alcohol intake, less caffeine intake, have sufficient sleep, and be less stress.

Dressings for Special occasions ( some common and important occasions )

Business Casual
ladies: blouse with pants or skirt, but no sleeveless dress.
men: sweater, polo t-shirt, chino pants, sports jacket.

Black Tie
ladies: cocktail, long dresses or dressy evening separates.
men: a black tuxedos with white shirt and a black bow tie.

Cocktail attire
ladies: short elegant dress.
men: dark suits.

White tie
ladies: long gowns only.
men: full dress (white tie, waistcoat, shirt, cummer band, black tail coat and black pants ).

Learning all the dressings for different occasions teaches me how to dress professionally for an occasion. Like for the white tie and black tie, before i had the workshop,i always think that black tie is more formal. From this workshop, i knew there is actually more than what i think it is for the different ways of dressing for different occasions, as i always assume that business suit is suitable for all.

When introducing, mention the name of the person of authority or importance first.
have eye contact and smile :)

A professional handshake is one that is web-to-web, have eye contact, lasting about 3 to 4 seconds, and 2 to 3 pumps will do. Avoid sweaty palms, bone crushing and dead fish handshake.

Offer your business card only after introduction or when someone give you his/hers. Do not offer a business card during a social event, not to a very senior person. Use 2 hands to offer and receive business card, the card in the upright position should be facing the receiver.

Avoid topics like: health, misfortunes,gossips, religions, politics.
Topics that are safe: duration of stay, weather, sports. travel, books, music.

Avoid slangs like "yucky, shitty" Avoid be racist or sexist. Beware of bad mouth odour.

From this workshop, i learnt a lot. Doing things professionally is so important in the working environment. not only we left a good impression on others, but also, we feel good about ourselves.