Issue #2095
- WEALTHY: How China can affect your monthly house payment (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: Sweet tooth? Try this sugar substitute (Jon Herring)
- WISE: Tony Alessandra on providing service to your customers
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- This crucial division of your business could be crumbling before your eyes (Michael Masterson)
- A coveted job skill that most of your competitors lack (Suzanne Richardson)
- It’s Good to Know… how to protect your home from burglars
- Add "yawp" to your vocabulary
Imagine Knowing of a Casino Where the Dealer Tipped His Hand Before You Made Your Move and Didn’t Care How Many Times You Beat Him.
When would you stop going there?
This is nothing to do with games of chance, but I hope your answer to that question would be a resounding, “NEVER!!” Assuming you’re sane that is… Well, that is a virtually PERFECT analogy of the power of the insider signal!
It’s often said, “The Stock Market is just a big casino”. And it’s true. But the important omission in that statement (to keep the masses out!) is the dealer in this casino tips his hand to the select few… the insiders.
Such powerful knowledge could make YOU very rich indeed… Click here to learn more…
Mortgages Gone Wild
Waiting for the government to cut interest rates so you can lock into lower mortgage rates is a bad idea. First, the Fed is unlikely to lower rates this year. Second, it wouldn’t matter even if they did.
Mortgage loan rates don’t go up and down when the government raises or lowers overnight bank rates. Rather, they follow 10-year Treasury bonds, which have yields that are sensitive to inflation sentiment. If inflation is high or getting stronger, investors stay away from them. The resulting lower demand brings prices down and pushes yields up. (The prices and yields of bonds always move in opposite directions.) If inflation is low and unlikely to eat away at bond returns, investors like to pile into these safe investment instruments.
But here’s the catch. Because the central banks of China and other countries have been buying tons of 10-year Treasuries, the price of these bonds has remained high – and the yield low – despite the threat of worsening inflation. That has benefited people with ARMs (adjustable-rate mortgages) and recent fixed-rate mortgage loans.
But the yield on 10-year Treasuries is finally heading up. And, as expected, so are mortgage rates. So stop waiting and lock into a fixed mortgage rate NOW.
[Ed. Note: Andrew Gordon, ETR's Investment Director, has authored several books on energy markets, global countertrade practices, and the hot growth sectors of China and Russia. A former professor of marketing and finance, he is the editor of INCOME, a monthly financial advisory service that uncovers income-generating stocks that promise safety (first and foremost), along with much-higher-than-average profit potential.]
"Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game."
Tony Alessandra
Is Your Business on the Verge of Self-Destructing?
Many years ago, I took on a new client – Company A – and one of the first things I did was revamp the customer-service department. Employing models of other customer-service systems I’d established in the past, I replaced most of the staff with better-educated, more articulate, and more conscientious workers. I introduced a training program. I implemented automated monitoring and reporting systems. And I established progressively higher standards for every aspect of customer service, from call waiting through problem solving. Within six months, our service went from embarrassing to best of show. With a hand-selected customer-service person to continue the program, I diverted my attention to other problems.
Three years later, I got a call from a colleague who, in the midst of a conversation about something else, made a comment about how everyone in the industry believed that Company A’s customer service was "a joke."
I was shocked. And when I checked into it, I was floored. The top-notch operation I had worked so hard to set up had somehow slipped back to the horrendously bad level of service I had first found it in.
I studied what had happened, and learned two important things:
1. Operational things tend to fall apart.
I don’t know whether it is because people are inherently lazy, inconsiderate, or dense, but if you don’t have an active program to combat it, your operations will slowly but surely go to pot.
Set, for example, a two-ring standard for answering the phone. Spend a week or two working with your people to get them up to, say, a 90 percent compliance rate. Then leave them alone for a year. What will you see when you check back with them? The phone will be ringing, on the average, three or four times, and the number of dropped calls will have skyrocketed.
2. They fall apart twice as fast if the boss isn’t looking.
Although everyone gave lip service to the high standards I had set, they also knew that Company A’s CEO didn’t really pay attention to customer service. He didn’t read the reports. He didn’t check in with the managers. He neither rewarded good work nor fired poor performers. He supported my efforts to improve this part of the business and was willing to sign his name to memos that enunciated our high goals, but everyone was aware of his lack of real commitment. That was a fault that cracked the foundation of the program.
You can see how this same thing plays out with many airline carriers, hotel chains, and franchised fast-food restaurants. Although the standards and procedures for customer service are all state-of-the art, the actual service is often miserable.
This is not solely the fault of the individuals who are providing the crappy service. Equal blame has to be placed on their managers. When you walk into a filthy McDonald’s staffed by insolent, inarticulate kids who handle your food after sneezing or coughing into their hands, you can be absolutely sure that they are NOT meeting the standards established by the McDonald’s parent company. Something bad happened between the time protocols were established and what is currently happening. That something is bad management.
The same is true when you get inattentive, indolent, or even abusive service at a Marriott or Holiday Inn. Yes, the receptionist or valet may be a lunk – but the real problem is with the higher-paid people managing them.
I don’t think these managers are creating all this bad service on purpose, although I admit to having had that suspicion on occasion. Many of them have gone through training programs. At one time, at least, they knew and practiced the high standards their employers want to meet. But because they were (a) not personally committed to those standards and/or (b) did nothing active to maintain them, things gradually and progressively fell apart.
I’m staying at the upscale Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills as I write this. I have been here at least a half-dozen times now. Yesterday, for the first time ever, I experienced a few moments of bad customer service. I came up to the rooftop terrace and told the hostess I wanted to smoke my cigar and work on my laptop. She said, "We have no tables now. We are booked."
I said, "Can you find something for me? I just need a chair and a table in a corner somewhere, so my smoking doesn’t disturb anyone." She seemed upset with me for asking. She answered, almost rudely, "I’ll see what I can do."
For five minutes, I waited there for her to return, feeling like a homeless bum with open sores. Finally, a young man approached. "Can I help you?" he asked, but with a guarded, almost defensive, tone. I said, "What?" He replied, "I’m sorry, are you staying with us?" I told him that I had been for some time, that I had stayed with them before and always received impeccable service, and that now, for the first time, I was being treated "almost rudely."
Realizing that I wasn’t whatever kind of monster the young lady had taken me for (and recognizing how short his future would be with the hotel had he continued to treat me in this sort of way), he led me to a tented pavilion by the pool, gave me complimentary beverages, and apologized profusely for her behavior. (It was, he said, her first day.) By doing all of this, he restored my opinion of the hotel to its former, lofty perch.
There is only one way you can provide top-quality service to your customers. First – and most important – you must want to provide it. You must want to do so not only because you believe it is good business but also because it gives you pride to know that what you do is better than the rest. You must have – in your heart – a commitment to customer service that goes beyond good sense and the desire for profits. It must be deep and it must be strong and it must endure.
The other thing you must do is apply your standards with persistence. It is not enough to set up a good program and hire a good person and then let it go. That didn’t work for Company A, it doesn’t work for McDonald’s, and it wouldn’t work at the Peninsula Hotel either. You must view customer service as something that, if left alone, deteriorates. And that means it must be constantly paid attention to.
As I write this, I am watching two men in suits hovering over one of the teak tables in the Peninsula’s rooftop restaurant. They are examining, almost microscopically, the slats of the wood. They are running their fingers over the surface to make sure there are no splinters, and they are crouching down to look at the sides of the slats to make sure no particles of food have accumulated there. They are fussing over the cleanliness and functionality of these tables much like you might expect Michelangelo to have fussed over the Pieta.
It is hot now, maybe 85 degrees in the sun. One of them takes a silk handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. They are discussing the table as if it matters… as if it would be a really terrible thing if one of their guests got a splinter reaching for his fork or if, glancing down from his newspaper, he noticed a smudge of yesterday’s eggs Benedict on an inside slat.
And to the customers who come here – to the people who pay $495 and $675 and $775 per room to stay at the Peninsula – it does matter
[Ed. Note: Learn how to start your own money-making Internet business at this fall’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp. Get the details here.]
Stay-at-Home Mom Finds Financial Freedom through Real Estate
“Upon completion of my latest project, my monthly cash flow from the rentals will be about $6,500, with a net income of about $3,000 after all expenses!… We have amassed an additional net worth of over $200,000 in this short time and paid off a considerable amount of debt!”
- Angie K
Read on to find out how you can learn to do the same…
The Number One Skill You Should Master Before Applying for a Job
Your inability to write clearly could be standing between you and a new or better job. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2007 Job Outlook survey, "communication skills" topped the list of what employers look for in new employees. And a 2006 survey of 431 human resource officials (conducted by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management) indicated that employees with those skills aren’t easy to find. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed reported that their employees who were graduates of two-year colleges were deficient in written communications, and 81 percent reported that their high-school-graduate employees had the same deficiency.
Develop your business-writing skills, and you’ll give yourself a big lead over other people competing for your job.
How do you do it? Charlie Byrne, ETR’s Editorial Director and head writer, says to ask yourself these questions about all the work-related writing you do:
- Do I make my main points clear from the very beginning?
- Is the content organized in a logical way that flows naturally?
- Can I strengthen my argument by including further proof of any of my claims or removing unnecessary words or sections?
After you’ve gone through this checklist, go back and check for grammar and spelling. (If it’s a really important memo or report, you might even want to ask a friend or colleague to give it a final read-through.)
[Ed. Note: To master this essential business skill, check out the AWAI copywriting program - an excellent guide for becoming a clear and persuasive writer.]
Reader Feedback: "Thanks so much for all the outstanding recommendations for grads!"
"Since I gain so much good information from the Early to Rise newsletter, and have applied several of Michael’s recommendations to my life with success, I purchased the Automatic Wealth for Grads book and sent it to my newly graduated son in December of 2005.
"He must have read the book. I say that because, since graduation, he moved to Germany and took a job with a defense contractor as a database manager. He negotiated a contract with them and now has his own business with his former employer as one of his clients. He has also finished his masters, will have all school loans paid off by August, and has started an aggressive investment plan.
"Thanks so much for all the outstanding recommendations for grads!"
- Jill Schaumloeffel
Eglon, WV
[Ed. Note: Want to see your name in print? Let us know how ETR or one of Michael Masterson's books has changed your life at ReaderFeedback@gmail.com. We may run your comments in an upcoming issue of Early to Rise or post them on the brand-new Michael Masterson website!]
A Guilt-Free, Tasty Sweetener
By Jon Herring
In ETR #2077, Dr. Sears wrote about a natural sweetener called xylitol, which can be used in place of sugar. Xylitol scores only seven on the glycemic index, so it has a minimal effect on blood sugar and insulin levels (and can actually help prevent tooth decay).
But xylitol also has a cooling effect on the tongue, which some people don’t care for. And while it is safe, it can cause minor gastrointestinal upset. That’s why I prefer a similar sugar alcohol called erythritol.
Erythritol occurs naturally in some fruits and fermented foods. As a sweetener, it is made from corn via a natural fermentation process. And the properties of this great-tasting, natural sweetener are remarkable:
- Erythritol is 80 percent as sweet as sugar. However, unlike sugar, which is high in calories, erythritol is almost calorie free.
- It scores just over zero on the glycemic index. That means it is totally safe for diabetics and won’t affect your insulin levels.
- It is granulated, just like sugar, so it can be easily substituted for sugar in recipes.
- It is easy to digest – which means no gastrointestinal disturbance.
Quite simply, this is one of the best natural sweeteners to come along in quite some time, and you’ll likely be seeing it in more and more products. I use it all the time. I sprinkle it over berries or cereal, I mix it with cocoa and milk for a low-calorie chocolate drink, I use it to lightly sweeten smoothies, and I have used it in cake and frosting recipes too. The only way I don’t particularly like it is for sweetening tea or coffee. I prefer stevia for that.
You can find erythritol in many health food stores, and it is readily available online. Cargill has an organic version (Zerose) that is made from organic, non-genetically-modified corn.
It’s Good to Know: How to Protect Your Home From Burglars
Going on an extended vacation this summer? Protecting your home from burglars takes more than stopping the mail, locking all the doors and windows, and asking the paper boy to skip your house. To keep burglars at bay, say experts, you have to make the house look occupied – putting several inside lights on timers, for example.
Here are several more things you can do to avoid being a victim:
- Make sure the area outside your house is well-lit, and that the house can be seen from the street.
- Install an alarm system that is monitored by a security firm.
- Ask somebody to housesit, or at least check on the place every couple of days.
- Set up outdoor floodlights connected to motion detectors.
(Source: Associated Press)
What If There Was A Way To Legally Beat A Traffic Ticket?
“When Attorneys Get Speeding Or Traffic Tickets, This Is What They Do… No Points, No Increased Premiums & Definitely No Stupid Driving School. These Tricks Work Like Magic.”
If you’re like me then the simple sight of a police car in your rear-view mirror is enough to send shivers down your spine, but…
When the lights start flashing…
There Goes That Safe Driver Discount…Right? Not anymore…
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Yawp
A "yawp" (YAWP) is a loud yell or cry.
Example, as used by Walt Whitman in "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass): "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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