esteemed magazine nov dec 2015

| 1Esteemed Magazine

Esteemed Magazine 2 |


Fullness of life

Business Principles 4

Entrepreneurship vs. Employment 6

Perspectives

• Human Relations 8

• Customer Relations 11

• Public Relations 13

Refreshing the mind 15

Invest Wisely 16

Quiet Time 18

AcknowledgementsManaging Editor Wangari Maina

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For about 3 months I have watched the sun come up and go down, replaced by the moon and the stars and sometimes, I am amazed at how time goes by fast. If one doesn’t find something worthy to fill in the hours, it is easy to get disoriented, eat and sleep to new weights and slow down of brain work!

Within those three months, Esteemed™ – the revitalized edition, has been released to the public and we are now on our 11th

Copyright Disclaimer

Esteemed™ is a bi-monthly magazine published by Eagle Afric Holdings Ltd. Views expressed in the articles and contributions are not necessarily those of the publisher. All rights reserved. While every reasonable effort has been made and precautions taken to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the content herein, neither the Esteemed™ team, nor its advertisers, nor printers can accept responsibility for any damages or inconvenience that may arise there from. The views expressed within the publication are those of the authors exclusively and not necessarily those of the Esteemed™ owners. Any material sent to us will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and may or may not be acknowledged as receipted. This material will also be subject to scrutiny for unrestricted editing and commentary at the discretion of the Editorial team.

All content, including adverts created by Esteemed™ are Copyright of Eagle Afric Holdings Ltd. and may not be recreated in part or in whole without prior consent of the publishers.

Contents

Make each day your masterpiece. JOSHUA WOODEN, father of John Wooden

edition since inception.

It’s been an interesting journey of false starts, as a majority of entrepreneurs have been faced with, but I believe that we are still standing. It is only resilience and belief that there is a greater good and a greater expectation that allows one to work at what is seemingly lifeless and with a doubtful future. No matter what the general public says or thinks about what you have your hands and mind working on, the result is always the judge.

This edition is themed around family businesses. We look at various aspects of business including transition and succession planning. Many enterprises tend to lose it at the time of passing the baton from one management to the other and it is imperative especially in family businesses to have a seamless transition. On customer relations, we address a very crucial element of serving our customers which if applied may knock off about 65% of customer relations issues and on the Quiet Time segment we get some capsulized dose of the power of agreement.

We take the time to appreciate our readers and advertisers who have interacted with our magazine in either the printed or digitized formats. Your feedback, likes on Facebook, follows on twitter and email feedback messages have been awesome to say the least. You have encouraged us to do more and we look forward to keeping you Esteemed through our content.

@wangarimaina


One of the greatest challenge that the current generation of youth are facing is the failure by parents in business to inculcate their children into their businesses. These children are looking at all the wealth that their parents’ businesses generate and

they foresee a future where they are the CEOs and chairmen. This is despite the absence of a process where the parents take them in as protégé to know every element of the business. So we end up having children who are enjoying the fruit of their parents’ labors aiming one day to own the source of the wealth but having no access to how the source is managed until after their parents are dead. All of us in business or aspire to be in business need to know that our businesses must be generational; i.e. we can hand over to the next generation a skill, a business model or a capital base (social and/ or financial) for its continuity.

Why and how an inheriting generation sometimes drops the ball on their parents’ businessesLack of vision – Don’t kill the vision to retain sight. A certain man who rose to be a king would fight and plunder his enemies greatly. His intention was to accumulate enough to build a temple

Business Principles

for the most high GOD. On his death bed as king, he blessed his son to be king with an inheritance and he also shared with him the vision of building the temple. The son built and furnished the temple with all the gold and artefacts. A vision was passed and accomplished meticulously from father to son. How many parents have adequately shared their vision with their children? Family businesses must have a vision so that whatever any family member is doing will be governed by that vision. Vision is bigger than big business and a ton of money. Know your vision as a family and have every member articulate it in their own unique way.

Fear factor – It is as diverse as people. Fear that the children do not understand the business, fear that they will not fulfill your dream, fear of change, fear that the business is too big to be handled and fear of the unknown. Given that the fear cuts across the current owner and intended heirs, the best strategy over fear is a collaboration of efforts in conducting the business. Fear implies self-doubt and the inability to see another person as a human being who can make mistakes.

Saving face – If one went into most family businesses, there would be most likely no defined structures or professional way of running things. Financially, one would probably find

Handing Over The Baton



embezzlement, and hidden skeletons that would break the family if discussed in a family gathering. An example could be a son going into the family business and finding out that his father goes on vacation every three months but every time he has explained those as business trips. So if the current owners are doing some unscrupulous things, the last thing they need is to have their children in the business because they will lose face. So as not to be embarrassed they would rather die first before allowing their heirs into the business.

Lack of trust – Trust is about knowing that someone else will have your back at any one time. It can make or break your business especially if family members do not trust each other. It will cause family members to transact family business in the presence of lawyers when a family lunch of roast meat, mum’s favorite dish and children playing in the open grass would have sufficed.

Selfishness – The good old book known as the BIBLE has a statement. “Naked has one come into this world and naked shall they return and they shall take nothing with them from their labor”. In family businesses a lot of the time there is this innate desire for the founders to want to keep it all to themselves yet no one lives forever. It could also be that some siblings squabble for controlling shares or for all the good things leaving others with the not so good portion of inheritance.

People must realize that selfishness is subtractive in nature. Multiplication and addition of resources thrive in the absence of selfishness. This list is by no means exhaustive but it begins to expose the root of failure for most family businesses. Having identified the problems, let us identify processes and models of addressing the situation that many find themselves in.

For those currently in the driver’s seatShare your vision aiming for a lasting legacy – Take your children to the office with you. If they are age appropriate let them work at the business in various capacities - janitors, photocopying, making and serving tea, closing a sale, counting stocks, planning an event, delivering goods to a customer, manning the phones. Let them come with you to a high profile meeting to learn why and how you do the business.

The only way to leave a legacy is to let our children know why and how we are doing what we are doing and invite them to have a hand in it thus leaving their own mark. The man who built the ark knew and operated this principle and that is why his sons did not join the rest of the world in laughing at their father. Latter generations have the advantage of technology, skill, networks and infrastructure which if well blended into the business, a lasting legacy and generational wealth will be the markers of you having walked the earth.

Develop a connection with your children – It is disheartening to hear a parent say that they have toiled hard to build a business for their children and when they have grown up, they want nothing to do with that business. More often than not, a little digging into the history will reveal the issues we stated earlier expressed in parents’ absence during the developmental years of the child or a complete disconnect between parents and children. It also sometimes is expressed by children engaging in areas that are drawn far away from what their parents do.

Parents must make the effort to build that connection by spending time with the children in what they love doing. A parent whose child is interested child in corporate law of professional ballet dancing must make the effort to bond with

the child at their level and find out any connection that may exist with the legacy being established.

Invest in process and people – While sometimes family may not be as committed to the cause as required, it stands true that in the absence of the founder, they will not let a good business fizzle out. That is why it is important to invest in people (employees) and process (building efficiency into the operations). Efficient & effective people and processes can take a business to greater heights and the business value is also increased.

For those seeking to inheritRemain teachable – No matter how developed this world becomes, nobody can know everything. Even if one comes back from China with the latest manufacturing technology in the clothing industry, there is something to learn from how things were done before. It is within this human interaction that we learn some things that even Google and Bing do not have an answer for. You can only appreciate the intricacies of the business when you interact with those who have been in it a while longer.

Aim to improve, not deplete – As one who is set to inherit a business, words like responsible and accountable should be second nature. Depletion is never obvious. It is only visible when one is gone so far down that the apex is further away than the bottom. As such, the attitude when one is going into a family business, should be “determination to improve the business” not “determination to enjoy now that the folks are out of the way.”

Show value for the foundations laid – I am yet to find a perfect replacement for respect of others and their work in business circles. Those who have gone ahead of us in business have made great strides which are the foundation of some of our success stories today. We must show regard for these and use them to go further than they have.

Confident to reinvent – Inherited businesses also have their faults and fault lines (areas that can be a source of trouble and instability). Reinvention allows those inheriting to deal with some of these issues. People take a step back to assess the direction of the business and chart a new and revitalized course to focus on what is best for the business. Reinvention means change and even though multiple heirs disagree on the reinvention, those who assume the leadership role, must guide all good decisions to have continued and permanent success for all the family amidst temporary and isolated resentment or permanent and deep sated resentment amid irreversible failed family business?

In context of the dynamic and variant businesses in our environments, the above is by no means exhaustive. One who is in a family business and is committed to making it generational needs to find what works for that particular business and apply it therein. There is no “one size fits all” kind of solution.

Join us on our blog Marketplace Influencer for more tips for the Esteemed Professional @wangarimaina

For more insights into business principles that will influence your profession, career,

or work, we recommend the book “Family Businesses - The Essentials”

By Peter Leach



Do you know someone whose family has a lucrative business but they are employed at another company? When you look at them do you wonder why they slave at the other company instead of getting into the family business? Or why they choose to register their success

and skills set elsewhere instead of bringing it into the family business? Have they ever given you a satisfactory response to your curiosity about their chosen work model? As you interact with this article, spend some time thinking about that person, even if it is you.

Many family businesses we are seeing today have gone through transformations, hitting highs and lows whose impact would make for a high value documentary. Over time, the founders left the business to their heirs and so we probably have 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations running these outfits today. Some of these business were started while most people were toddlers and they have come to an age of maturity where they can take up the mantle from their parents but are not doing so. In their current work life, these individuals are mid and high profile executives for various companies. Some may be earning some substantial salaries with good perks, others may just be enduring for the sake of the job title and the accompanying prestige even though they have a wonderful opportunity to grow their family businesses and derive even greater satisfaction from the work of their hands.

So why would one would be moonlighting at another organization while their skills would be pivotal in projecting their family businesses into a higher level of success?

Family issues. Different personalities come to play where family decisions need to be made and when you toss in the aspect of commercial business the personalities take another spin that is more often ugly than it is admirable. We have family members who have not been interested in the business and out of the blues think they can run it best, there are some who simply like the money that comes to them as shareholders but they don’t really care what you do with the business.

One’s dreams. When the family business is not in line with one’s dreams it is very likely for that person to pursue what they are more interested in than what the whole family wants. For example, a doctor would rather pursue his career in medicine rather than spend time learning and growing their family trucking business. You can also have a career designer not being interested in being part of the family law firm. All this because they have settled it in their hearts that their dreams are greater than their family business.

Lack of vision. The future of any business greatly relies on the vision carrier. If the owner or current management has no vision, then it is likely that the business will not go far and those who would add value to it would easily ignore the business because they don’t see a lot of potential in it so they do not want to spend their time and energy there. On the flip side of this coin is the situation that one might not see the vision and potential until they are in it.

Preference for perks and benefits. Unless the family business is a multi-million or billion currency business, it is near impossible to enjoy the perks and benefits that come with being employed in other organizations. In the family business, it is likely that the company car that delivers to customers is the same one that one uses to go home and take the kids to school, while in a corporate,

the car is exclusive. The ‘candy’ that organizations use to keep good talent are many and create an invisible blindfold. Only after retirement does one see them for what they are - bait to keep you in the business for as long as possible for you to give the best of your years.

Lack of interest. This is evident by how much time one spends on the family business. It could also be expressed by how the current family management include one in the business.

Making a success of your family businessGetting into the family business is a life decision that one needs to make with sobriety based on information and purpose of heart. Some of the considerations and decisions that one can make in the process of engaging in family business are explained herein. Have a business plan. This will contain your vision, mission and strategy and it must be prepared in consultation with all stakeholders including other family members, staff and even advisors (financial) if present. A business plan is dynamic and it must be updated with every milestone reached. It is a working document for every business because it helps to identify if the business is on track and it helps to build a road map for the future. Even if the business is a partnership of husband and wife, once it begins to impact on customers, the business assumes a life of its own and must therefore have a guide to sustain it. That guide is the business plan.

Hire the right people. If one is still reluctant to join the family business for one reason or another, one of the solutions to explore is that of hiring the right crop of people to run the business. Stemming from the concept that you don’t have to be a doctor to own a hospital, if the family business can be run by someone else under your payroll, then it is a good option to consider. One will only need to have regular planning and review meetings with the core team to ensure smooth operations.

Learn and apply. Do not be afraid to borrow the right management concepts from the more established businesses in the corporate world. When you consider the success of multinationals and local big corporates, their success is driven by various business principles such as having the right workforce, training people, setting periodic goals (e.g. 3 and 5 years plans), merging with others and being acquired in a win-win deal, franchising and so much more. Learning is a continuous process and the learnings can be applied according to the type and level of business that one is engaging in. Identify

Moonlighting

Entrepreneurship v/s Employment


and conscious effort not to bring up business subjects when in the home setting.

Believe. Believe that it will work hence leaving a great legacy.


which lessons are beneficial and apply them. Frequent monitoring and evaluation. It is in having frequent reviews with the rest of the family and employees about the business that one gets to know what is happening and how to make it better. Participate actively in such meetings whether you are interested in the business or not and also whether you are actively involved in the daily operations or not. Ideas cannot be monopolized and some of the greatest strides in business have been made from the simplest of ideas.

Keep business out of the family room. Nothing is as disruptive in a family as business discussed when it should not be. Animosity, disagreements and divided opinions should not be brought to the family setting during things like family get togethers. Let board room discussions remain so. This is because it is the family fabric and unity that sustains the unity at the office and if boundaries are crossed that should not be then there is no safe haven for people to retract to. Businesses run by husband and wife are most successful if each of the partners knows and experiences peace at home away from the havoc. Is this possible? Yes it is. It takes determination

For more insights to help with the push and pull of entrepreneurship vs. employment

we recommend the book“The Family Business Succession

Handbook by Mark Fischetti”

Fathers, train your childrenIt is the responsibility of all of us fathers to train our children in the way they should go. That presupposes that we should be well versed with the way they should go. A saying goes that, “so goes the fathers, so goes society” and never has this statement been so evident like it is in our generation. Though often unsaid, corruption is the resultant effect of lack of intentional fathering and it really undoes a nation in unfathomable ways and fast too; it perpetrates injustices for the masses wallowing in poverty giving proof to what a wise Hebrew King once said, “Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor, And for lack of justice there is waste.” Fathers are therefore very important people in a society and should never entertain anything that in the present or future would harm a society.

A nation is not an amorphous structure formed by chance. It is a grander presentation of the ideal basic family unit of a father, mother and children; but we are not blind to the existence of single parent families.

Ideally, our nation would be in a far better place if fathers were leaders at the family level. But how can one be a great leader without a job or not earning enough? We are living in times where the general perception is that leadership is only possible only when you have economic muscle. This couldn’t be further from the truth. A leader remains a leader regardless of his audience because it is his mandate.

From a father to fathers, we need to be intentional with our leadership. You can never be an inspiring leader if you are not passionate about something. Yes we came into the world, went through formal education that really prepared us very well to be good employees, or simple business men and chances are that we studied courses which we only qualified for by passing in a combination of subjects designed by a demotivated, tired bureaucrat; yet they decided our fate by calling us failures after national exams at the primary and secondary levels. We believed them without questioning and we resigned to miserable careers that put us on edge every evening that we end up being mean to those we love drowning our real selves at social joints. Again I am reminded of an ancient King whose predecessor never annihilated the enemies of that nation and as a result when the next king took over, he had to fight his father’s wars, his wars and his sons’ wars to allow his sons and their generation to live in peace.

A good place to begin is taking charge of our children’s education. Let’s not wait for the government to educate our children through the system of the day preparing them for national examinations yet the affluent of society are preparing their children for the challenges of tomorrow (and we wonder why their children will still be leadership years from now). Renowned African businessman, Strive Masiyiwa suggests some of the skills to teach include problem solving, how prepare a financial ledger, to basic programming/ coding, internet and it workings including cloud services website and domains, selling things online as well as basic craft skills such as wood work, agriculture, tailoring, and even art among many others.

At the end of the day, it is our responsibility to teach our children in the way they should go. @watens


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Have you ever come across organizations where the people seem to have the same culture of talking and seemingly are always glad to work for the company? Have you also heard people talk about the service or

product that a company renders and you can pick a few things about how the service is delivered?

Large corporates, and increasingly medium enterprises, are realizing the importance of two key components of business to support their main reason for existence which is their product/ service. The two main components are people and process. Product (service) is the WHAT, People is the WHO and Process is the HOW.

Every entrepreneur, even the one working from home offering virtual services, must answer these three questions adequately if they will make a success of their enterprise. No matter what you are doing as a service to your clients or selling as a product, people and process remain a constant. Our reference to product also includes services rendered.

• Good people, good product and bad process = poor business.

• Good people, bad product and bad process = a weak business.

• Good process, bad people and good product = a frustrating business.

If all three are bad, that is a business looking to fail sooner rather than later. Good people, good product and good process results in a profitable and sustainable business.

With that foundation established it is also important to note that a good working environment is not just about the aesthetics. It is also significantly about how comfortable and convenient it is for a team member to deliver on expectations on the background of a working and efficient business process. The housekeeping team cannot be efficient in cleaning rooms at a hotel if the hotel does not have prescribed check out times for the residential guests. Similarly, a yard manager in an automobile workshop cannot serve customers efficiently if there is no set way of checking in and releasing cars. Entrepreneurs must get acquainted with the issues around people and process to grow the business to a new level. As your partner in growing the business, we encourage you to evaluate your people and process against the concepts shared and also take the time to build on them.

Process must be convenient for both customer and employeeEvery profit oriented company focuses on the best way of getting the money from the customers’ wallet without them feeling cornered or shortchanged. The process involved must of essence be convenient to the customer, protective of the business interests and fulfilling to the employee in the execution of his tasks. Truthfully that balance is a challenge

Good people, good product and bad process results in poor business.Good people, bad product and bad process results in a weak business.

Human Relations

People & Process

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to achieve but it is also an opportunity to be creative and have continuous improvement programs in the company. While some improvements would call for money injection, others do not necessarily require money. For instance, if you are selling a product that requires after sales support, it is a process improvement to make sure the sales team introduce the customer to the after sales team so that when they need support, they know who to talk to directly. From the point of purchase, the customer knows who to contact in case of a challenge. With such improvements we find people being more efficient in their roles and the process of feedback will be working quite well.

Process is dynamic and should be managed through frequent reviews A growing business must not be caught in the trap of doing things the same old way they are used to. The challenge that a hospital which was established in 1980 faced back then are not the challenges they encounter today. Similarly a fast food restaurant of the 1990s must evolve to the changing culture of the society. While our parents were comfortable cooking for us during our birthdays, our children want to have their birthdays hosted in a restaurant or with junk food. Adopting to the societal changes also means that business processes must change otherwise staff will find it hard to deliver on their roles. Staff members are also part of the community that the organization operates in and they must be involved in the review of the business processes. Some companies have been known to constitute focus groups from within their own employees when it comes to developing new products or new channels of delivering a service.

SMEs and startups must recognize that employees represent the customer base they are serving and they should involve them in the business process review. Yes, the business owner is a leader but he has neither all the answers nor a monopoly over the ideas that will make the business a success. I worked in an organization where they took too long to change their product and sales process. Despite the fact that they had a brilliant sales team, their inability to adjust to the market demands caused a departure of some staff members and the staff that replaced them were burnt out in the first few months. To date, the firm is still struggling as it lost market share and acceptance of product by the customers and people has reduced. Their biggest failure was not listening to their staff who interacted with customers frequently and also their inability to have a process that would be acceptable by the mass customers.

Conventional business practices must be adjusted to the business and lifestyle of the environment Comfortable employees are an asset to hold onto and most of the time they will retain their loyalty with an employer who is seemingly interested in their lives. In years gone by, it would be unheard of to have an employee engage in a business which would be perceived to be competing, complementing or supplementing that of his/ her employer. For example, it would be deemed wrong to have an employee run a workshop to rehabilitate old trucks whose model is the same as those new ones sold by the employer. The politics of the day would have it that the employee might steal clients and spare parts to support his business. Unscrupulous employees can do that and by all means that should be declared wrong; but what if the employee with this side business is at 58 years old and his passion is trucks and he does not steal or redirect customers and all he is doing is guaranteeing his passion past the retirement age?

In such situations, employers need to consider how such a loyal employee can continue supporting their brand after retirement

if he so chooses. If one has a franchiseable business, they need to consider the possibility of franchising through their employees. For example, if you run an bakery that is excellent for cakes and pastries, and you have good employees who can open their own bakeries in rural areas where there is potential, why not franchise to them and thereby you earn franchise income and royalties and the employee is able to be self-employed? There is no loss and simply put you will be empowering people to live their dreams. We must change from the conventional modes of operating businesses.

As we conclude this article, we would like to point out that when it comes to setting up a business, there are many factors to consider and if the process and people elements are not as well thought out as the products and/ or services, then one is setting grounds for a false start. Good people are made, rarely are they found ready to be cherry picked. Similarly, good processes are made and maintained. They can be copied on the surface, but not in the minute details.

A few truths that every entrepreneur will be faced with at one time or another include:1. Sometimes there will be hard decisions to make about your team. Square pegs cannot be efficient in round holes and vice versa. Sometimes you will be forced to let go of people who do not add value to your business and are not willing to change with your business.

2. Sometimes you might need to change your product because it is simply not good for the customer. Just because it is good for you and your family, the large consumer base may have a different opinion of what they want from you and you must change it if you are going to make your business grow.

3. Just because you are entrepreneurial does not mean you have a monopoly of ideas and solutions for the challenges that are presented to and by your business. You must be willing to change some modes of actions, you must be willing to listen to your people and you must be willing to receive constructive criticism from your customers, suppliers and business partners.

4. As an entrepreneur you must be willing to learn from others in the industry for the betterment of your people and business in its entirety. If putting a telephone number at the back of a delivery truck works for the competition, why would it not work for you? If giving customers a relief car while theirs is in the garage works for the competition, it should also work for you. Do not be afraid of what competition is doing nor of implementing what you see working for them.

5. It’s always about the people. Even in increase of business, do not neglect to grow with the people who make your business successful. Appreciating the staff and the customers even in the smallest of gestures is still an unforgettable experience. Remembering the wedding anniversary of your staff member or a birthday for his family members with a card says to them that you care and value them.


For more insights to help with the dynamic issues around human

relations we recommend the book “The Toyota Product Development System:

Integrating People, Process and Technology” James M. Morgan, Jeffrey K. Liker

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There are multiple truths that we are faced with in customer relations. One, in our fast paced world, there are increased sources of pressure and one is required to develop internal and external “systems” of dealing with it. Yet in dealing with the pressure we are called

to behave with decorum, maintain relationships and leave the other person better off than when our interaction started. Two, with the increased businesses there is an increasing and absolute need for the best possible customer service. Even the most advanced of business will confirm that no matter how perfect a CRM solution, human beings will always be central to serving customers and resolving issues.

The reality that both the customers and service desk crew are human beings presents us with a need to make sure that the pressure that builds up between the two is dealt with amicably and without leaving anyone with a bitter taste.

The human mind, when dealing with one crisis after another after another, tends to build defensive mechanisms as a way of cushioning one for the long haul. The end result sometimes becomes a numbing effect which leads to lethargy. If left unchecked, the fatigue, laziness, disenfranchisement and indifference towards customers will have an impact on your bottom line due to untoward customer handling.

A few signs that will tell you if your staff are lethargic towards your customers include:

Long time to resolve simple customer issues Increased customer complaints over small issues Deliberate refusal to deal with customer issues by passing the buck Management not being informed of challenges until they blow out of proportion

Empathy for Clients

The reality that both the customers and service desk crew are human beings presents us with a need to make sure that the pressure that builds up between the two is dealt with amicably and without leaving anyone with a bitter taste.

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Non-retention of customersLack of repeat or referral businessReduced number of new accounts/ customersIncreased arguments and discontent among sales staff due to shrinking pipeline of prospects

Different managers react differently to any or a combination of these signs. Sometimes, the reaction is to call for interdepartmental meetings to resolve the issues. In such meetings, staff members are sometimes bashed in a blame game, brainstorming is conducted, ultimatums are issued, methods of carrot and stick are devised and action plans are drawn all in a bid to resolve the customer dissatisfaction that has led to a very visible impact on the top or bottom line.While all these measures are good and work to some extent, it is obvious that they would be treating the symptoms as opposed to dealing with the root cause.

Building empathy into customer relationship management requires us to understand our team members and ensure that we build ownership for and their contribution to customer satisfaction into their performance measurement tools.

Role SwapsI recently watched an episode of the program Undercover Boss in which the supervisor of a customer service department confessed to the CEO that the department was considered as the bottom of the pile hence not important. The situation was so bad that their complaints of using an outdated CRM software always fell on deaf ears. One of the measures that result in an attitude and cultural change is to swap people within the firm such that once in a while, the back office teams are put up front to have direct interaction with the customer. The result of such is a great awakening for most people with confirmations by

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Customer Relations


statements like, “I will never take for granted what it takes to keep one of our customers happy.” The next time that a customer calls, such a staff member will be careful on how to respond to the customer - it will not be all about policy and systems.

Experiential TrainingA grand mistake that many corporates make is to reserve the customer service training to the customer relations and the sales departments with the reasoning that only these team members interact with the customers daily. How about the credit control/ accounts team that goes into issues of collecting outstanding debt? How about the personal assistants to the company officials? How about the cleaners and tea service teams that make sure the company offices are sparkling and tea is served at the right temperature in the right way? Theoretical training must be reduced for the sake of experiential training. This is whereby within the training, attendants do role plays in simulations of real customer service scenarios. The simulations are packed with some of the emotions and characteristics that play out daily in the service delivery e.g how the staff handle an enraged customer whose product was damaged in transit

customer service. No telephone etiquette, no structured way of escalating customer complaints, no unified course of dealing with the customer complaints. In such organisations, you will find two customers with the same complaint being sorted out differently. You will find two sales executives answering the company phone in two different ways “Hello, good morning, this is company B, my name is EF, how may I help you?” while the other sales executive answers, “Hallo?”

Companies must endeavor to have unified customer service standards that are like second nature to their employees. This is while giving staff room to apply their unique positive attributes to the interaction with customer. The culture of the organisation should be such that empathy statements come out almost naturally with the staff. It will then be commonplace to hear statements like, “Oh. That must have been very inconveniencing for you. We are truly sorry that ...” or “I know how that must have looked to your superiors” etc.

A Work Ethic of ReciprocityHave you ever driven in one of the cities that are heavily infested by traffic jams? Sometimes it happens that a driver cuts in front of you so badly and you feel like you could throw a shoe at them; then a few metres later another driver cuts them off and in your mind you can’t help but say something like “serves you right!”There is always some emotion that runs in the background when we treat others the way we would like to be treated and applying it enables us to make a connection with them at almost personalised levels.

Empathy is about reciprocity. It costs us nothing but good human nature to treat others as if we are the ones in their shoes. We are all someone’s customer and we are all someone’s service provider and so day in day out we will wear both of these shoes. Somehow, the two roles will always influence each other and we need to be careful that our customer service is equivalent to what we would like to receive.

By way of conclusion, it is important to know that empathetic employees are a great complement to any CRM software. They give organisations a heart and customers love to patronize organisations that care or genuinely value them and the business they bring.


For more insights to help with the dynamic issues around customer relations

we recommend the book“The Benefits of Combining Data With

Empathy Ritu Agarwal and Peter Weill”

or it hasn’t been made to the agreed specifications. Or a customer whose bill appears to be inflated or it wasn’t what he expected. Or simulate a staff member who has to deal with an irate customer just after signing divorce papers, or soon after learning that everyone in the department got a raise in salary except them. It is in such role plays that people’s mind-sets are changed and when they get back to their office stations, it is most likely that they will begin to handle customers better.

Fifteen Seconds of MadnessFifteen seconds is a long time to hold your breath underwater. Yet in customer service, it is the time that can make a difference between losing a customer or retaining a customer and solving their problem. As we run our consultancy, we advise colleagues and clients alike to always let the aggrieved party talk and in the meantime, take fifteen seconds to listen out for the real issue that comes out in the barrage of words that are spoken. It requires one to have patience and self control to endure the fifteen seconds but the results are usually positive. In the fifteen seconds, we have to be careful not to come out as being patronising and most of the time a customer can pick it in our voice or actions when we are simply playing out the company’s standard of responding to a customer complaint or when we are being genuine about our empathy.

Visualized Customer ServiceThe challenge that growing companies have when it comes to resolving customer complaints is that there is no structure in

“Everyone can make a difference. Success is built on good relationships. You must continually create value for others and it doesn’t have to cost anything. You can reinvent yourself whenever you want.”


The other day driving from a scouting session for real estate with my best friend, we came across a bed and breakfast motel called The Paclice Inn. I remember asking my friend why anyone would want to give their inn a name that would associate them with

the little bugs that nobody wants to see or hear about in their homes let alone in a hotel! He told me to quit being critical and this being Africa, it was possible that the hotel name was owned by partners who had abbreviated their names - something like Pascal and Clarice. As we drove we discussed how people named businesses and that formed a base for our discussion in Esteemed.

In a lot of cultures, people have a great value for their family names and they would fight to have them up there on a tall building with neon lights so people can know who is responsible for the products and services. There are certain professions like the legal fraternity where law firms maintain the founding partners’ names and that’s okay unless the names suggest dishonesty or something weird that would make people wonder what they are dealing with. However, when we are dealing with services and products that require brand recognition, it is not advisable to use family names at all. Let us look at some pointers about business names.

Uniqueness - This is pretty obvious given that a business cannot be registered in the name of another business. However, beyond this obvious fact, is the fact that one should try as much as possible to get a name that makes them stand out of the rest of the pack in the industry. In a location where there are 50 salons and majority of them are named after the owner or after the owner’s children, you can go a step further in your creativity to get a name that is unique and represents your values, or the kind of service delivery you are to be known for. For business that would go beyond its humble beginnings into the national or international scene through franchise or purely expansion, your unique name will make it easy to enter into bigger markets.

Ease of pronunciation & remembrance - In choosing a name, place yourself in the position of consumers, potential business partners, investors, venture capitalists, and the media among others who are outsiders to your business. The more complex your business name, the easier it is for people to misspell it, mispronounce it and miss you all together. Your name will appear on your business cards, or your website URL, social media handles, email address and even on your packaging and branding materials. You don’t want people missing out on the positives about your business because they are trying to spell or remember your company name! When doing business with foreigners, you don’t want them in the awkward position where they spend five minutes being taught how to spell your name and eventually spend the rest of the meeting referring to the business as your company.

Separate the brand from the company - When many people think about buying milk from the shop, or tissue paper or any of our daily use products, they barely check the name of the company. They look for the brand and only when something happens and the company behind the brand is highlighted, do we get to know that the brand is owned by the company.

Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the product segment. In the services sector, the hospitality sector also stands out as one which builds the brand more than the company that owns the brand. A little well known secret is that when mergers and acquisitions or buy outs happen, it is not so much the company behind the product! It is more about the brand and its equity in the market. With this, unless your company name is your brand, it pays greatly to let the brand take a life of its own rather than have it stay in the shadow of the company name.

Associative - Meaning that the business name would easily depict and be co-related to the product or service. The question to ask here is, when customers hear or say my business name, what is the first thing that comes to their mind? I have seen an IT company with a name that suggests that they do detergents. For a while I even believed that they did until I saw their billboard advert with a tagline that made me know they were heavy players in the telecommunication sector. I have also come across a frozen yoghurt brand whose owner had named the same as the company/ business name. The problem was that the company had started as a cafe that was well known for herbal tea and its name had the word ‘tea’. When they expanded into yoghurt, they gave the same name to the yoghurt. When the business grew and they were set to go into ice cream manufacturing, clearly the name was no - no for them. Even their bankers thought they did tea processing. Business owners should strive to name their business in a way that it will conjure up the idea of the industry they are in or product they are giving to the market.

HOW TO NAME YOUR BUSINESSThe process of naming your business is not cast in stone but we can make a few helpful suggestions that will set you on the path of having a good business name.

Brainstorm a list of words that describe your business. It helps to sit with your circle of influence (i.e. the significant people in your life that you consult when making life changing decisions) and get various ideas for the appropriate name to give the business. Your circle of influence knows you more than anyone else and more often than not, they are people who are well meaning in your life. They would not like to see you fall and that is why they give you honest feedback and information. You can also brainstorm with identified business partners and see what you come up with. It helps to also include a consultant who has been in the field for a while to advise if it will work or not.Test it out. Once you have settled on a name, try it out with the circle of influence and even beyond in the market place. See how it sounds when you introduce yourself. Depending on the reactions of those who hear it, you can know whether or not you have a selling name for your business. The way to look at it, can you see your staff members wearing branded attire saying they are proud to work for a company called ………….. ?See the end then come back to the beginning. Start-ups and small businesses can be compared to newborns or little children. The names by which you call them can influence either their acceptance, ridicule or outright shunning from those they interact with. I know of a company which introduced a brand in one of the East African countries where the Chinese brands had really become dominant. Because

What’s in a Name?Public Relations

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they were an international brand they could not change their name which sounded Chinese (synonymous to low quality in the public eye). It was an uphill task for them to overcome this perception. You must see your business from where it will be long after you are gone from it, if that is your vision. That way, you will give it a name that reverberates across the globe.Learn from your competition. Mr. David Placek of Lexicon suggests that you list the names of all your competitors and make a commitment not to copy them. I would dare add that that you should also list down their tag lines and commit to generate something unique that is not seen to be in competition or a direct opposite of the competitor. Your business is unique and set apart. That only forms a basis of a unique name.Trademark your name. While it seems like an expensive and tiresome process, it is not. The name you choose for your business is an asset in the making and you don’t want it messed up later because it wasn’t protected from the start.

10 TIPS TO REMEMBER WHEN NAMING YOUR BUSINESSThe right name can make your company unforgettable in the minds of people. The wrong name can cripple you even before you start.In a perfect setting, your name should primarily reflect your values, your uniqueness and your promise to the customers.An effective marketing strategy capitalizing on your name is recommended as you start out.Consider talking to a business image consultant who has more experience in image management especially if the success of your business will be influenced by the name you use.People prefer words they can relate to and understand.Protect your unique name with a trademark. It helps especially when you spread to the international space; not to mention in

DaimaAdvert

For more insights to help with the dynamic issues around public relations we recommend

the book “Naming Your Business and Its Products and Services: How to Create Effective

Trade Names, Trademarks, and Service Marks to Attract Customers, Protect (Small Business

Bookshelf Series) by Phil Williams”

case of a buyout, you not only sell the company but the name normally fetches handsomely when trademarked.Avoid using a map to name your business. When you expand, your location name will not have an appeal with the international market.Do not be afraid to rebrand. It can make a huge difference when people see you differently. Even big companies rebrand. Even the creators of Google had a hard time naming their soon-to-be-huge business. At first, Larry Page and Sergey Brin—the creators of the well-known search engine—called the site BackRub. When the site started gaining popularity, they realized it needed a better name and came up with Google, which refers to the number 1 with 100 zeros behind it. It’s meant to reflect the infinite amount of information that can be found online.The shorter the name the easier it is to remember. People have too much to think about and a long product name is not their priority.Naming the business is the first major decision any entrepreneur needs to make right after deciding what business they want to be in.


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Editor’s Choice Book

Across1. Converting fruits and vegetables to smoothies5. Female animal of certain species e.g. hare6. Newly developed technology of growing foods8. Raise the psyche of someone9. Repeat as though in the art of perfection12. Hanging low13. Shakes the head in agreement15. Abbreviation for Intra Uterine Devices16. Expected results of exercising

Down1. Disease causing organism2. Make oneself likeable3. Singing pair4. Facility for getting fit6. Used to drink water or other liquids7. Life gas10. Singular measure11. Defining word14. Abbreviation for a chemical (DichlorDiphenylEthylene)

Seek out the words hidden in the puzzleproud, clear, dimples, doctor, bread, nostalgic, weather, redirect, braille, extinct, yeast, zest, vacation, ambush, signature, roar, soap, shampoo, zebra, salty

The Power of Being Yourself a Game Plan For Success - by Putting Passion into Your Life and Work by Joe PlumeriIn keeping with the theme of healthy living in this edition, we are glad to recommend Joe Plumeri’s book which blends quite well with most of our content. The two take away statements from the book “above all we need to find the strength and fortitude to be ourselves” and “if we want the good stuff, we might open ourselves up to some sorrow.”

The book addresses us through eight principles having started with a personalized experience of the Boston marathon that was characterized by bombings at the finishing line. If you are struggling with remaining authentic and thinking you are not good enough for what you have been wired for, this book is

worth your time.

Words that linger

Recommendations

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” DR. SEUSS

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” MAHATMA GANDHI

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” J.K. ROWLING, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

Answers to the previous crossword:Across: 1-Version 5-Screw 6-Thin 7-Blurt 9-Protégé 11-Charisma Down: 2-Resit 3-Nuture 4-Few 7- Bio 8-Them 9-Pea 10-Tis

Refreshing the Mind

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BLOGShttp://www.myhdiet.comhttp://www.briantracy.com/blog/tag/work-life-balance/https://hbr.org/2014/03/manage-your-work-manage-your-life

YOUTUBE CHANNELSHallelujah Acres (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://m.youtube.com/user/HallelujahDiet%3F&sa=U&ved=0CCEQFjAEahUKEwju3b2uwfDHAhXIcRQKHY3JD08&usg=AFQjCNF6RnmoBTvGhe-5Se6x-cFqCBBsig)Gary Keesee - Fixing the money thingNigel Marsh: How to make work - life balance work


Social Entrepreneurship refers to engaging in business with the main aim of reaping societal gains as opposed to being driven by profits. BUSINESS PRINCIPLES that would drive a profit making company are applied to solve a problem within the society.

In this issue we focus on the investment idea of a soup kitchen which if well executed could end up giving birth to a chain of soup kitchens and low cost restaurants which cater to the low income and less fortunate in our neighbourhoods.

A soup kitchen can be defined as a meal center or food kitchen where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a below market price. For effectiveness, it is best located in publicly accessible facilities in lower-income neighbourhoods such as churches, community halls, public school etc.

Why would it work?Because you have a passion of helping the less fortunate in the society.Because your actions are geared towards solving problems that many have turned a blind eye to or are thinking they are not able to do anything about it.Because you have the ability to source the necessary support and resoures from the different stake holders involved.Because you have a passion for cooking and/or healthy living.Because you can make time for it.Because you see the value in doing it.Because it touches the hearts of men.

How would one go about it?For a soup kitchen that is just starting, I would recommend you start small in a location that is convenient to you.Identify the populace that you would like to feed. Are they mostly men, single mothers, abandoned children, physically challenged or the elderly of the society. This will determine the general menu you will serve and the ingredients you will use.Secure the necessary licences and approvals e.g. from the local administration and, ministry of health officials.Identify volunteers that you would work with

Set a schedule of how the soup kitchen will be held - weekly, twice a week, monthly, twice a month etc. This will be influenced by the availability of the food and any capital you need to pull this off regularly.

Resources you may needCorporate sponsors - these come in handy as they provide resources that would otherwise be capital intensive and challenging to acquire. In return, you can offer them branding/ advertising opportunities. The resources include cereals, cooking flour, oil, staff to work as volunteers, the tents and chairs, paper plates, bottled water etc. Pots and pans for cookingServing plates and spoons - these are best to be the disposable type to avoid theft, breakage and the tedious work of washing the dishes.Volunteers - to serve and cookTents, tables and chairs that serve as serving points and eating areasFliers and posters - to create awareness of the programCloak room tickets - for crowd managementFood carry bags to serve the left over food to the people to take to their homes or those who could not come

Enriching itAs the soup kitchen gains popularity in the neighbourhood, as a social entrepreneur, you can go ahead an enlist the services of a well known low cost but quality medical facility.The clinical officers can be doing diagnosis and health checks for the people and for further tests or consultany or prescriptions, they are referred to the facility.The medical support should be free of charge just like the food and conducted by professionals.

Understanding the dynamics of running a soup kitchen will equip you to open up a restaurant from which you can now consider to make a profit.


Soup Kitchen

Invest Wisely


“A ssuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say[c] to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be

done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (The Holy Bible NKJV Matt. 18:18-20)

These are the words of Jesus as He spoke to His disciples. They remain timeless & powerful words which few people in their lifetime ever unlock fully. Sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes it’s just out of sheer dismissal, “well that’s not for me” and sometimes out of misinformation or misinterpretation. We can think of many reasons why this truth is simply never explored to its fullest but that would beat the intention of sharing on the power of agreement.

Something as basic as wood work applies the concept of “agreement of two”. Consider the mortise and tenon joints – a hole and a tongue which are seemingly simple yet so strong and a perfect fit that can sustain the weight exerted on them. How about the ignition system of a car; all it takes is a strong spark between two points on the spark plug for the electricity required to start up a car. Procreation that results in children being born is a consequence of the power of agreement.When GOD Almighty was creating the earth and mankind, HE said, “Let us…” A statement that suggests that there was agreement between the parties present. GOD the FATHER, the SON and the HOLY SPIRIT. This agreement resulted in a creation that can never be replicated.

Agree is a term that originates from “homologos” (of one mind) which means to speak the same, to assent, to declare openly and to speak out freely.

In this modern world we all want to achieve so much but the foundation of our actions is normally so warped. We make business deals with hidden agendas and cards hidden under the table, husband and wife rarely have sit down moments to chart the course of their life together, yet it is in those moments that they can make sincere agreements that take them to new levels of a better life together; parents and children miss out on family moments where much can be structured for a better future. Yet large corporates seem to have discovered the secret power of agreement and buffer the flawed foundations with partnership deeds, non-disclosure agreements, contracts with exit clauses, legally binding promissory notes etc.

I have often heard the phrase “make peace with oneself” and I have associated it with the all that inner healing mantra that goes around. But recently I have realized that even Christ our role model exemplifies the power of agreement. In the garden of Gethsemane it was HIM and the Father and HIS prayer spoke volumes about where HE was in HIS life. At the point of HIS greatest assignment which no else could do. HE had the option of walking away or doing it differently but HE knew that what was before HIM was for the best and that it was the reason HE was alive as man.

There are times in this lifetime that each of us have to take a step away from the rest of the world, no matter how much we love it, to reconnect with our mission in life. A moment when our members (spirit, soul and body) submit as one to the authority of GOD in doing HIS will through us, sometimes prescribed as our assignment on earth. Getting to such a place gives us a renewed vision and an invincible sense of overcoming any challenge we face.

The power of agreement is such that incoming doubts are not allowed to settle. Anything contrary to what is believed is not given room for occupation. Consequences of any decision taken are faced bravely and victories are celebrated without shame or apologies. It is said that a nation divided cannot stand.You are a nation unto yourself and you cannot purport to be on a journey of purpose, career, business or bringing up a family if you self-doubt or keep second guessing yourself. It is also true that the power of agreement cannot be fully experienced in absence of GOD Almighty, our maker. At the beginning of mankind HE said “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...” There is more to me than even I can see and the same applies to you. Your members cannot be in agreement in the absence of CHRIST.

As we pause on this subject, let us consider a mountaineer. To successfully go up to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro or Mt. Everest, one must resolve in his heart, mind and spirit to push his body through the exercise required and develop the discipline to climb. If halfway through the climb the mountaineer entertains the thought that he can’t make it, his body will respond by exhibiting the fatigue and once these two combine, the climbing comes to an end and it won’t be at the peak. The power of agreement calls for discipline, accountability, responsibility, maturity, selflessness, commitment and faith. Do we have it?


The Power of Agreement

Quiet Time

esteemed magazine nov dec 2015

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