Part of the appeal of customer-centricity is that it takes very little business acumen to grasp its core concept. Focus intensely on customers, align your products or services with their interests, and voila: a customer-centric culture is born. Simple, right? Not quite. Becoming a truly customer-centric organization is perhaps one of the most difficult transitions an organization can make, fraught with hidden obstacles and unanticipated challenges. Here are three potential roadblocks on the path to a customer-centric strategy, and how to get around them.

Failing to understand your most valuable customer A customer-centric strategy is only as good as its customers. You cant let the average customer dictate what you do, says Robert Duboff, CEO of Hawk Partners LLC and coauthor of the book Market Research Matters. Generally speaking, Duboff says, 20 percent of a company’s customer base generates 80 percent of its profits. Given that split, its imperative to put your most valuable customers at the heart of your approach.

Identifying those customers need not take exhaustive research and complicated measures. It can be a fairly straightforward process, as it is with the Net Promoter Score, or NPS, a metric developed by Bain & Co.s Fred Reichheld. As set forth in The Ultimate Question written by Reichheld and published by Harvard Business Press the NPS approach consists of one simple question: On a scale of one to 10, would you recommend us to your friends?

Based on the answer to that question, customers are segmented into three categories: promoters, who actively champion a particular product to their friends and colleagues; passives, who are lukewarm about the product; and detractors, the opposite of promoters. A given company’s score is simply the difference between its number of promoters and its number of detractors.

NPS has proven to be a powerful tool for such companies as General Electric Capital Solutions, which has used it not only to identify customers that are already valuable promoters but to gain insights into how it can convert detractors. For a business like GE Capital Solutions, which serves more than 1 million very diverse customers in many different industries, NPS helps us better understand what our customers are feeling and how we can improve their experience with us, says Stephen White, a spokesperson for GE Capital.

Failing to support your external customer-centric strategy with an internal customer-centric strategy Speaking of valuable customers, what about that most priceless customer of all your employee?

While most companies aren’t in the habit of regarding their employees as customers, those seeking to instill a customer-centric culture should rethink their stance, argues Elaine Berke, president of Westport, MAbased EBI Consulting, which specializes in helping organizations develop customer-centric strategies. Customer-centricity needs to come from the inside out, says Berke. Leadership must avoid a double standard that makes it OK for managers to argue with or demean staff while still being courteous and considerate to external customers.

Consider the case of the world-renowned Johns Hopkins University Hospital. In developing a comprehensive Service Excellence initiative aimed at boosting its level of patient care, the hospital included employee satisfaction as a core component of the program. The hospital conducted an extensive survey to gauge employee concerns that turned up such simple, actionable insights as making it a point to compliment co-workers and instituting criticism-free no negativity days.

Customer-centric organizations value and respect internal customers as much as external customers, says Berke. Like the old saying goes, If you’re not serving a customer, you’re serving someone who is.

Failure to identify the moment of truth Companies spend considerable time and resources developing metrics for processes, execution and other day-to-day functions but often overlook defining their moments of truth those points at which a customer interacts with a company’s product or service and forms an impression. Companies are usually very good at creating metrics around [such procedures as] production deliverables but have a much harder time knowing how to create and measure standards relating to the quality of customer service being delivered, Keith Bailey of Sterling Consulting Group says.

In defining a company’s moments of truth, Bailey suggests looking at three different angles quality of product, quality of procedures and quality of relationships. Taking a hotel as an example, the quality of the product would be the cleanliness and comfort of the rooms. The quality of procedures would be such factors as how it long it takes to check in or how long customers wait for room service. The quality of relationship would be the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff.

Considering each angle separately allows a company to isolate the negative moments of truth within each and develop a game plan for turning them into positive experiences. Procter & Gamble, for example, identified its moment of truth as that instant when a shopper picks up one of its products and decides whether or not to purchase its decision the customer makes in an average of six seconds. The company has overhauled its marketing with that insight in mind, creating a global First Moment of Truth business team designed to win over the customer in that moment.

There are as many different customer-centric approaches as there are customers, and each has its own unique challenges, but the road to a truly customer-centric strategy always begins with the same steps.

Being a lady, people might think it strange for me to be so in love with Tsingtao beer, but to be honest, I don’t care what they think. Tsingtao beer is from China yet actually has a German hertiage. I am never sure if it’s a German or Chinese beer, but always drink it regardless.

Research indicates that the beer should be the ethnicity of where it was produced, just like in human terms. So Tsingtao beer is indeed Chinese beer.

I enjoy a nice frosty pint, but Tsingtao beer is hard to come by on draft, much like corona, it is widely available in bottles. I first became hooked on Tsingtao beer during my semester in America, and while I was there, bottles seemed to be the safer option to drink from anyway, as drink drugging on a night out was a hot topic back then, and you could never be too safe!

Tsingtao beer is the biggest selling Chinese beer in the United States of America. As it was the most readily available, I started drinking it, and now I’m hooked.

Not that it’s a bad thing. Tsingtao beer is actually a very refreshing drink; it’s also the 11th largest beer brand in the world! At only 157 calories, you really can’t go wrong.

Often my friends will go for the cheap often but I always stick to the good stuff, the nice crisp taste of a cold Tsingtao beer. If its available, I always chosen Tsingtao.

China has a population of around 1.26 billion people. That is suffice to say quite a large figure, and if the most popular drink out of China is Tsingtao beer, inmagine how many people drink it in China alone!

mountains and desert land are vast in China, making up two thirds of the country, this indicates that people must get very thirsty in there! Tsingtao beer is very refreshing, and obviously the chosen thirst quencher! China may be nice place to live, its warm, and my favoroute Tsingtao beer would be cheaper and much more readily available, but i think Vhina is too busy for little old me to survive in/

I think I may just stick to sampling the Chinese culture through their fabulous Tsingtao beer here in England.

This is a series of 25 articles that will help you make more money from your articles.

You can buy many courses on article marketing that address the subject in general terms but I haven’t seen any that show you exactly how to get the click-through to your website or affiliate link.

You will often find advice like “you should never say everything” and “leave out crucial details so they have to go to your link to ge the answers”, etc.

That sounds o.k. when you are reading it, but when it comes to actually writing the article you need something more specific.

What is needed is for someone to speak out about proven techniques that get people to click on the affiliate link or the link to your website.

You’ll find that most of the articles in the directories are junk. When you read them you’ll find that they don’t provoke thinking, arouse curiosity or even provide any useful information. There is nothing to motivate their reader to click on the link to your website.

You’ll learn exactly what works and what doesn’t in this series of articles. Here are some examples of the kinds of topics you will see:

* Learn How You Can Plan Out The Goal Of Your Article So People Click On Your Link

* How To Attract Attention To Your Article From The Point Of View Of The Search Engines

* How To Attract Attention To Your Article From The Point Of View Of Your Target Market

* Learn Specific Techniques To Increase The Interest Of Your Reader To The Point That S/He Is Almost Hypnotized By The Subject Of Your Writing

* Establish A Solid Base Of Credibility So Your Reader WANTS To Follow Your Suggestions To Click Your Web-Link

* How To Provide So Much Value That Your Reader Will Feel Obligated To Give Back (By Clicking Your Link)

* Learn All The Ins And Outs Of Selecting The Right Keyword For Your Article Marketing

* How To Research Effectively So You Find The Key Piece Of Information That Will Make You A Hero In The Eyes Of Your Reader

Some of these topics are similar to what you will find in copywriting courses. But article writing is a little different from writing a sales letter. There are certain copywriting principles that can be applied to article marketing but with a little modification.

You’ll be happy to know that once you learn these “Click-Inducing” principles you can apply them to any subject.

Andy Duncan of netswingers.com got his start in information marketing the so-called impossible way. He interviewed the big name gurus like Tellman Knudson, Mark Joyner, Alex Mandossian, Ray Edwards, John Carleton, and Dave Lakhani, as his first project. Then he did what they did!

Andy was interviewed by Rob Toth as part of Dan Kennedy’s Future Of Information Marketing promotion for Dan Kennedy’s new Info Riches course. Andy is one of the people who really know how to “rake in the dough”.

“I got to know a lot of successful people online and that launched my entire career”, said Andy. “I went from zero to six figures in literally four months starting from scratch.”

Andy has been mainly involved in the film business. According to Andy when you are starting off it’s best to work with something you already know. You should work in the field where you have a passion for the subject. “I love film…story telling…I am excited about that.”

His main objective, when he interviewed the big online marketers, was to learn how to use Internet marketing to help people in the film business. Andy says “putting this all together has been a lot of fun”.

Andy credits his success to using multi-media in his marketing efforts. He strongly believes that information marketing will be around for a long time. People need to know things and “because of the Internet you can know it very very quickly”.

No matter what it is you are trying to learn to do, or sell or learn to get ahead in life, you can learn it a lot quicker with multi-media.

When you use multi-media, people absorb your ideas faster. Be sure to use audio, video, radio, TV…all of it…to drive traffic to your site. People will absorb your advertising message more quickly when they see it presented in multiple media. There is a certain synergy that is created when you advertise in multiple mediums. “Multiple mediums is the way to make it happen in a bigger way and a lot fater.

Google Conquest, the most complete internet marketing product that provides marketers of all levels with the necessary knowledge and relevant tools to succeed, launches in less than two days.

Google Conquest is truly unique from all other marketing products that have been launched so far, and what makes it especially original are the 5 key components behind the product that are meant to help you succeed in internet marketing.

Just read and follow instructions. It’s that simple!

The formula behind making a lucrative income online is finding something that works and repeating that process, building more of these income streams and building fast. Hence building an empire of income generating websites.

Google Conquest does exactly that, with the following 5 components.

Marketing Blueprints. Stop groping around in the dark and flick the internet marketing light switch with these same methods Alex used in his business.

Automatic WordPress Niche Site Creation. Setting up niche website blogs on WordPress are indeed a lot of fun, but can become quite a daunting task when you have to create 10 or 100 at a time. But, you can now automate these processes… from creation to finding content, getting links to other forms of blog promotion.

60 Day Challenge. Quit groping around in the dark, wondering if what you are doing is right, or not knowing what to do next. These day by day instructions will show you what to do every single day to the day you start making money online.

A Blog Network. When you belong to a blog network that has about 1000 blogs, you can get higher quality links on these other blogs by syndicating your content on the other blogs, in the same categories across the blog network.

Your Own Products. Hit the ground running with 5 in demand products that you can immediately start selling and profiting from. These come with squeeze pages, alternate video squeeze pages, sales letters, free reports, auto responder sequences and the products themselves.

So if you are looking to improve your internet marketing abilities, and learn from an expert at traffic generation, take a look at Google Conquest and consider getting it on Tuesday November 25 when the flood gates open.

Anyone who is familiar with the world of celebrities have heard of public relations firms aka PR companies, but just what does such a company provide?

Well, to answer that, one has to understand the term “public relations”. As one would suspect, the term implies a reciprocal relationship between two or more parties. Often, one of the parties engaged is the “public”. Via a second party, information is exchanged to said public. This information is processed and provided in a manner that expresses a certain sentiment in a succinct and understandable way. It is also presented in outlets that will obtain a vast amount of exposure for the individual or individuals seeking the services of a PR company.

In many occasions, the media is one of those outlets and is more commonly used to aid politicians, athletes, actors and musicians. However, it would be a mistaken belief that public relations is only utilized by stars and celebrities, in fact, this all important tool of communication can help various types of relation aspects such as:

Employee/Labor relations

A PR firm can become an extremely invaluable asset when it comes to the often tricky and volatile relationships between employers and their workers. Many people think that PR company services are only called into play when talks break down between union officials and businesses. It would surprise many to learn that a public relations firm can be employed to help employees understand their rights and what is required of them within a given company structure. Often time’s, business will hire a PR company when they have to address a body of people and give new instructions. Speeches, lectures and business conventions may lay claim to public relations involvement as well.

Media relations

With media relations, a PR company can act as a consultant to coach an individual on how to handle themselves when they are in the public eye. Although stars do often use this service, normal individuals, such as a suspect in a murder trial or someone who is looking for a lost family member can use a public relations firm to appeal to the citizenship. Although many companies will stoop to low ball tactics, a reputable PR firm abides by a certain code of ethics and tries to ensure that the information being put into the public arena is factual.

Investor relations

Investor relations are set up by a public relations firm to foster dialogue between a particular company and it’s shareholders. Unlike media relations or labor relations, the target audience is very specific and often times extremely educated on the topic at hand. In an effort to give those seeking information a glimpse into a companies stock offerings, investor meetings and conventions scheduled. In this way, analysts, shareholders, stockbrokers and the like can gather to learn more about investment prospects. For businesses seeking to reap new investment a capital, the use of a PR company is a very smart move.

Say no-to spin doctors

If you have done something wrong, it may be best to fess up eloquently than try to wag-the-dog. An ethical firm will not tell you to lie to the public. They may of course consult with you regarding the type of information you wish to make known, but today’s politically savvy populace can usually see through spin.

The right PR Company will try to combine tactics that will get attention or enable you to get your point across. They will also attempt to keep you from coming under fire for obvious ploys or publicity stunts by making smart assessments of the climate you will entering into. For these reasons, any person who wishes to grab the national spotlight, or foster better communication with employees or investors, need to investigate the powerful tools that a Public relations firm can provide.

The bottom line is that you absolutely have to market and advertise to have success in the online world. If I were to break it down, I would say that seventy to eighty percent of your time should be focused on these activities. The age old question is which is better, paid or free advertising?

Just so that we are clear, I don’t believe in free advertising. It’s not that you can’t advertise your business without pulling out your credit card but you can’t advertise without paying a price. It’s either time or money and ultimately both have a price you’ll have to pay.

Now that you are clear that either way there is a cost involved you must decide how to proceed. Determining how much you time is worth or how much time you have to dedicate to your marketing efforts is the first place to start. Then you must determine your personal ability to carry out certain tasks as well.

There are some pros and cons to each from each type of advertising but I think the concept that you must keep in mind is effectiveness. If something is free and it doesn’t work very well then that is of no benefit to you. Compare that to a paid ad that works and I’ll take the paid ad every time.

Let’s look at the upside when it comes to free advertising first. Free advertising gives you hands on experience and the necessary background to make more informed decisions when you decide to use paid methods. It also allows you to get a feel for the marketplace and become an expert in areas which drives up your perceived value in the online community as well.

With paid advertising on the other hand, there are also some strong arguments as well. Typically with a paid advertising you can consult with vendors to determine the
expected outcome based on their experience. It is leveraged so it saves you time that can be used building your business in other ways.

Whether paid or free the ideal solution for determining which methods to use is to track your results. Using an online tracking system will allow you to monitor your results which will save you time and money in the short and long run. Knowing which ads are working and which aren’t allows you to make quick decisions when it comes to how you’ll expend your resources.

At the end of the day you must determine which method (paid or free) is right for you. I recommend trying out a few types of both advertising methods and master them before moving on. Spreading yourself too thin will ultimately have an impact on your results as well. Find an advertising method you feel comfortable pursuing and become very proficient is the best way to move forward.

These days, many people are trying to find the right high potential home based job. A well chosen home based business can be a potent second job, or an opportunity that could bring you happiness. Here are some of the opportunities that can have you working from home soon.

A lot of the more interesting work from home ventures that you can try are online businesses. An online based business has an abundance of benefits when measured up to various other types of home based jobs. With a web based enterprise, you will find lots of features that you don’t get in different industries.

A good observation is that the most outstanding thing about a properly built internet based venture is that it operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That feature, alone, shows us that it makes a money making website a powerful place to look for a home based business. Just imagine owning a set up that creates income as while you’re on vacation.

We will mention a number of classic methods that you can choose from to get rich online. We will split the list of potential choices apart into just two particular lists. The lists are one, having an online job, and second, working for your self.

The initial list will have the sort of work that you get a job, and are paid by, a business. We find a number of different types of online, work from home, work situations to be found. Jobs on this list most certainly would be comprised of, accounting, telemarketing, and ghost writing.

There isn’t much that you have to have to get work doing one of these work at home jobs It will be presumed that, you should be educated, or willing to be trained, to perform the tasks required. You most definitely will need a phone for the majority of these types of jobs.

The final thing that everyone absolutely need is a computer. If you’re good, many of these businesses like a work from home arrangement. The company benefits not just because of your effort, and your equipment, but also doesn’t need to give up work space.

The second group is of careers that are for those of you who choose to have their own personal careers. The various businesses you will find are comprised of, online stores, affiliate selling, and publishing. This short list is but a little taste of the endless variety of ways to make a living that you can discover.

With these business opportunities, you have to be working for yourself. You will have to decide how much time you put in, and you will be doing everything yourself in your new business. The upside is huge, as are the required efforts, when running your business.

Most business people will tell you that, you will be well served to set out on this new venture as a supplemental income stream. This can take the pressure off during the time you develop your new business. Afterwards, if you are happy with the results, you will decide if you will shift to your new venture as a full time career.

Home based business opportunities seem to have become the way to go. Do your homework, and ferret out all the potential choices that might work for you. If you find the right business, and work hard, you might get lucky, and find financial success.

I recently stopped down at J Signs located at 12 Highland ave in Patchogue. I met the Owners Jerome Morello and Craig Casdia, Who told me about all the things J signs can do to Help promote your Business these guys do Store Front Signage, Wide Format Digital Printing,Carved/Gold Leaf Signs,Contour cut decals,Channel Letters,Truck & Boat Lettering, Banners, Magnetic Signs,Window / Door Lettering,Installations, Service, Repairs, Architectural Signage and so much more I could write 5 articles of these guys!

In this articles I’m going to tell you about J signs Vehicle Wraps! The Wraps are done in House at J Signs by Duncan Weir owner of Graphic Gorilla! Now when I got to J signs I had no idea what Vehicle Wraps where, Duncan was more then happy to teach me a little about Wraps.Duncan was working on a Mini Van while I was their placing a wrap on it for a pet care company. Wraps feel almost like a vinyl bumper sticker But of course they are much more state of the art and High tech then that. Duncan had to go to school to learn all about wraps,He also has a Bachelors in fine art,Computer Graphics Specializing in 3-D Graphics. He showed me how the wraps come off in large sheets and then are apply to the Vehicle in pieces and are then heated so they bond to the Vehicle seamlessly. Wraps will stay on till you want to take them off , a wrap can be removed in the future so if you can sell your vehicle one day with out the wrap on it. The paint under the wrap will be as good as the day you placed the wrap on it.

This is just one thing that sets Vehicle Wraps apart from having your Vehicle air brushed! another is the detail of the wraps you get! You can blow up a real photo or have the team at Graphic Gorilla design you up anything from a professional Corporate look to anything your loud and crazy mind can come up with! Vehicle Wraps are not new they have been around a few years and they are huge in California. The quality of wraps has improved greatly over the years and the Wraps that are used at J signs are state of the art.

The average wrap lasts over Five years and if taken care of properly can last up to ten years! I asked Duncan, who are some of the people having their vehicle’s wrapped? He told me many Radio Stations and Travel agencies are having it Done,But many Business are realizing as they sit in traffic for 3 or 4 hours a day and hundreds of people are driving by them in each direction, Wraps really make them stand out and catch the eye of those who could potently be clients. Recently their was a study done that said about 30 to 70 thousand people a month see your Vehicle! Vehicles that are wrapped are remembered up to 80% more! Now More people seeing and remembering your Vehicle translates into more money for you and your company!

Now of course there are many people who want to stand out while just cruising around and they are finding they can have wraps made up of everything from insane designs to their favorite Band,Beverage or Hero and put on their vehicle. Duncan also told me that he can wrap just about anything from Motorcycles,Tool box’s, to walls in your Home!!!

In my opinion wraps are going to be the next big thing! An average Mini Van costs about $3,700 to Wrap that’s an average cost of about $15 a square foot and that price includes 16 hours worth of design time,Printing of the Wrap, The installation of it on your Vehicle and Duncan will also show you how to take care of your Wrap as you never wax it but instead apply a glaze and hand wash it with soap and water. Call Duncan and J Signs at 631-758-0707 to learn more about Vehicle Wraps or check them out on the web at jsignsinc.com

Story By L.J. James

When given the option of a pay per click ad or a Yellow Page ad to promote your company, nine times out of ten you are going to want to choose the pay per click ad. Years ago, taking out a special advertisement in the Yellow Pages was the best way to get your company noticed, but now, the Yellow Pages are dead while pay per click is the new champion. If you don’t know why pay per click is going to be better than getting your company in the telephone book, you may ask yourself why waste the money on pay per click. Here are the reasons to get the best for your business.

The telephone book has become obsolete in a lot of households. In fact, the only time you use it is to look up the number for your favorite restaurant - the rest of the time it just sits around getting in your way because it is big and bulky. Take your telephone book down and see how old it is - chances are it is not the current edition. Now, think about how you find all of the other telephone numbers that you need - you go to your computer. When you enter something into a search engine the results that you get are going to be pretty accurate. Of course there is a ton of junk out there, but searching for something specific (like your city name and the name of the fish restaurant that you love) is going to give you instant results. If you are computer savvy (or even computer proficient), you are probably going to find that locating information is faster on the computer than in the Yellow Pages.

Pay per click is more convenient and quicker than the Yellow Pages, but that isn’t the only reason why it is better, right? The majority of homes have Internet access in them, and it is difficult to find someone that doesn’t have access to the Internet somewhere, so you are going to reach everyone with a pay per click campaign. The younger generation is going to be a lot better at finding something online than they are in a big, bulky book, so you are just adapting to the times by starting a pay per click campaign. Plus, by going the Yellow Pages route, you are only going to have access to the people who are in your local area. By doing a pay per click campaign, you can have access to everyone in the world on the net looking for your business.

The final reason to get on the pay per click wagon is that a lot of telephone companies have put their Yellow Pages online. Now, some telephone companies aren’t even giving out free annual Yellow Page directories anymore. By advertising in the Yellow Pages, the number of people who see your ad is restricted to local people who get this book. A pay per click ad is going to expand, not limit the number of people seeing your ad.

The next time you get a call from a Yellow Pages ad salesman telling you that he’s got a great special for advertising, you are probably just going to want to tell him the you have decided to use a pay per click campaign to get this traffic to your website and to get your business flowing.