Commonsense from commerce says “Youth unemployment will continue to be a tragic loss to our nation until we improve our education and preparation of young people for employment; too many are unemployable”

Let’s be honest we are all guilty. We need to make our young people employable by helping and teaching them communication skills, the importance of appearance, how to be employable, what they can contribute as against what they can be given, but above everything else to help them to have the right attitude.

Yes, I have a vested interest here. We have the complete programme, we have trialled it with phenomenal results. Can I get a decision maker in parliament to make a decision, NO. The flavour of the moment is let’s keep our young people in education longer teaching them stuff they will never use by people who have never worked outside education. Yes we know it’s very expensive, yes we know it doesn’t work but we don’t know what work life skills are because we are politicians.

So we continue with disappointment. We release 20% of our young people hoping that some benevolent employer will take on the responsibility, but if they don’t we’ve got to face up to the massive problem and unrest and problems in our City centres. In my own personal opinion as the public sector employment opportunities diminish, we are surely compounding this disappointing situation, and that could be so easily corrected.

It is stating the extremely obvious to say we all know that politicians cannot be trusted to be upfront, clear and honest about their plans, about where they will spend and where they will cut. The problem is particularly acute in this election, due to the damage caused by the recent recession, and the corresponding need for major cuts in public spending.

This lack of candour drives us all nuts, so why do they do it? A member of the public commented on Channel Four News yesterday that any politician who breaks the mould and gives us the facts would become very popular for their obvious bravery and honesty. So I repeat, why will they not come clean?

Again, the reason is blindingly obvious. Following the first debate we were shown the results of the official instant poll, and also of the ratings of the “undecideds”. If you missed it, a group of undecided voters were given the opportunity to rate how happy or otherwise they were, about what was being said by each candidate. They gave their ratings in real time. What the ratings clearly showed was, each time a candidate promised more spending, they were popular with the group of undecided voters. And conversely, when a candidate suggested less spending, they immediately became unpopular. 

This is the reality politicians face when targeting undecided voters. Elections are decided by people looking for easy answers. The politician who promises the most usually wins. And so they promise, and promise, and promise. They know their obfuscation annoys us, but they know telling the truth annoys the voters who, once all votes are tallied, decides who lays his head in No 10 for the next five years.

It’s ugly, yes. But give a thought to the politicians. In their ugly business they are doing what we tell delegates on our marketing and presentations skills courses to do; know your customer, know your audience, and deliver what they want.

 Then again, on our marketing courses we also tell our delegates to “under promise, and over deliver”. Gordon. David. Nick. Are you listening?

Kieran Bird

Good News

We are going to publish a weekly Good News Item on our website so could you let us have any of your good news, e.g.:

Items only need to be brief, so please absolute maximum of 25 words. Send all pieces by email to success@denny.co.uk or comment below.

Hopefully this will prove to be the antidote to bad news, so start sending as soon as you can.

THANK YOU!

It’s when things go ‘wrong’ and, for whatever the reason, as buyers, we don’t get what we expect and we feel let down. That’s when we experience what customer service really means…

On a daily basis, we come across three types of businesses which claim that customer service is paramount.

The “OSTRICH” business
You know these businesses – head in the sand. They don’t even want to know that you are dissatisfied. In fact, you are made to feel insignificant and worthless, and that you are being disruptive and difficult for feeling you haven’t received good service.

In practice, their philosophy seems to be: “Don’t you know how lucky YOU are dealing with US????”

The “TEFLON®” business
Nothing sticks to these people. It’s always someone else’s fault and they can’t do anything about changing the situation. Quite often this is a thinly disguised tactic to get rid of you and not bother to investigate any shortcomings. Habitually, their complaints process is designed to protect them rather than to identify deficiencies and shortcomings in their delivery systems and people. Everything is done for them, not for the customer.

The “SERVICE” business
These businesses always deliver. And even on the rare occasions when delivery falls below your expectations, they freely apologise, and then actively engage you in the process of diagnosing where it went wrong, so they can improve their processes and systems. They simply will not accept ‘sub standard’ service delivery, and they will always do something about it.

So, what can we do when we come across “Ostriches” and “Teflons®”? Firstly complain and complain again until you are satisfied. Keep complaining. Don’t accept being ‘fobbed off’. As a nation, we actively promote shoddy service by accepting it. Don’t. We can change it when we won’t accept it.

And then vote with your feet. If you are not convinced that they have changed, take your business elsewhere. Between us, as buyers, we can take millions of pounds of business away from companies every single day. Let’s do it! Let’s take it to businesses which employ people who want to deal with customers like us and who know how to treat us.

What makes me laugh is those businesses that have let you down will spend millions of pounds in advertising trying to get you back! All they had to do was get their staff to want to help when we bought and later when we first complained! How much would that have cost?

And then, most importantly, tell you family and friends, neighbours and colleagues about your experiences. It’s much more compelling when we listen to the experiences of people close to us, rather than receiving mail shots, television adverts and those unwanted inserts in magazines!

It is so much better learning from each other and saving ourselves the hassle of having to deal with businesses which deliver bad service.

In our day to day lives we are all conscious of child crime and turmoil in our inner cities. Almost every survey commissioned lately claims that the people in the UK are more unhappy now than in any period of our history. There are of course numerous opinions as to the causes.

Is there anything as individuals that we can do? Yes there is:-

1. Do all we can to be great parents and grandparents – ‘charity begins at home‘.
2. Do something kind or caring to a minimum of one person every day.
3. Don’t ever watch any of the appalling, negative and socially destructive soaps.
4. Entertain yourself with good movies, either on TV or in the cinema – no video nasties, horror films or anything with gratuitous violence.
5. Self censor what you read in the newspapers, just say to yourself ‘I don’t want to read this’.
6. Always have something to look forward to doing, look ahead, don’t look back unless it is a joyous experience.
7. If you share your life with a partner, last thing at night before going to sleep say something loving. If this doesn’t apply go to sleep on a positive or nice thought.

This is the person who will destroy you with their negative outlook and what they say. They will always find fault, they criticize, and they pull you down and destroy your confidence and self-belief. Their favourite words are ‘can’t’, ‘impossible’ and ‘won’t work’. Consciously and sub-consciously they do everything to prevent you from achieving joy, happiness and success.

To cope with this, here are some tips:-

1. Be understanding.

When somebody says something negative to you it may be because they are very close to you and they are fearful. Ask yourself why he/she says that. They may just be worried or concerned. On other occasions when you are given the negative comment or advice just reply with the antidote to all negatives “fantastic”.

2. Mix with positive people.

If you are continually in an environment with negative people it will automatically pull you down as we all conform to our environment.

3. Be prepared to walk away.

If you find yourself in a negative environment whatever the occasion you must be prepared to walk away.

4. Don’t shoot the messenger.

There is always the danger of becoming so ultra positive that you don’t want to hear bad news. Learn to get the balance right. Be realistic and build your own vocabulary and ideas on what is negative. Constructive criticism is not negative, so be enthusiastic to receive it and encourage others to be constructively critical.

Ignore this warning at your peril. This is a destroyer of happiness, relationships, potential achievement, wealth and prosperity, peace and human endeavour. It is a truly foul disease that manifests itself in negative thinking and negative communication. Beware the power of the negative, the complete success destroyer. Why is the negative so dangerous? Primarily because it is so difficult to get rid of. For many people negative thinking in communication has become a habit and it can even become addictive. So what is different about negativity that really is so bad? Let’s take as an example some self-talk phrases that become the complete inhibitor of achieving success in any form.

1. I’m too old to change now.
2. I’m too young.
3. I know I can’t
4. I will never be able to;;
5. I hate doing this.
6. I’m just not cut out to..
7. I bet I catch your cold..
8. I’m sure I’m going to miss the train.@
9. I’m always car sick.
10. I always fall of.
11. I’m always broke.
12. I’ve got a terrible memory.
13. I can’t speak in public.
14. I’m sure that won’t work.
15. I bet they say no.
16. I’ve got no willpower.
17. I’m just not clever enough.

The list is endless.

Negative thought is a destructive use of our creative imagination. The sadness is that some people actually need this thought process in their daily lives, which is why I say it becomes addictive, and very sadly becomes their inhibitor to a fulfilling life. So, here are a few steps to help you to eliminate your success destroyer.

1. Check what you say to your family, friends and colleagues. I what you say positive or negative? If it is negative you are almost certainly harming somebody else unless you are sure you are being constructive.

2. Check what you say to yourself. Are you the biggest problem in your life?

3. Avoid negative situations.

4. Avoid television, DVD or similar programmes that are highly negative.

5. Practice replacing a negative thought with a positive thought.

6. Search through newspapers and magazines for positive human endeavour stories.