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... I called the 800 number and spoke with a young lady that I won't name since (I believe) she gave me her real name and was polite, professional, and helpful. I'm afraid this type of behavior might get her fired, in trouble with her boss, or ostracized by her peers. Obviously she's setting standards the industry can't live with. She was certainly the only positive exception to a highly negative experience. This lady explained that "Internet Vacation Packages can be tricky." She told me that, based on our confirmation number, our surcharge would be $277.39. She indicated that the "best buy" directly from her company on the car rental plan we had in this package would be $215.99 (before surcharge) if we picked the car up at the airport. If we picked the car up at a hotel, the cost would be $177.99 before surcharges ($ 204.30 including surcharges — please note that this is about a 15% tax/surcharge) . Although this lady couldn't tell me the allocation of charges in our package, she said the surcharges are based on: 10% Airport contract fee 6% Government Services fee 3.5% Reimbursement fee 7.5% Sales Tax (As a sideline — add the aforementioned airport "best buy" on the rental car to these fees and taxes and you get surprisingly close to the $277.39 surcharge my wife must pay. Could it be that EX Company is misrepresenting their package and pocketing the rental car fee that's supposed to be included?) After more than an hour on the phone, about ...

...ccurred through internal thefts. Airports and distribution centers are a favor...

... develop marketing if what we think will work, won't? Or, to keep it simple, how do we keep ahead, rather than just keep up? DIRECT MARKETING MEANS MULTI-MEDIA Let's start by clearing up a major misconception. Direct marketing is not direct mail, as many of us would believe. Direct marketing truly is a multi-media event, running the gamut of every known method of communication. And, whatever the method, the goal of direct marketing is to achieve a desired response. Think of it in terms of travel. The goal is the destination, and the media utilized is the vehicle. Each destination can be reached by a vast array of transportation vehicles or a combination thereof. For instance, on a recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco , I drove to the airport, walked to the terminal, flew to another airport, and took a motorized walkway to a bus stop for a ride to a train station. Then, I took a train to the city, a cab to the building, and an elevator to the office. Yet on other trips, I've been known to bypass all of that and just drive from point to point. Similarly, direct marketing can use a combination of media or a single method. Don't lock into a single-method mind-set. Allow yourself the freedom to be innovative and creative in direct marketing. Let's take a look at new variations on the tried and true, as well as the just plain new. WORKING THE MAIL Direct mail can be as simple as a letter of introduction or as intricate as a newsletter. ...

... traveling. When designing such a plan, it's best to assume that communications will be interrupted or unavailable. The plan should also consider potential outages of public transportation and electricity. If ground transportation is available, pre-arrange for a nearby safe haven outside the city, equipped for a lengthy stay. Suggest that other employees can make personal plans tailored to their particular situation. It's important to recognize that even a good contingency plan can be worthless if protective measures by authorities during an emergency impede its execution. For example, bridges and tunnels might be closed, and streets blocked or jammed with traffic, meaning that one might not be able to travel to safety or to pick up family members or coworkers. People whose plan calls for a flight out of the city might be unable to get to an airport or helipad and, once there, find that air traffic has been grounded, as happened after the Sept. 11 attacks. For these reasons, it's best to have several alternate plans that provide for multiple scenarios and include various evacuation routes. Once the emergency is announced, it's probably too late to start devising a plan. When an employee is traveling, the plan also should be coordinated with the home office, so that executives will have a basic idea about the location of the person and of what's being done in the affected city. Even if movement and communication are impossible, having a plan that has been coordinated with the home office will be better than reacting to events as they happen. Coordinating these plans with co-workers and family members will also help to ease stress, especially ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Train Your Staff To Handle Problems 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , bill cates This content has not been rated yet. Tell me if you agree with this statement; "A relationship that has had a problem - that has been handled well - is a stronger relationship then one that's never had a problem?" True or true? Have you ever been to a store, hotel, or airport where someone is handling a customer complaint poorly? I suspect you have. Whenever this happens, management is usually at fault. Why? Because this employee has not received training on how to handle problems well. They might have been left to their own fears and bad habits. As a manager, it's your responsibility to make sure that all staff members learn how to deal with problems in a way that shifts the client/customer from their negative emotions into working toward a mutually agreeable solution. The first three magic words for the employee to say should always be, "I'm sorry."(Although this looks like two words, the contraction makes it three - but, who's counting?) . Saying "I'm sorry" is not admitting fault. When the employee has to admit fault, they should do so after evaluating all the facts. It's saying the employee regrets that a problem has inconvenienced the client or customer. "Ms. Jones, I'm very sorry that this has created a problem. Let me learn a little more about the situation and then we'll work on getting this fixed." Seek out books, articles ...

... let the customer direct a company's marketing. Nevertheless, most ads, brochures, TV spots, radio commercials, direct mail campaigns, and press releases are painfully self serving. What a company wants to say or sell takes precedence over what the customer wants to know. It's easy for companies to fall victim to the "Beagle Syndrome." They're so focused on what interests them that they dash forward with their noses to the ground without regard to oncoming cars. For example, businesses often make offers that fail to motivate customers. Online marketers quickly learned the value of offering "free shipping." That was a tipping point for customers. If the price was right, free shipping helped get the order. The same holds true of Internet service; whether at a coffee shop, an airport or a hotel, why pay for it when somewhere it's available free? After years of piling on "cash incentives," auto manufacturers called a halt when they lowered sticker prices. But when gasoline hit $3 a gallon, they hauled out a new round of bigger-than-ever discounts. At the same time, Toyota drew on its perceived value and quality strategy to attract buyers; this offers a good example of a customer-focused approach, rather than one that's nothing more than an inventory reduction tactic. 3. Make consistency the mission. The red flag in marketing programs is a lack of consistency. There's always great enthusiasm for publishing a newsletter, holding seminars, developing a prospect database, advertising campaigns, direct mail, and all the rest, but there's no follow-through; no one's around ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Fear Of Change: A Conundrum 4/30/2013 by Jack Burke This content has not been rated yet. Progress is a wonderful thing- it's change I hate.- Mark Twain Change is inevitable. In today's world, it has even become an absolute necessity for survival. Yet despite its constancy, change still evokes fear and resistance. An example is the story about a barber in the Pittsburgh airport in the late sixties who said he would never change his operation to a unisex salon. He resisted that change until he went out of business, and has since been replaced by a salon. I recently experienced this same resistance when critiqued by some of the world's top image consultants during a convention workshop. Among a number of recommended changes was the shaving of my 27-year-old mustache. I hesitated until a friend said, Isn't change a b___! ' Upon realizing that change was the issue, not the mustache, I proceeded to shave it off-and the compliments have been unbelievable. My resistance to change had almost forced me to ignore the sage advice of the world's top professionals in the image field. Does fear paralyze your ability to change? Do you resist change even against expert advice? Does your resistance jeopardize your business or sabotage your personal relationships? Let's try to look at fear from an emotional perspective. I've heard fear described as false evidence appearing real. How often that's proven true! I imagine a certain outcome to a difficult situation, and am paralyzed with fear. Yet once I overcome the fear and act, I usually find that the ...

... on the survey are those certain to elicit a positive response. It's important to invite customer communication at every possible turn. Telephone surveys, mail surveys, statement stuffers, suggestion boxes, focus groups, and interactive video are all effective ways to get feedback. Provide a space on forms sent to customers to list compliments and complaints. Make sure to devise a method of learning why a customer is no longer doing business with you. An exit interview' with lost customers will be helpful. Customers leave for many reasons. Some move, some no longer need your product, some die. But 68% of the customers you lose, you lose because they perceive that you don't care. They believe you are indifferent to their needs. Think about the last time you were stranded in an airport, or had your wallet stolen, or were ignored by a hotel clerk. Or maybe the time your phone service was mysteriously cut off, or your car wasn't ready when promised. The list could go on and on, but what angers people more than anything is that attitude of cold indifference that says, You're not important or not welcome here. People who take their business away from indifferent merchants generally do so quietly. They just slip quietly away, and you'll never know why. It's obvious that some people don't care about the business. After a recent problem with my insurance company, I took the time to write a letter and explained how I believed they had mismanaged a particular situation. I was specific and, I thought, helpful in telling them what I had expected from ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. The Future Of Your Job Might Be In A Word 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , John Graham This content has not been rated yet. What we say does matter. Unfortunately, most of us don't listen to the words that we use. They might seem harmless, but what messages are we sending to others about ourselves and how we perform our jobs? In this article, John Graham looks at some of the words and phrases that we all utter on occasion. Very often, we use these phrases as excuses about why something didn't get done.It's the end of a long flight and an even longer day. You're anxious to get home, even though it will be a late dinner. Only two exit lanes are open at the airport garage and drivers are lined up to pay their parking fees. As you wait, one line moves faster than the other. One cashier handles three cars in the time that it takes the other to send one on its way. Figure it out: One is three times as productive as the other. The difference doesn't go unnoticed. A few days later, the slower of the two employees is gone, replaced by a faster cashier. Although getting the job done right is essential, getting it done efficiently is just as important. Fail either test, and a new face appears. Other clear signs that an employee is on thin ice reflect basic attitudes about work and what's expected on the job. When you hear them, take note, because they send the wrong message: ...

... vacationers were heading from New York to their Mexican destination. The flight took off six hours late, made two unexpected stops, and circled for 30 minutes before it could land. Because of the unexpected delays and mishaps, the plane was en route for 10 hours more than planned and ran out of food and drinks. The plane finally landed at 2:00 a.m., with a landing so rough that the oxygen masks dropped from their compartments and luggage fell from the overhead bins. A lawyer on board had already started to collect names for a class-action suit. Silvo de Bortoli, general manager of the Cancun Resort and a legend throughout the organization for his ability to delight clients, got word of the horrendous flight and immediately created an antidote. He took half the staff to the airport, where they laid out a table of snacks and drinks and set up a stereo system to play lively music. As the guests filed through the gate, they received a personal greeting, help with their bags, a sympathetic ear and a chauffeured ride to the resort. Waiting for them was a lavish banquet, complete with mariachi band and champagne. The staff had also rallied other guests to wait up and greet the newcomers, and the partying continued until dawn. Many guests said it was the most fun they had had since college. Now that's a recovery which, by the way, resulted in no lawsuits and clients who became raving fans! Now go and "Wow!" those clients again and again and create raving fans who will be your unpaid sales force! Lynn ...