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Money is King in 2010 and Beyond?

Guest post by: Joyce Gioia

Article Overview: When money is tight, cash is king. As economies slowly recover, we expect to see a shift back to the importance of customer service and time off for external and internal customers respectively

Money is King in 2010 and Beyond?



The recent prolonged economic downturn has shifted consumer values---for both external and internal customers. In a drastic change from its 2008 findings, Colloquy's 2010 Retail Loyalty Index found that low prices have replaced customer service as the top driver of customer loyalty. Not surprisingly, lowest-priced Walmart emerged as the dominant retailer in many categories---reflecting a reality of the Great Recession. Costco, known for great service and the dominant 2008-index retailer, had the highest customer loyalty ratings in three out of five of the Mass Merchant regional categories.

Regionally in the Grocery Sector, Kroger in the Midwest, Publix in the Southeast, and H-E-B in the Southwest all bested Walmart. These chains offer low prices and higher levels of customer service. (From experience, we can tell you that H-E-B is simply the best-run supermarket chain with the highest levels of customer service we have encountered anywhere; their long employee tenure and high employee engagement are the reasons.)

In other survey results released recently by Accountemps, 46 percent of CFOs surveyed said "bonuses were the most effective way to acknowledge a job well done; only 21 said time off was the best way. Other types of rewards deemed popular were departmental gatherings (15 percent) and tickets to events (4 percent).

"When resources are limited, rewarding staff with extra time off . . . or a department celebration. . ., can help boost spirits and motivate teams," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps.

(Better yet, we suggest when financial resources are not available, ask employees for their best no-cost ideas. We have seen some amazing results from this facilitation.)

We suspect these same attitudes are present around the world. When money is tight, cash is king. As economies slowly recover, we expect to see a shift back to the importance of customer service and time off for external and internal customers respectively. However, as you read in last week's Herman Trend Alert, we expect India, Brazil, and Costa Rica to lead the way.

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Article Tags: development, Employer of Choice, Gioia, human resources, job security, training



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Making Money in 2011 - Hello forum members! As we draw closer to the new year I thought it would be appropriate to change the title of our forum category "Making Money in 2010" to "Making Money in 2011" - I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions and wish everyone a prosperous New Year!
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - [quote="Ringo So":2696kbgu]Trent - It's actually a sub-forum within the "Making Money in 2010" category. Please let me know if there are any troubles finding it.[/quote:2696kbgu] Nope, still don't see it. I see the Online Businesses forum but that has been there for a long time. Is that what you mean? I don't see any Internet Marketing section.
Re: Which would you start: a Blog or Online Community? - It is a difficult decision to make. Lets start it this way - What are you more interested in? Money? or Friends? or Both? If its purely Money, then Blog might be an appropriate answer. But consider this - It will be people (visitors) that will bring traffic to your blog and then Money will follow. This will be possible after a time and during this time it will be your friends who will be the starters. If you are looking for friends only, then its true that not many will be interested in knowing how you have beaten them in the game or the other way round. So it will be preferable to have a Forum where they can share ideas with you and others. But you can share your insider knowledge with them and invite comments from your Blog. You can also put up information on what others (including your friends) don't know about Tennis. The blog you create can provide News, Inside Information and also Techniques that can be used by the new entrants in the world of Tennis.
QuickBooks vs. Microsoft Money vs....? - I have always used Microsoft Money to run my business - accounting, invoicing, etc. It came with my computer when I got it and integrated well with my online banking system so everything is a breeze. It only takes 30-60 minutes every quarter to do the bookkeeping (keep in mind that I have a very simple business - no inventory, very little invoicing, I do all my payments by credit card, etc). Is QuickBooks or Money the best accounting tool for small business owners? Or is there something even better?
Hi there.. - Hi, my names Steve King Looking forward to being part of your community


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