ETD: 732 Not so Excellent customer service; Inventory Turns;
D'Arcangelo Software Services; Apple: iTunes for Windows Off to
Roaring Start; Office 2003 First Impressions
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Thu, 23 Oct 2003 06:23:03 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0732 October 23, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Not So Excellent customer service
[3] Inventory Turns
[4] D'Arcangelo Software Services
[5] Apple: iTunes for Windows Off to Roaring Start
[6] Office 2003 First Impressions
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Today we have a query from one of our list members on inventory turns. How
about some help?
And we get another viewpoint on customer service from Javilk. What do you
think?
Looks like Apple has hit a home run with iTunes for Windows. 1 million+ in
four days. Maybe the record industry will wake up and see the benefits of
online music and capitalize on it, rather than taking the negative approach.
Office 2003: boom or bust? Doesn't look like folks are rushing to get this
new version of Office, even though Office 97 will not longer be
supported. Maybe it's a good time for another company to enter the fray
and take the market. How many remember Wordstar and the rapid climb by
rival Word Perfect? Looks like it's time once again.
We have another member profile today, which will be at our site for
posterity at our "Members: Who Are
You?" http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm Yes, I am
doing some work at D'Arcangelo. And we have a form there for you to tell
us about you. As I said when I first proposed this idea, we have "known"
each other for a long time, yet we often don't know anything about each
other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Not So Excellent customer service
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> I had some excellent customer service experiences this week which I have to
> share. We are buying another condo in NJ and needed to transfer and add
> telephone services. I called Verizon and the CSR answered with something
> like "How may I help provide you with excellent service?" We worked out
> the details of the install, including her verifying that the lines were
> available, and I would have not problems with the install and the
> DSL. When finished, she asked "Did I do my job by providing you with the
> excellent services that you expected to receive?"
I find that the opening statement of providing "excellent service" created
a mind-set in which anything they do is, to them, excellent. It is the
opening move of a most disasters; the verbal nose stuck high up so in the
air that it blocks one's sight of where one is stepping.
Service is not always excellent. And the more often it is said, the
greater the disappointment and distrust when it runs into trouble.
> That seems to be the trend now-a-days. Ask the customer to state their
> "problem." Get a buy in that asks if you solve their problem you will have
> done the job. Solve the problem. Do a trial close - ask if you solved the
> problem. Then close the deal. It makes everybody happy - no loose ends.
Meaning, get the customer to agree that some subset of reality is enough of
the "problem" that the rest can be ignored, then get him to confirm that
agreement so subsequent problems can be "separated" from the agreed
problem. This often results in fragmenting the problem and handling it
with small patchwork fixes which fall apart over and over again.
Define the problem area, and all the known problems in it. They are, after
all, sales opportunities... Then propose ways of dealing with them as a
whole system.
Pac bell: They never got a phone order right for me the first time in the
past five years, since they started using the phrase. It has always been
the second or third time. Including problems like shutting phones down two
days early (Try to coordinate help with no phones!) giving a dozen people
the same phone number; and that trifling deal of forgetting to send final
bills, then revoking the new service for failure to pay bills not
sent. They didn't step back from that one either, despite admitting their
"excellent service" had not sent the final bill on the old
residence. That's when "How may we provide excellent service" says "We
lie!" and "We're not the problem, you are!"
GTE: They use the same praise, but simplify the process. They never show
up the first time, since they know they won't get it right. They may get
it right on the third or tenth time, but never show up when they say they
will, coming a day early or a day late. (This has improved in some aspects
since Verizon took over. Trucks break down less while on service calls,
and they are starting to retire some of the old "Never invest a dime,
period" GTE managers.)
> It's nice to have great customer service for a change.
Yes it is. Starting with the sense of reality instead of "I am poifict"
snootyness.
By the way, when I approach "odd things going on" out here on the mountain,
I use the phrase "How may I help you." It's a good neutral way to scare
those who don't belong without seeing too aggressive.
The nice think is the would-be perps then talk more, revealing more of whom
they are and what they are trying to, um, "liberate." Strange how some
people think that everything on rural and sub-rural lands is, um,
"abandoned..." At least till they realize someone now knows them.
I think the best way to take back the neighborhood is to walk about and say
hello, my name is ...., what's yours?
-javilk-
------------------- IMAGINEERING --------------------
--------------- Every click, a vote. ----------------
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[3] Inventory Turns
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I am the Manager of Operations of 14 C-Stores and would like to know more
on the subject of Inventory Turns. Some questions that come to mind...What
is the average C-Store "Goal" for Monthly Overall Inventory Turns. What is
the average Overall Inventory Turn to date for other C-Stores in the US? 6
of my 14 Locations have deli's. I currently have the Deli Locations
Inventory Turn "Goal" set at 1.75 per month and the Non-Deli Locations are
set at 1.25 turns per month. Are these goals considered obtainable or are
they too high or too low?
Donna J. Tedeton
Manager of Operations
Central Oil & Supply Corp.
2300 Booth Street
Monroe, LA 71225
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[4] D'Arcangelo Software Services
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D'Arcangelo Software Services, a division of D’Arcangelo & Co., LLP, one
of top Certified Public Accountant firms in the U.S., provides corporate
governance programs to clients worldwide. Here in the U.S., clients are
concerned with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which forces companies to
establish and maintain internal controls and disclosure controls and to
report on them accordingly. Failure to do so could put the CEO and CFO in
jail!
D’Arcangelo has exclusive distribution rights to sell and support Magique &
Galileo in the Americas. Magique, our integrated, enterprise-wide risk
management and control self-assessment system, guaranteed to help you
improve the accuracy and reliability of your corporate disclosures to
comply with Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. There are over 5,000 users of
Magique worldwide.
First installed in July 2000 (two years before Sarbanes-Oxley), Magique can
accommodate any form of regulation dealing with corporate governance, i.e.,
Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, stock exchanges, etc. Magique supports any
international risk framework/principle like the new COSO (as of May 27,
2003 announcement), Basle II, COCO and others.
Magique was designed to handle corporate governance and is flexible enough
to handle futures regulations. Magique addresses:
o New responsibilities for audit committees
o Increased accountability of corporate officers
o Increased business and financial disclosures
o Corporate & criminal fraud accountability
o Business process improvement
Magique was developed with assistance of a steering committee and clients
from Bank of Scotland, Bestfoods, John Lewis, Friends Provident, Lex
Service and National Assembly for Wales. Since then, other clients have
joined the steering committee and are constantly involved in future
development processes.
Galileo is a comprehensive fully-integrated audit management, documentation
and reporting system designed by Internal Auditors for Internal Auditors,
and in use by 8,500 users worldwide.
We partner with Horwath International, the eighth largest global accounting
group with 15,000 professionals worldwide, to provide proven Global support
methodology fully-trained software and education staff in support centers
in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Russia, Cyprus, Singapore, Prague and Sofia,
thereby providing 24/7 support if necessary.
For further information, visit http://www.darcangelosoftwareservices.com or
send an e-mail to mailto:info@darcangelo.com?ETD_Corporate_Governance
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[5] Apple: iTunes for Windows Off to Roaring Start
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Declaring itself the early leader in the race to win market share in the
digital music arena, Apple has announced it sold more than 1 million songs
in less than four days after launching a Windows version of its iTunes
music download site.
The company unveiled its Windows-compatible iTunes offering last Thursday
at a fanfare-filled event, aiming to build on the enthusiasm consumers have
shown for the original iTunes site, which worked only on Apple's Mac OS.
It took about a week for the Mac-only iTunes site, which launched in April
of this year, to reach the 1 million download level. The fact that the
Windows version reached that milestone in half the time is no surprise,
given the vast gap in operating system market share between Windows and Apple.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31902.html
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[6] Office 2003 First Impressions
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Microsoft is no longer supporting Office 97, so enterprises that still are
using this version may find it is in their interest to switch. On the other
hand, organizations that already are using Office XP probably will stay
with it for a few more years.
Now that Bill Gates and company have vacated Manhattan's Millennium Hotel
after their much-publicized launch of Office 2003, many people are asking
whether Microsoft's venerable productivity suite is indeed the Office of
the new millennium -- or whether they will stick with their present version
of the software (or a competing product) until Microsoft's Windows
overhaul, nicknamed "Longhorn," is released in late 2005 or early 2006.
"From a pure feature standpoint, [Office 2003] has not changed much," Meta
Group analyst Steve Kleynhans told the E-Commerce Times. "There is a long
list of subtle enhancements, and Microsoft has polished up a few more
things, but most people using Office XP will be somewhat underwhelmed by
new version."
Kleynhans said the decision to migrate to Office 2003 from another
productivity suite or from an earlier iteration of Office ultimately hangs
on two questions, one tactical and one strategic.
He said Office 2003 is centered on a series of information worker-focused
capabilities that link traditional applications with a collaborative
infrastructure .
For example, Office 2003's new Shared Workspace Task Pane allows enterprise
employees to search for updated versions of files, find out if fellow
coworkers are online and check for related links and files. Moreover, the
task pane offers the capability of getting e-mail alerts whenever any item
in the shared workspace is altered or updated.
Office 2003 Pro, Microsoft's enterprise version of its new business system,
also comes with InfoPath, Kleynhans pointed out. InfoPath lets users create
and complete dynamic forms and submit them to XML-enabled systems and
business processes.
On a plumbing level, Microsoft has squared away all of its XML support,
Kleynhans said.
"It really gels with this release, and Microsoft is now positioning it as a
useful tool to move information back and forth between the Office suite and
other business systems that are XML-enabled," he noted. "It is much more
straightforward and more robust" than previous versions, which positioned
XML support as more of a development tool.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31922.html
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Links to follow
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