list of financial companies

Better Money Management, Better Business

Better Money Management, Better Business

Money management deals with the question of how much risk a decision maker should take in situations where uncertainty is present. We have all heard the phrase “money management” before, whether it is in advertisements or on financial education segments in the news. Proper management of working capital is necessary to reach a trade-off between liquidity and profitability.

Greater money management can be achieved by establishing budgets and analyzing costs and income etc. You must understand that leveraging your money with money management can turn a relatively mediocre investments/trading situation into a dynamic moneymaker. It can mean gaining greater control over outgoings and incomings, both in personal and business perspective. It is 80 percent of the investment plan and the most important aspect in online investment, trading the stock market or investing in hyip – high yield investment programs (the remaining percentage are used for implementing a system/method).

Money management is used in investment management and deals with the question of how much risk a decision maker should take in situations where uncertainty is present. The process of budgeting, saving, investing, spending or otherwise in overseeing the cash usage of an individual or group. If a big company wants a massive loan (which alot do, nothing bad, just getting the money quicker than raising it yourself can mean the difference between launching a product next year, or in 5 yrs), then the banks loan your money, and the only way they can do this is if everyone doesn’t withdraw everything at the same time!

The predominant use of the phrase in financial markets is that of an investment professional making investment decisions for large pools of funds, such as mutual funds or pension plans.

You need money right now, but never lose sight of the fact that you are most assuredly going to need some later, too. Even if financial problems are largely the result of just not earning enough income, good money management skills can reduce the stress of these circumstances and provide a bit more mental room to focus on solutions. Proper money management takes into account both risk and reward factors. These skills are therefore an integral component of financial comfort.

Financial stress resulting from poor money management skills can affect our capacity to make good decisions, harm our relationships, affect physical and mental health, and ultimately to function well in life. Indeed, deficient money management is one major cause of bankruptcy among unseasoned traders.

Financial asset management is an effective way of handling one’s financial assets which can take its place in various forms. The centralization of the financial assets of a company streamlines the asset management process which gives the clients an idea of how well they are doing as measured by their financial assets.

Find More Financial Asset Management System Articles

Functions of a Financial Calculator

Functions of a Financial Calculator

Financial calculators are used for different computations needed at work or in universities. It is a very useful tool.

Financial calculators are designed specifically for business and financial purposes. Its overall design is not different with that of scientific calculators. However, financial calculator in some aspects has an exclusive distinction. The calculator is used especially in calculation in real estate, accounting matters, in time value of money, and many other business classes and other financial professions.

There are many different kinds of financial Calculators. Some of the more popular types are the auto and business calculators. There are also credit card and debt calculator. There is a special calculator used for investment computations. Some are for loans. The others are a personal finance calculator, savings and tax calculator.

There are thousands of calculator manufacturers but there are only a few that produce well-engineered computing devices. Such companies are the Victor and Texas Instruments (TI), Hewlett-Packard (HP), Casio, Canon USA and Sharp Electronics. The Chinese manufacturer known as Karce is also one company that makes financial calculators called OEM calculators. Their products are particularly marked for private market. And it is featured with embedded systems.

Here are the most saleable models of financial calculator:

Texas Instruments BA II Plus Professional
This computing device is capable of solving complex equations quickly. It is very efficient and saves a lot of time. It is the perfect aid tool for accounting, business, economics, finance, investment and statistics. It is also best to use in Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) exam.

The calculator features a 10-digit display. It has 10-number memory. The keypad is comfortable as well as firm to touch. It has a big screen for easy reading.

It is competent in performing standard capability functions also. It could solve for depreciation, accrued interest, payback and payback discount, amortization, cost-sell-margin, net Future value (NFV) modified duration, modified internal rate of return (MIRR), and time-value-of-money (TVM).

It comes along with a carrying black case and user’s instruction manual. The calculator has a width of 3 inches, a height of 6 inches and a depth of 0.3 inches. It weighs Less than 1 pound. The warranty information is one year for the parts and one year also for the labor.

HP 10bII Financial Calculator
HP 10bII Financial Calculator is a smart financial calculator with an algebraic notation. Thus it is not difficult to use as well as to learn. Using this is allowed when taking up CFP Certification Exam.

The HP calculator has a capacity to quickly perform its standard functions efficiently and easily on cash flows, loan payments, interest rates and conversions, percent, standard deviation, IRR, TVM, NPV, and many more.

HP 10b keypad is featured with enough key spaces and large edged keys that are soft to touch. This means one can avoid unwanted key presses. After 10 minutes time, the calculator is Auto power off and It has 2 shift functions as well.

Other features of the calculator include a 12-character, 15 storage registers, adjustable contrast display, automatic constant, parentheses for grouping expressions, a 3-key memory, and display results can be read easily at an angle. And some of its math and statistical features are the linear estimation, statistical analysis, forecasting, correlation & co-efficient. It comes with one year warranty when bought.

Casio FC-200V Financial Calculator
Casio FC-200V Financial Calculator is a slide-on hard case financial calculator. It has a 4-line matrix display and is has full dot. Some of the functions of the calculator are converts between percentage interest rate and effective interest rate, cash flow, amortization, day calculation, even point calculation, and bond calculation.

This solar power financial calculator measures 3.15 x 6.34 x 0.49 inches and weighs 3.7 ounces.

personal-finance-guide.info – Instructional video on personal finance calculator. This is a great tool if you read any personal finance newsletter and like to do budgeting.

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Experiencing World Class Service Excellence

Experiencing World Class Service Excellence

Experiencing World Class Service Excellence

US Service Excellence Tour November 2001

The Stimulus to Go

This tour has excellent credentials – it has been running annually for many years under the auspices of Manchester Business School. There is a sister UK tour.

For us, the visit was part of a continuing professional development programme- a sort of experiential MBA – visiting world-class companies. Interestingly and appositely the CEO of Federal Express in a video we saw said that

‘the most important thing to invest in is yourself’.

It was also a chance to spend time with a group of senior people from diverse backgrounds and understand some of the business challenges they are facing. Fellow travellers were directors and senior executives from companies including Sky, Argos, Legal & General, Nationwide, Alliance & Leicester and Bristol Airport.

The Main Objective

The hypothesis is that a reputation for Service Excellence is the outcome of how companies align their strategic focus, key processes and people in effectively delivering their customer proposition.

Programme of Experiences

Monday Stew Leonard’s Elizabethtown Water

Tuesday Ritz-Carlton FedEx Hub Night Visit

Wednesday FedEx Express

Thursday USAA Nordstrom Sewell Village Cadillac

Friday Southwest Airlines

Making Sense of It All

The concept of  ‘a line of sight’ through a company’s activities has been chosen to both analyse the experiences and to help surface any alignment gaps there might be (see below).

In true marketing fashion the start point should be with the customer. In narrative terms, however, the flow is better starting with the Context which is important for two reasons. Firstly, to help understand how companies got to where they are today. Secondly, because of the implications it has for the culture and leadership style that we were likely to experience.

Business Model is used instead of Strategic Intent because it has more commercial overtones.  Quite simply how were these companies making their money given their Service Excellence ratings? What trade-offs were there?

In between the Business Model and the Customer, many companies have Processes and indeed design Products in such a way that staff are caught between a rock and a hard place as they intermediate between the company and its customers – ‘Company Push’. How were staff encouraged to behave?

Lastly what evidence was there of an open and timely dialogue with customers? How closely were companies listening to their customers? What were they doing about it? What evidence was there of the customer manifestly influencing what the company was doing? – ‘Customer Pull’.

Inevitably some visits were more fruitful than others in providing input for the analysis and much information had to be taken at face value. Quantitative performance data was almost universally absent.

The Visits

Stew Leonard’s

Format of Visit

Tour of store with introductions from heads of sections (coffee, bakery, fish etc.)
Classroom presentation by Stew Leonard’s daughter
Time –half day
Location: Yonkers New York
Context
Founded 1969
Graduated from doorstep delivery of milk
Invested everything to fund first store
Mom & Pop store to world class cited by Tom Peters
Three stores now all family run
Big personality of Stew Leonard writ big across the business
In Guinness Book of Records for sales per square foot

Business Model

Limited product range – 1000 items only
Focus on fresh produce where margins are typically higher (provided wastage is closely managed)
Concept of life time value
No overt premium for service

Processes

Single aisle only so customers trail round like a guided tour
Section heads treated as owners of small businesses do buying and set prices
Frequent, immediate & varied internal communications highlighting staff performance
Underlying logistics not examined

Product Variables

Bulk purchasing cost benefits shared with customers to generate higher volumes still
Freshness & perceived value for money critical
Quick (days) trial and error product development process
Only recently introduced wine section which has been very successful
Disney style entertainment a feature

Staff Management

Department managers introduced their respective areas with walk-throughs
We were able to talk to customers and floor staff – good eye contact
Front line staff encouraged to deliver outrageous service (see story)
Hire for attitude – use bespoke psychometrics – three interviews
Focus on self supporting teams; close attention to under performance
Promote from within
Handwritten notes recognising exceptional performance – ‘a moo to you’
Fund of stories which make staff heroes & demonstrate exceptional customer service
Strive to create an atmosphere of smiles
Staff given time off to visit competitors but must  implement one improvement in 72 hours
Use tours as income stream but also energises staff

Customer Dialogue

As you enter the store there is a ‘rock of commitment’ which says:
‘Rule 1 –The Customer is always right
‘Rule 2 – If the customer is ever wrong, reread rule 1
Tangible customer involvement and entertainment; factory outlet/market feel
Staff encouraged to imagine that they are the customer
As in a theatre, the customer is an integral part of the interaction
Constant product sampling so immediate response
Instant refund policy
Customer Suggestions Boxes – all responded to whether acted on or not
Customer Panels with store management team
Customers encouraged to comment on staff
Satisfaction Surveys

Commentary

The ‘line of sight’ was crystal clear throughout the store particularly the behaviour of the customer facing staff and the level of immediate and on-going dialogue.
This experience should be relatively straightforward to engineer and deliver but there is no comparison between the robotic and sterile experience of many UK supermarkets and the vibrancy of Stew Leonard’s.
Their biggest challenge – which they acknowledge – is scalability.
There is nothing to say they have to get bigger – ‘right sizing’ has a number of connotations and they may be the right size now.
The showmanship is the velvet glove of a very focused business model but their people are used and encouraged to make a difference
Clear ‘Stick to the knitting’ approach.
Had only recently introduced a wine department in the Yonkers store which was going well which suggests corporate flexibility against perhaps a prevailing paternalism.
There seems to be a virtuous circle between, competitive pricing, engaging service standards, higher volumes and win-win distribution of the benefits between company and customer.
Some Delegate Comments

Sell to all the five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch)

Epitomized all the learning that is necessary to create a ‘wow’ in any company

Effective staff orientation can result in excellent service but slogans can ‘tell a story’

Stew Leonard’s – A Service Excellence Story

At five minutes before closing one Sunday night, a customer said to cashier Betty Mucci, ‘We’ve just returned from vacation and are so happy you’re open. Our refrigerator is empty, and we needed this bread and milk for breakfast and the kid’s school lunches tomorrow.’ When the total of .12 was rung up, the customer panicked and said, ‘Oh my gosh, I forgot my wallet. I don’t have any money!’

Betsy just smiled and said, ‘That’s OK, just give me your name and address.’ Betsy wrote the information down, put the void slip in the register drawer, and said, ‘Don’t worry, the next time you’re in the store you can pay for your groceries.’ The customer asked, ‘Do you have the authority to let me walk out without paying for all these groceries?’ Betsy said yes, but the customer wasn’t convinced and asked to see the manager.

When the manager appeared and the customer explained the problem, he said, ‘When it comes to keeping our customers happy, we have no hard and fast rules. Each of us has the authority to use our own best judgement and treat every customer the way we’d like to be treated our self’.

Two weeks later, Stew Leonard ran into a friend at a local restaurant. He came up to Stew all excited and said, ‘Stew you won’t believe this story!’ He proceeded to tell how it was his wife that had been the customer who forgot her wallet, and how she had been telling the tale to everyone she met. ‘But what I don’t understand,’ he said, ‘is how you can afford to do it. Aren’t you afraid cashiers will use poor judgement and you’ll lose money?’

Stew responded, ‘How can we afford not to do it?’ Ninety nine percent of people in our store at any given moment are repeat customers. They’re back because we satisfied them the last time they shopped with us. Our attitude is that everybody’s honest If we occasionally run into someone who isn’t, we just take it on the chin. But the important point is that 999 out of 1000 customers are honest. We simply refuse to let one dishonest customer determine how we are going to treat the other 999.

Source: American Management Review

Elizabethtown Water

Format of Visit

Talks from

Andrew M. Chapman, president -

Derek Stroud, vice president of Customer Relationship Management,

Beth Neafy, Change Project Team Leader

Professor Bruce Hawthorn, External Process Design Consultant

Time: 2 hours
Location: Head Office Westfield New Jersey
Context
The seventh-largest water company in the US with 500+ staff serving more than 1m customers in New Jersey
In November 2000 became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thames Water
Regulated monopoly, have to apply to the Board of Public Utilities for rates increases
Company historically consisted of three distinct silos on split sites– water & waste management, engineers and billing
Since current CEO appointed in 1997 have been going through major process and organisational change programme to deliver a more customer focused organisation.
CEO also felt that customer satisfaction could be a positive differentiator as an acquisition tool for municipal water authority management & should industry become de-regulated
Also felt that fewer complaints would lead to happier staff and hence lower staff turnover.
Implementing a SAP CCS customer billing and account management system (the first of its kind in a US utility).

Business Model

Shaped by regulatory rules
Pricing is a cost plus model
Penalties if historic customer satisfaction criteria not met

Processes

IT Strategic Review identified opportunity to bring together activities of silos
Customer Relationship Management is defined as Single operational view of the customer
Used SAP Enterprise wide system to re-define processes
Key process Revenue Management i.e. Meter Reading to Receipt of Funds

Product Variables

Responsibility is only for water supply to property boundary. From road to property is owner’s responsibility

Staff Management

Exemplified by internal team approach to process re-design – led by very credible long serving member of staff
Quote ‘People march to their measurements’
Need to re-skill Customer Representatives to problem solve (improved thinking) and understand issues around water quality (chemistry) and pressure (engineering) – described as getting the crew ready to run the new ship

Customer Dialogue

Little evidence that customers have had an input into the process design and change management programme
Industry prescribed measures for customer satisfaction a given although they were attempting to redefine these.
Implied customer frustration given fragmented delivery through historical silos
Commentary
A different context from Stew Leonard’s and the other visits
The impetus for change was driven solely by the vision of the CEO – there were no external drivers – arguably the company was ahead of the curve.
It emerged in conversation that the heads of the business silos had acted as brakes on the proposed process re-focusing.
The pace of the change programme was accelerated with the arrival of a UK Thames Water executive some eighteen months ago
The orthodox view would be that processes should be re-designed before IT is applied although it could be argued that the approach was contextually appropriate
The absence of any customer input into the re-design suggests that a supplier mentality still prevails and therefore potentially a serious line of sight misalignment.
Because of the way rate increases were signed off, provided the regulator agree, the customers would of course effectively be paying for the change programme.

Some Delegate Comments

Similarities with our current situation and interesting to see mechanisms and structures put in place to direct transitional change

Change is always difficult, particularly when your colleagues only pay lip service to it

Placing an employee of long standing with the respect of her colleagues teamed with a visionary leader is a recipe for success

Elizabethtown Water

Customer Service Vision

To provide an appropriate level of service for each type of customer which they value, appreciate and would choose in an open market.

Customer Mission

To provide value to our customers by providing safe, adequate and proper service at the most economical cost by continually improving our facilities, our work processes and the capability of our employees.

Customer Service Strategy
Billing: to provide accurate and timely bills that our customers understand

Payments: to collect all monies in a timely manner using all reasonable methods

Billing Contacts: any contact with a customer should add value in terms of cash, image or both

Service Contacts: To provide a level of service that eradicates the need for customers to contact the company more than once and that customers value.

Source: Boardroom Posters

Ritz-Carlton

Format of Visit

Presentation from Stephanie Thomas Training Manager
Back of House Tour
Time: Half Day
Location: Buckhead Atlanta
Context
Group founded by Horst Schulze 1983
Based on the legendary Ritz Carlton Boston which revolutionised hotels in America by creating a luxury setting
Now 40 hotels worldwide, 22000 ‘ladies & gentlemen’
Winner of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.. First and only hospitality organization to win, first in 1992 and again  in 1999
Only 3 hotels owned by company – rest independent ownership but  using Ritz Carlton systems & processes
In 1995, Marriott International purchased 49% interest. Three years later increased to 99%.

Business Model

Superior environment and psychology of comfort a critical part of the experience – the mystique of the Ritz Carlton
Market niche is essentially corporate business travellers
Premium price
Occupancy & revenue per room (REVPAR) key metrics

Processes

Set of core values collectively called The Gold Standards: The Credo, The Three Steps of Service, The Motto and The Twenty Basics captured in pocket card held by all staff
Daily departmental “line-ups” attended by all employees including senior executives dealing with one of the 20 basics each day.
Use Project Teams to continually review key processes and also problem solving self directed work teams
Computerised record of guest’s preferences (often from observation) – staff complete Staff Preference Notes
Guest Incident Action Forms
Much attention is paid to the psychological attributes of comfort – the furnishings, the quality of the dressing gowns, towels& bedding etc.
Backstage photos of table layouts, areas in bedroom to dust & repeat cycles are on display – this helps with the ethnic diversity of the staff

Product Variables

Quality Hotels
Club lounge, Room Service, Casual restaurant, Banquet Food, Recreation/Fitness
Luxury residential condominiums located at The Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts.
The Ritz-Carlton Learning Instituteopen to executives from other companies wanting to learn and adapt the principles of service and leadership to their own organizations.

Staff Management

Motto ‘We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen’
Intensive orientation for new employees – 2 days to orient & select, 21 day review, 30 day Certification Programme
Customised psychometrics covering empathy, Caring, Exactness, Professionalism, Politeness and Positiveness
Staff encouraged to take ownership of problems – 00 per guest ‘recovery’ discretion
Complaint handling scripted ‘I apologise’ – try to make problem really small – move the customer out of the public areas
Recognition – ‘Five Star Employee of the Quarter’

Customer Dialogue

By observation
Satisfaction surveys
JD Powers rating
Commentary
Ritz-Carlton is a high quality operation. Was the ambience tangible in the hotel? – Yes. Was the quality evident in the Club Lounge and the bedroom? – Yes. Was the high service palpable from the people? – Not uniformly.
Ritz Carlton is process dominated in principle in the same way as McDonalds – another franchise operation. The scope is, of course broader.
Inevitably franchises have to be rules based and much time and effort goes into embedding these into the employees – though it has been called a cult occasionally.
Whilst they premium price for the service,  they still face the same occupancy challenges as all hotels to get ‘heads on beds’. It is not clear if their model is more resilient or how they have fared post 11 September.
Behind the scenes there was evidence of the rhetoric breaking down – Ladies and Gentlemen referred to as ‘employees’ in memos for example. The administrative staff offices were very cramped – not a case of treating your staff as you treat your customers.
There was some evidence of staff trying to introduce spontaneity into the prescribed daily routines.
Understanding customer preferences and invading their privacy is a fine line that the hotels are careful not to cross.
On paper using an 80/20 basis the alignment was strong. However, it is not clear how open the dialogue with the customers is and how this informs the process improvements that the Ritz Carlton carries out.
It was also not clear what the trigger criteria would be for employees to use their personal discretion of 00.

Some Delegate Comments

‘All that glitters is not gold’.  It is easy to present a veneer but very hard to embed values effectively in some environments

Reinforcement through ‘over the top’ communication programme works well

A simple message to staff relating to ‘values’ can encompass an entire culture and consequent behaviour

Ritz Carlton

7 Year Vision

To be The Premier Worldwide, Provider of Luxury Travel and Hospitality Products and Services

2 Year Mission

Product and Profit Dominance

The Vital Few Objectives

Improve Employee Pride and Joy
Improve Customer Loyalty
Reduce Customer Difficulties
Enlarge REVPAR
Improve Hotel Profitability

Method

TQM – Application of Quality Sciences
Baldridge Quality Awards Criteria

Foundation

Values and Philosophy
The Gold Standards
Credo
Motto
The Three Steps of Service
– A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest name, if and when possible
– Anticipation and compliance with guest needs
– Fond farewell. Give them a warm good-bye and use their names, if and when possible.
Basics

The Employee Promise

At the Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies and Gentlemen are the most important resource in our service commitment to our guests.
By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximise talent to the benefit of each individual and the company.
The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and the Ritz-Carlton mystique is strengthened.

Ritz-Carlton – A Service Excellence Story

Enrique, a bell hop, noticed that a lady customer was having difficulty shutting her suitcase – he tried to help but in fact the catches were broken and there was no way to secure the suitcase. The guest was due to leave shortly and there was no time to go to the mall to buy a replacement. Shortly after Enrique went off duty but he continued to be concerned about the guest. He went home, took a suitcase he had recently bought for a holiday from his wardrobe and returned immediately to the hotel to give it to the guest.

Source: Ritz Carlton Presentation

Federal Express

Format of Visit

Evening visit to Memphis SuperHub
Half Day Workshop
Presenters:
Myron Bowery: Manager Corporate Communications
Kathy Bergeson: Quality Process Manager
Location: Peabody Hotel Memphis

Context

Founded in 1971 at the age of 27 by Fred W Smith ex US Marines Corp who flew 230 combat missions in Vietnam and based on a paper on logistics which he wrote as a student at Yale (marked C)
Quote from corporate history ‘ Fred Smith and Fedex are a virtual case study in how entrepreneurial America should work’
Created modern air/ground express industry; invented overnight parcel delivery; first to provide on-line shipping and tracking
Pioneered hub& spoke approach
1983 first US company to reach bn revenues without merger or acquisition
1990 First Service Company to win Baldridge award
215k employees worldwide, 600+aircraft
Currently shipping at 1998 levels

Business Model

Philosophy ‘Take care of your People. They in turn will deliver the impeccable Service demanded by our customers who will reward us with the Profitability necessary to secure our future’
Have redefined themselves from Parcels to Airline to Information Technology Company
Have a number of companies within group which ‘operate independently, compete collectively’
The 2001 Annual Report quotes ‘Only FedEx remains focused on a unique business model – to operate each company independently, focused on the distinct needs of each customer segment, but also to compete collectively, leveraging our greatest strengths, the power of the FedEx brand and information technology.’

Processes

See model below
Baldrige Award 1990 but ISO now benchmark driver
Activity a mix of low skilled highly labour intensive (making sure bar coding on packages is face up for the readers) and highly automated (bar code sorting)
International package scanned 11 times which provides data for track and trace system
Very heavy focus on ‘scientific’ problem/process analysis
Use actual numbers of defects not %’s as even 1 is too many
Heavy investment in FedEx TV as means of internal communication
Have high level Weekly Analysis & Review (WAR) Committee
98% response to annual employee survey – results published within hours of cut off time
Employ 12 weathermen to help with routing of flights

Product Variables

FedEx Express: time definite global express package & freight delivery
FedEx Ground: small package ground services including home delivery
FedEx Freight: regional less-than-truckload freight deliveries
FedEx Custom Critical: exclusive expedited door to door delivery
FedEx Trade Networks: Customs brokerage & trade facilitation systems
Recently invested in ground presence in US as losing out to UPS
Recently gained US Postal Services Airport to Airport contract

Staff Management

Hub has 60% staff t/o
Focus on experiential (85%) rather than classroom training (15%)
Recently withdrew ‘on the spot’ rewards system (Bravo Zulus – a US Navy term for ‘Well Done’) as belt tightening move
Upward appraisal process which outputs a company wide Leadership Index which has improved year on year since inception
SQIs used as the basis for bonuses at all levels.

Customer Dialogue

No single view of customer and value
Their Service Quality Index is weighted and varies year on year depending on what customer thinks is important
Have used television advertising extensively which shows an engaging sense of humour

Commentary

The hub visit was a classic example of what the tour is all about. An intellectual understanding of what was going on was no preparation for the raw energy, cacophony of noise and pure hard metal rock that confronted us.
Fedex is an operational giant and what we were seeing was no more than the tip of the process iceberg. The service chain also includes the door to door pick up of parcels and delivery at destination.
Like a class sportsman it was apparently effortless professionalism – there was also a sense of the quickness of the hand deceiving the eye!
In terms of alignment it was interesting that FedEx claimed to have no single composite view of a customer relationship although their SQI measurement factors shaped by customers was a particular plus point.
The withdrawal of the Bravo Zulus – the on the spot reward scheme – was contentious. It was presented as a much needed opportunity to tidy the scheme up but there was a feeling that it could be interpreted negatively by the staff. Outstanding service should be rewarded at all times.
There was a suspicion also that it may have been being used to get round an inflexible pay scheme.

Some Delegate Comments

How to change from a transportation company to an intelligent service provider

Good effective process management is possible.  The operation was very impressive

The operation is more important than the staff (Process before people)

Night Visit to the Memphis SuperHub

Getting into the hub was like going to a football match. At 10 o’clock at night there were long queues snaking back from the security checkpoints. In any one night some 8000 people might be on duty. It was a wet and windy night and since many employees work out in the open loading and unloading the planes they were wrapped up like Michelin men (and women of course).

From the observation tower we could see planes lining up to land. – 85 in an hour. On landing, planes moved quickly and efficiently to their berths where in minutes the doors were opened and the specially designed containers – which mimic the shape of the aircraft- unloaded. We were told planes could be emptied in 17 minutes. Trains of containers pulled by small tractors – or tugs as they are called- drove off smartly to the sorting areas – on this night in heavy and persistent rain.

Here letters, packages and parcels streamed along conveyer belts to be divided amongst teams of workers whose role was to turn packages upright so the scanning system could do the automated sort. Parcels then tracked along a series of conveyer belts where computer controlled arms sent them to the right distribution point. Further sorts would separate out priority express packages and narrow the destinations down by cities and even the suburbs of the major large cities. Shortly after the planes were unloaded, screens throughout the complex show the projected time at which the sort will be completed.

Unbundled and re-bundled as it were, the packages were then loaded back into containers and back on to the planes which then left. Memphis can deal with as many as two million shipments (overnight – 30%of the total volume in the FedEx system.

As we toured the hub, small teams of maintenance men were on standby like rapid response units should the machinery splutter. Indeed such is the contingency planning that spare planes are kept in the air in case of mechanical difficulties.

FedEx – A Service Excellence Story

The call from a big medical laboratory in Phoenix was urgent. Shipments of amniotic fluid from two high risk pregnancies had failed to arrive for testing. If they didn’t come soon, the mothers to be would have to endure the difficult procedure again. Senior customer service representative Brenda Currey got on the phone and found the shipments on a truck near Dallas. With help from FedEx operations staff, she had the truck stopped and 20,000 pounds of freight unloaded to retrieve the two samples. ‘Get them to Phoenix and I’ll take care of them’ Currey told the Dallas ramp manager. She met the flight carrying the shipments at 11pm, stored them in her refrigerator as instructed by the lab, and delivered them personally next day. ‘Why did you do this?’ asked the laboratory technician. ‘It needed to be done,’ Currey replied. ‘and I was there.’ Three days later the laboratory called to let Currey know her efforts had paid off. The samples were just fine. (Brenda Currey has been with FedEx since 1985.)

Source: ‘How Time Flies – Fedex delivers the 21st Century’

USAA

Format of Visit

Half day visit
Presenters:
Donna Wildey Planning Manage
Joe Bruha VP Brand Management
Beverly McClure Customer Relationship Management NE Region
Location: Corporate HQ San Antonio
Context
Founded by Army Major William Garrison in 1922
USAA (United Services Automobile Association) serves present and former members of the US military and their families
One of America’s leading insurance & financial services companies; 4.7m customers, 23,500 employees, assets .4bn
President & CEO the most decorated combat veteran to lead USAA. Board chairman retired US Air Force four-star general and former vice president of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff
Essentially a direct operation with most business done by phone, mail & web site
Strapline ‘We know what it means to serve’
Largest mail order company in US and third largest in world

Business Model

The mission of the association is to facilitate the financial security of its members, associates and their families through the provision of a full range of highly competitive financial products and services; in doing so USAA seeks to be the provider of choice for the military community.
Have extended definition of target market to include enlisted men but still remained within military affinity

Processes

Use Balanced Scorecard
Market Performance 35%      Financial Performance 35%
Projects  20%                        Mission Accomplishment 10%
Within Market Performance lost members = 50% of score
See detail of Key results areas below
Key Service tenets
– Trust & reliability          – Simplify the Process
– Multiple Access           – Customer feedback
Aim for what they call the ‘Wizard of Oz effect’ i.e. the illusion of simplicity
Evidence that planning process is used to drill down understanding within the company

Product Variables

Wide range of insurance and financial products including: property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance, annuities, mutual funds, discount brokerage, credit cards, banking services, travel services and alliance services
They had a diagrammatic wheel incorporating  six Business Divisions, ten Key Life Events and ten products to give 600 potential segments.

Staff Management

Must be a/the major employer in San Antonio
Work spaces heavily personalised; much use of the American flag; military memorabilia in public spaces
Head office in San Antonio has three on-site fitness centres, health clinics and cafeterias which also offer take-home meals.
There is also a sophisticated system for interacting with staff  and they have never had to lay off staff.
One third of the employees have their college education sponsored by USAA.
Have a Workforce Transition Team which employees join for 12 months if job disappears through re-structuring etc.
Managers have their own restaurant & restrooms – shades of officers & enlisted men

Customer Dialogue

No real time IT single view of customer but periodic snapshots they gave themselves a 5/10 rating on current capability
Re-aligning products & support areas into customer focused centres of excellence
Customer numbers doubling every 10 years
Minimalist branding and advertising – rely on word of mouth in close knit military communities
Claim 98% ‘loyalty’; products per household 4.97; less than 2% churn
Have only recently introduced rules for direct mail volumes – two pieces per member per month
Key marketing tasks seen as
Prospecting – Segment Management – Life Event Management – Product Design & Delivery – Retention – Brand Management
Extensive Customer based feedback loops in place using formalised research processes; retention a key focus
One of their secrets is the 140 personal characteristics they are reputed to keep about each customer
Commentary
USAA have cornered an outstanding affinity market in the US military. Their focus on family and community is reflected in the way they value customer and staff loyalty.
Whilst they have broadened their segment definition, for example, to include listed men, and they have a tremendous heritage, there must be a suspicion that they could be heading for a cul de sac given an ageing customer base and the lower numbers of recruitment into the military overall.
Their tone could be characterised as one of quiet understatement – certainly the branding is low in personality.
Many of their practices and processes seem familiar nowadays and their approach to direct mail is dated. Clearly it was not possible to benchmark their pricing but this together with the product range and features must be a critical part of their offer.
It was interesting that despite the strength of the brand in the target market there was no evidence of brand stretch beyond financial services.

Some Delegate Comments

Niche markets are wonderful things, especially if there is an emotive pull

Customer loyalty and trust attracts higher profits

Understand your target market

USAA – Key Results Areas
Service Goals
Trust & reliability
Simplify Processes
Customer Access & delivery
High levels of persistency
Evaluate lost member trends
Use member feedback to improve processes & service
Community outreach
Legislative & regulatory flexibility
Industry affairs
Civil justice reform
Public education
Education outreach
Loss control
Synergy among lines of business
Expand breadth & depth of member relationship
Cultivate member feedback
Educate members
Strengthen community affinity
Build strategic alliances
Promote personalised solutions
Sufficient net worth & liquidity
Strongest possible ratings
Maintain capital self sufficiency
Optimise USAA investment portfolio
Migrate losses
Improve our operations environment
Implement efficient business practices & solutions
Quality financial products
Co-ordinated packages of products
Tailored information
Increase penetration of core markets
Public Outreach Goals
Relationship Building Goals
Financial Strength Goals
Product Value Goals
Mission Support Goals
Facilitate responsive, value added response services
Promote productivity, health, safety and welfare of USAA employees
Provide high quality facilities & services
Diverse, flexible, motivated, multi-skilled workforce
Foster highest ethical standards
Value diversity of employees as we value the diversity of members
Cultivate employee feedback
Educate employees on  products and issues relevant to USAA
Encourage employee self development
Integrate information technology architecture
Develop and manage common information & technology systems
Enhance data infrastructure
Strategic Assets – People
Strategic Assets – Technology

Source: CDRom ‘Take a Quality Journey with USAA’ 12/98

Nordstrom

Format of Visit

1 hour Lunch time visit
Presenter: Cindy Mahan Store General Manager
Location: Dallas Store
Context
In 1901, John W. Nordstrom – who emigrated from Sweden aged 16 -used 00 of his stake from the Alaska gold rush to open a small shoe store in Seattle, Washington
Store subsequently passed to sons and grandsons and Nordstrom still remains family owned
Expanded from shoes in 1960′s and is now one of the nation’s leading fashion retailers, with 132 stores in 25 states

Business Model

Family management, values and approachability
Entrepreneurial focus for staff with income largely commission based on sales – have own business
Successful sellers may earn more than senior management team
Sales staff build and manage own portfolios of customers

Processes

Underlying logistics not examined

Product Variables

Perception of premium pricing created by environment and ambience but do not premium price per se
Aim to never be out of stock of any one size of shoes catering for exceptional widths & lengths
Ambience important – wide aisles & low racking so can see length of floor

Staff Management

Employee handbook is a double sided card with the only message ‘Use your good judgement in all situations’ see below
Look to recruit ‘nice’ people
Frequent performance recognition ceremonies and celebrations

Customer Dialogue

Quality and frequency essentially in hands of sales people who manage own contact strategy using phone & thank you notes etc.
Commentary
We had the opportunity to see their corporate video tracing the history of the company and talk briefly with the Dallas Store Manager – a lady who had previously been a buyer with them.
One member of staff (see story below) was grossing .5m sales a year and earning more than the store manager.
Subsequent shopping confirmed the appeal of the environment and ambience compared with other US major retailers
Staff were particularly personable and appropriately attentive in initiating the sales process. Prices were comparable with the other major stores in the Shopping Mall.

Some Delegate Comments

The natural confidence that comes from empowerment

Pride in your work is noticed and appreciated by your clients (and rewarded by your company)

Empowerment of key staff works for the bottom line (regardless of status) – ask people to do what they are good at

WELCOME TO NORDSTROM

We’re glad to have you withour Company.

Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service

Set both your personal and professional goals high.

We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules

Rule#1: Use you good judgment in all situations

There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask

Your department manager,store manager or division general manager any question

at any time

nordstrom

Nordstrom Service Excellence Stories
Nordstrom is famous for is refund policy. The archetypal story told by Tom Peters is of a customer returning two tyres to a store for which the customer was given the money back. Nordstrom don’t sell tyres but apparently there was a garage on the site before Nordstrom arrived.
A male customer arrived with a bag of some fifty pairs of socks at the Dallas store. He emptied the socks over the counter and asked for a refund on the basis that they had been uncomfortable to wear. The salesman – relatively new – started to say that they would need to see the receipts at which point a more senior colleague took over. A full refund was processed and it transpired that the socks had not fitted properly. A suitable make was found and the following day the customer returned to buy 00 worth of shirts. The senior seller in question grosses .5m in sales!
The Dallas Store Manager was having a difficult time over a piece of jewellery valued at 000. The circumstances were not elaborated on but the Store Manager decided to personally ring the Nordstrom family member responsible for this product line. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘we knew this was a difficult product area to get into and this was our decision not yours. You do what you feel is right for this customer and you’ll have my full backing’. The cost of the jewellery was refunded.

Source: Dallas Store Manager

Sewell Village Cadillac (www.sewell.com)

Format of Visit

2 hour tour of two showrooms
Guide: Chip Besio Sales & Marketing Director
Location: Dallas
Context
When Carl Sewell joined his father’s car dealership in 1967 he set out to make it the best in the world.
Thirty years later the company has grown from m turnover to 0m
In four locations Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio & New Orleans
Co-wrote book ‘Customer’s for Life’

Business Model

Exponent of life time value
Mission: We will provide the best vehicle sales and service experience for our customers. We will do this in a way that will foster the continuous improvement of our people and our company. We will be a top performing, thoroughly professional and genuinely caring organization in all that we do.
Early to recognise that car purchase only (minor) part of potential income stream  – servicing , parts and second hand car sales significant

Processes

This is about the integrated engineering of the total customer experience to which every employee contributes
Have computer terminal in car park so when mechanic drops off one car can key in to see where next job is  and thus minimise downtime
Automated German parts storage system
McDonalds type tiles on the floor – justified by business case
Customers stay with same Service manager/team

Product Variables

Cadillac, Hummers, Lexus, Saab, GMC, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Infiniti
Use physical cues to denote quality and care – leather couches, private working areas for customers, chandeliers & flowers, tiles on the workshop floors, chrome plating
Pays to have grass verges cut more often than corporation would do

Staff Management

Used same psychologist to select staff for last 25 years  – then staff take applicant out to lunch as part of selection process – if staff don’t want to spend time with the applicant then customers probably won’t either.
Service staff are self employed – faulty work is corrected in the technician’s own time

Customer Dialogue

Post purchase/service surveys
Mystery shopping
Commentary
It’s often said that ‘retail is detail’ and this is an impressive example of where the ‘line of sight’ factors have been engineered to create a memorable total customer experience.
It also again emphasises the core role of product in the total experience and the added benefits of tangibility that are missing in most services contexts.
In the suburb of Dallas that Sewell are in, they have three substantial showrooms and workshops in a matter of say 500 yards – a saturation strategy.

Some Delegate Comments

Need to continue to innovate. Differentiation is always key.  Understand the subtleties of your market

Environment is important – it helps to attract good staff and encourages custom

Engineer the total bundle of benefits to deliver superior customer experience.

The Ten Commandments of Customer Service

1. Bring em back alive

Ask Customers what they want and give it to them again and again

2. Systems, not smiles

Saying please and thank you doesn’t ensure you’ll do the job right first time, every time. Only systems guarantee you that.

3. Underpromise, overdeliver

Customers expect you to keep your word. Exceed it.

4. When the customer asks, the answer is always yes

Period.

5. Fire your inspectors and customer relations departments

Every employee who deals with clients must have the authority to handle complaints.

6. No complaints? Something’s wrong

Encourage your customers to tell you what you’re doing wrong

7. Measure everything

Baseball teams do it. Basketball teams do it. You should, too

8. Salaries are unfair

Pay people like partners

9. Your mother was right

Show people respect. Be polite. It works.

10. Japanese them

Learn how the best really do it, make their systems your own. Then improve them.

WARNING: These ten rules aren’t worth a damn…..unless you make a profit. You have to make money to stay in business and provide good service.

Source: ‘Customers for Life’ by Carl Sewell & Paul B. Brown

Sewells Village Cadillac
Beliefs and Values
We will be at the top when measured against appropriate business standards or performance in every function, in every department, in every dealership.
We will pursue quality and profitability with the aim to stay in business and provide jobs for our people.
The development of our people is essential to our growth and future success. We will provide training and education to encourage the long-term employment and professional advancement of all our Associates.
We will earn and re-earn the good will, trust and confidence of our customers and colleagues every day.
Our suppliers are important to our success. We will establish long-term relationships with suppliers whose values and quality are consistent with ours.
The highest ethical standards will guide everything we do.
We will strive for constant improvement and innovation in all that we do.

Sewell Village Cadillac – Service Excellence Story

Some of our most appreciative customers are people who’ve left us to buy a Jaguar, Mercedes or BMW and have experienced the customer service those dealers provide.

I have a great memory of picking up the president of a company here in Dallas who was standing out front of the Mercedes dealership waiting for a taxi to take him to work. He needed to call a cab because he couldn’t get a ride from anyone at the Mercedes dealership. I was driving down the street, and I saw him waiting there, so I picked him up and took him to his office. On the way he shook his head and said, I don’t know why I left’. Twp years later, when it came to trade in his Mercedes, he traded it to us and bought a Cadillac. He said the Mercedes was a nice car but it just wasn’t worth the hassle of getting it serviced.

Source: ‘Customers for Life’ Carl Sewell and Paul B. Brown

Southwest Airlines

Format of Visit

Day visit
Presenters: Pat Jansen
Brian Allen Career Coach
Location Southwest Airlines University for People Dallas
Context
Profit making for 28 consecutive years
Has announced no lay offs before or after 11/9 ; share price fell only 24.1% v United 43.2%
Within days of 11 September they had transferred the Staff profit Sharing Fund to a trust account so the funds would be there to distribute
Faced years of legal battles and obstruction from established players and vested interests
Have a history of moving quickly if a new business expansion opportunity occurs e.g. failure of a competitor, gate availability at a desirable airport – based on scenario planning
Stock Exchange ticker symbol is LUV
Marketed itself as the LUV airline
33000 employees; 84% unionised
Strongly associated with the personality of Herb Kelleher who is frequently quoted around the company – he once settled a major legal dispute by arm wrestling – and lost!
Described by Tom Peters as ‘Air Travel’s Greatest Show on Earth’

Business Model

Low cost domestic airline
– fly 737s only – 15 minute scheduled turn rounds- no seat reservations – no meals
– plastic re-usable boarding cards- no hub – city to city only – first to use two tier peak and off peak pricing
– use smaller city not international airports
Perfected niche of short flying trips 10.5 daily flights per gate v industry average of 8.0; typical plane flying 11.5 hours per day v industry average of 8.6
Each station functions as an independent business unit

Processes

Percentage ‘on time’ arrivals shown on a live display on all computer screens

Product Variables

Frankly the university looks like a playschool. Walls are unfinished. It’s decorated by murals depicted cities and places in the US – they take pride on how little money they spent and the unfinished nature symbolises that minds are always under construction
Have a programme of ‘Gate Games’ if flights are delayed

Staff Management

Talk about the 4 E’s – Employment, Empowerment, Environment & Enjoyment. Encourage staff to ask for forgiveness not permission. Promote it’s OK to be ‘Younique’
Staff encouraged to ‘own’ their part of the business
Look for Warrior Spirits (see below)
Have Career coaches & Culture Committees
Put their staff before their customers – the customer is not always right
Family spirit is sustained by customised environment, spontaneity and frequent staff events – pizza parties, barbeques etc.
Casual dress is a given – not restricted to specific day

Customer Dialogue

No suggestion boxes – challenge managers to interact with staff and staff with customers
Strong JD Powers ratings
Commentary
By any standards this was a remarkable experience – a rigorously applied business model that has been copied many times but without replicating its total success;
Have consistently stuck to the knitting and not been sucked into other value destroying areas;
Emotion, passion, and fun are used as strategic assets. The family card is played very strongly. They go public on putting their staff before their customers.
It’s often remarked that people park their brains when they come to work but personality is important too;
Succession in a company where there has been a dominant personality is always a challenge. The sense is that the culture is so well rooted it will live on anyway;
Another challenge Soutwest face quite simply is the current economic climate – what damage would there be to the culture if the company had to lay-off staff? Again one would be confident given the rigours they have historically faced that they could win through this too.

Some Delegate Comments

The most powerful force for excellence in service is your people and how you treat and lead them

The importance of celebration, attitude and living the values to the creation of a truly innovative organization

Culture is at the heart of organizational success – it is at least as important as process

You are the SPIRIT of Southwest Airlines

Service – make it positively outrageous

Productivity – always give your personal best

Individuality – you can make a positive difference

Responsibility – hold yourself accountable first

Imagination – create some fun in your work

Teamwork – together we accomplish great things

Southwest Airlines Service Excellence Story

In the height of summer, a young man boarded a flight in shorts and T shirt. He took his seat, but as the plane taxied away from the stand – and against the Civil Aviation rules – he ran quickly to the toilet. The flight attendant banged on the door and remonstrated with him to return to his seat. When he sheepishly opened the door she asked him what was wrong – suspecting a surplus of beer. Embarrassed and red in the face he admitted ‘My balls are on fire!’ ‘Excuse me,’ she replied. He repeated himself and explained that somebody had left some dried jalapeno chilli peppers on his seat and they must have worked their way into his shorts. The flight attendant, suppressing the urge to laugh, took charge and immediately bought him the necessary first aid – a towel, an ice pack and a blanket.

Source: Presentation

The Brits are Coming

The day we arrived at Southwest University was the day George Harrison died, The meeting started with one of his songs being played on the hi fi system. As representatives of the UK we were offered the presenting teams condolences.

The same day was the graduation day for some 200 cabin crew. They had been whittled down from 90,000 first stage applicants and from 200,000 overall.

They had been on the training for five weeks without pay and (this was the end of November) would not get their first pay until early January. We were invited to go down – to the chant of the Brits are coming – and join them – and what an experience it was! A ten-minute ‘Hi’ turned into an hour long cultural exchange.

The energy, enthusiasm and positive emotion in the room was PALPABLE. For us reserved British people it was a bit like an Oprah Winfrey show in your office. We were paraded to the front and listened as personal tributes to the Southwest Airlines family, spirit and community came from young and old, coloured and white and male and female. Individuals stood up and personally recounted why they were proud to be part of the Southwest family to the accompaniment of cheers, whistles and clapping.

Such was the infectious nature of the enthusiasm that we responded by doing a tour of the room ‘high fiving’ with as many of the people as we could.

This personal story telling and spiritual commitment seems to be a feature of the company. It happened again when we sat down with the training team as a relatively new recruit recounted how she had been made redundant from her last three jobs and had been expecting the same again given the difficulties in the airline industry as a whole. So far, SWA have laid off no staff.

Summarising the Findings

A quantitative evaluation to give company rankings was considered. However, given the varying formats of the visits, the data collection was uneven and this approach was therefore discounted.

Dealing then with the ‘Line of Sight’ components in turn:

Context

An important part of the context is the concept of the American dream and an equal opportunity society. Many companies played to this with their oft-repeated ‘rags to riches’ dynastic corporate history, incessant stories, Mark Twain type aphorisms, and a focus on friends, family and community. In the context of UK companies, they were also relatively young.
The tour took place as the American economy was in a recession and post the 11th September. There was evidence that companies were tightening their belts and trading conditions were more difficult. For many, the well being of their company was under threat.

Business Models

Business models were consistently well defined niches ranging from the extended ‘mom and pop’ store of Stew Leonard’s to the low cost model of Southwest Airlines.
In all cases their origins were in an innovative definition of the markets they were in, the customers they were serving and how they chose to deliver their proposition.
In some cases these models appeared to be tiring and strategic renewal was becoming a necessity. There was a sense, also, that some of the models risk becoming jaded although there is no particular evidence of consumer backlash for the time being.
Well-communicated and shared values were an explicit part of the Business Models. Leaders personified these and put great emphasis on removing the perceptual and actual gaps between leadership, ownership and management. In many cases this made the resulting model highly entrepreneurial and high levels of personal involvement as staff think and act like owners.
Whilst Service Excellence was a unifying goal for the companies visited, this was not a blank cheque and investment had to be justified against business benefits.

Key Processes

In most cases the stories told by the companies we visited were similar to well rehearsed case studies. Their enterprise wide operating models were well established and in the time available it was difficult to uncover the gaps.
Exposure to Baldridge and other Quality measurement systems has made process management extremely detailed and scientific but in a way which is largely accessible and comprehensible for the majority of staff. As a result they are actively involved in process re-design and continuous improvement and own and deliver the outcomes.
Processes are fundamental because in the same way that they can promote alignment they can also engineer in misalignment and higher operational costs. The switched-on companies made a point of backward engineering from an understanding of their customer’s requirements into the organisation (as shown in the ‘Customer Pull’ feedback loops in the earlier ‘Line of Sight’ diagram) – and keeping it simple.
One tends to think of processes as having a manufacturing or production connotation. However, many of the tools used by companies in the management of staff such as internal communications had the same structured and focused rigour.

Product Variables

Functional value and competitiveness of core products remain a fundamental.
No overt evidence of overall premium pricing – although this may have varied for individual product lines – (apart from Ritz Carlton) for service or ambience benefits.
At a given volume, typically margin will be traded against volume to share the benefits with customers and deliver greater incremental income.

Staff Management

Most companies had developed their own psychometric recruitment models with a focus on good personal qualities and positive attitude rather than academic capabilities.
Training programmes were as much to do with culture and ethos as technical skills. There were frequent opportunities to re-affirm the personal and cultural fit.
There was a strong focus on personal accountability reinforced by family, team and community values. Employees are encouraged to about their feelings.
Entrepreneurial models prevailed and were reflected in the measurement and reward processes – ‘Go Huge or Go Home!’.
Promotion from within is a regular occurrence; companies worked hard at being an employer of choice.
Staff are encouraged to bring their individual personalities to work and see things through the customer’s eyes.
Fun and emotion are seen as strategic assets in delivering the WOW facto

A Strict Plan for Financial Aid Applying Is Your Success

A Strict Plan for Financial Aid Applying Is Your Success

Financial aid is an aid that government provides to the people not only in cases including death of parents or relatives, lack of money at the present moment and inability to earn them personally, accidents and natural disasters. Each year thousands of families successfully receive such material aid in order to be able to pay for the tuition in higher education establishments. To get a chance to obtain such financial aid, first of all, one should know a strict plan to follow. Plan 1) Check the college you are going to enter. Examine the particular requirements of school. Request college financial aid information. The staff responsible for this question provides you such information. 2) Note all the admissions and deadline of financial aid in your calendar. 3) Revise the organizations your parents are members of. Examine if those organizations offer any scholarships. 4) Find out at least one or several financial aid applications necessary to be filled up. The traditional application form is FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Some private schools may ask you to fill the profile confirming you to be eligible for financial aid. As in different states there are particular differences in legislation, you may be recommended to have a state financial aid application. 5) Write the essay. In the essay body formulate the general reason of the essay writing. Then emphasize the reasoning in details. In conclusion present the additional premises for the financial aid. Write in a plain understandable language, so the financial committee could have the central idea of your appeal. Although applying for a financial aid takes not so much time and efforts, it is advisable to know the detailed facts about financial aid. This may save hundreds and may be thousands dollars spending on your education. But if the expected sum of aid is not sufficient, do not despair and search for the information connected with the student loan.

Harvard?s 10% Financial Aid Policy Ain?t Necessarily so

Harvard?s 10% Financial Aid Policy Ain?t Necessarily so

On December 10th, 2007, Harvard President Drew Faust and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Michael D. Smith, announced their new, innovating financial aid program in an attempt to make Harvard more affordable for families of all incomes, but particularly for families of middle and upper middle incomes. Major improvements were made in awarding grants, eliminating student loans and removing home equity values from the financial aid calculations, as well as eliminating the contribution made by families with incomes less than ,000:

“Families with incomes above 0,000 and below 0,000 and with assets typical for these income levels,” Harvard announced, “will be asked to pay 10 percent of their incomes. For those with incomes below 0,000, the family contribution percentage will decline steadily from 10 percent, reaching zero for those with incomes at ,000 and below.”

“We want all students who might dream of a Harvard education to know that it is a realistic and affordable option,” said President Faust. ”Education is fundamental to the future of individuals and the nation, and we are determined to do our part to restore its place as an engine of opportunity, rather than a source of financial stress. With no loans, no consideration of home equity, and a dramatic increase in grant aid, we are not tinkering at the margins, we are rebuilding the engine…This is a huge investment for Harvard, but there is no more important commitment we could make. Excellence and opportunity must go hand in hand,” he said.

NOT SO FAST WITH YOUR APPLAUSE. Before you begin offering words of praise for Harvard’s proclaimed financial aid initiative, consider whether or not, as we’ve seen so many times before, all of those carefully chosen words are as empty as the pot at the end of a rainbow that nobody ever finds. Could it be that the Ivy League giant has already balked on their promise and that some of their groundbreaking financial assistance is nothing more than a lot of hype?

Two of the families I counseled are sending their kids off to join the Class of 2012 and have been gravely disappointed by the new Harvard financial aid program as promised in their earth shattering announcement.

With a billion endowment fund, one may wonder why Harvard would cheat a family with virtually no assets out of 0. It’s beyond comprehension, but that is exactly what they did to a New England family with a 2007 income far less than 0,000. And, despite my advice, they were petrified at the prospect of challenging Harvard’s initial offer, fearing they would jeopardize their student’s future at the prestigious school. Consequently, they didn’t.

The second family let down by the announced financial aid enhancements is from the Midwest and had an income of just over the 0,000 threshold. There were some extenuating circumstances and, accordingly, I suggested an appeal. Lo and behold, Harvard sprung for an additional ,000, but only after discounting numerous business expenses that the IRS had accepted! And if all of Harvard’s glitter is gold, why was the appeal necessary in the first place?

One thing is certain, if Harvard low balled their financial aid offers to these families, it is safe to assume there are others who have had the crimson pulled over their eyes. I welcome any Harvard family, and since we’re on the subject, any other college or college-bound family, to contact me for a FREE financial analysis to determine if they too were short changed and if there is any way to obtain additional financial aid. (There usually is.)

Over the past ten years, prompted by the leadership of former president, Neil L. Rudenstine, Harvard’s grant appropriations have increased 143 percent, and in 2008 and beyond, more than 90 percent of Harvard families will qualify for what appears, on the surface, to be a most generous financial aid program. Two-thirds of the students currently attending receive some form of financial aid and need-based scholarships are awarded to half of them. This brings Harvard’s total aid assistance for 2008 to more than million – about ½ of 1% of the total funds they have available.

Fact is, Harvard has so much money it could actually pay the tuition for the entire student body for the next 100 years and still have billions of dollars left over! So, let the borrower beware. Before you canonize America’s most sought after college for taking up the financial aid torch, remember that while the lyric may be new, we’ve all heard that tune before, and it ain’t necessarily so.

Do the math. Appeal an unappealing award offer, and take no grant for granted. Trust should never be a gift – it should be earned, every year a student is in school…

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc – Swot Analysis – Market Reserach Report On Aarkstore Enterpri

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc – Swot Analysis – Market Reserach Report On Aarkstore Enterpri

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc – SWOT Analysis company profile is the essential source for top-level company data and information. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc – SWOT Analysis examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy.

The Hartford Financial Services Group (The Hartford or ‘the company’) is a financial services company engaged in the provision of insurance and financial services. The company offers annuities, mutual funds, college savings plan, life insurance, non-life insurance, asset management, retirement plans and investment management through its various subsidiaries. The Hartford primarily operates in the US, Japan, Brazil, Ireland and the UK. It is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut and employs 31,000 people. The company recorded revenues of ,219 million in the financial year ended December 2008 (FY2008), a decrease of 64.4% over 2007 (FY2007). The operating loss of the company was ,591 million in FY2008, as compared to operating profit of ,005 million in FY2007. The net loss was ,749 million in FY2008, as compared to net profit of ,949 million in FY2007.

Scope of the Report

- Provides all the crucial information on Hartford Financial Services Group Inc required for business and competitor intelligence needs
- Contains a study of the major internal and external factors affecting Hartford Financial Services Group Inc in the form of a SWOT analysis as well as a breakdown and examination of leading product revenue streams of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
-Data is supplemented with details on Hartford Financial Services Group Inc history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available statement from Hartford Financial Services Group Inc

Reasons to Purchase

- Support sales activities by understanding your customers’ businesses better
- Qualify prospective partners and suppliers
- Keep fully up to date on your competitors’ business structure, strategy and prospects
- Obtain the most up to date company information available

Table of Contents :

This product typically includes the following sections:

SWOT COMPANY PROFILE: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Key Facts: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Company Overview: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Business Description: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Company History: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Key Employees: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Key Employee Biographies: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Products & Services Listing: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Products & Services Analysis: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
SWOT analysis: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
*Strengths: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
*Weaknesses: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
*Opportunities: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
*Threats: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Company View: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Top Competitors: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
Location and Subsidiary: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
*Head Office: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc
*Other Locations and Subsidiaries: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc

For more information, please visit :

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Hartford-Financial-Services-Group-Inc-SWOT-Analysis-26037.html

Financial Freedom With Christianity – Fact or Fiction? – Seek the Truth it Will Set You Free

Financial Freedom With Christianity – Fact or Fiction? – Seek the Truth it Will Set You Free

Christian Financial Freedom requires you to know the truth about answered and unanswered prayers; Fact or fiction? Unanswered prayers do not exist; you either have a negative or a positive response. If your prayers do not get a positive result it means your prayers were answered by God in the negative. God hears you and replies. Have you ever investigated why the verse that says: “and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be Glorified in the Son.”

It stands to reason that who so ever is not the beneficiary of an answered prayer will look for a thousand reasons to substantiate this as god’s will, no one like to be outside of god’s will. Immediately you will have a thousand Christian clichés as a substitute for the real reason. Clichés like, have faith, or Gods timing is not your timing, unbiblical hackneyed and nauseating, admissions of not knowing the truth in which lies the answer.

Most people are afraid to question the Bible. Why? It says that you should test all things. I decided to test both, my internet home business and the biblical facts. TBN pulpit exponents like Internet Marketing Exponents have lead me round by the nose long enough, time fo the truth. No more listening to TBN hype and get fleeced in the process. Time to put my prayer life and my Christian based affiliate marketing business on the right track. In both instances I need to seek the truth. the success of the one is dependant upon the other.

I am sure you know the story of Jacob, he promised God that if He would provide for him, protect him, and bring him back safely to his land, he would then serve God. He required God to give first before he gave. God still loved him. Have you ever heard a sermon about this from a TBN pulpit charlatan? No, all insist you must give to receive; do they have the keys to God’s safe so they can dish out to you, or something? Every one of them is out to take your money. I state categorically they do not believe what they preach; if they do they are hallucinating. If I was one of them and believed what I daily tell the millions of viewers, I would give a million dollars to the cause I’m touting as a good thing, and get back a hundred million from God, it would save one hell of a lot of trouble.

The Word says test all things. I Thessalonians 5:21 instructs us to “test [prove, KJV] all things,” which would include our old notions, and then “hold fast” to the good ones—the ones that pass the test. Have you ever looked for the reason why you did not get what you asked for? There are good reasons which may soon be eradicated, if you seek the truth because it will set you free. However, that is yet another discussion to be published in due course.
I have deviated somewhat from the basic reason for this article, but these shenanigans are depriving a lot of people from the truth. The word says, Seek the truth and it will set you free, so back to the main stream of my article.

I make my income from my home business by way of Internet Affiliate Marketing and SEO work. Unfortunately, both, religion and internet marketing are crowded with hype and scams. It became an obsession with me to discover the truth every time I listened to one of those TBN Multi Millionaire pulpit charlatans, I just knew this could not be the truth about God’s Word and to a similar degree seeing reading and listening to the internet hype about becoming a millionaire over night, or having a new Ferrari parked in your garage before you have even removed you P-Jays in the morning.

Christianity was my first priority as I felt that my Home Business Income was totally dependent upon my knowing the truth.
My search took me into many places besides the Word. The kernel of my research was to find the truth about both including the true meaning of such biblical annotations as:

My people perish for the lack of knowledge.

Seek the Kingdom and all things will be added onto you.

What is God’s will for my life?

Do Christians have to be paupers to be good Christians?

What so ever you ask the father in my name you shall have.

My searching was somehow abruptly curtailed when I read James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom let him ask God who gives to all men abundantly etc., this coupled to the knowledge that Jesus left us a Counsellor, “The Holy Spirit”, when He went to be with the Father in Heaven opened my spiritual ears and eyes. I have not read in the Word that He gives money abundantly or for that matter that He gives new cars or houses. He also tells you how to give and to whom to give, for those who think thast giving brings wealth. I do not see the TBN charlatans enumerated as biblical reci[ients, but I do see the widows and orphans and your Spiritual teacher, as recipients of your giving. Do your own distribution, god will see and know. Don’t give to god because the TBN Hoax makes you believe that your dollar will be ten after he or she has fleeced you. These professional beggars will no doubt have a million reasons for attacking my point of view, however please remember that the word says the road to heaven is narrow.

So what went wrong?
I am a normal working guy, doing my best to live as a follower of The Word, Jesus. When I began to “test all things” in my happy clappy church, and to seek the truth, I discovered lots of turmoil within my spirit. I had lots of questions these so called theologians had no answers for apart from the normal “out” using the hackneyed Christian cliches. I decided that I was in the wrong place. It greatly worried me that the word says “My people perish for the lack of knowledge.” This is both biblically and materially applicable. The two are linked through prayer.
This article is not within the scope of a total biblical perspective, apart from saying that my research, or if you like my revelation put a whole new slant on my Christian life. For the first time I feel that I am successful in both facets of my life, my Spiritual life and my business life. I have discovered via biblical research, using the internet extensively, how one should pray and be in the will of God. I now know why my prayers were never answered, and it was not because I was outside of Christianity, no, simply because the happy clappy churches teachings are wrong and money centered.

There is not one instance in the entire bible that tells us to pray for financial freedom or any form of financial gain, but there are any number of verses which tell you to ask for knowledge.  So that you can do what is necessary to make the income you are working towards. Do you know that a ship at sea needs only be one degree off course, which easily runs the ship aground or onto the rocks. So it is with you and I deviate one degree and land up on the rocks. The good news is that you can keep course very easily because you have a Counselor who keeps you there if you choose to make use of his services.
Take a discovery trip as I did and see your life change, there after God will lead you to the right teacher. It is the first time in my life that I understand why the book says that the road to heaven is narrow, my research to find direction for my future was both spiritually revealing and materially motivating.

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How To Manage Money: Eliminate Debt Step By Step

How To Manage Money: Eliminate Debt Step By Step

Is there a way to manage money and eliminate debt step by step? Perhaps if there were a sure fire way we would all be doing it every day, week and month of the year. However, I have discovered several steps that will be of assistance and if you try and follow each as closely as possible you will be even closer to eliminating your personal debt. You can begin right now and it could change your life.

Step Number 1: Assess your current financial situation.

Are you currently in the red or black? Do you turn to the credit card to manage your money and every day purchases? This may be a definite indication that you may be in some financial trouble. Here is a free aid at the below link that may help quantify your current financial status.

moneycentral.msn .com/personal-finance/calculators/evaluate_your_debt_calculator/home.aspx

The Second Step: Analyze your spending habits.

Review your weekly and monthly purchases. Do you think that many of your purchases are unnecessary? When it comes to spending, there really is no ‘grey’ area. There are things we all need to buy and there are things that we don’t. You may need to re-learn how to manage money if you find that the majority of the money you spend is on eating out, entertainment, expensive clothes, alcohol etc. Here’s something you may want to try.

The Third Step: Budget.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this once or twice on my blog but creating a budget is probably the most important step to take. A simple way to start to budget is to sift through your credit card bill and make list that separates what you NEEDED and the things you DID NOT NEED. This should only take a a bit of time but it will show you how to manage money in a very easy way. If you want, try to go back through those bills a couple of months. The 1st thing you might probably see is that you can cut your bills by 50%! From here on in, when you are buying things down the road you now know exactly what deserves the ‘green’ light for the MUST HAVE spending and what gets ‘red’ flagged. Suddenly you have the start of a budget.

Step Number 4: Eliminate those ‘Red Flagged’ purchases.

Step 4 will take the most determination, dedication and will power on your part. The key of how to manage money is to know where your cash is going and why. You really do not need the finest fashions, or that costly bottle of wine, football tickets or that new pair of shoes if you are already having difficulty with your finances. What you really need are comfortable home and food on the table. Try to live a very modest lifestyle for a month and you will surely be shocked with how much cash you will save.

Step Number 5:  Find a low or no cost credit card.

Look at different companies but this is a very important step to take. The best way to decide where to go is if you carry a balance or if you regularly pay it off each month. If you carry a an amount that carries over  you need to find a credit card that has a low interest rate. It is extremely difficult to chip away at a balance if they charge you 18% interest or more. That money will add up fast. If you are lucky enough to be able to make the payments, use a credit card with low or no fees. The best solution is to get rid of your credit card altogether and only use it for emergencies.

Step Number 6: Consolidate your debts.

Plan this step carefully. The positive side is that debt consolidation offers the opportunity to lower your monthly payments, save on interest and may even help you eliminate debt faster. But there are downsides that must be considered like not finding out the root of your debt problem and preventing those tendencies that started the debt to begin with. You could end up paying more in the long run with debt consolidation if you aren’t careful.

Here is another free calculator that will show you how to manage money by debt consolidation.

moneycentral.msn .com/personal-finance/calculators/Consolidate_Your_Debt_Payment_calculator/home.aspx

Step Number 7: Seek financial advice.

This is straight to the point. You aren’t going to be able to know everything you need to when it comes to debt and the ways to eliminate it. These steps will be helpful but it is still wise to seek face to face advice from a professional.

The Eighth Step: Fix your credit.

Having bad credit is, well, bad. There are plenty of major purchases you will still make in the future and you must have a quality credit score to do so. Be sure to check your credit at your bank or even find out on the internet with a company like Equifax. The more quickly you repair your credit the better.

Can you manage money and eliminate debt step by step? I truly think that if you follow these 8 steps you will have the right tools to eliminate your debt. Good luck and let me know about the success stories that you have had!

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