http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog Sales Articles for Service Contractors Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:48:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Success measurements. Most take an aggregated look. Measuring performance over an entire market, an audience, or a population of customers/end-users. What about on a 1-to-1 basis? That's how success is achieved, isn't it? For example, how well are you doing with that specific customer/end-user? Or that one...or that one...or... How can success be ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/08/18/the-trust-index/ Recently a client brought up the question of "who defines service". Not WHAT the specs were. But HOW the end-user should receive service. This client is a large corporate service department of a large, very large corporation (did I say they were large?). They provide service to their end-users, all who ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/08/12/who-defines-your-service/ "Restaurant Chains Close as Diners Reduce Spending" describes more downstream parts of the US economy adjusting to the recession. And that matters if all your business "eggs" are in one basket. If your business touches those lately hit by the downturn, you're already feeling it. Hopefully, those in charge of your ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/07/30/more-recession-fallout/ No one starts from a blank slate when engaging service. Both the buyer/user and seller/provider come at the engagement with expectations - before the first interaction. Determining expectations explicitly and fully understanding them is essential to successful engagements. But it's rarely done to the degree that's needed. And when they're not, lawsuits, ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/07/26/determining-expectations/ I recently worked with a client on an annual report, which doesn't sound earth shattering by itself. Until one realizes he doesn't work for a public company. He's the President/CEO of a regional security guard firm. He'd started with the company 9 months ago and wanted to formally communicate his achievements ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/07/20/individual-annual-report/ ...the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service... Bandwagons are for jumping on. And Green is playing loudly everywhere, especially in the facility services arena. Greenwashing was inevitable. There's always a population of businesses and individuals trying to capitalize on ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/07/12/greenwashing-is/ The title above is a quote attributed to Mark Twain. And life now a days is just as befuddling as it was in his time. Media and experts pour out spin that can overwhelm our native intelligence. Sometimes things are as simple as they appear. And that's encouraging when wrestling over a ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/07/02/theres-nothing-common-about-sense/ An interesting insight came out of our interviews with Procurement professionals (Procurement Talks: An Interview with Microsoft and Expedia's interview to be published next week). There's not one style of procurement, but many. From traditional to progressive (my term for high-tech). And infinite hybrids in between. Procurement's style leads them to ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/06/27/selling-to-procurement/ Buyers want to succeed - sellers want the same. What's in the way? Understanding each other. Sharing perspectives is a first step along the way to success. To that end I recently interviewed a Procurement Manager at Microsoft. And there's another interview coming the end of this month with the Senior Director ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/06/17/where-you-stand/ The expression, "can't save your way to success", can help service contractors better understand how they fit into their customers' world. I first heard this saying yesterday from a senior manager of corporate support services at a Fortune 100 company. She uses in-house employees and outsourced services to deliver support. "Can't save ... http://www.serviceperformance.com/blog/2008/06/13/cant-save-your-way-to-success/