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If for any reason you missed our last newsletter, number 92 published electronically 3 September 2008, you can read it by going to www.congruence.co.za/news. Past articles can be found here. To email us please do not hit the reply button as there may be a delay in us responding. Rather mailto:director@congruence.co.za If this has been forwarded to you, you may subscribe for your own monthly copy by clicking on the link on the top menu bar. Simple unsubscribe steps appear at the footer. I hope you won't! Dear {{FirstName}},
1. Even YOU Can Present with Confidence Official Launch - 1 Dec Montecasino “Even YOU Can Present with Confidence” is a wonderful resource! You have left nothing out and it's succinct, focused, and complete and was extremely valuable in improving my presentation content, style, and confidence. I took away a wealth of information that will make me stronger in front of customers, key executives, and my peers. I highly recommend this book for business people and speakers alike. Thanks for a great book!" Grant Vernon – Professional Speaker A well organised book launch is about far more than a book. It's usualy a great networking opportunity over snacks, combined with the opportunity to meet the author and listen to him/her speak. In this case, it's me who'll be doing that! So here is your official reminder - the launch of this book will be on Monday 1 December 2008 - venue: Montecasino Conference Centre, theatre entrance, Montecasino, Fourways, Sandton. Time: from 18h00. This is a Congruence Gold Subscriber event. By registering for this event here, you automatically become a Congruence Gold Subscriber, and will continue to receive our monthly eNewsletter and occasional marketing notifications. You'll also receive your copy ofthe book. At 18h30 I will deliver a 45 minute talk - regarded as one of the best breakaway sessions at this year's NSAA Convention in Melbourne called Slaughter of the Sacred Nine - The Nine Crimes Presenters Most Often Make. Entrance fee: R150 - includes VAT, and you walk away with your own signed copy of the book - valued at R150 all included (I'm sure you can do the sums here...!). Cash Bar. Cocktail snacks and wine will be provided. As mentioned before, this will be a great networking opportunity. If you can't make the launch or live outside of Gauteng, it is now available at Exclusive Books, Estoril Books and other fine book stores. This book is also now available on www.kalahari.net - and can also be ordered directly from us by visiting www.presentwithconfidence.co.za. Register here to attend this launch and receive your own copy of the book for just R150. 2. Customer Excellence - Two Sides of the Coin. *** feature article *** Some time back holidaying on the South Coast, I visited a restaurant with my wife and then 2 year old daughter. It was a Monday evening, still early and the restaurant was quiet. We were met warmly at the door, invited in and shown a table. Lots of chatter and friendliness. Six minutes later menues arrived. Ten minutes after that our order was cheerliy taken. Twenty five minutes later my wife's food arrived. Twenty minutes later my food arrived. Twenty two minutes later the food we'd ordered for our 2 year old arrived, by which time the child would have been screaming the house down with hunger had we not fed her from our plates. Will we ever visit this friendly place again? Not on your life. This story illustrates a serious misconception that many establishments have about customer excellence. They feel that being friendly to customers constitutes great service. What about delivery (you may well asK)? There are many different ways to profile people, but one way is to look at their levels of responsiveness during human interaction. For the most part, highly responsive people are wired to be friendly and outgoing. But what of low response or more serious people? Are they doomed to unfriendliness? Does this mean that they are always poor at delivering service? No not at all. These people see good service in terms of their ability to deliver results. It's not the friendliness that counts to them - it's the completion of the task that's important. The restaurant had a "people centred" approach to service, but fell short on effective delivery. I am sure that you will have experienced it the other way around at some stage in your life - a service provider who delivered efficiently, but lacked the "feel good" element in their execution. We talk about a doctor with a good bedside manner. This refers to the way she communicates with patients, not her technical capability as a doctor. In a market place where you have a secure monopoly, you can get away with being neither friendly nor efficient and your bottom line (profits) will remain unaffected. But as soon as there is competition, your market share will rapidly erode away. Organisations who are friendly but inefficient are only likely to retain customers who are unfazed by inconsistent delivery. Those who are efficient but unskilled at interpersonal skills will do business mostly with similarly low response or "delivery wired" people. Competition in markets ensures that those outfits who consistently combine friendliness with kept promises will enjoy the overwhelming share of the markets as buyers of goods and services become more choosy and discerning. Have a good look at your natural approach to service - is it about friendliness or delivery? If one or the other, at best you may satisfy half of your customers. But if you have developed the skill of being being good in both areas, you will find that people will be drawn to you and your good reputation will be talked about and your establishment or services recommended. This is a function of leadership. It begins by drawing the right people in to your organisation. The next step is to evaluate their natural customer service leaning (friendliness or delivery?). Then while supporting and encouraging their natural strength, develop the opportunity area (or weakness) to the required level with the use of training. Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying: "There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." I would wager that in these times you would want your organisation to be the one people are talking about. If you are an employee, remember it is usually the invisible ones who end up being retrenched. Don't allow yourself to be invisible. Madonna, bless her, understood this well. Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional, Presentation Skills Coach and Author Our next 2-day public "Advanced Customer Relationship Skills" programme will be 3-4 December in Johannesburg. Please mailto:director@congruence.co.za or complete our short enquiry form 3. Global Speakers Summit Cape Sun (Cape Town) 16-19 April 2009 For the past 3 years the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa has hosted it's own National Convention. The first two were in Gauteng, this year we hosted the event in Durban. In 2009 we have been awarded the Global Speakers Summit. What does this potentially mean for you? Around the 2nd week of April next year, over 200 of the globe's best subject expert speakers will congregate in South Africa's Mother City at the Cape Sun for the IFFPS Global Speakers Summit. There will be keynotes, breakaway education workshops and plenty of speaker show cases. For astute leaders, this is an opportunity for you to book a leading international speaker to address your management and/or staff on a topic of strategic relevance to your organisation now. You may want to go here for a taste. Having personally attended 16 speaker conventions internationally the past 4 years, I may know just the person to add massive value to your efforts in these times. Many of these speakers have engagements booked up to 5 years in advance. And many visiting our shoers are planning to tag on a safari or some sightseeing along the way. But if you are in touch with me before 10 December, I may be able to arrange something for you. In this instance, last minute won't cut it, as travel agendas will be in place by January. If you wish to explore this avenue further, please email me mailto:director@congruence.co.za or phone 0860 503 191. 4. Congruence Course Schedule - Johannesburg (last public dates for 2008)
To enquire or book please visit www.congruence.co.za or phone us share call on 0860 503 191(RSA). These programmes can also be delivered in-house anywhere in the world. 5. Travels Report back on my recent trip to the UK Last week I attended the annual convention of the PSA (professional speakers association of the UK). It was hosted at the beautiful Marriott Forest of Arden hotel near Birmingham. Apart from being a grand old style building, the customer service, delivered by staff of several nationalities was outstanding. There are few things that impact ones stay in a hotel more than great, friendly helpful service. The rooms were spacious, clean and well serviced too. Bearing in mind the weaknesses of our dear currency at present, we I won't mention the cost, except to say it wasn't cheap. However, the thing that most impacts a conference are the great speakers - and we had plenty of those. The convention itself was a well organised affair with a great balance of speaker education. Entertainment of the highest standard was provided on both evenings, first by Graham Gouldman of 10cc fame and Mike Wilson. The following evening we were dazzled by Mike Rayburn, one of the most talented and versatile guitarists I have ever seen live. I am constantly impressed by the lengths that professional speakers will go to improve their craft, and remain convinced that professional speakers are under utilised at meetings and conference events. After all, an excellent speaker is a small component of a conference budget, but often the one element that will be talked about long after the event is over! Paul du Toit is a Certified Speaking Professional specialising in service, sales, shift and in-Spiration. If you'd like Paul to deliver a scintilating talk at your year end function, or to get your new year off to an inspired start - then please be in touch: www.pauldutoit.net |