In a busy bank lobby, I recently overheard a banker reiterate a policy, only to have the customer respond irritably, "Why are you making it so hard? I could close this account and move it to another bank. You won't let me simply take my uncle's name off the account without a death certificate?"
Customer satisfaction expert Gary Heil tells a similar story. Gary had asked for overdraft protection on an account at his bank, where he was a long-time customer with several accounts. In response the bank requested his tax returns for the previous three years. When he suggested his other accounts could be collateral, the bank was inflexible.
Even though two different policies dictated these scenarios, they shared a common dilemma. The customers' requests weren't handled as they wished, which happens when customers don't understand why banks have certain policies.
Not as obvious yet integral to these interactions were customers who did not feel understood. The bankers tried to help by explaining the policies, but were the customers heard or understood by the bankers? And is understanding the customers more important than processing their requests?
Understood Customers Are Happy Customers
When push comes to shove, making sure customers feel understood is more important than getting paperwork done. Why? Customers who feel understood feel good about the relationship. They're willing to comply with necessary requirements, and they'll come back to do more business. They'll also tell others how great you are.
As Gary Heil says about customer service, "Loyalty is never rational, and nearly always emotional." Reaching customers on a human, emotional level that leaves them feeling understood can bring you many benefits.
To paraphrase an adage: if you feel understood, you will find several reasons to buy. If you don't feel understood, you won't find a single reason to buy, no matter how great the product is.
Customers like feeling understood. If you contribute to their positive feelings they'll like you. And two people who like each other get more done in less time than two people butting heads--or one who's upset while the other patiently re-explains a policy.
Shorter, more congenial interactions boost your productive. Prospects who don't feel understood raise more objections, especially on prices and fees, and make buying decisions more slowly. They use objections as trump cards against your demands, eating away at your time.
Prospects and customers who feel understood often make decisions more quickly, using fewer bank resources. Another bonus is that customers treated with dignity and respect reward bankers with their trust, which leads to openness, information sharing and efficient use of time.
Turnaround consultants consistently report that the most important yet least used tool for building customer relationships is courtesy. Customers who feel understood respond willingly and naturally to your camaraderie.
Customers who are understood value their relationships with your organisation and object less to prices and fees. Feeling understood, they're more likely to take long-term views of their relationship, which will pay off in future business from them, family members, friends, associates and businesses.
Mary Kay Ashe, of cosmetics fame, reminds her salespeople, "Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from his neck saying, 'Make me feel important.' Never forget this message when working with people."
Feeling Understood: What Does It Really Mean?
As we communicate "I understand" to our customers to make them feel understood, are we saying "yes" to whatever they request? No. Feeling understood doesn't mean getting whatever you want. Are we saying, "In your shoes, I'd do the same thing"? No.
What we are saying, verbally and non verbally, is, "I hear you. I allow you to express what you need to say." Customers feel understood when they have been able to "speak their piece," and when we accept that what they say matters. Acceptance conveys that you value them.
Respecting customers' time and experience also contributes to their feeling understood, so be sure to give customers opportunities to express themselves. This creates a powerful connection. It communicates your willingness to help them accomplish what they want in the best way possible for them. This interaction style shifts emphasis from regulations and policies to your customers.
So, how do you move from the angry customer who's about to take his savings account across the street to a customer who'll keep his money in your bank, finance his new home with you and convince his partners to move their business accounts to your bank?
Tips for Helping Customers Feel Understood
Achieving a base of customers who feel understood takes more takes more than posting a new customer service creed or running a sales contest. It's a more integrated and continuous process.
A good starting point might be your business cards. Pull one out. Is it elegant reflective of your positions? Does it convey dignity? Is this what business cards are for?
Rather than using business cards to impress or to fit a corporate design, consider a card that customers will find informative, practical and useful. Print telephone numbers in large, easy-to-read type or include direct lines for specific services. A list of services could be effective, or the locations and hours of your services.
Speaking of hours, are yours set for your convenience? Or do they reflect that your customers' needs, so you're open when they need you?
A good opportunity for helping customers feel understood is your processes. Do you make it easy for your customers, or do regulations dominate interactions? Perhaps you could you reduce the paperwork, ease its complexity or even eliminate some document requests. Today's customer-focused organisations scrutinize "fine print" and obtain regulatory approval for more friendly processes and forms.
While in your customers' shoes, look around your lobby, at your statement stuffers, statement formats and other communications. Are they talking "at" your customers, or communicating effectively? Your organisation's communication style is paramount in developing customers who feel understood. It includes written pieces, atmosphere and personal interactions. Is yours a communicating style, where conversations with customers are two-way exchanges? Or do you tell your customers what you think they should know?
Integrating communication that contributes to customers feeling understood requires everyone in the organisation to adopt the same practices. Interaction examples personal experiences and role-playing can demonstrate specifics. A good place to begin is with employee discussions of communication style.
If this sounds like a family communication course or a consensus-building, win-win workshop, it's because each contains human interaction elements. Remember, our human and emotional side helps make decisions.
Pressure for increased new sales and cross-sales may prompt you to offer more product and sales training. These sessions offer an ideal opportunity for building and polishing skills that help customers feel understood.
As communications guru Dale Carnegie said, "When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity."
Five Steps to Helping Customers Feel Understood:
1. Prepare for customer interactions with information and focus.
2. Listen to your customer.
3. Acknowledge what you hear.
4. Communicate that you value your customer.
5. Involve the customer in the process and the solution.
Preparation includes gathering background information on customers with scheduled appointments; using demographics that focus on specific customer segments; and establishing rapport in your exchange.
The more you know about your customers, the better understood they'll feel. Today's micro-demographics provide more in-depth specifics than the broad categories of empty-nesters or dual-career couples, small business or middle market. Accessing this information will help you develop valuable rapport with your customers--rapport that goes beyond opening chitchat to a real connection.
Listening is an active, not a passive, behavior. Listening means making eye contact, focusing only on the customer and conveying respect as the customer speaks. And sometimes you'll find that all your customers really need is an opportunity to have their say. That done, they're ready to move on.
As you listen, acknowledge what you are hearing. This can be done nonverbally by nodding, smiling or relaxing your body posture. Use verbal cues such as, "Oh," "I see" and "I hear what you're saying." Sometimes you may want to clarify, "I think I hear you saying ..." The tone of your voice, too, says as much as the words you use.
Your listening should be affirming and sincere, without being patronizing. For instance, "You are feeling worried. Let's see what we should do." Don't try to argue customers out of their feelings or become defensive. That fuels ill will. Instead, convey that you value customers by allowing them their say.
Once you have listened, clarified and acknowledged hearing the customer, continue involving the customer in the process as you move into accomplishing a task or resolving a problem. Rather than saying, "Okay, here's what I'm going to do," you might, for example, suggest a couple of alternatives. Try to be flexible. And by keeping your customer involved in the process, you are giving the customer some ownership in the ultimate decision and solution.
If you're cross-selling, for example, instead of giving a monologue on your products, ask what problem the customer would like solved. Then you have the opportunity to offer a specific product as though it were custom-created rather than saying, "We have six types of ..."
Also, this approach can be used as you structure loans by involving customers in determining what best fits their needs while you gain needed credit information and documentation requirements. Your marketing department can be a great source for developing decision trees that customers can use as the basis for their selections.
Dale Carnegie reminds us, "You're doing well if you can make people think that what you've said is their idea." Your goal is an understood customer, not an understood service provider.
Try to keep away from giving the power to policy, too. You know the routine, "Our policy states ..." Instead, help your customers feel confident about what your firm says and do, so they don't hide behind policies.
Once you begin actively listening and involving your customers, you'll identify countless opportunities for helping customers feel understood and for cross-selling. For example, when a customer closes an account, find out why. Learn from what the customer tells you. When commercial lenders ask about a business's aging of receivables, use it as an opportunity to explain the customer's benefit in knowing and tracking such information.
When you learn in an interview that a customer has been approached by another financial institution, spend time gaining information, such as, "Why did you agree to the appointment? What was said that interested you?" The process helps your firm find out what you've been missing and it conveys that you value and care about your customer.
Understood Customers are Buyers
You may say, "These five steps seem to work. But wouldn't two steps be easier? Step one, customers express a need. Step two, we tell them what they must do and what we'll do. Job done?"
Sure, two steps might be easier, if both providers and customers weren't humans and if we didn't need customers as much as we do. The reality is that we're dealing with humans and you want customers to buy from your firm.
Max Dixon, a communications professor and coach, says, "People don't buy because they understand. They buy because they feel understood. When a consultant helps a customer feel understood, the consultant creates a buyer."
Five Steps for Effective Listening
1. Make eye contact and keep your body relaxed.
2. Convey respect.
3. Give the customer your full attention.
4. Confirm what you think you heard by saying, "I think I hear you saying..." or "It seems like you are feeling..."
5. Respond openly to customers, "You'd like to see this resolved..." "You're hoping to find a way to..." "You're looking for an account that will..."
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
How Good Are Your Communication Skills?
Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Reading Effectively
Communication skills are some of the most important skills that you need to succeed in the workplace.
We talk to people face to face, and we listen when people talk to us. We write emails and reports, and we read the documents that are sent to us. Communication, therefore, is a process that involves at least two people - a sender and a receiver. For it to be successful, the receiver must understand the message in the way that the sender intended.
This sounds quite simple. But have you ever been in a situation where this hasn't happened? Misunderstanding and confusion often occur, and they can cause enormous problems.
If you want to be an expert communicator, you need to be effective at all points in the communication process - and you must be comfortable with the different channels of communication. When you communicate well, you can be very successful. On the other hand, poor communicators struggle to develop their careers beyond a certain point.
Whenever you communicate effectively with someone else, you and the other person follow the steps of the communication process shown below.
Here, the person who is the source of the communication encodes it into a message, and transmits it through a channel. The receiver decodes the message, and, in one way or another, feeds back understanding or a lack of understanding to the source.
By understanding the steps in the process, you can become more aware of your role in it, recognize what you need to do to communicate effectively, anticipate problems before they happen, and improve your overall ability to communicate effectively.
The sections below help you do this, and help you improve the way you communicate at each stage of the process.
The Source - Planning Your Message
Before you start communicating, take a moment to figure out what you want to say, and why. Don't waste your time conveying information that isn't necessary - and don't waste the listener or reader's time either. Too often, people just keep talking or keep writing - because they think that by saying more, they'll surely cover all the points. Often, however, all they do is confuse the people they're talking to.
To plan your communication:
• Understand your objective. Why are you communicating?
• Understand your audience. With whom are you communicating? What do they need to know?
• Plan what you want to say, and how you'll send the message.
• Seek feedback on how well your message was received.
When you do this, you'll be able to craft a message that will be received positively by your audience.
Good communicators use the KISS ("Keep It Short and Simple") principle. They know that less is often more, and that good communication should be efficient as well as effective.
Encoding - Creating a Clear, Well-Crafted Message
When you know what you want to say, decide exactly how you'll say it. You're responsible for sending a message that's clear and concise. To achieve this, you need to consider not only what you'll say, but also how you think the recipient will perceive it.
We often focus on the message that we want to send and the way in which we'll send it. But if our message is delivered without considering the other person's perspective, it's likely that part of that message will be lost. To communicate more effectively:
• Understand what you truly need and want to say.
• Anticipate the other person's reaction to your message.
• Choose words and, if appropriate, use body language that helps the other person really hear what you're saying.
With written communication, make sure that what you write will be perceived the way you intend. Words on a page generally have no emotion - they don't "smile" or "frown" at you while you're reading them (unless you're a very talented writer, of course!)
When writing, take time to do the following:
• Review your style.
• Avoid jargon or slang.
• Check your grammar and punctuation.
• Check also for tone, attitude, nuance, and other subtleties. If you think the message may be misunderstood, it probably will. Take the time to clarify it!
• Familiarize yourself with your company's writing policies.
Another important consideration is to use pictures, charts, and diagrams wherever possible. As the saying goes, "a picture speaks a thousand words." Also, whether you speak or write your message, consider the cultural context. If there's potential for miscommunication or misunderstanding due to cultural or language barriers, address these issues in advance. Consult with people who are familiar with these, and do your research so that you're aware of problems you may face.
Choosing the Right Channel
Along with encoding the message, you need to choose the best communication channel to use to send it. You want to be efficient, and yet make the most of your communication opportunity.
Using email to send simple directions is practical. However, if you want to delegate a complex task, an email will probably just lead to more questions, so it may be best to arrange a time to speak in person. And if your communication has any negative emotional content, stay well away from email! Make sure that you communicate face to face or by phone, so that you can judge the impact of your words and adjust these appropriately.
When you determine the best way to send a message, consider the following:
• The sensitivity and emotional content of the subject.
• How easy it is to communicate detail.
• The receiver's preferences.
• Time constraints.
• The need to ask and answer questions.
Decoding - Receiving and Interpreting a Message
It can be easy to focus on speaking; we want to get our points out there, because we usually have lots to say. However, to be a great communicator, you also need to step back, let the other person talk, and just listen.
This doesn't mean that you should be passive. Listening is hard work, which is why effective listening is called active listening. To listen actively, give your undivided attention to the speaker:
• Look at the person.
• Pay attention to his or her body language.
• Avoid distractions.
• Nod and smile to acknowledge points.
• Occasionally think back about what the person has said.
• Allow the person to speak, without thinking about what you'll say next.
• Don't interrupt.
Empathic listening also helps you decode a message accurately. To understand a message fully, you have to understand the emotions and underlying feelings the speaker is expressing. This is where an understanding of body language can be useful.
Feedback
You need feedback, because without it, you can't be sure that people have understood your message. Sometimes feedback is verbal, and sometimes it's not. We've looked at the importance of asking questions and listening carefully. However, feedback through body language is perhaps the most important source of clues to the effectiveness of your communication. By watching the facial expressions, gestures, and posture of the person you're communicating with, you can spot:
• Confidence levels.
• Defensiveness.
• Agreement.
• Comprehension (or lack of understanding).
• Level of interest.
• Level of engagement with the message.
• Truthfulness (or lying/dishonesty).
As a speaker, understanding your listener's body language can give you an opportunity to adjust your message and make it more understandable, appealing, or interesting. As a listener, body language can show you more about what the other person is saying. You can then ask questions to ensure that you have, indeed, understood each other. In both situations, you can better avoid miscommunication if it happens.
Feedback can also be formal. If you're communicating something really important, it can often be worth asking questions of the person you're talking to, to make sure that they've understood fully. And if you're receiving this sort of communication, repeat it in your own words to check your understanding.
Finally:
It can take a lot of effort to communicate effectively. However, you need to be able to communicate well if you're going to make the most of the opportunities that life has to offer.
By learning the skills you need to communicate effectively, you can learn how to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively, and understand much more of the information that's conveyed to you.
As either a speaker or a listener, or as a writer or a reader, you're responsible for making sure that the message is communicated accurately. Pay attention to words and actions, ask questions, and watch body language. These will all help you ensure that you say what you mean, and hear what is intended.
Communication skills are some of the most important skills that you need to succeed in the workplace.
We talk to people face to face, and we listen when people talk to us. We write emails and reports, and we read the documents that are sent to us. Communication, therefore, is a process that involves at least two people - a sender and a receiver. For it to be successful, the receiver must understand the message in the way that the sender intended.
This sounds quite simple. But have you ever been in a situation where this hasn't happened? Misunderstanding and confusion often occur, and they can cause enormous problems.
If you want to be an expert communicator, you need to be effective at all points in the communication process - and you must be comfortable with the different channels of communication. When you communicate well, you can be very successful. On the other hand, poor communicators struggle to develop their careers beyond a certain point.
Whenever you communicate effectively with someone else, you and the other person follow the steps of the communication process shown below.
Here, the person who is the source of the communication encodes it into a message, and transmits it through a channel. The receiver decodes the message, and, in one way or another, feeds back understanding or a lack of understanding to the source.
By understanding the steps in the process, you can become more aware of your role in it, recognize what you need to do to communicate effectively, anticipate problems before they happen, and improve your overall ability to communicate effectively.
The sections below help you do this, and help you improve the way you communicate at each stage of the process.
The Source - Planning Your Message
Before you start communicating, take a moment to figure out what you want to say, and why. Don't waste your time conveying information that isn't necessary - and don't waste the listener or reader's time either. Too often, people just keep talking or keep writing - because they think that by saying more, they'll surely cover all the points. Often, however, all they do is confuse the people they're talking to.
To plan your communication:
• Understand your objective. Why are you communicating?
• Understand your audience. With whom are you communicating? What do they need to know?
• Plan what you want to say, and how you'll send the message.
• Seek feedback on how well your message was received.
When you do this, you'll be able to craft a message that will be received positively by your audience.
Good communicators use the KISS ("Keep It Short and Simple") principle. They know that less is often more, and that good communication should be efficient as well as effective.
Encoding - Creating a Clear, Well-Crafted Message
When you know what you want to say, decide exactly how you'll say it. You're responsible for sending a message that's clear and concise. To achieve this, you need to consider not only what you'll say, but also how you think the recipient will perceive it.
We often focus on the message that we want to send and the way in which we'll send it. But if our message is delivered without considering the other person's perspective, it's likely that part of that message will be lost. To communicate more effectively:
• Understand what you truly need and want to say.
• Anticipate the other person's reaction to your message.
• Choose words and, if appropriate, use body language that helps the other person really hear what you're saying.
With written communication, make sure that what you write will be perceived the way you intend. Words on a page generally have no emotion - they don't "smile" or "frown" at you while you're reading them (unless you're a very talented writer, of course!)
When writing, take time to do the following:
• Review your style.
• Avoid jargon or slang.
• Check your grammar and punctuation.
• Check also for tone, attitude, nuance, and other subtleties. If you think the message may be misunderstood, it probably will. Take the time to clarify it!
• Familiarize yourself with your company's writing policies.
Another important consideration is to use pictures, charts, and diagrams wherever possible. As the saying goes, "a picture speaks a thousand words." Also, whether you speak or write your message, consider the cultural context. If there's potential for miscommunication or misunderstanding due to cultural or language barriers, address these issues in advance. Consult with people who are familiar with these, and do your research so that you're aware of problems you may face.
Choosing the Right Channel
Along with encoding the message, you need to choose the best communication channel to use to send it. You want to be efficient, and yet make the most of your communication opportunity.
Using email to send simple directions is practical. However, if you want to delegate a complex task, an email will probably just lead to more questions, so it may be best to arrange a time to speak in person. And if your communication has any negative emotional content, stay well away from email! Make sure that you communicate face to face or by phone, so that you can judge the impact of your words and adjust these appropriately.
When you determine the best way to send a message, consider the following:
• The sensitivity and emotional content of the subject.
• How easy it is to communicate detail.
• The receiver's preferences.
• Time constraints.
• The need to ask and answer questions.
Decoding - Receiving and Interpreting a Message
It can be easy to focus on speaking; we want to get our points out there, because we usually have lots to say. However, to be a great communicator, you also need to step back, let the other person talk, and just listen.
This doesn't mean that you should be passive. Listening is hard work, which is why effective listening is called active listening. To listen actively, give your undivided attention to the speaker:
• Look at the person.
• Pay attention to his or her body language.
• Avoid distractions.
• Nod and smile to acknowledge points.
• Occasionally think back about what the person has said.
• Allow the person to speak, without thinking about what you'll say next.
• Don't interrupt.
Empathic listening also helps you decode a message accurately. To understand a message fully, you have to understand the emotions and underlying feelings the speaker is expressing. This is where an understanding of body language can be useful.
Feedback
You need feedback, because without it, you can't be sure that people have understood your message. Sometimes feedback is verbal, and sometimes it's not. We've looked at the importance of asking questions and listening carefully. However, feedback through body language is perhaps the most important source of clues to the effectiveness of your communication. By watching the facial expressions, gestures, and posture of the person you're communicating with, you can spot:
• Confidence levels.
• Defensiveness.
• Agreement.
• Comprehension (or lack of understanding).
• Level of interest.
• Level of engagement with the message.
• Truthfulness (or lying/dishonesty).
As a speaker, understanding your listener's body language can give you an opportunity to adjust your message and make it more understandable, appealing, or interesting. As a listener, body language can show you more about what the other person is saying. You can then ask questions to ensure that you have, indeed, understood each other. In both situations, you can better avoid miscommunication if it happens.
Feedback can also be formal. If you're communicating something really important, it can often be worth asking questions of the person you're talking to, to make sure that they've understood fully. And if you're receiving this sort of communication, repeat it in your own words to check your understanding.
Finally:
It can take a lot of effort to communicate effectively. However, you need to be able to communicate well if you're going to make the most of the opportunities that life has to offer.
By learning the skills you need to communicate effectively, you can learn how to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively, and understand much more of the information that's conveyed to you.
As either a speaker or a listener, or as a writer or a reader, you're responsible for making sure that the message is communicated accurately. Pay attention to words and actions, ask questions, and watch body language. These will all help you ensure that you say what you mean, and hear what is intended.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
ADEBOWALE JEFF JOHNSON
ADEBOWALE JEFF JOHNSON is a Human Resource Consultant. He is the founder/CEO Jeff Johnson Business Solutions and Jeff Johnson Business School. He is also a member, Board of Director, Grace House Worship Centre.
Prior to 2010, Adebowale has worked in over 5 consulting firms starting from Phillips Consulting Limited, Soft Skills Limited, People Prime Limited, SIAO and West Africa Capital Market School. He also worked with several other organisations in different capacity ranging from Human Resource Manager, Business Service Manager, Project Manager, Resource Consultant, Corporate Affairs Manager, and Training Consultant. He was involved in several national projects including the Ministry of Education Reform and the review of the NEEDS document. He is a speaker of national reforms and an HR Generalist. He was a team member on the Ministry of Finance, Lagos State retreat in 2009 and single handedly managed a Team Building retreat for RF Planning and Optimization Unit of MTN Nigeria in 2009 and 2010. He also took a class on Total Quality Management for the Federal Ministry of Power, Capacity Development for Local Government Chairmen and members of Local council commission and has facilitated several training sessions for small and medium scale organisations.
He is currently writing a paper to develop quantitative analysis and decision making with the use of data to develop business model that will enhance organizational performance. This paper has made him entre into the real estate market as a research analyst saddle with the mandate to research into all elements of the real estate industry in Lagos state.
He has spoken at several university campuses including University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology Minna, Udegbe North American University, Benin Republic and Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye. He is a teacher of Value, a writer and a great orator. He had been on radio several times speaking on several work related issues and motivation. He currently holds a page on TIMELESS magazine where he educates on several soft skills issues and business advisory.
With the passion to make the youths of Nigeria and Africa become great Leaders of the world, Adebowale Jeff Johnson has embarked on an Africa tour to engage the African youths in Leadership training, Root appreciation and Value driven life. His first stop was Benin Republic, in July 2009, in collaboration with GPH of Udegbe North American University.
His love for service excellence has made him take it upon himself the fight against poor customer service around the Nigerian service providers. This young man is willing to teach and train corporate organisations on how best to manage and sustain their customer base.
Prior to 2010, Adebowale has worked in over 5 consulting firms starting from Phillips Consulting Limited, Soft Skills Limited, People Prime Limited, SIAO and West Africa Capital Market School. He also worked with several other organisations in different capacity ranging from Human Resource Manager, Business Service Manager, Project Manager, Resource Consultant, Corporate Affairs Manager, and Training Consultant. He was involved in several national projects including the Ministry of Education Reform and the review of the NEEDS document. He is a speaker of national reforms and an HR Generalist. He was a team member on the Ministry of Finance, Lagos State retreat in 2009 and single handedly managed a Team Building retreat for RF Planning and Optimization Unit of MTN Nigeria in 2009 and 2010. He also took a class on Total Quality Management for the Federal Ministry of Power, Capacity Development for Local Government Chairmen and members of Local council commission and has facilitated several training sessions for small and medium scale organisations.
He is currently writing a paper to develop quantitative analysis and decision making with the use of data to develop business model that will enhance organizational performance. This paper has made him entre into the real estate market as a research analyst saddle with the mandate to research into all elements of the real estate industry in Lagos state.
He has spoken at several university campuses including University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology Minna, Udegbe North American University, Benin Republic and Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye. He is a teacher of Value, a writer and a great orator. He had been on radio several times speaking on several work related issues and motivation. He currently holds a page on TIMELESS magazine where he educates on several soft skills issues and business advisory.
With the passion to make the youths of Nigeria and Africa become great Leaders of the world, Adebowale Jeff Johnson has embarked on an Africa tour to engage the African youths in Leadership training, Root appreciation and Value driven life. His first stop was Benin Republic, in July 2009, in collaboration with GPH of Udegbe North American University.
His love for service excellence has made him take it upon himself the fight against poor customer service around the Nigerian service providers. This young man is willing to teach and train corporate organisations on how best to manage and sustain their customer base.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Obasanjo, Beachland Estate And Unbridled Corruption
President Olusegun Obasanjo since 1999 has said severally that his government will work relentlessly to curb the menace of corruption that has systematically led to the development of underdevelopment. In his maiden speech, president Obasanjo said nothing will be spared in the war against corruption, and that there will be no untouchables. But in the fight against corruption, the president that has presided over the affairs of NNPC since 1999, but has not explained the missing N311billion that should have been paid into the revenue account, and Nigerians are eagerly waiting to know what actually happened to the said amount. Secondly, it was reported that N84billion was missing in NPA, involving a bigwig of the ruling PDP, hence, the EFCC has been lily-livered to make public its findings since, the main dramatis personae is an alter-ego of the president, again, Nigerians want to know what really happened in NPA. Also, where is the N6.4billion that was collected for the controversial presidential library that is adjudged to be illegal?
Also, Chief Dan Etete, who recently came to the country to do some hatchet jobs for the president to smear the integrity and credibility of vice president Atiku Abubakar, in 2002, in some foreign newspapers published a very interesting rapacious and graft story about president Obasanjo, according to Etete, "Obasanjo must not hold the view that Nigeria have very short memory or that they do not care. How does he explain his attempts to dispossess his erstwhile friend, Chief Egunjobi, of the Beach Land Estate? In his first coming as Head of State, he claims he built the estate and on leaving office he took his former friend Chief Egunjobi to court and shamelessly proclaimed that he used the latter as a front. He did not tell the court, as Nigerians wanted to know, how he came by the money to build the estate. The court saw through him and struck out his law suit. Two issues immediately arose from the outcome of this escapade. The first is the serial nature of the activities which we believe reflect Obasanjo's corruption. Having claimed before a Nigerian law court the Estate belonged to him; he must answer the question as to where he got the resources to build it? His salary and allowances, while in office, are known to Nigerians. The court refused to be deceived and with him unwilling to declare the sources of the finance for the Beach Land Estate, the court made it clear he did not prove he owned the Estate. The other matter arising from this episode is the character of General Obasanjo is a covetous person. He must own what he sees and he sees and likes even if it means illegally dispossessing the rightful owner. It could have been he saw Chief Egunjobi's beach land estate; he liked it and therefore, wanted it. In his characteristic style, coveted it and Bingo, it had to be his. The only limitation at the time is that he forgot he was no longer Head of State. When it dawned on him, he wondered what to do, he chose the option of litigation, half forgetting there were judges who guard their integrity jealously in Nigeria." However, Obasanjo has since taken over the ownership of the contentious estate, but the fact remains, where did he get the money to build that massive estate?
In a similar development, a group called Nigeria Anti-corruption Collective has asked the president some very salient questions that bother on his crude acquisitive proclivities of the collective patrimony of the Nigerian people. The posers go thus, who owns Ajaokuta Steel Mills, Delta Steel Complex, Jos Steel Rolling Mills, Oshogbo Machine Tools and Itakpe Iron Ore Company? Who is deceiving whom? Who is the largest shareholder in UBA? Who bought out the shares of Akeem Bello-Osagie and threatened him with arrest and imprisonment? Who was the largest shareholder in First Interstate Bank Ltd, before the merger into Unity Bank? Who owns the majority shares in Virgin Nigeria? Who gave the airline special facilities at the international wings of our airports at the cost of N400million? Why does Virgin Nigeria not pay parking and landing fees and purchase aviation fuel at a discount, while at the same time competing in the same market with other local airlines? Why should one man set up Transcorp, devalue our national assets, obstruct free and fair competition and sell everything to himself and family? If not, why did Transcorp purchase almost the entire NITEL for $750million, when Globacom bidded $1.2billion for the same property? Not too long earlier, Vmobile sold a fraction of its shares for $1.2billion. How could all of NITEL with a vast net worth of digital exchanges, armoured cables, three international gateways, among others, sell for only $750million? This one man operates six farms in six states of the federation. What is the source of the funds for these massive investments? What is the deal between this one man with the owner of Mittal of India? Why the hurry in granting Block 246 to the Indian conglomerate? Is Nigeria for sale?
Apart from the numerous unanswered questions posed by the group above, the following questions have asked Mr. President, who is the real owner of Obajana cement factory? Who is the owner of Eleme Petrochemicals? Who has the largest shares in Arik Air? Why did the government sell the Nigeria Airway Hanger to this airline not through bidding, negotiation? Why did government allocate lucrative international routes to Arik Air even before it bought planes for operation, when other existing airlines doing very in the country were denied such a priviledge? Who are the people that import fuel into the country since 1999? Who has the largest shares in Transcorp? How was NICON HILTON HOTEL Abuja acquired by Transcorp? What is EFCC doing about the Israeli arms deal where some government official made about $100million for themselves? What is EFCC doing about the tokunbo presidential planes that were bought as new? Where is the report into the probe of COJA? Where is the report on Mantu, about he mismanaged the haji N400million funds?
The fact of the matter is that, until this questions are vividly answered we cannot claim to be fighting corruption, this is because, this are cases that concern the president directly and Nigeria wants categorical answers on them. It is also very important to point out that, the EFCC is the creation of the president, he appoints the chairman of the anti-graft body, he approves its funding, also, when cases are to be investigated it gets the nod of the president, in the same token, after investigations are completed, the findings and conclusions are submitted to the president for his perusal, in this type of situation, it becomes very difficult for the EFCC to do a very thorough job, it can not be in any way independent, it does what the president wants it to do, and what the president does not want, it will never do. It is in this regard that, EFCC has been aptly described as a tool in the hands of the president to deal with perceived political enemies in a dirty game of political intrigue and vendetta. And, without missing words, this is what has played out in the last few months with regards to EFCC investigation on the PTDF account, this is because, not only is the report lopsided, it is illogical, incoherent and does not add up. Therefore, it can be said that, the fight against corruption as been politized, which has made nonsense of all the attempts to rid the polity of the deadly scourge.
It is, however, very important that the president answer in full details all the questions asked and in the full glare of the public, in addition to this both public and private investigators should be asked to dig deep into the numerous disturbing and worrisome allegations against the president. The president has always carried on as if he is a saint, but in reality, he is no more than a sanctimonious wog, a lot of lip and eye services have been paid to the issue of corruption in Nigeria. Those who claim to be fighting corruption are more corrupt than those they claim are corrupt, and than this the bane of the country today.
By
Jide Ayobolu
jideayobolu@yahoo.co.uk
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Why Commercials Before Movies Is Worse Than Piracy
Being subjected to advertising is just something we’ve come to expect in our daily routines, and for most of us, we’ve become so conditioned to various advertising methods that we don’t even think twice about it. There is nothing wrong with advertising in and of itself. It’s how we learn about products, services and entertainment. Advertising is also the big main source of revenue for things we hold dear like television and The Movie Blog (which is 100% funded by advertising), so I’m certainly never going to rail on the evils of advertising.
However, advertising in movie theaters is a topic that has been brought up here on The Movie Blog more than a few times, and a recent report by the Cinema Advertising Council in the New York Post begs us to once again revisit the issue. We’ve all figured that commercials playing in movie theaters was worth a lot of money… but did you realize its worth almost HALF A BILLION DOLLARS? The IMDB gives us this:
Revenue from in-theater advertising rose more than 15 percent to $456 million from $395 million a year ago… The Post quoted CAC Chairman Cliff Marks as expressing the belief that moviegoers are becoming “more accepting” of screen advertising. A recent Arbitron poll indicated that two-thirds of moviegoers “don’t mind” the ads.
Don’t mind the ads? DON’T MIND THE ADS???
First, I should mention here that I don’t mind the idea of movie theaters making money. It’s a business. They exist to make money, and if they can find new creative ways to generate money then I say more power to them. If they can come up with new ways to get my money while providing me with some new service or product that I’m willing to pay for… then good for them.
Second, there are types of advertising in movie theaters I “don’t mind”. For example, if the movie is supposed to start at 7pm and I get into my seat at 6:45pm, I really don’t mind commercials and ads being shown on the screen until showtime. I’m just sitting there anyway, it’s not taking away from my time since the show isn’t advertised to start for another 15 minutes… so really… showing ads in that vacuum is no skin off my nose, it gives me something to look at while I wait, and it generates some income for the theaters. GREAT! It’s a win/win for everyone.
But you don’t have to have a degree in advertising to know that the bulk of that $456 million in ad money doesn’t come from those “pre-show” commercials. Oh no no no no… most of that money comes from the ads I LOATHE. The commercials (not trailers… I like those) that they start playing at the time they advertised the MOVIE was supposed to start.
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating.
- When you take my money for popcorn, at least I’m getting a tasty treat
- When you take my cash at the box office, I’m getting to come in to watch the movie
- When you take my time for commercials on TV, I’m getting a “free”
But what are we getting for our time with commercials in movie theaters? When the ad says “Movie starts at 7pm” and I’m in my seat (that I paid admission for) at 7pm, it’s time for you to start giving me what I paid you for… the movie. If you want to show me commercials, fine… give me the movie for free then.
The theater industry is pulling in RECORD amounts of income from those commercials, and unlike TV (where we get a free show), WE GET NOTHING IN RETURN FOR OUR TIME SITTING THERE WHEN THE MOVIE IS SUPPOSED TO START.
I don’t mind theaters making money off me when I get a product, service or entertainment in return… but commercials playing at 7pm when you told me the movie would be starting is doing nothing but STEALING my time. You are taking from me without giving anything in return. HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM ONLINE MOVIE PIRACY!?!?
When we download a movie without giving the movie industry anything in return, they call that a crime (and it is). But when the industry takes our time (sometimes up to 15 or 20 minutes) without giving us anything for that time in return they call it “smart marketing”.
How about I start calling pirating movies “Smart Shopping”. Will piracy be considered ok then?
Remember, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE SOME DAY. That means time has value, and when anything else in life takes your time, you get compensated in one form or another. Let’s think of it this way.
TIME
I see approximately 8 films in theater each month. At about 15 minutes of commercials per film (remember, these are ads that begin to play at the movie advertised start time), I end up spending about 2 hours per month watching ads in theaters uncompensated. That’s 24 hours, or a full day of uncompensated ad watching in a year.
MONEY
I’m not a doctor or lawyer, so let’s say my time is worth a measly $20/hour. Since I spent about 24 hours watching uncompensated ads in theaters last year, I figure the movie industry owes me about $480 out of that Half Billion they made last year off my time. Seems fair.
The principle for piracy and time theft is the same. Taking an asset (a movie, or your time) without providing the due compensation for taking that asset. So where do we start the class action lawsuit?
If you tell me the movie starts at 7pm, then when I PAY YOU to get into the movies, there is an implied contract that you give me what I paid for… a movie at 7pm. When you instead put up 15-20 minutes of commercials at 7pm you are stealing my time, and also stealing MY SHARE OF THAT $456 MILLION you made off my time.
So the next time you’re pirating a movie (which is neither something I do nor endorse), let that ease your conscience, because although you’re stealing the $10 you would have paid in admission… they probably owe you about $150 for stolen ad time anyway.
Economics Of The Movie Theater – Where The Money Goes And Why It Costs Us So Much
The attention and interest generated by the article I put up the other day on Why Commercials Before Movies Is Worse Than Piracy continues to generate a lot of discussion (and so the topic should). One of the recurring emails I’ve been getting from a lot of people is the question about why it costs so much to go to the movie theater(in light of the commercials and ad revenue the industry is making for itself), where does the money go and how do we make this stop?
Much of what I’m writing here now is a lot of paraphrasing from a chapter in my abandoned book project from a few years ago. But here’s the gist:
Much of what I’m writing here now is a lot of paraphrasing from a chapter in my abandoned book project from a few years ago. But here’s the gist:
1) Who Gets What From Your $10
Ok, so you walk up to the box office and drop down your $10 to buy your ticket. Who gets that money? A lot of people assume (as did I at one point) that the movie theater keeps 50% of it, and the rest goes off to the studios. That’s not really true.
Most of the money that a theatre takes in from ticket sales goes back to the movie studio. The studio leases a movie to your local theater for a set period of time. In the first couple of weeks the film shows in the theatre, the theatre itself only gets to keep about 20% – 25% of the green. That means, if you showed up to watch Bridget Jones’ Diary on opening night, then of the $12 you put out for a ticket, the movie theatre only got to keep between $2.40 and $3.00 of it.
That’s not a lot of money, especially when you think about how much bigger and elaborate theatres are these days. It’s not cheap running one of these places. It can get even worse. This percentage will vary from movie to movie depending on the specifics of the individual leasing deal. For instance, 2 movie theatre managers told me that for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the studio took 100% of the box office take for the first week of release. Can you imagine that? They had to over staff and have above normal capacity flood into their theatres… and they got to keep $0.00 from the ticket sales. That almost seems criminal.
Now, as you move into the second and third weeks of release, the percentage starts to swing to anywhere from 45% – 55% that the theatre gets to keep. It gets better after the fourth week when theatres generally can keep up to 80% or better of the ticket sales. There is an obvious inherent problem with this arrangement. I don’t know about you, but when I finally get around to seeing a film that’s already been in the theatres for 4 or 5 weeks, I’m usually one of the only people in the place. It doesn’t do the establishment a lot of good to keep 80% of the ticket sales when only 14 tickets are sold per show. And with more and more and more movies getting released every week, the length of time that a movie stays in theaters is shrinking. Bad news for the movie theaters.
Movie theaters are then forced to really make their money off concessions. One theater manager said “We’re not in the movie business… we’re in the candy business”. Very true. So if you ever wondered why a $0.15 bag of popcorn is costing you $5, and a $0.08 cup of Coke is running you another $4… it’s because the economics of the industry system is so screwed up that the concession stand is where theaters have to make most of their money.
2) The Cost Of Making
With the cost of today’s movies getting higher and higher, the studios leverage their position with the theaters to squeeze more and more out of the arrangement mentioned in point #1. 10 years ago they weren’t paying
This is directly tied to how much you and I pay at the box office, and thus tied to why popcorn has to cost so much, and thus tied to why we see commercials. The higher the costs go for for making films, the higher my costs will be to enjoy a night at the theater. Sure, Transformers made tons of money… but the studios have to squeeze us for everything they can get to make up for their flops… their films that DON’T make money.
And people always wonder why I get so pissed off whenever I think about
3) The Organism of the Studio/Theater Relationship
To really make sense of all this, you have to step back and look at the Studios and the
The studios spend too much money making movies (and make too many movies), they squeeze as much box office revenue as they can from the
Do you see what happens? Look over #3 again. Ultimately, the studios don’t have to learn from their mistakes, theaters don’t have to manage themselves smarter… because as costs and losses and expenditure add up… they just keep passing off the bill to us. We pay for their mismanagement and spiraling costs. Why should they change anything or fix anything when they know that we’ll just pay more to make up for their mistakes.
We pay for their mismanagement with our high ticket prices.
We pay for their mad decisions with $6 bags of popcorn
We pay for
All the while the industry continues happily along its downward spiral feeling no ill effects of their stupidity… because they’ve taken those ill effects and shoved them up our rectums for US to deal with.
4) The Solution Has To Start With The
If this insanity is ever going to stop… if change in the economics of going to the movies is going to ever happen, I’m convinced it will have to first start with the theaters. Movie theaters have to better organizes themselves and collectively stand up the the Studio system and REFUSE to let 80% of the box office dollar for a films first week of release go flying out the door to Hollywood. By not standing up collectively, the movie theaters act as complicit enablers to the studios behavior.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THEATER OWNER ASSOCIATIONS REFUSED TO GIVE ANY MORE THAN 50% OF OPENING WEEK BOX OFFICE MONEY TO THE STUDIOS? I’ll tell you what would happen:
a – Studios would be forced to SERIOUSLY look at their own economics and financial responsibility. There would be no more $25 million dollar pay days for B string actors
b –
c – With added revenue from the actual box office, the pressure on theaters to add more ads, to raise ticket prices, to jack up popcorn costs… would be at least a little bit alleviated.
It has to be a collective effort by the theater owners or else the studios will just refuse to give their movies to the stubborn theaters and give all the business to others. If the Theater Owner associations collectively said “no”, the studios would have no choice but to start to fix their leaky boat
5) Why Not Going To The
Some people will say “Well then let’s not go to the movie theaters until we force them to change”. That will NEVER work, because as I’ve demonstrated above, when there are financial losses, the current industry system just takes back those loses from those who are buying the tickets. They’ll blame piracy for the dip in thater attendance and raise prices even more. It’s a systemic problem.
And if you think you’re safe from these rises and gouges because you just watch movies at home on DVD…. guess where the systemic problem will strike next once they’ve bleed the theater goers as much as they possibly can?
You see… the answer to all the current systems problems is to take more from us. Thus, the system itself has to change, the the theaters are the ones who have to start it.
Just some late night ramblings. Take it as you will.
Federal ministries duplicate projects' budgets
The Niger Delta and Environment Ministries have been asked to convene an emergency meeting to reconcile discrepancies uncovered in projects proposed for execution under the 2010 budget appropriation.
The Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to the promotion of transparency and accountability in government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), yesterday accused the two ministries of not taking steps to correct observed lapses in their 2010 budget proposals despite previous complaints.
The Ministry of Environment had published advertorials last Monday inviting tenders from contractors and consultants for the execution of various erosion and flood projects located in various parts of the country as part of its 2010 capital projects.
George-Hill Anthony, executive director, NDEBUMOG, claimed in a petition to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) yesterday that "many of the advertised projects are duplicated and already listed for the Niger Delta Ministry."
Some of the projects advertised for tenders include the erosion/flood control Project along Nassarawa Ekabo Road, in Calabar, Cross River state listed A37 under Lot A; erosion control works along Marine Beach, Calabar (B4) Lot B; sand filling/shoreline protection at Tombia (Iwoama) Rivers state (B10), and Adiabo erosion control, Cross River state (B39).
Double projects
The Tombia sand filling/shore line protection project listed under the Federal Ministry of Environment is duplicated in the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs 2010 Budget under the Chat of Account -0710000010290000 with a contract value of N100million, while other projects listed for execution of the Environment Ministry are also under the consideration of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
Mr. Anthony said in Abuja that his group is afraid government risks losing billions of Naira if the projects were awarded to contractors through the ministries' in-house procurement processes without being subjected to approval guidelines, considering that they are below the cost margin or threshold approved for them by BPP.
It was learnt yesterday that the duplication also involves the Niger Delta "State of Environment Report" on which the Federal Ministry of Environment plans to spend N15 million, despite another N600million appropriated for a similar purpose by the Niger Delta ministry.
The report is an exercise to audit the Niger Delta environment to establish impacted sites, products pipeline networks, and other such locations in the region.
Lame defence
But, following NDEBUMOG's alarm, the Permanent Secretary of the Niger Delta ministry has already directed the director in charge of environment to immediately convene a meeting with the relevant authorities in the Environment Ministry to review and reconcile the duplication.
"The ministries have agreed that the implementation of some of the projects being proposed to the BOF under the Medium Term Sectoral Strategy (MTSS) for 2011 and 2015 are obviously beyond the number of projects the Niger Delta Ministry's budget can accommodate," a ministry official said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter.
"Some of the projects, like the Tombia Shoreline protection projects, which have about 10 components, is so long, and cannot be handled with the Ministry of Environment budget alone. Some of these projects have not only overlapped, but are not even labelled. That is why one project could be credited to more than one ministry," the official added.
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