Monday, March 31, 2008

Skills Management

Skills Management is the practice of understanding, developing and deploying people and their skills. Well-implemented skills management should identify the skills that job roles require, the skills of individual employees, and any gap between the two.

Benefits to the Employees

Skills management provides a structured approach to developing individual and collective skills, and gives a common vocabulary for discussing skills. As well as this general benefit, three groups of employees receive specific benefits from skills management.

Individual Employees
As a result of skills management, employees should be aware of the skills their job requires, and any skills gaps that they have. Depending on their employer, it may also result in a personal development plan (PDP) of training to bridge some or all of those skills gaps over a given period.

Line Managers
Skills management enables managers to know the skill strengths and weaknesses of employees reporting to them. It can also enable them to search for employees with particular skill sets.

Organization Executives
A rolled-up view of skills and skills gaps across an organization can enable its executives to see areas of skill strength and weakness. This enables them to plan for the future against the current and future abilities of staff, as well as to prioritize areas for skills development.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Tips for the tenants who are moving to the apartments

There are 10 tips for the tenants who are planning to move to austin apartments for the first time.

Documentation of issues:
The best way to win over a prospective landlord is to get prepared for the documentation. To get a competitive edge over other applicants, bring the following when you meet the landlord: a completed rental application; written references from landlords, employers, and colleagues; and a current copy of your credit report.

Review the terms and conditions of the lease:
Carefully review all of the conditions of the tenancy before you sign on the dotted line. Your lease or rental agreement may contain a provision that you find unacceptable -- for example, restrictions on guests, pets, design alterations, or running a home business.

Get everything in writing:
To avoid disputes or misunderstandings with your landlord, get everything in writing. Keep copies of any correspondence and follow up an oral agreement with a letter, setting out your understandings.

Protect your security deposit:
To protect yourself and avoid any misunderstandings, make sure your lease or rental agreement is clear on the use and refund of security deposits, including allowable deductions. When you move in, do a walk-through with the landlord to record existing damage to the premises on a move-in statement or checklist.

Protect your privacy rights:
Next to disputes over rent or security deposits, one of the most common and emotion-filled misunderstandings arises over the tension between a landlord's right to enter a rental unit and a tenant's right to be left alone. If you understand your privacy rights it will be easier to protect them.

Protect your safety:
Learn whether your building and neighborhood are safe, and what you can expect your landlord to do about it if they aren't. Get copies of any state or local laws that require safety devices such as deadbolts and window locks, check out the property's vulnerability to intrusion by a criminal, and learn whether criminal incidents have already occurred on the property or nearby. If a crime is highly likely, your landlord may be obligated to take some steps to protect yourself

Purchase renter’s insurance:
This is the most important aspect that the tenant should compulsorily do. Your landlord's insurance policy will not cover your losses due to theft or damage. Renters' insurance also covers you if someone who claims to have been injured in your rental due to your carelessness sues you. Renters' insurance typically costs $350 a year for a $50,000 policy that covers loss due to theft or damage caused by other people or natural disasters; if you don't need that much coverage, there are cheaper policies.

Demand repairs:
The vast majority of landlords at apartments in atlanta are required to offer their tenants livable premises, including adequate weatherproofing; heat, water, and electricity; and clean, sanitary, and structurally safe premises. If your rental unit is not kept in good repair, you have a number of options, ranging from withholding a portion of the rent, to paying for repairs and deducting the cost from your rent, to calling the building inspector (who may order the landlord to make repairs), to moving out without liability for your future rent.

Deal with an eviction properly:
Know when to fight an eviction notice -- and when to move. If you feel the landlord is clearly is the wrong, you may want to fight the eviction. But unless you have the law and provable facts on your side, fighting an eviction notice can be shortsighted. If you lose an eviction lawsuit, you may end up hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt, which will damage your credit rating and your ability to easily rent from future landlords.

Talk to your landlord:
Keep communication open with your landlord. In order to overcome the problems if any,

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Rules for a Good Customer service

Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. It is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer for them and in their turn become repeat customers. If you’re a good salesperson, you can sell anything to anyone once. But it will be your approach to customer service that determines whether or not you’ll ever be able to sell that person anything else. The essence of good customer service is forming a relationship with customers – a relationship that individual customer feels that he would like to pursue. If you truly want to have good customer service, all you have to do is ensure that your business consistently does these things:
Answer your phone: Get call forwarding or an answering service. Hire staff if you need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business.
Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them: Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. Otherwise, don’t say it. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc. Think before you give any promise – because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.
Listen to your customers: Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem etc.
Deal with complaints: No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, “You can’t please all the people all the time”. Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time - and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service. Be helpful - even if there’s no immediate profit in it. Train your staff to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.
Train your staff by yourself or hire someone to train them: Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn’t) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to say, “I don’t know, but so-and-so will be back at...”
Take the extra step: Lead the customer to the item. Better yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people.
Throw in something extra: Whether it’s a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting. And don’t think that a gesture has to be large to be effective.
If you apply these simple rules consistently, your business will become known for its good customer service. The irony of good customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price slashing. If you truly want to have good customer service, all you have to do is ensure that your business consistently does all the things noticed.