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Submitted by William Miller
A bird feeder bandit caught in the act.
Best of luck with that forecast Insisting employees address customers in a formal and respectful tone is one way for a business to improve its image.
How to improve your company image
M
any people are familiar with the conventional wisdom about first impressions. When you only have one chance to make a first impression, it’s a good idea to make the most of that opportunity. But not every first impression inspires fond memories, and while erasing a bad first impression might be impossible, that does not mean a second impression can’t trump its predecessor. That’s especially true for businesses. Businesses typically experience a few stumbles out of the gate, and sometimes those stumbles coincide with a customer’s first encounter with a business. When such encounters hurt a business’ image, a business owner can employ various strategies to restore that image and increase the likelihood that future interactions with customers go as smoothly as possible. Look the part. A T-shirt and flip-flops may be your ideal outfit, but such attire is rarely appropriate in a professional atmosphere. First-time customers who see employees decked out in less formal attire may feel the company also takes a lax attitude toward its work, so avoid fashion that might give the wrong impression. Prioritize positive customer service. Many businesses suffer from bad word of mouth that’s spread when past customers share horror stories of negative experiences with company employees. Such a problem is easily remedied by prioritizing customer service. This includes emphasizing that those who answer the phones always address customers respectfully and, when responding to emails or engaging in online chats, write professional responses that steer clear of informal language. Customers often understand that a product may malfunction, but poor customer service is inexplicable and will reduce the likelihood that a customer will become a repeat customer. Commission a better website. Today’s consumers often rely on the Internet to connect with a business. Consumers
may want to peruse a restaurant’s menu before booking a reservation or view a retailer’s online catalogue before walking into the store. A good website can be a tremendous asset to a business, while a bad website can drive customers away before they spend so much as a dollar. A good website is informative and easy to navigate. Restaurant owners should include some photos of their establishment on the site to show customers the type of ambiance they can expect when dining. The site’s URL should include only the name of the restaurant, which makes it easy for potential customers to find the site when using a search engine. If the name you prefer is already taken by a similarly named establishment in another region, then include your state or city in the URL, such as JoesPizzaNY.com. If you are not skilled at building websites, hire a professional firm to build the site for you. Such an investment will likely pay for itself sooner rather than later and will increase the chances that customers’ first impressions are good ones. Establish a social media presence. Another way to rehabilitate or improve a business’ image is to establish a social media presence that connects the business with existing and potential customers. Use the various social media platforms in different ways. A Facebook page can explain the history of the company, while Twitter can be used to alert followers to special promotions or events. Social media can also be used to solicit customer feedback, which can be used to ensure you are meeting your customers’ needs and adapting to meet those needs when necessary. A business that listens to and actively engages its customers is more likely to have a positive image than one that does not, and social media can be the tool businesses use to connect with those customers. A poor first impression can be difficult to overcome, but companies can take several steps to regain consumer trust.
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sion started in 1929 as a After the Yalta Conbad recession and a stock ference near the end of market crash — the latter World War II, Franklin of which was a sideshow Roosevelt was asked by because so few Americans a reporter if the meeting owned stocks. It didn’t of Allied leaders laid the get devastating until 1931, foundation for enduring when the banking peace. Roosevelt system began to fail. — sick, tired and Why did it fail? weeks from death A lot of reasons, but — replied: “I can one was an Austrian answer that quesbank called Credtion if you can it-Anstalt. In 1931, tell me who your Credit-Anstalt was descendants will weakening under be in the year 2057. Morgan bad loans. One of We can look as far its directors, Zolahead as humanity Housel believes in this sort Motley Fool tan Hajdu, refused to sign off on its of thing.” books until its assets were In hindsight, we re-evaluated. This caused know Europe would panic, which caused remain mostly peaceful depositors to demand for decades. But no one their money back, which knew that at the time. caused the bank to colThe actual outcome was lapse. Credit-Anstalt was one of a million differtaken over by the Ausent scenarios that could trian government, which have played out. What terrified Vienna and lit a if Hitler escaped, then full-blown banking panic. regained power? What if Bloomberg’s Peter Coy Germany built an atomic describes what happened bomb? What if the Cold next: War turned into a nuclear “The Viennese panic war? There are so many brought down banks in realistic alternative histoAmsterdam and Warsaw. ries that a wise man like In June and July the scare Roosevelt just laughs off spread to Germany, and the question of predicting a long-term outcome. The from there immediately to Latvia, Turkey and Egypt documentary “How to Live Forever” asked cente- (and within a few months to England and the United narians what the happiest States).” day of their life was. One In 1931, The Economist 104-year-old said Armiwrote of a “widening stice Day — the end of circle of distrust and World War I — because financial difficulty that her family was certain commenced to spread it meant lasting peace through Europe with the in Europe. The amazing failure of Credit-Anstalt.” thing isn’t how wrong she Economist Roland Vaubel was; it’s realizing how easily she could have been wrote that the “collapse right, and what that would of (Credit-Anstalt) set a chain reaction in motion: have meant for the 20th the run on the German century. banks, the withdrawals History is full of these things: Very realistic, very from London, the largescale withdrawals from different outcomes that New York and another never happened because series of bank failures in of chance. the United States.” I think about this a It makes you wonder: lot with investing. More What if Credit-Anstalt investors are digging was run by more compethrough reams of historic data to study how markets tent people? What if the Austrian government led a work and what to expect in the future. I do it, too. It more orderly bailout? It’s entirely possible the worst beats relying on your gut. of the Great Depression But the data we have tells would have been avoided. the story of one outcome If it were, every economout of an infinite number ics textbook, every stock of possibilities. Worse, market model, every there are a handful of return assumption, every really important events that changed the course of worst-case scenario forecast today would look difinvesting and economics ferent — all because a guy over the last century, and named Zoltan had a bad all of them could have day 84 years ago. easily turned out differOr take the recent ently. Take the Great Depres- financial crisis. It got ugly when Lehman Brothers sion. It was the biggest collapsed, smashing the economic tragedy in modern history. But for its confidence of the world first year it wasn’t obvious financial system. But Lehman Brothers was almost that it would be all that saved by British bank bad. The Great Depres-
Barclays, which offered to buy Lehman with government support. Alas, the deal was dashed by a legal technicality. Ben Bernanke wrote in his memoir: “Under British law, Barclays would not be allowed to guarantee Lehman’s liabilities until after the acquisition was approved by Barclays’ shareholders, a process that could take weeks or months. ... Hank (Paulson) appealed to his British counterpart, Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, for a waiver of the shareholder approval requirement. Darling refused to cooperate, on the grounds that suspending the rule would be ‘overriding the rights of millions of shareholders.’” It makes you wonder: What if a waiver was approved? Laws were bypassed left and right during the crisis. If a waiver was granted, the post-Lehman trauma that sent unemployment to 10 percent may have been avoided. And today’s Lehman-inspired obsession with risk — Black Swans, fat tails, too big to fail, hedging, reform — would sound far different, all because a guy named Alistair wasn’t open to change on a sunny September day. This can go on and on. What if Alexander Fleming hadn’t discovered penicillin? What if the Soviet Union didn’t collapse? What if Steve Jobs didn’t get cancer? What if Barack Obama did? What if Bill Clinton killed Osama bin Laden in 1998, when the U.S. military knew where he was? What if Saddam Hussein turned himself in in 2003, avoiding a trillion-dollar war? What if the Taliban turned Bin Laden over in 2001, avoiding another trillion-dollar war? What if a handful of Floridians voted differently in 2000, Al Gore became president, and those trillions were spent on something else? That’s all imaginary. But it’s all easily within the realm of possibility, which should give anyone trying to predict the future by weaving together the past a giant smack of humility. But here’s the thing: It doesn’t. Last week I read a headline that asked, “The World in 2050: Will the shift in global economic power continue?” I can answer that question if you can tell me who your descendants will be in the year 2127.
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