MANAGING AND

MAINTAINING SMALL AND

MEDIUM BUSINESS
OPERATIONS (LEVEL IV)

July,2012
 LO1 IDENTIFY DAILY WORK REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete your work tasks effectively you need to know what
your organization’s requirements are. Organizational requirements can
include things like ethical standards, business and performance plans as
well as goals, objectives, systems and processes.
 You will need to work within these requirements if you are to complete
work tasks to the standard required of your organization. Hence, follow
the following:
 Complete tasks within designated time lines and in accordance with
organizational requirements and instructions
 Use effective questioning to seek assistance from colleagues when
difficulties arise in achieving allocated tasks
 Identify factors affecting work requirements and take appropriate action
 Use business technology efficiently and effectively to complete work
tasks
 Communicate progress of task to supervisor or colleagues as required

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4.2 Prioritizing work activities and meeting deadlines
Tips for getting more out of your time by prioritizing your work:
1. Have a strategy
An effective strategy will help to keep you focused and avoid distractions from
activities that don’t fit with what you are ultimately trying to accomplish.
2. Recognize what makes you money
The important thing here is that you recognize the significance of activities
according to how much money they can produce for you. Make sure that
you are dedicating the majority of your time to things that will make you
successful.
3. Set goals
One way to keep yourself on track and working on the most important
activities is to set goals.
4. Schedule your time
Once you have set your goals, schedule your time accordingly so that you will
give yourself the chance to achieve those goals. Scheduling your time for
specific activities can help you to reduce the amount of unproductive time,
and it will force you to decide what work is most important and worthy of
your time. 3
5. Use to-do lists
It is found that using a to-do list is one of the best things for productivity. Each
day there are so many different things fighting for our time. But with a to-
do list we always know what is most critical and what we need to get done
first. If
6. Focus on one project at a time
Most of us have ideas for more things than we can ever accomplish. It’s
always tempting to start something new, but many times you will just be
spreading yourself thin. Try to resist the urge to start something new until
you have achieved some success with your current project(s).
7. Get organized
For most of us, doing some of the day-to-day tasks of running a business can
become more time consuming than we would like. Usually some improved
organization would help. Whatever areas are the most time-consuming for
you, evaluate to see if there are areas for potential improvement in
organization.

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1.3 Assigning work activities to relevant staff or contractors to optimize
efficiency
 If you work on your own, there's only a limited amount that you can do, however hard
you work. You can only work so many hours in a day. There are only so many tasks
you can complete in these hours. There are only so many people you can help by
doing these tasks. And, because the number of people you can help is limited, your
success is limited.
 you have chosen the right person to delegate to, and you are delegating correctly, you
will find that he or she quickly becomes competent and reliable.
What is Delegation?
 Delegation refers to a process where by a superior divides his /her total work
assignment between himself and subordinates manager or operative personnel in
order to achieve both operative management specialization.
When to Delegate
Delegation is a win-win when done appropriately, however that does not mean that you
can delegate just anything. To determine when delegation is most appropriate there
are five key questions you need to ask yourself:
 Is there someone else who has (or can be given) the necessary information or
expertise to complete the task? Essentially is this a task that someone else can do, 5or
is it critical that you do it yourself?
 Does the task provide an opportunity to grow and develop another person's
skills?
 Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?
 Do you have enough time to delegate the job effectively? Time must be
available for adequate training, for questions and answers, for opportunities
to check progress, and for rework if that is necessary.
 Is this a task that I should delegate? Tasks critical for long-term success (for
example, recruiting the right people for your team) genuinely do need your
attention.
To Whom Should You Delegate?
The factors to consider here include:
 The experience, knowledge and skills of the individual as they apply to the
delegated task.
 What knowledge, skills and attitude does the person already have?
 Do you have time and resources to provide any training needed?

 The individual's preferred work style.

 How independent is the person? 6
 What does he or she want from his or her job?
  What are his or her long-term goals and interest, and how do these align
with the work proposed?
 The current workload of this person.
 Does the person have time to take on more work?
 Will you delegating this task require reshuffling of other responsibilities
and workloads?

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How Should You Delegate?
Use the following principles to delegate successfully
 Clearly articulate the desired outcome
 Clearly identify constraints and boundaries
 Where possible, include people in the delegation process
 Match the amount of responsibility with the amount of authority
 Delegate to the lowest possible organizational level
 Provide adequate support, and be available to answer questions
 Focus on results. Concern yourself with what is accomplished, rather than
detailing how the work should be done
 Avoid "upward delegation".
 Build motivation and commitment
 Establish and maintain control.
 Discuss timelines and deadlines.
 Agree on a schedule of checkpoints at which you'll review project progress.
 Make adjustments as necessary.
 Take time to review all submitted work.
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Rule of delegation
A simple delegation rule is the SMART acronym, or better still,
SMARTER. It's a quick checklist for proper delegation. Delegated tasks
must be:
 Specific
 Measurable
 Agreed
 Realistic
 Time-bounded
 Ethical
 Recorded
The steps of successful delegation
  1 Define the task
 2 Select the individual or team
 3 Assess ability and training needs
 4 Explain the reasons
 5 State required results
 6 Consider resources required
 7 Agree deadlines
 8 Support and communicate
 9 Feedback on results 9
 LO2 MONITOR AND MANAGE WORK (18 HRS)

2.2 Identifying methods for monitoring performance and implementing

improvements
 Every project or intervention should have a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan.
This is the fundamental document that details a program's objectives, the
interventions developed to achieve these objectives, and describes the procedures
that will be implemented to determine whether or not the objectives are met. It
shows how the expected results of a program relate to its goals and objectives,
describes the data needed and how these data will be collected and analyzed, how
this information will be used, the resources that will be needed, and how the
program will be accountable to stakeholders
Why Are M&E Plans Important?
 State how a program will measure its achievements and therefore provide
accountability
 Document consensus and provide transparency
 Guide the implementation of M&E activities in a standardized and coordinated
way
 Preserve institutional memory
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M&E plans should be created during the design phase of a program and can be organized
in a variety of ways. The typically Performance Monitoring Plan components include:
 The introduction -Information about the purpose of the program, the specific M&E
activities that are needed, and why they are important and a development history that
provides information about the motivations of the internal and external stakeholders
and the extent of their interest, commitment, and participation.
 The program description and framework -  The program description should include
a  Problem Statement that identifies the specific problem to be addressed.
 Indicators - are quantitative or qualitative factor or variable that provides a simple and
reliable means to measure achievement, to reflect the changes connected to an
intervention, or to help assess performance. One of the most critical steps in designing
an M&E system is selecting appropriate indicators.
 Data Sources & Data Collection - Data sources are sources of facts and observations
used to calculate the indicators. The data collection plan should include diagrams
depicting the systems used for data collection, processing, analysis, and reporting.

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 Monitoring Plan - The monitoring plan describes a) Specific program
components that will be monitored, such as provider performance or the
utilization of resources, b) How this monitoring will be conducted, and c)
The indicators that will be used to measure results.
 Evaluation Plan - The evaluation plan should provide the specific research
design(s) and methodological approach(es) to be used to determine whether
changes in the Strategic Objective and Intermediate Results have been
achieved.
 Information, Decision-Making, and Dissemination - How the data and
information gathered will be stored, used for decision-making and then
disseminated should be defined at the planning stage of the project and
described in the M&E plan

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2.3 Identifying quality assurance principles and methods
Meaning of quality and quality assurance
 Quality has no one universally accepted definition. Some common meanings are
given as follows:
 Quality comes from the belief that anything can be improved.
 Quality usually comes from dissatisfaction with the way you’re doing things
now. People with high concern for Quality are people who believe there’s
always a better way.
 Quality implies pride in what you do, integrity in what you make or sell. Quality
means care and consistency.
 Quality is not simply a technique or a skill. It is a way of life. It is a passion. It
is expressed in everything all the time. Concern for quality is something you
integrate into your life.
 Quality is something that requires persistence.
 Quality The totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to
satisfy stated and implied needs.
 
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Quality Assurance
 Quality Assurance is all the planned and systematic activities implemented
within the quality system and demonstrated as needed, to provide adequate
confidence that an entity will fulfill requirements for quality.
 Quality assurance (QA) refers to the planned and systematic activities
implemented in a quality system so that quality requirements for a product
or service will be fulfilled. It is the systematic measurement, comparison
with a standard, monitoring of processes and an associated feedback loop
that confers error prevention. This can be contrasted with Quality "Control".
which is focused on process outputs.
 Quality Assurance applies to the entire project, from initiation through
implementation and close out. Quality Assurance provides its greatest value
when it is engaged as early as possible, beginning with the feasibility study.
 

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Principles of QA
 Two principles included in QA are: "Fit for purpose", the product should
be suitable for the intended purpose; and "Right first time", mistakes should
be eliminated. QA includes management of the quality of raw materials,
assemblies, products and components, services related to production, and
management, production and inspection processes.
 Suitable Quality is determined by product users, clients or customers, not
by society in general. It is not related to cost and adjectives or descriptors
such "High" and "Poor" are not applicable. For example, a low priced
product may be viewed as having high quality because it is disposable
where another may be viewed as having poor quality because it is not
disposable.

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Definition of 'Quality Management'
 The act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired
level of excellence. This includes creating and implementing quality
planning and assurance, as well as quality control and quality improvement.
It is also referred to as total quality management (TQM).
The Quality Management Principles
 With growing global competition, Quality Management is becoming
increasingly important to the leadership and management of all
organizations. Quality Management Principles provide understanding of
and guidance on the application of Quality Management. By applying
following eight Quality Management Principles, organizations will produce
benefits for customers, owners, people, suppliers and society at large.
 The standard could be found at ISO.

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Principle 1 - Customer-Focused Organization
Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand
current and future customer needs, meet customer requirements, and strive
to exceed customer expectations.
Principle 2 - Leadership
Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of organization. They should
create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become
fully involved in achieving the organization's objectives.
Principle 3 - Involvement of People
People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full
involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization's benefit.
Principle 4 - Process Approach
A desired result is achieved more efficiently when related resources and
activities are managed as a process.

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Principle 5 - System Approach to Management
Identifying, understanding, and managing a system of interrelated processes
for a given objective improves the organization's effectiveness and
efficiency.
Principle 6 - Continual Improvement
Continual improvement should be a permanent objective of the organization.
Principle 7 - Factual Approach to Decision Making
Effective decisions and actions are based on the analysis of data and
information.
Principle 8 - Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships
An organization and its suppliers are independent, and a mutually beneficial
relationship enhances the ability to create value.

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2.4 Coordinating resources to attain maximum results
 Coordination is the act of organizing, making different people or things
work together for a goal or effect to fulfill desired goals in an organization.
Coordination is a managerial function in which different activities of the
business are properly adjusted and interlinked.
Coordinating Resources
 When planning for any activity, planners need to consider several factors:
(Knowing these details will affect the strategy you plan for.)
 What personnel and skills are available at the local and national level to assist in
the outbreak?
 What kinds of communications exist to work with these people?
 What kinds of materials and supplies are available?
 How much finance is required
 How will all these resources be optimally used?

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 Identifying business goals
Typical business goals include
 Improving customer service and satisfaction;
 Forming relationships;
 Facilitating business to business interaction;
 Improve awareness of IT capabilities within the business;
 Marketing;
 Reduce costs;
Marshall says that business goals usually fall within four general areas: service,
social, profit, or growth:
    Service - Goals related to improving customer service satisfaction or customer
retention.
     Social - Goals that focus on giving back to the community, through
philanthropy or volunteer organizations.
    Profit - Goals set to increase profits by a certain percentage.
   Growth - Goals related to the expansion of the company, through new
employees, for instance.
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2.6 Communicating with staffs, clients and/or contractors to monitor work
in relation to business goals or timelines
 Communication
A famous quote says - “The way we communicate with others and with
ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives”
The process of passing any information from one person to the other person with
the aid of some medium is termed as communication.
 Improve communication skills at work place:
 Never conduct a meeting or organize a seminar at a noisy place. There should
be pin drop silence during meetings, presentations and seminars.
 Avoid discussing serious issues at the employee’s workstations, front office
area, cafeteria or playgrounds as noise acts as a barrier to effective
communication and the message will never reach the recipient in its desired
form. Always organize meetings, seminars or important discussions in the
conference room, board room or any other meeting room where silence can be
maintained.
 Before any meeting, the addressee must prepare the agenda of the meeting and
do a complete research on the topic he wishes to speak on. Don’t just speak for
the sake of it; instead do your homework carefully.
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 The thoughts or the idea must be carefully put into appropriate words and
carefully spoken in the correct accent to create the impact among the listeners.
Don’t ignore even the minutest detail before preparing the content as questions
can be asked anytime on any topic.
 You must first be yourself very clear before communicating with others.
 In business communication, the pitch and tone also plays a very important
role in effective communication. An individual must try his level best to keep
the pitch at an optimum level which is audible to one and all.
 The meeting or the presentation must be kept interactive for everyone to
participate and take interest. One must keep in mind that even people on the
last desk are also a part of the meeting, they also must be involved.
 Prepare lots of real life case studies so that the listeners are able to relate
themselves with the presentation and some funny one liners, some light jokes
can be cracked in between to break the monotony.

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 Any business meeting must not be kept too long otherwise it tends to become
a little monotonous and the participants tend to lose interest. A tea break or a
snack break should be included in business meetings to make it more
interesting, friendly and also to break the ice among the participants.
 One should always take the aid of whiteboards, digital boards, demonstrative
charts, or simply notepads to scribble the important points in between for
better understanding of the listeners.
 The participants should also never attend any meeting empty handed, instead
carry a notepad and a pen or a paper to jot down the important points and
queries to be asked later on. Words like ”Clear ?”, ”Am I audible?” Is
everyone with me?” must be used in between for an effective participation.
 Don’t leave any topic in between, instead first finish one topic and then only
start a fresh one. Eye contact must be made between the sender and the
recipient for the bang on effect.
 Before concluding the meeting, the important points of the meeting must be
discussed once again for everyone to recollect what happened in the meeting
and the listeners must also clear all their doubts with the speaker before
leaving.

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 Don’t hesitate to ask even your smallest query, remember no one will laugh at you,
instead will appreciate your attentiveness and willingness to learn.
 While sharing any important contact number, email id, always ensure to cross check
with the recipient to avoid errors. It’s always better to exchange business cards rather
than verbally dictating your contact details. Email ids must not be communicated in
one go, instead, it must be spoken word by word clearly.
 At work place it is important to understand the recipient properly. Know your listener
as much as you can and then only prepare your content. If you have to address the
sales force, include some sales jargons, marketing tricks and so on to capture their
interest. Communicate properly as haphazard sentences, abstract thoughts, confusing
words only lead to misinterpretations and the outcome is a complete mess. Always
keep your script simple, crisp and up to the point. Unnecessarily dragging a
conversation also leads to boredom. In an organization, the team leader must first try
to understand the thought process and the cultural background before assigning any
work to his team members. Employees must be delegated the responsibilities keeping
in mind their interest and comfort level. Transparency must be maintained at all levels
in an organization and the employees must have an easy access to their seniors for an
easy and effective communication.

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 Defining and applying problem solving and decision making techniques and
processes
Every organization needs to make decisions at one point or other as part of managerial
process. Decisions are made in the best interest of the organization.
Decisions are taken to support organizational growth. The whole fabric of management, i.e.
its day to day operation is rightly built on managerial decisions.
Guidelines to Problem Solving and Decision Making
 1. Define the problem

This is often where people struggle. They react to what they think the problem is. Instead,
seek to understand more about why you think there's a problem.
 Define the problem: (with input from yourself and others). Ask yourself and others, the
following questions:
 What can you see that causes you to think there's a problem?
 Where is it happening?
 How is it happening?
 When is it happening?
 With whom is it happening? (HINT: Don't jump to "Who is causing the problem?"
When we're stressed, blaming is often one of our first reactions. To be an effective
manager, you need to address issues more than people.)
 Why is it happening?
 Write down description of the problem
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 Defining complex problems:
 If the problem still seems overwhelming, break it down by repeating steps 1-7
until you have descriptions of several related problems.
 Verifying your understanding of the problems:
 It helps a great deal to verify your problem analysis for conferring with a peer or
someone else.
 Prioritize the problems:
 If you discover that you are looking at several related problems, then prioritize
which ones you should address first.
 Note the difference between "important" and "urgent" problems. Often, what we
consider to be important problems to consider are really just urgent problems.
Important problems deserve more attention. For example, if you're continually
answering "urgent" phone calls, then you've probably got a more "important"
problem and that's to design a system that screens and prioritizes your phone
calls.
 Understand your role in the problem:
 Your role in the problem can greatly influence how you perceive the role of
others. For example, if you're very stressed out, it'll probably look like others are,
too, or, you may resort too quickly to blaming and reprimanding others. Or, you 26
are feel very guilty about your role in the problem, you may ignore the
accountabilities of others.
2. Look at potential causes for the problem
 It's amazing how much you don't know about what you don't know. Therefore, in
this phase, it's critical to get input from other people who notice the problem and
who are effected by it.
 It's often useful to collect input from other individuals one at a time (at least at
first). Otherwise, people tend to be inhibited about offering their impressions of
the real causes of problems.
 Write down what your opinions and what you've heard from others.
 Regarding what you think might be performance problems associated with an
employee; it's often useful to seek advice from a peer or your supervisor in order
to verify your impression of the problem.
 Write down a description of the cause of the problem and in terms of what is
happening, where, when, how, with whom and why.
3. Identify alternatives for approaches to resolve the problem
 At this point, it's useful to keep others involved (unless you're facing a personal and/or
employee performance problem). Brainstorm for solutions to the problem. Very simply
put, brainstorming is collecting as many ideas as possible, and then screening them to
find the best idea. It's critical when collecting the ideas to not pass any judgment on
the ideas -- just write them down as you hear them. (A wonderful set of skills used to
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identify the underlying cause of issues is Systems Thinking.)
4. Select an approach to resolve the problem
 When selecting the best approach, consider:
 Which approach is the most likely to solve the problem for the long term?
 Which approach is the most realistic to accomplish for now? Do you have the
resources? Are they affordable? Do you have enough time to implement the
approach?
 What is the extent of risk associated with each alternative?
 (The nature of this step, in particular, in the problem solving process is why problem
solving and decision making are highly integrated.)
5. Plan the implementation of the best alternative (this is your action plan)
 Carefully consider "What will the situation look like when the problem is solved?"
 What steps should be taken to implement the best alternative to solving the problem? What
systems or processes should be changed in your organization, for example, a new policy or
procedure? Don't resort to solutions where someone is "just going to try harder".
 How will you know if the steps are being followed or not? (these are your indicators of the
success of your plan)
 What resources will you need in terms of people, money and facilities?
 How much time will you need to implement the solution? Write a schedule that includes the start
and stop times, and when you expect to see certain indicators of success.

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  Who will primarily be responsible for ensuring implementation of the plan?
 Write down the answers to the above questions and consider this as your action plan.
 (An important aspect of this step in the problem-solving process is continually observation
and feedback.)
 Communicate the plan to those who will involved in implementing it and, at least, to your
immediate supervisor.
6. Monitor implementation of the plan
 Monitor the indicators of success:
 Are you seeing what you would expect from the indicators?
 Will the plan be done according to schedule?
 If the plan is not being followed as expected, then consider: Was the plan realistic? Are
there sufficient resources to accomplish the plan on schedule? Should more priority be
placed on various aspects of the plan? Should the plan be changed?
7. Verify if the problem has been resolved or not
 One of the best ways to verify if a problem has been solved or not is to resume normal
operations in the organization. Still, you should consider:
 What changes should be made to avoid this type of problem in the future? Consider
changes to policies and procedures, training, etc.
 Lastly, consider "What did you learn from this problem solving?" Consider new
knowledge, understanding and/or skills.
 Consider writing a brief memo that highlights the success of the problem solving effort,
and what you learned as a result. Share it with your supervisor, peers and subordinates.

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 LO3 DEVELOP EFFECTIVE WORK HABITS (10 HRS)

3.1 Identifying work and personal priorities

 An important part of focusing on results is working out what to focus on! Many people
work very hard all day doing little jobs that do not actually affect the quality of their
work.
 This concentrates on three areas – clarifying what you enjoy, understanding what your
strengths and weaknesses are, and working out both what your job is and what
constitutes excellent performance.
 Doing what you enjoy
It is important for your own quality of life that you enjoy your job. If you know
broadly what you like and dislike, you will be more able to move your job towards
doing things that you enjoy. This is important as you are much more likely to do
your job effectively if you love it than if you loathe it.
 Concentrating on your strengths
 It is also important to know what your talents and weaknesses are. A good way of
doing this is to carry out a SWOT analysis.
 Understanding how to be excellent at your job

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 You should ask the following questions:
What is the purpose of the job? 

 What are the measures of success? 

 What is exceptional performance? 
 What are the priorities and deadlines?
 What resources are available?
 What costs are acceptable?
 How does this relate to other people? 

List of good work habits

 Think positive
 It is a good work habit to give importance to good attendance and punctuality
 Value your time, plan your activities and concentrate on one key task at a time
 Apply neatness, orderliness and speed by cleaning up and getting organized.
 Plan your day ahead of time
 Work smarter, not harder
 Become self-employed psychologically

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 Play the inner game of work
 Reduce procrastination by motivating yourself with rewards or
punishments
 Give importance to rest and relaxation
 Use multitasking for routine tasks
 Bounce quickly from task to task
 Prepare time log, set time limits for certain tasks and evaluate your use
of time.
 Do away with being a cyberloafer and prioritize in doing your work.
 keep track of important names, places and things to avoid unnecessary
and time consuming recalls and backtracks
 Point out a problem but bring solutions.
 Be nice to people
 Volunteer for assignments.
 Finish things by being decisive.
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3.2 Applying time management principles/strategies to achieve balance between
competing priorities
Time is a unique quantity-the businessmen cannot store it, rent it, hire it, or buy it. With
its supply being inelastic, it is totally perishable and irreplaceable. Everything
requires it and it passes at the same rate for everyone.
What is Time Management?
 Managing time means investing time to get what you decide you want out of life,
including what you want out of the venture created.
 Why does the problem of time management exist for the businessman? It is
basically due to a lack of information and a lack of motivation.
Benefits of Time Management
 Increased productivity:
 Increased job satisfaction
 Improved interpersonal relations
 Reduced time anxiety and tension
 Better health:

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 Basic Principles of Time Management
 The principle of desire: effective time management depends on will power and self-
discipline.
 The principle of effectiveness: When under pressure, the businessman focuses on the
most important things automatically.
 The principle of analysis: to manage time effectively, the businessmen need to know
how his/her time is presently being spent
 The principle of Teamwork: become sensitive to the time management concept
when dealing with other individuals in the organization.
 The principle of prioritized planning: a businessmen needs to list the things to be
accomplished and then indicate their degree of importance
 The principle of Reanalysis: as with any procedure, the businessmen should
periodically review the objectives and how time is being managed.

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3.4 Responding to business inquiries promptly and effectively
 Most customers will expect to have their requests responded to in a reasonable time
frame. But what is reasonable? There is no standard rule of thumb to define response
time. Believe it or not, responsiveness is a strategic issue and can be used to
differentiate your business from your competitors. Therefore, the standards you
establish for responding to all customer issues will determine the level of
differentiation you achieve. And the consistency with which you are able to respond
quickly will go a long ways toward determining how loyal your customers become.
 A business can't afford to be casual about how it deals with its customers. The "I'm
too busy" or the "you are just one of many customers" excuses are just not acceptable!
We experience and hear horror stories constantly about poor responsiveness. The level
of incompetency in this arena is mind boggling. We often wonder how something so
obvious goes so wrong in so many companies.
 Responsiveness is part of your culture. Is yours a casual, "I'll get to it when I can"
kind of culture or is it a "I put my customers above all else and make their issues a
priority" kind of culture? This is a key and fundamental issue that needs to be
addressed.

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Customer complaint
 Although prevention is better than cure, it is almost inevitable that, at some stage,
you will receive a customer complaint. 
 Don't assume that a customer complaint is a negative experience because, if
handled well, it can be a valuable asset.
 A customer complaint is one of the best opportunities you have for turning an
unhappy customer into a loyal customer. Even the most dissatisfied customer can
become an ambassador, winning new customers for your business by word-of-
mouth advertising.
 Try putting the following points into practice:
train your staff to handle complaints well 
 make it easy for customers to complain 

 welcome customer complaints 

 deal with complaints promptly.

 The facts about complaints

 A typical business hears from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers; the other 96% just go
quietly away and 91% of them will never go back. 
 A typical dissatisfied customer tells more than eight people about his or her problem. 
 Seven out of ten complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the
complaint in their favour and, if it is resolved on the spot, 95% will do business with you
again.
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Benefits of an efficient complaints handling system
 fewer mistakes and less time spent fixing them 
 improved product quality 
 better understanding of customers' needs 
 happier customers 
 greater customer loyalty 
 more customers through word-of-mouth advertising 
 less time and money spent attracting customers
 improving business reputation 
 A healthier bottom line.

Complaint handling system

Decide how you should handle complaints
 Have a complaint handling guide
 Involve your staff in developing the policy. 
 Decide who will handle complaints, while remembering that handling
complaints well is ultimately everyone's job.

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Anticipate potential problems or mistakes
Work out possible solutions with your staff. For example, what do we do if:

 We’re short staffed?

 The customer is angry after we've apologized?
 We didn't deliver on time? 
 The computer ‘goes down'? 
 The order went missing?
Write down your new policy and how it will work
consider what you are required to do under the law. If you are uncertain about which
laws apply to you, contact the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs.
Spread the word
Make sure all staff understand the new policy, why it was introduced, how it will
work and what they should do. Be aware that some staff training will be necessary.
Make it worthwhile
Encourage and even reward your employees for finding disgruntled customers and
handling their complaints well. Remember, complaints are a great opportunity for
improving your business and for impressing and keeping even the most dissatisfied
customer.

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Make it easy for your customers to complain
Publicise your system - let your customers know that your business welcomes
complaints. Invite your customers to let you know if they were satisfied with the way
their complaint was handled.
Test It
Trial the system for a set period of time; for example, two to three months.
Monitor it
 Assess how well the new system is working and make any necessary changes. 
 Discuss any problems that occurred with your staff and work out possible
solutions. 
 Use customer feedback to highlight any problems. This methodology will help
you to work out why you keep getting the same complaints and will allow you to
prevent them from happening again. 
 Use complaint records to check how well and how quickly your staff are handling
complaints.
 Effective results

 Take time to handle complaints when they are first made. Prompt action will be more
likely to satisfy the customer. The faster a complaint is resolved, the less time you'll
need to spend on it.

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 Be sympathetic and calm
 Acknowledge there is a problem and that it may be annoying, inconvenient or
unfortunate.
 You may not believe the customer's complaint is justified but remember that,
although they may not be ‘right' in your opinion, they are telling you because
they are unhappy. Their complaint is an opportunity to retain their custom. 
 Stay calm. This attitude may be difficult if the customer is angry or has an
irritating manner, or if their complaint seems trivial to you, but getting angry
yourself will only make it worse.
 Identify the problem
 Find out the exact problem. Listen carefully to what the customer is saying,
empathise with them and make sure you understand by checking it out with
them.
 Ask what they want you to do for them. Don't assume. 
 Write it down.

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 Decide what can be done

 Even in situations where the complaint may be unjustified, you still need to make
the customer happy again to keep their business. A simple explanation may be all
that is needed.
 Sometimes, even if you are not legally required to do anything about the
complaint, it may be worth doing more to keep the customer. For example, if a
customer is entitled only to a repair or replacement, you may be willing to offer a
refund if that is what the customer wants.
 Consider how important these problems are to customers. Try putting yourself in
your customers' place and imagine how you would feel if you were in their
situation.
 Keep a record
 Keep a written record of the complaint and what you have agreed to do.
 Record all contact about complaints, including whether they were face-to-face,
by telephone or in writing. 
 Remember that simply filling out a complaint record form does not solve the
problem.

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 Fix the problem
Once you have decided on your complaint policy, you will be able to resolve
most complaints quickly and efficiently.

 Tell customers what solution you can offer and make sure they understand. 
 If customers accept your proposed solution, act straight away if possible; for
example, do the repair or replace the goods. 
 Make sure there is always someone available to speak to customers about their
complaints. If a customer is promised a return phone call, make sure it happens. 
 If it is not possible to do anything immediately, tell the customer when it will
happen and keep a record of your commitment. 
 If customers want more than that to which they're legally entitled, or if their
solutions are outside your company policy and you feel they are making an
unrealistic demand try to explain their legal rights or refer them to us. 
You can check your rights and obligations with us and ask for an independent third option. 
 Do what was agreed and finalize the matter with the customer.
 Never make promises you won't be able to keep.

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3.5 Presenting information in appropriate format to the industry and audience
Presentation can be defined as a formal event characterized by teamwork and use of audio-
visual aids. The main purpose of presentation is to give information, to persuade the
audience to act and to create goodwill.
Characteristics of a Good/Effective Presentation
 The presentation ideas should be well adapted to your audience
 A good presentation should be concise and should be focused on the topic. It should not move
off-track.
 A good presentation should have the potential to convey the required information.
 The fear should be transformed into positive energy during the presentation. Be calm and
relaxed while giving a presentation
 To communicate the desired information, the speaker should use more of visual aids such as
transparencies, diagrams, pictures, charts, etc.
 A good presentation must be planned
 Rehearse and practice the presentation
 The speaker should encourage more questions from the audience.
 Summarize the presentation at the end
 The speaker must have a presentable appearance while giving a presentation.
 Try to gain and maintain audience interest by using positive quotes, humour, or remarkable fact.
 The speaker must be affirmative and optimistic before giving presentation.
 The speaker must state the objectives of the presentation at beginning of the presentation.

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Effective Presentation Techniques
Here are the Top 10 effective presentation techniques.
1. Use visual aids
2. Keep it short and sweet
3. Use the rule of three
 Use a maximum of three points on a slide.

4. Rehearse
 Practice makes for perfect performance. Many experts say that rehearsal is the
biggest single thing that you can do to improve your performance.
5. Tell stories
 All presentations are a type of theatre. Tell stories and anecdotes to help illustrate
points. It all helps to make your presentation more effective and memorable.
6. Lose the bullet points – don’t put your speaker notes up on the screen
 Bullet points are the kiss of death for most presentations. Most people use bullet
points as a form of speaker notes. To make your presentation more effective put
your speaker notes in your notes and not up on the screen.

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7. Video yourself
 Set up a video camera and video yourself presenting. You will see all sorts of
mistakes that you are making, from how you are standing, if you are jangling keys, to
how well your presentation is structured.
8. Know what slide is coming next
 You should always know when presenting which slide is coming up next. It sounds
very powerful when you say “On the next slide [Click] you will see…”, rather than a
period of confusion when the next slide appears.
9. Have a back-up plan
 Technology not working, power cuts, projector blowing a bulb, spilling coffee on

your front, not enough power leads, no loudspeakers, presentation displays strangely
on the laptop – all of these are things that have happened in presentations that I have
given.
10. Check out the presentation room
 Arrive early and check out the presentation room. If you can make sure that you see
your slides loaded onto the PC and working on the screen. Work out where you will
need to stand.

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