The all time favorite post on my Blog is “Basics of effective communication“. I believe what was said back then still applies. Here are a couple more ideas for you to keep in mind before engaging others, either they are costumers or members of your own team:”First things first”: What is your objective? What is the key message you want to transmit?
Think of your audience, their expectations, their previous knowledge about the subject, their education background, their business culture etc. Write/speak accordingly. First impression counts if you dont know the people and don´t skip many logical steps just to sound smart!
If your changing processes internally, use more than one channel of communication. It helps to pass the message across and useful to get people used to the idea you are trying to implement
To get the message across one must use the right channels, “eg if the staff you are contacting do not have regular access to a computer, do not rely on email as a way of communicating with them. Also consider that different categories of staff prefer to receive information in different ways“.
A very common mistake is: the use acronyms without explaining them. Be mindful that not everyone might know what those are.
Use headlines that explain briefly and accurately what the message is about. Sometimes people don´t have time to read everything at once but it is important that they know what is it about.
Conduct an internal communications audit after the changes have been communicated for a while. Did people got the message? What can be improved? Use your findings to improve the process
Remember that good communication is a two-way process. Provide opportunities for others to communicate their views/thoughts. LISTEN… (I’ll make sure I write a post with my thoughts on effective listening)
After my last post, where I was constantly reaching 1000 visitors a week I came down to the magnificent number of 3 visitors last week…
This was due to unplanned downtime. The problem was caused by storage server (changed the IP address) and then I lost the password that use to login with registrar provider. My problem is that I use a password generator and memorize passwords… This time I totally forgot.
My rate of posts decreased as unfortunately I broke my wrist and my foot on a Football game (soccer!!)
Thanks everyone for the messages warning me that my blog was down. I really appreciate it
I remember that I came across this video in 2002/2003.
When recently I was moving the information from my old computer to a new hard drive I found it and uploaded it to Youtube. It is a well known video and you can find several other entries with it. However, I`ll share it anyway.
As a premise to my post I advise you to watch “Up in the air” with George Clooney. The movie itself is good and with a nice script. I’m not going to tell more about the movie…watch it
I fly a lot but never looked into collecting miles. So, I decided analyse the companies I usually fly with and what they are doing to keep me faithful. I usually fly with Virgin Atlantic, Aerlingus and BMI.
- Excellent service and good planes but most importantly they allowed me with not effort to register my previous flights (last 6 months) and collect points for these flights. Still waiting from an answer from their costumer service regarding collecting miles from a partner flight that changed in the last moment and the tool could not detect my reservation. They set the expectations that an answer can take a month… This is not a race so I’m in no hurry if it is solved. I’ll fly with Virgin as often as I can and the lounge is London is the best I’ve seen.
- I usually divide my flights in Europe between BMI and Aerlingus. I think their program can be very good, they are part of Star Aliance, have lots of partners and decent lounges. The program itself is divided in levels. The first level you can reach out fairly easily and as soon as you are there you get free food and that hooks you and makes understand the advantages of the program. However, they will not be my first choice… Why? I had many flights to claim in the last 6 months and their answer was.. “Send us the boarding passes”. I sent them all the reservation numbers, flight numbers etc. Reservations are not enough??? Can´t they find me in the system?? I was really chocked with their answer as I could not claim flights! I will only fly with them in case there are no Virgin Atlantic flights.
- They are the only company that does direct flights from Dublin-Lisbon-Dublin so.. I’ll keep flying with them when I go home. Now their loyalty program: It´s by far the worse! I registered for their loyalty program just after 2 transatlantic trips to the City of Mexico and San Francisco (over 3 years ago). Back then, they also requested the boarding passes, that obviously I did not have and could not claim anything. I was very upset but registered anyway since I knew I would fly home and to other locations in Europe. Their point system is terrible, very hard to get to the next level and does not hook you at all. The level itself allows you “nothing” apart from lounge access (that they now sell to everyone!). Their range of partners is very limited. I also highlight that the dedicated area in the website is confused and poorly managed
I have to say, their loyalty programs also reflect the opinion I have from the brands themselves:
Virgin: Young and dynamic. They know their space and are moving fine
BMI: Re-structuring but still wit many old fashioned mechanisms, They need an update
Aerlingus: Still old fashioned, with nice people, but needs to be part of an alliance, be more dynamic and step up for the challenges of a new world.
To finalize, I know these companies try to position themselves differently but being low costs or not, a good loyalty program can hook you for good.
Hello! My name is João Rufino. I'm a Portuguese citizen working in the IT sector in Ireland. Hope you enjoy my blog as I'll share some ideas about several subjects and bit more about myself. If you're interested to learn more about me feel free to check the More About Me... section ;)
Disclaimer
This is my personal blog. The views and posts expressed across this domain are mine alone and not those of my employer.
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