A Guilt-Free, Tasty Sweetener
By Jon Herring
In ETR #2077, Dr. Sears wrote about a natural sweetener called xylitol, which can be used in place of sugar. Xylitol scores only seven on the glycemic index, so it has a minimal effect on blood sugar and insulin levels (and can actually help prevent tooth decay).
But xylitol also has a cooling effect on the tongue, which some people don’t care for. And while it is safe, it can cause minor gastrointestinal upset. That’s why I prefer a similar sugar alcohol called erythritol.
Erythritol occurs naturally in some fruits and fermented foods. As a sweetener, it is made from corn via a natural fermentation process. And the properties of this great-tasting, natural sweetener are remarkable:
. Erythritol is 80 percent as sweet as sugar. However, unlike sugar, which is high in calories, erythritol is almost calorie free.
. It scores just over zero on the glycemic index. That means it is totally safe for diabetics and won’t affect your insulin levels.
. It is granulated, just like sugar, so it can be easily substituted for sugar in recipes.
. It is easy to digest - which means no gastrointestinal disturbance.
Quite simply, this is one of the best natural sweeteners to come along in quite some time, and you’ll likely be seeing it in more and more products. I use it all the time. I sprinkle it over berries or cereal, I mix it with cocoa and milk for a low-calorie chocolate drink, I use it to lightly sweeten smoothies, and I have used it in cake and frosting recipes too. The only way I don’t particularly like it is for sweetening tea or coffee. I prefer stevia for that.
You can find erythritol in many health food stores, and it is readily available online. Cargill has an organic version (Zerose) that is made from organic, non-genetically-modified corn.
______________________________
"Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game."
Tony Alessandra
Is Your Business on the Verge of Self-Destructing?
By Michael Masterson
Many years ago, I took on a new client - Company A - and one of the first things I did was revamp the customer-service department. Employing models of other customer-service systems I’d established in the past, I replaced most of the staff with better-educated, more articulate, and more conscientious workers. I introduced a training program. I implemented automated monitoring and reporting systems. And I established progressively higher standards for every aspect of customer service, from call waiting through problem solving. Within six months, our service went from embarrassing to best of show. With a hand-selected customer-service person to continue the program, I diverted my attention to other problems.
Three years later, I got a call from a colleague who, in the midst of a conversation about something else, made a comment about how everyone in the industry believed that Company A’s customer service was "a joke."
I was shocked. And when I checked into it, I was floored. The top-notch operation I had worked so hard to set up had somehow slipped back to the horrendously bad level of service I had first found it in.
I studied what had happened, and learned two important things:
1. Operational things tend to fall apart.
I don’t know whether it is because people are inherently lazy, inconsiderate, or dense, but if you don’t have an active program to combat it, your operations will slowly but surely go to pot.
Set, for example, a two-ring standard for answering the phone. Spend a week or two working with your people to get them up to, say, a 90 percent compliance rate. Then leave them alone for a year. What will you see when you check back with them? The phone will be ringing, on the average, three or four times, and the number of dropped calls will have skyrocketed.
2. They fall apart twice as fast if the boss isn’t looking.
Although everyone gave lip service to the high standards I had set, they also knew that Company A’s CEO didn’t really pay attention to customer service. He didn’t read the reports. He didn’t check in with the managers. He neither rewarded good work nor fired poor performers. He supported my efforts to improve this part of the business and was willing to sign his name to memos that enunciated our high goals, but everyone was aware of his lack of real commitment. That was a fault that cracked the foundation of the program.
You can see how this same thing plays out with many airline carriers, hotel chains, and franchised fast-food restaurants. Although the standards and procedures for customer service are all state-of-the art, the actual service is often miserable.
This is not solely the fault of the individuals who are providing the crappy service. Equal blame has to be placed on their managers. When you walk into a filthy McDonald’s staffed by insolent, inarticulate kids who handle your food after sneezing or coughing into their hands, you can be absolutely sure that they are NOT meeting the standards established by the McDonald’s parent company. Something bad happened between the time protocols were established and what is currently happening. That something is bad management.
The same is true when you get inattentive, indolent, or even abusive service at a Marriott or Holiday Inn. Yes, the receptionist or valet may be a lunk - but the real problem is with the higher-paid people managing them.
I don’t think these managers are creating all this bad service on purpose, although I admit to having had that suspicion on occasion. Many of them have gone through training programs. At one time, at least, they knew and practiced the high standards their employers want to meet. But because they were (a) not personally committed to those standards and/or (b) did nothing active to maintain them, things gradually and progressively fell apart.
I’m staying at the upscale Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills as I write this. I have been here at least a half-dozen times now. Yesterday, for the first time ever, I experienced a few moments of bad customer service. I came up to the rooftop terrace and told the hostess I wanted to smoke my cigar and work on my laptop. She said, "We have no tables now. We are booked."
I said, "Can you find something for me? I just need a chair and a table in a corner somewhere, so my smoking doesn’t disturb anyone." She seemed upset with me for asking. She answered, almost rudely, "I’ll see what I can do."
For five minutes, I waited there for her to return, feeling like a homeless bum with open sores. Finally, a young man approached. "Can I help you?" he asked, but with a guarded, almost defensive, tone. I said, "What?" He replied, "I’m sorry, are you staying with us?" I told him that I had been for some time, that I had stayed with them before and always received impeccable service, and that now, for the first time, I was being treated "almost rudely."
Realizing that I wasn’t whatever kind of monster the young lady had taken me for (and recognizing how short his future would be with the hotel had he continued to treat me in this sort of way), he led me to a tented pavilion by the pool, gave me complimentary beverages, and apologized profusely for her behavior. (It was, he said, her first day.) By doing all of this, he restored my opinion of the hotel to its former, lofty perch.
There is only one way you can provide top-quality service to your customers. First - and most important - you must want to provide it. You must want to do so not only because you believe it is good business but also because it gives you pride to know that what you do is better than the rest. You must have - in your heart - a commitment to customer service that goes beyond good sense and the desire for profits. It must be deep and it must be strong and it must endure.
The other thing you must do is apply your standards with persistence. It is not enough to set up a good program and hire a good person and then let it go. That didn’t work for Company A, it doesn’t work for McDonald’s, and it wouldn’t work at the Peninsula Hotel either. You must view customer service as something that, if left alone, deteriorates. And that means it must be constantly paid attention to.
As I write this, I am watching two men in suits hovering over one of the teak tables in the Peninsula’s rooftop restaurant. They are examining, almost microscopically, the slats of the wood. They are running their fingers over the surface to make sure there are no splinters, and they are crouching down to look at the sides of the slats to make sure no particles of food have accumulated there. They are fussing over the cleanliness and functionality of these tables much like you might expect Michelangelo to have fussed over the Pieta.
It is hot now, maybe 85 degrees in the sun. One of them takes a silk handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. They are discussing the table as if it matters… as if it would be a really terrible thing if one of their guests got a splinter reaching for his fork or if, glancing down from his newspaper, he noticed a smudge of yesterday’s eggs Benedict on an inside slat.
And to the customers who come here - to the people who pay $495 and $675 and $775 per room to stay at the Peninsula - it does matter
______________________________
The Number One Skill You Should Master Before Applying for a Job
By Suzanne Richardson
Your inability to write clearly could be standing between you and a new or better job. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2007 Job Outlook survey, "communication skills" topped the list of what employers look for in new employees. And a 2006 survey of 431 human resource officials (conducted by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management) indicated that employees with those skills aren’t easy to find. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed reported that their employees who were graduates of two-year colleges were deficient in written communications, and 81 percent reported that their high-school-graduate employees had the same deficiency.
Develop your business-writing skills, and you’ll give yourself a big lead over other people
competing for your job.
How do you do it? Charlie Byrne, ETR’s Editorial Director and head writer, says to ask yourself these questions about all the work-related writing you do:
. Do I make my main points clear from the very beginning?
. Is the content organized in a logical way that flows naturally?
. Can I strengthen my argument by including further proof of any of my claims or removing unnecessary words or sections?
After you’ve gone through this checklist, go back and check for grammar and spelling. (If it’s a really important memo or report, you might even want to ask a friend or colleague to give it a final read-through.)
______________________________
Word to the Wise: Yawp
A "yawp" (YAWP) is a loud yell or cry.
Example, (as used by Walt Whitman in "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass): "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
Michael Masterson
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2095, 07-16-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
In ETR #2077, Dr. Sears wrote about a natural sweetener called xylitol, which can be used in place of sugar. Xylitol scores only seven on the glycemic index, so it has a minimal effect on blood sugar and insulin levels (and can actually help prevent tooth decay).
But xylitol also has a cooling effect on the tongue, which some people don’t care for. And while it is safe, it can cause minor gastrointestinal upset. That’s why I prefer a similar sugar alcohol called erythritol.
Erythritol occurs naturally in some fruits and fermented foods. As a sweetener, it is made from corn via a natural fermentation process. And the properties of this great-tasting, natural sweetener are remarkable:
. Erythritol is 80 percent as sweet as sugar. However, unlike sugar, which is high in calories, erythritol is almost calorie free.
. It scores just over zero on the glycemic index. That means it is totally safe for diabetics and won’t affect your insulin levels.
. It is granulated, just like sugar, so it can be easily substituted for sugar in recipes.
. It is easy to digest - which means no gastrointestinal disturbance.
Quite simply, this is one of the best natural sweeteners to come along in quite some time, and you’ll likely be seeing it in more and more products. I use it all the time. I sprinkle it over berries or cereal, I mix it with cocoa and milk for a low-calorie chocolate drink, I use it to lightly sweeten smoothies, and I have used it in cake and frosting recipes too. The only way I don’t particularly like it is for sweetening tea or coffee. I prefer stevia for that.
You can find erythritol in many health food stores, and it is readily available online. Cargill has an organic version (Zerose) that is made from organic, non-genetically-modified corn.
______________________________
"Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game."
Tony Alessandra
Is Your Business on the Verge of Self-Destructing?
By Michael Masterson
Many years ago, I took on a new client - Company A - and one of the first things I did was revamp the customer-service department. Employing models of other customer-service systems I’d established in the past, I replaced most of the staff with better-educated, more articulate, and more conscientious workers. I introduced a training program. I implemented automated monitoring and reporting systems. And I established progressively higher standards for every aspect of customer service, from call waiting through problem solving. Within six months, our service went from embarrassing to best of show. With a hand-selected customer-service person to continue the program, I diverted my attention to other problems.
Three years later, I got a call from a colleague who, in the midst of a conversation about something else, made a comment about how everyone in the industry believed that Company A’s customer service was "a joke."
I was shocked. And when I checked into it, I was floored. The top-notch operation I had worked so hard to set up had somehow slipped back to the horrendously bad level of service I had first found it in.
I studied what had happened, and learned two important things:
1. Operational things tend to fall apart.
I don’t know whether it is because people are inherently lazy, inconsiderate, or dense, but if you don’t have an active program to combat it, your operations will slowly but surely go to pot.
Set, for example, a two-ring standard for answering the phone. Spend a week or two working with your people to get them up to, say, a 90 percent compliance rate. Then leave them alone for a year. What will you see when you check back with them? The phone will be ringing, on the average, three or four times, and the number of dropped calls will have skyrocketed.
2. They fall apart twice as fast if the boss isn’t looking.
Although everyone gave lip service to the high standards I had set, they also knew that Company A’s CEO didn’t really pay attention to customer service. He didn’t read the reports. He didn’t check in with the managers. He neither rewarded good work nor fired poor performers. He supported my efforts to improve this part of the business and was willing to sign his name to memos that enunciated our high goals, but everyone was aware of his lack of real commitment. That was a fault that cracked the foundation of the program.
You can see how this same thing plays out with many airline carriers, hotel chains, and franchised fast-food restaurants. Although the standards and procedures for customer service are all state-of-the art, the actual service is often miserable.
This is not solely the fault of the individuals who are providing the crappy service. Equal blame has to be placed on their managers. When you walk into a filthy McDonald’s staffed by insolent, inarticulate kids who handle your food after sneezing or coughing into their hands, you can be absolutely sure that they are NOT meeting the standards established by the McDonald’s parent company. Something bad happened between the time protocols were established and what is currently happening. That something is bad management.
The same is true when you get inattentive, indolent, or even abusive service at a Marriott or Holiday Inn. Yes, the receptionist or valet may be a lunk - but the real problem is with the higher-paid people managing them.
I don’t think these managers are creating all this bad service on purpose, although I admit to having had that suspicion on occasion. Many of them have gone through training programs. At one time, at least, they knew and practiced the high standards their employers want to meet. But because they were (a) not personally committed to those standards and/or (b) did nothing active to maintain them, things gradually and progressively fell apart.
I’m staying at the upscale Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills as I write this. I have been here at least a half-dozen times now. Yesterday, for the first time ever, I experienced a few moments of bad customer service. I came up to the rooftop terrace and told the hostess I wanted to smoke my cigar and work on my laptop. She said, "We have no tables now. We are booked."
I said, "Can you find something for me? I just need a chair and a table in a corner somewhere, so my smoking doesn’t disturb anyone." She seemed upset with me for asking. She answered, almost rudely, "I’ll see what I can do."
For five minutes, I waited there for her to return, feeling like a homeless bum with open sores. Finally, a young man approached. "Can I help you?" he asked, but with a guarded, almost defensive, tone. I said, "What?" He replied, "I’m sorry, are you staying with us?" I told him that I had been for some time, that I had stayed with them before and always received impeccable service, and that now, for the first time, I was being treated "almost rudely."
Realizing that I wasn’t whatever kind of monster the young lady had taken me for (and recognizing how short his future would be with the hotel had he continued to treat me in this sort of way), he led me to a tented pavilion by the pool, gave me complimentary beverages, and apologized profusely for her behavior. (It was, he said, her first day.) By doing all of this, he restored my opinion of the hotel to its former, lofty perch.
There is only one way you can provide top-quality service to your customers. First - and most important - you must want to provide it. You must want to do so not only because you believe it is good business but also because it gives you pride to know that what you do is better than the rest. You must have - in your heart - a commitment to customer service that goes beyond good sense and the desire for profits. It must be deep and it must be strong and it must endure.
The other thing you must do is apply your standards with persistence. It is not enough to set up a good program and hire a good person and then let it go. That didn’t work for Company A, it doesn’t work for McDonald’s, and it wouldn’t work at the Peninsula Hotel either. You must view customer service as something that, if left alone, deteriorates. And that means it must be constantly paid attention to.
As I write this, I am watching two men in suits hovering over one of the teak tables in the Peninsula’s rooftop restaurant. They are examining, almost microscopically, the slats of the wood. They are running their fingers over the surface to make sure there are no splinters, and they are crouching down to look at the sides of the slats to make sure no particles of food have accumulated there. They are fussing over the cleanliness and functionality of these tables much like you might expect Michelangelo to have fussed over the Pieta.
It is hot now, maybe 85 degrees in the sun. One of them takes a silk handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. They are discussing the table as if it matters… as if it would be a really terrible thing if one of their guests got a splinter reaching for his fork or if, glancing down from his newspaper, he noticed a smudge of yesterday’s eggs Benedict on an inside slat.
And to the customers who come here - to the people who pay $495 and $675 and $775 per room to stay at the Peninsula - it does matter
______________________________
The Number One Skill You Should Master Before Applying for a Job
By Suzanne Richardson
Your inability to write clearly could be standing between you and a new or better job. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2007 Job Outlook survey, "communication skills" topped the list of what employers look for in new employees. And a 2006 survey of 431 human resource officials (conducted by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management) indicated that employees with those skills aren’t easy to find. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed reported that their employees who were graduates of two-year colleges were deficient in written communications, and 81 percent reported that their high-school-graduate employees had the same deficiency.
Develop your business-writing skills, and you’ll give yourself a big lead over other people
competing for your job.
How do you do it? Charlie Byrne, ETR’s Editorial Director and head writer, says to ask yourself these questions about all the work-related writing you do:
. Do I make my main points clear from the very beginning?
. Is the content organized in a logical way that flows naturally?
. Can I strengthen my argument by including further proof of any of my claims or removing unnecessary words or sections?
After you’ve gone through this checklist, go back and check for grammar and spelling. (If it’s a really important memo or report, you might even want to ask a friend or colleague to give it a final read-through.)
______________________________
Word to the Wise: Yawp
A "yawp" (YAWP) is a loud yell or cry.
Example, (as used by Walt Whitman in "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass): "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
Michael Masterson
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2095, 07-16-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
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