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Most people experience some degree of shyness from time to time in certain situations. In fact, only about 7% of the population claims that they never feel shy. For the rest of us, shyness can range from being an occasional, minor inconvenience, to being a major problem.

Some people however, are afflicted with a degree of shyness so severe that it is almost disabling. This type of acute shyness is not only very painful to experience, but it can have devastating effects on a person’s social life, happiness, and career.

Severe shyness is a complex mix of biology, upbringing, traumatic experiences, and negative self-talk. Severe shyness can co-exist with other debilitating psychological conditions such as low self-esteem, perfectionism, depression and anxiety.

Extreme shyness can take many forms, and can show up differently in different people. Some very shy people have problems being in large gatherings, yet feel comfortable in small groups. Some shy people only feel acute discomfort with persons they have just met, while others are never comfortable around people, even those they have known a long time.

Psychiatrists and psychologists use the term “social anxiety disorder (SAD)” to describe extremely debilitating shyness. There isn’t complete agreement about whether severe, disabling social anxiety disorder is simply a more severe type of shyness, or whether it is another type of disorder altogether.

Some very shy people are able to overcome their fears by learning social skills and practicing them frequently in social situations. Many also find it useful to gain some measure of control over their uncomfortable physical reactions such as sweating and trembling, by using special relaxation techniques and bio-feedback training.

Many very shy people deal with their extreme anxiety by simply avoiding any social situations that might trigger their discomfort. This may mean turning down invitations to parties and other social events, crossing the street in order to avoid running into someone they know, and even turning down promotions at work.

Although avoiding the feared situation may seem to the shy person like the perfect solution, it actually makes the problem worse in the long run. Every time a shy person chooses to avoid social interaction, he reinforces in his mind how much he fears dealing with other people.

By choosing the short-term benefit of avoiding his anxious feelings, he reinforces the power that his fear holds over him

Psychologists who specialize in the treatment of shyness disorders have discovered that avoiding social situations can actually make the problem worse. Many psychologists who treat people aflicted by shyness recommend a program of repeated and gradually increasing exposure to the feared situation, combined with helping the client learn new ways of thinking.

Various psychological therapies have been used to treat extreme shyness, most of them with limited success. The most successful approaches use some variation of cognitive therapy, or behavioral therapy, or both of these, combined with graduated and increasing exposure to the feared situation.

In cognitive therapy, the patient is taught to notice the thoughts he is thinking while he is in the feared situation. The client learns to challenge his thoughts to see if they fit reality. If these thoughts do not match the reality, the client is taught to substitute more realistic thoughts in their place.

Behavioral therapy aims to change the client’s behavior using a program of positive reinforcement of the desired behavior, and negative reinforcement of the undesired behavior.

Both cognitive therapy and behavior therapy focus on teaching the client to deal with situations and symptoms in the present. Neither form of therapy delves into situations in the client’s distant past. Those forms of psychotherapy that attempt to deal with shyness by delving into the client’s past history have not been shown to be effective. in cognitive therapy techniques.

There are many books that can teach the reader to effectively use cognitive therapy techniques for both depression and loneliness. If your case is not particularly severe, you can often learn enough from reading a book and doing the recommended exercises to greatly relieve your symptoms of shyness or depression. Dr. David Burns, one of the pioneers in bringing cognitive therapy to a wider audience, has written several very useful books and workbooks for the general public, including “Intimate Connections” and “Feeling Good–the New Mood Therapy.”

In the past decade, researchers have discovered that some anti-depressant medications, particularly the so-called SSRI’s (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors), can also be very helpful in the treatment of extreme shyness. One of these SSRI drugs, Paxil, was the first to receive American F.D.A. approval as an effective treatment for social anxiety. In fact, ads for Paxil as a treatment for social anxiety have been marketed directly to the public, not just to doctors. Other anti-depressant drugs in the SSRI group are also believed to help in reliving social anxiety.

Does drug treatment for shyness really work? Some very socially anxious people have tried everything that regular psychotherapy has to offer, including cognitive therapy, yet they still suffer debilitating symptoms of shyness until they try SSRI drugs. In some cases, the improvement in sociability after taking SSRI drugs can be swift and profound. This class of drugs seems to help the socially anxious person turn down the excessive volume of their inner judgmental thoughts.

About the Author: This article is taken from the new downloadable book by Royane Real titled “How You Can Have All the Friends You Want - Your Complete Guide to Finding Friends, Making Friends, and Keeping Friends” available at www.royanereal.com

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With the help of MSN, recently I’ve been reminiscing about the Google of old. Remember those days? When you could take a good quality site, add a few keywords, get a few incoming links and bada-bing, bada-boom, it’d be #1 on Google? Remember the old days, pre-Florida, pre-sandbox? The days when we, as search engine optimization specialists, didn’t feel like a private schoolgirl smoking in the bathroom? When we didn’t feel like the iron fist would come crashing down at any moment? Yes, those were the good old days. And MSN has finally brought them back, though on a much smaller scale.

Google hit it right on the nose back then. Search results were almost never irrelevant - venturing to the second page of results was an event that drew gasps. There was never, ever any reason to leave Google and search for the same query on another search engine. Satisfied users the world over, it was the search engine of choice almost everywhere searches were conducted. I myself never strayed from Google, I was loyal and I was rewarded for my loyalty with consistently relevant results.

But has Google taken their quest for perfection a few steps too far? Case in point: http://www.jimmylerner.com - this web site is the official site of an author. Search on MSN for his name, “jimmy lerner” and his web site is the top result. Now, try the same search on Google.

The top results are pages devoted to reviewing his book, book stores selling his book, a press release I sent out to announce his new site and a few times I’ve even seen sites show up in the top ten that simply have a link to his site from theirs and are completely unrelated. His site has been jumping from the second page to the first and back again.

This begs the question, optimization or no optimization, what, exactly, is the problem with a quality, informative web site reaching number one for a search query that is probably conducted specifically to find that exact site? Has the focus and aim of Google changed from offering relevancy to satisfied searchers to simply impeding the progress of SEOs? Is Google’s main concern now, to stop individuals from helping a site reach number one? It can seem that way, can’t it? And I can only say one thing about it. Bad move, Google.

I’ve heard a few people say that it’s just a transition period. That all web sites are in the same boat, everyone’s waiting to see the fruits of their optimization labour. Perhaps this is true, and perhaps over the next little while we will see changes at Google that make our jaws drop, impressed at the level of perfection we never thought possible. But I think maybe Google needs to re-focus their energies. Take the focus back to the user, not the SEOs. Get back to the near-impeccable relevancy level before I start using MSN to learn about all my favorite authors.

About the Author: Courtney Heard is the founder of Abalone Designs, a search engine optimization company in Vancouver, Canada. She has been involved in web development and marketing since 1995 and has helped start several businesses since then in the Vancouver area. More of Courtney’s articles are available at http://www.abalone.ca/resources/.

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Anyone considering Bankruptcy may have experienced fear after reading an article written in The Mail on Sunday with the headline “Bankruptcy cheats face crackdown”. But, how much of what was written was in context of the reality of Bankruptcy as it is today?

The article implied that since The Enterprise Act 2002 the rise in the number of people going bankrupt was due to them using the Bankruptcy route as a “Get out of jail free card”. The assumption being that The Enterprise Act 2002 made bankruptcy an easy option. However, the writer didn’t take into consideration the actions the DTI have taken to raise financial awareness and to ensure better advice is given regarding people’s options when faced with personal debt issues.

The article gave the impression that one of the restrictions of bankruptcy was that you could not open a bank account until you are discharged from bankruptcy. However, there are infact 40 basic bank accounts, half of which will allow an undischarged bankrupt to open an account. This in itself indicates the writer of the article is not fully aware of the effect of bankruptcy, therefore giving the impression that the article could possibly be the result of poor research.

The Enterprise Act 2002 (bought into force in April 2004) was made to give honest people a fresh start in life, which would be free from the stress of debt. Not for the purpose of encouraging people to “use insolvency as a way of shaking off creditors”. The writer implied that the provision, which allows the IP to request a restriction order on a bankrupt, is hardly used.

Perhaps this is because, people who lodge petitions for bankruptcy have not gone out to get themselves into huge amounts of debt and are genuinely unable to repay their debt due to unforeseen circumstances, rather than fraud, recklessness or dishonesty.

If an Insolvency Practitioner suspects fraudulent or criminal behaviour, they will apply for a Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO) for the court to assess and decide what action to take.

The writer also states that “New” Government proposals due out in the next few days will make it easier for creditors to set up plans for repayments, an “Individual Voluntary Arrangement”. Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA’s) have infact been around since the 1986 Insolvency Act and used by employees and self employed people.

This only further questions the credibility of the writer and The Mail on Sunday for publishing such an article.

What the writer also doesn’t realise is, people who have failed IVA’s or not able to get an IVA add to the percentage of people petitioning for bankruptcy.

The worry that this article will have placed on people is not only unnecessary, but also misleading. The reduction in the terms of discharge from bankruptcy is supposed to be a positive change in The Enterprise Act 2002, not a negative one as implied in this article.

If you have sought advice, and you know you have no other option than to take the bankruptcy route then you should not be put off. “Nothing has changed”, as Simon Wiggins informed one of his posters who read the article and was concerned by it.

If you would like further advice regarding your financial situation FCL Debt Clinic offer free debt advice which will enable you to see what your options are regarding resolving your debt problems.

About the Author: Nicola Bullimore has been working with people regarding debt for some years. For more information regarding debt issues, please visit Debt Questions

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Have you ever wondered why the phones aren’t ringing the waythey should? Or maybe sales are flat and you’re not achievingthe revenue and profit targets you set for your business.There’s one sure-fire way to uncover the problems to get yourcompany back on track. The answers are right in front of yournose.

> > > Why Your Ads May Say Nothing & Everything About YourBusiness! < < <

Many business owners rely on platitudes and ego gratificationwhen promoting their businesses. They think customers willflock to their establishments to buy products and services justbecause they’re there or just because they’re “nice folks”.Their ads extol the same drearily predictable phrases: “We’vebeen in business umpteen years!”, or “We’re family owned andoperated!”, or “We sell the best for less!”. Trite andcommonplace position statements such as these have been used somuch, by so many advertisers, they simply have no meaning andno impact.

> > > Your Customers Are A Goldmine Of Information < < <

When it comes to your industry, your customers represent awealth of experience. Why not tap into that knowledge-baseto see how you can increase your bottom line profits? Have youever taken an extensive customer survey and asked why peoplebuy from you? If you haven’t, you’re missing vital feedbackthat can tell you exactly how to craft your marketing messagefor maximum impact. Try it and you’ll learn the best way tospeak to your target audience. Their responses will guide youin developing your irresistible marketing message. You’lluncover all the customer “Hot Buttons”, the problems,frustrations, and annoying situations your target audienceexperiences before and when doing business in your industry.When you know what “makes your target market tick” and what”ticks them off”, your approach will be more confident andinformed.

This will cause people to be more receptive, becauseprospects can now see that you completely understand them andtheir situation.

In addition, you can learn just as much from prospects whodecided not to buy from you as you can from those who do. Why?When prospects fail to buy from you, there’s a good chance thatthe issue was not “price”. Knowing why allows you to look atways of innovating your company, products, or your services.You know precisely how to make your business more attractive.

> > > Customer Survey Types < < <

Conduct your surveys and direct them toward:

1) Current Prospects2) Prospects who are still stuck in the buying process3) Current Customers4) Former Customers5) Unhappy Customers

According to Jim Rohn, renowned business philosopher, the keycomponents to powerful communication are: first having somethinggood to say, then saying it well, and finally saying it often,using the appropriate mediums. Your customer surveys will giveyou plenty of good things to say. Pay attention, because yourcustomers may even say it for you, in the form of testimonials!

Get a FREE Customer Survey Template entitled, “Everything YouShould Ask Your Customers And How!” Simply email your requestto mailto:surveytemplate@aweber.com and learn how to get yourcustomers to tell you everything you need to know about whatmakes them “tick” and what “ticks them off”.

Learn more about this innovative and convenient way to helpbuild your business by viewing a short video clipat: http://www.mymondemand.info/page/page/1685007.htm

May your marketing efforts be profitable.

About the Author: James Bell, the author, teaches business owners, entrepreneurs,and professionals how to acheive bigger, bottom line results from their advertising & marketing efforts without spending moretime, effort, or money. Learn marketing strategies and tactics to separate yourself from your competition and become the obvious choice to do business with. To learn more about how to improve your own Marketing Efforts and Achieve Better Results, visit: http://www.MYMOnDemand.com. Email: mailto:jbell@mymondemand.com

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For business, non-profit and association managers, is itpublicity that delivers newspaper and talk show mentionsbacked up by colorful brochures and videos, combinedwith special events that attract a lot of people?

Or could your business, non-profit or association PR dollarbe better spent on public relations activity that createsbehavior change among your key outside audiences thatleads directly to achieving your managerial objectives? Anddoes so by persuading your most important outsideaudiences to your way of thinking, then moves them to takeactions that help your department, division or subsidiarysucceed?

What we’re talking about is the kind of PR that lets youdo something positive about the behaviors of those externalstakeholders of yours that MOST affect your organization.Which means the right PR really CAN alter individualperception and lead to changed behaviors that help youwin.

Here’s a recipe for you: people act on their own perceptionof the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviorsabout which something can be done. When we create, changeor reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect theorganization the most, the public relations mission isaccomplished.

And it can generate results like increased membershipapplications; prospects starting to work with you; customersmaking repeat purchases; capital givers or specifying sourceslooking your way; stronger relationships with the educational,labor, financial and healthcare communities; and evenimproved relations with government agencies and legislativebodies,

Once the program gets rolling, you also should see resultssuch as new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures;rebounds in showroom visits; community service andsponsorship opportunities; enhanced activist group relations,and expanded feedback channels, not to mention newthoughtleader and special event contacts.

To garner such results your PR crew – agency or staff – mustbe committed to you, as the senior project manager, to the PRblueprint and its implementation, starting with target audienceperception monitoring.

As you know, its extremely important that your key outsideaudiences see your operations, products or services in the mostpositive light. So make certain that your PR staff has boughtinto the whole effort. For example, do they accept the realitythat perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can helpor hurt your unit?

Review the PR blueprint with your PR team, especially theplan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioningmembers of your most important outside audiences. Questionslike these: how much do you know about our organization?How much do you know about our services or products andemployees? Have you had prior contact with us and were youpleased with the interchange? Have you experienced problemswith our people or procedures?

IF the budget is available, survey firms obviously can handle theperception monitoring phases of your program. But rememberthat your PR people are also in the perception and behaviorbusiness and can pursue the same objective: identify untruths,false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies,misconceptions and any other negative perception that mighttranslate into hurtful behaviors.

But what about your public relations goal? You need a goalstatement that speaks to the aberrations that showed upduring your key audience perception monitoring. And itcould call for straightening out that dangerous misconception,or correcting that gross inaccuracy, or doing something aboutthat damaging rumor.

PR 101 says when you set a goal, you need a strategy thatshows you how to get there. Here, you have three strategicchoices when it comes to handling a perception or opinionchallenge: create perception where there may be none, changethe perception, or reinforce it. A bad strategy pick will tastelike lime zest on your veal chops, so be certain the newstrategy fits well with your new public relations goal. Forexample, you don’t want to select “change” when thefacts dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

Your PR team has their work cut out for them because nowthey must come up with just the right, corrective languagethat will persuade an audience to your way of thinking. Wordsthat are compelling, persuasive and believable AND clear andfactual.

You have little choice if you are to correct a perceptionby shifting opinion towards your point of view, leading tothe desired behaviors.

Message impact is also key in such a message, so sit downagain with your communications specialists and review yourmessage for that quality as well.. Then, select the communicationstactics most likely to carry your words to the attention of yourtarget audience. You can pick from dozens that are available.From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumerbriefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings andmany others. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known toreach folks just like your audience members.

The credibility of a message can depend on its delivery method.So, think about introducing it to smaller gatherings rather thanusing higher-profile tactics such as news releases or talk showappearances.

Calls for progress reports will send you and your PR folks backto the field for a second perception monitoring session withmembers of your external audience. Using many of the samequestions used in the first benchmark session, you’ll now bewatching very carefully for signs that the bad news perceptionis being altered in your direction.

If colleagues (or bosses) seem impatient for results, you can always accelerate things with more communications tactics and increased frequencies.

Folks act on their perceptions of the facts they hear about youand your operation. Which means you have next to no choicebut to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions bydoing what is necessary to reach and move those key externalaudiences of yours to actions you desire.

About the Author: Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi-cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

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In the ten years that I’ve taught people how to get on withtheir books and creative projects, I’ve noticed a phenomenonthat I’ll call “Author’s Block.” Would-be writers can, indeed,sit down and work when pressed to it. The problem is thatthey’re not so sure they want the pressure of being an author.But they do want it. But they don’t. And so on.

Ah, the agony of getting on with your book.

Well, I’m here to diffuse that situation with a list of the keyreasons we have trouble sticking to our writing or othercreative projects. Perhaps this will help the next time you findyourself polishing doorknobs instead of sitting down to work.

Check all that apply to you:

You Lie To Yourself About Why You Can’t Write The Book

You think your stalling is about lack of time, or too muchpressure at work, or not enough solitude in the evening. Butguess what? Chances are a deeper, darker reason may be at play,like ‘I’m not supposed to be bigger than Mom’ or ‘What if thisthing really takes off?’

You Fear The Impact Your Book Could Have

Sometimes when I coach writers in my Self-Help Author’s CrashCourse I’ll ask them what’s impeding their progress. And aftersome probing, it will come out that they’re afraid of the bigexposure a book can have if it takes off. I’m here to assure youthat should that happen, (and chances are your book will notunleash wild mobs of millions) you will be able to handle it.How do I know? On that deep level where psyche meets karma, youwon’t create a single reader more than you’re ready to receive.

You Think Your Book Doesn’t Matter, So Why Bother?

One writer I know put this succinctly: “I’ve tried getting up at5AM to write, or staying up late, or even leaving my home, butnone of it works. I have this tired feeling that none of myeffort is going to amount to a hill of beans.” In fact, writingand publication can be an entirely self-determined activitythese days. If the publishing pundits don’t go for your book,there’s always the option of self-publishing paperback editionsor e-books and selling them on online booksellers or yourwebsite. In other words, your book DOES matter, and you reallyhave no excuse. (Acid test: if the book keeps on patientlyurging you to sit down and write it for months and even years,chances are you’d better do it.)

You Think You Don’t Know How To Write A Book

Guess what? Neither does any other first time writer. And thatmay be a wonderful thing. As a beginner, you don’t approach yourbook project with a carload of professional expectations anddemands from your process. You can just be open, like… well, anice blank book. All you really need is your intuition to guideyou, and the will to write your book as honestly as you can.

You Have No Support

You need someone in your corner, cheering you on, to get throughthe long and somewhat tiring process of birthing a book.

Becausewriters need a way to show up and be accountable for theirprogress. They need someone to keep saying, ‘Yes, you really cando this,” or even “How’s it going?” Minds can be tricky anddifficult when fully challenged by something like a book. Andsteady external support is the best way around that.

You’re Afraid You’ll Run Out Of Material

There isn’t a writer out there who hasn’t had this fear. And I’mhere to say that if you just stay loose and open, and willing toreceive the ideas, they will show up. All you have to do iscommit - really sit down, and begin to bring that book intobeing - and the work will magically appear. Sometimes it won’tflow that easily, and sometimes it will scare you with its speedand power. But it will, indeed, show up.

You Think ‘Who Am I to Write a Book?’

And yet, you are the perfect person to write your book, becauseyou’re the one chosen to receive this material. (You don’t haveto be spiritually inclined to believe this.) I personallybelieve that books are given to us when we’re ready to receivethem… and when we do, our lives are changed by that process.

You Fear Uncomfortable Moments

Ah, but that’s the most exciting thing about writing your book.You will be given challenges and lessons that just seemuntenable along the way. And if you’re committed enough, you’llrise above them and so become stronger in the process. This isespecially true for self-help books: we naturally write what weneed to learn.

Got a few categories checked off from the list above? Good!Awareness is the first step to diffusing your fears. Meanwhile,PLEASE do get on with your book … despite your misgivings. Notonly do you deserve this work - so do we.

About the Author: Suzanne Falter-Barns co-leads The Writer’s Spa, a week-long,nurturing retreat for anyone with a book on their mind. Taos,NM, August, 2005. Learn more athttp://www.howmuchjoy.com/writerspa.html. ©2005 Suzanne Falter-Barns LLC. You may reprint this, butit must be complete and include all contact informationabove.

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College students receive billions of dollars in scholarship money every year. How can you get some of this money to fund your college education?

Start looking early
Start looking for scholarships at least by your sophomore or junior year in high school. Some scholarships are even awarded as early as junior high. Where to look? Your first stop should be your high school counseling office, followed by your college financial aid office. Other places to look include

-Civic and community organizations
-Cultural institutions
-Your parents’ place of employment
-Your state Department of Education
-The internet

Keep looking
Keep searching for new scholarships and renewing existing scholarships even after you begin college. Many scholarships need to be renewed annually, and you may qualify for new loans throughout your college years.

Develop your interests
While some scholarships are based on financial need or academic achievement, others are based on particular interests, extracurricular achievements, ethnicity, or religious affiliation.

Meet deadlines
Pay attention to the scholarship requirements – meet them in as creative a way as possible, and always be on time!

Diversify
Apply for every scholarship that you qualify for. Even small scholarships can add up to big money if you win enough of them.

Beware of scams
As you search for scholarships, especially on the internet, look out for scam artists who

-Charge application fees
-Guarantee you will receive a scholarship
-Ask for unnecessary personal information, such as your bank account number

There are plenty of free scholarship search sites on the web, so don’t pay for this service.

This article is distributed by NextStudent. At NextStudent, we believe that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we’re dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding as easy as possible. We invite you to learn more about how to maximize your scholarship search at http://www.NextStudent.com .

About the Author: My goal is to help every student succeed - education is one of hte most important things a person can have, so I have made it my personal mission to help every student pay for their education. Aside from that, I am just a pretty average girl from SD.

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Who, do you think, should win the Oscar this year? Who has been the best male actor in film this year? Should it be Don Cheadle, in Hotel Rwanda, Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland, Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator, Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby or Jamie Foxx in Ray.

What about Leading female Actress? Who gets your vote? Annette Bening in Being Julie, Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace, Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby or Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

How about you? Have you given an outstanding performance during 2004?
Did you created a breath-taking, unforgettable performance during the past year to get a nomination for the Life Performance Oscar?

When you accept that your role in your life is to give the best performance you can. To be you. To focus on your natural talents and your relationship with others will improve. Then others will nominate you for a Life Performance Oscar.

So how has 2004 been for you? Did you really touch your potential? Or did you accept second best?
When faced with all the other actors on the world stage, did you fall into the trap of:

•trying to compete with them? Or did you stick with your unique part and deliver to the best of your ability?
•spending your time wondering what others thought about you? Or did you aim to reach your potential and allow others to re think their roles as a result of interacting with you.

When you accept your role as an actor on the world stage then you have no one to compete with but yourself. When you accept that you are an unique individual, with your own skills and abilities, there is no need to compete with anyone. You just need to evolve your uniqueness.

You, after all, have something important and great to give the world so why try and be like someone else. Why try to mimic their role?

In a film or a play each actor concentrates on delivering their role to be the best of their ability. Life is no different. To ensure you have a successful life all you need to do is concentrate on your role and deliver, to the best of your ability. To be a great person you just need to produce a great performance. You have the skills and knowledge all you need is the courage to deliver.

When you go for it, you will be successful and, who knows, maybe next year, you will be nominated for the Oscar in Life performance.

Good Luck.

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com

About the Author: To see more of our work please go to:www.desktop-meditation.com

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Over the last few years the buzz about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has grown extensively. It seems that every Sales & Marketing executive is talking about it. A study conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix found that U.S. businesses spent more than $5.2 billion in CRM technology software in 2001, a number that is expected to rise to $8.7 billion by 2006. CRM spending has been growing considerably, especially in financial services, retail, and telecommunications.

Many companies have invested in CRM systems to retain customers who demand more and better services by the day, but why? Due to recent trends, consumer behavior has changed dramatically in the last couple of years, and even more with current market conditions. According to a study made by The Center for Customer Strategy, consumers are less concerned with minor price differences, but choose companies based on their value-added services. They want to be able to get what they need, quickly. With tools like the Internet, it’s now a lot easier for both consumers and businesses to compare offers, and switch over if their needs aren’t met. This is especially true of high-value customers that produce the most profit for the business.

Businesses are scrambling for ways to retain these customers, and attract new ones in the process. So how is CRM an answer to keeping up with these trends? CRM is a strategy (no, not software) to transform your business to be customer, not product, focused. The CRM software is just a tool that helps the company carry out this strategy. Depending on its implementation, it can help your business identify who your customers are, what they need and anticipate what could want. It allows businesses to tailor offers to their current customers, building closer relationships that make them feel valuable. It can help eliminate contact and data overlap between departments and improve consumer service. For example, Leah Holzman, Marketing Manager of TradeCard Inc, explained how the marketing and sales departments in her company had problems tacking each others’ progress and customer data. They spent “hundreds of hours managing disparate data across multiple systems. That is, until they implemented a CRM initiative with the help of Salesforce.com. Overall, CRM can make your company more efficient and customer-friendly to capture greater market share, increase customer loyalty, and attract more customers.

So far, CRM sounds like a dream come true. Yet studies show that more than half of CRM initiatives fail. Despite rising spending in CRM, a survey of 1,200 businesses executives conducted by the Data Warehousing Institute showed that 41% considered their CRM project “a potential flop.” Only 16% were satisfied with their CRM software implementation. As one senior marketing executive claimed, “We turned a manual mess into an automated mess, and as a result we just made the same mistakes faster and more efficiently.”

The problem with these companies is not that CRM automation fails to meet expectations. There are several reasons why these systems don’t always generate the desired results. And most times, it has nothing to do with the software.

The biggest mistake that a manager can make is think that once the software is installed, all problems will be solved. To be successful, a CRM initiative must be a company-wide strategic culture change and process design. It entails getting all your employees (not only customer service) to change the way they perform their every day tasks so that the appropriate information is collected and used in a productive way. The software is just a tool that keeps things organized so that a successful CRM is easier to accomplish. As any change in a corporate culture, this project requires complete support from senior management.

One of the most common problems is that data collected isn’t used. Great sums of money are invested in collecting all different kinds of information on clients, yet many times this information is never analyzed, never used to understand the customer or provide all the benefits that CRM can deliver.

For better results, a company investing in CRM must first evaluate their current situation. They should determine what problems need to be solved, and what type of data are needed. Since implementation is often a complicated process (especially in large companies), it is vital to get input from all departments. It is also a good idea to include your customer in the process to get a better idea of what changes will be embraced. Often when a CRM initiative is left up to the IT department, it is harder for other areas of the company to accept any changes in processes (which are usually substantial). To be successful, the initiative must take place throughout the entire company. Employees must be trained to function with the new technology and processes.

When considering a vendor and/or product, it’s imperative that any software, system or processes implemented are flexible. They can then adapt, along with a company, to changing times and trends. This is especially useful in growing businesses, where needs might change as client bases grow and business expands.

No matter what precautions you may take when planning and implementing a CRM initiative, the only thing that can assure its success for the company are your people. After all, the whole concept of CRM is based on relationships. And those can’t be completely automated. There is no technological substitute for a friendly voice or face that understands a customer’s troubles and is willing to go above and beyond to provide the best service. CRM can only help a company manage these relationships to provide a more personalized service to loyal customers.

About the Author: Mark Levit is managing partner of Partners & Levit Advertising and a professor of marketing at New York University. For more information visit http://www.partnerslevit.com or call 212.696.1200.

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Once upon a time, I harbored a quaint notion of child development.

In the my imaginary world, children eventually transmogrified into those horror-movie monsters called teenagers. They would overrun the house for a few years, scorching and pillaging along the way…but leaving no lasting damage that a new mortgage and a five-year Caribbean cruise couldn’t fix. They would then transmogrify into wistful longings and fond memories of when they were just babies – when the parents were still in control.

My innocent notions have been sliced, diced and fed to that green creature so loyally following Captain Hook across the seven seas. My daughters are still both toddlers, and already their mutiny is almost complete.

Little Lady is just three-and-a-half. Two days ago, she took over the kitchen.

“No. Don’t sit there. That’s Lulu’s chair.”

“Lulu?” my wife asked?

“She’s my imaginary friend.”

“Well I have a real sandwich and real hunger and I’m going to sit my real bottom down on this real chair,” my wife responded.

That’s when the revolution began. Little Lady kicked up a fuss, wailing about how her imaginary friends had knocked on the door and how she had let them in and how could Mommy be so cruel as to sit on one of them.

“Your imaginary friend can sit on an imaginary chair,” my wife finally said.

“Nooooooooo…”

“Do you want me to leave?” my wife asked.

“Yes. Go away.” And with those words, the kitchen was formally occupied by the rebel insurgent army – one toddler and a handful of her imaginary friends.

Editor’s note. The wailing eventually stopped. I was able to squeeze an apology out of Little Lady. And my wife did return to the kitchen. But Lulu was keeping an eye on us.

This morning I was taking a business call. Nobody important, just Lady Banker. Yes, the same Lady Banker who technically owns at least half of our home and can at any moment shake the rug and send us tumbling into the winter snow.

As I was trying to explain a delicate detail to her, Barney suddenly came blaring through the ear piece.

“What?!” Lady Banker and I cried in unison.

It took me a moment, but it slowly dawned on me that the living room had fallen to the enemy. “Please excuse me a moment. I think this is the work of foreign cannibals breaking through the basement foundation again.” I didn’t know if Lady Banker would buy my story, but I figured it would buy me some time while she considered it.

I rushed to the living room, and there was Little Sister, grinning in the full splendor of her 14 months and holding up the handset.

“I was on the phone with Lady Banker, Little Sister.

She holds the mortgage to our house, you know.”

The look on Little Sister’s face said it all: “You think that’s your biggest problem?”

I tried a few negotiation tactics, finally trading the handset for a limited edition huggy doll.

I returned to the phone. “The rebels are gaining ground, eh?” Lady Banker asked. I sighed.

It was true. Just yesterday, Little Sister scurried up the back staircase to the second floor. She had been playing right beside me, and I was certain she had just headed in the other direction to where her big sister was holding her mother hostage the living room.

But I had to make sure. I peaked my head around the corner toward the back staircase. Nobody. Then I saw it. Her little blankie lying at the foot of the stairs. I heard a thump above, and Little Sister’s lifeless body flashed before my eyes where the blankie lay. I raced to the staircase, up the stairs and around the corner.

There she stood, grinning at me with her “You think that’s your biggest problem?” expression again.

The revolution is gaining momentum. They hold the kitchen. They won the living room. Now they have a toehold on the upstairs landing. It won’t be long until the toddlers and their imaginary friends have overrun the house and declared it a free country. Bedtimes will be banned and candy will be the national currency.

When they leave home, I’ll need more than a five-year cruise to de-stress. Maybe ten years will be enough.

About the Author: David Leonhardt runs a personal growth happiness website. He is author of one of the best self-help books and many personal growth articles to reprint. Visit also his liquid vitamins website.

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