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The answer to this
question seems to be no. After you spend all that
money on advertising, special offers and other
enticements to get the customer in the door, think
about this: For every 100 customers that have a
bad experience shopping, the retailer can lose
between 32 and 36 current or potential customers
in the future. That is the conclusion of The
Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study 2006
conducted by the Retail Initiative at Wharton and
The Verde Group. This is a difficult business
problem for the retailer because the study also
finds that most dissatisfied consumers don’t take
their problem to the store but rather tell their
friends and family. Those surveyed say it is
usually just too difficult to go out of their way
take the problem to the manager. They also appear
somewhat apathetic about any corrective action and
expect that they will experience the same problem
in the future. For the most common factors that
make a bad shopping experience click MORE
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According to McKinsey
Quarterly more than 75% of surveyed consumer
products manufacturers in the U.S. have
reorganized their sales force since 2002. But all
reorganizations were not equally successful. Those
in the top quartile of market share and revenue
growth significantly outperformed their peers by
gaining more than 4% share from 2003 to 2004 vs.
share losses of over 2% for the others. Further,
the gains by the top companies were accompanied by
20% lower selling and marketing costs! What were
the winning sales strategies? Click here for
MORE
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By Mike Porter
As small businesses grow, owners and
managers tend to encounter more difficulty in
understanding exactly how sales, marketing and
customer-service staffs are relating to customers
and prospects. Too often, customer information
remains a fragmented collection of data
distributed among a variety of stand-alone
computers or manually prepared paper spreadsheets.
With an expanding customer base, customer-service
representatives find they need increasing amounts
of time to research and respond to customer
inquiries or complaints. Determining the
effectiveness of their lead-generation process and
direct-contact efforts may become progressively
more frustrating for marketing staff as they
broaden their original niche business and confront
greater competition in the larger marketplace.
Furthermore, management often has little or no
insight into which of its customer-focused efforts
are working best, which staff members are doing
the best job or even how frequently the company is
in touch with its customers. MORE
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| The results of the
Chamber’s Annual Survey of Paid Holidays for 2006
are available on our web site. In summary, the
paid holidays for 2006 are about the same as 2005,
down slightly to an average of 9.35 compared to
9.47 for 2005 for all industries. Personal days
granted are also basically unchanged with 1.63
days for 2006 compared to 1.65 in 2005. To view
the averages by industry go to Click
here for 2006 survey results. Click
here for 2005 results. |
| |
According to the DOL, in
2005 sixty percent (60%) of workers had access to
retirement benefits with 50% participating in one
type of plan or another. The type of plans offered
continues to move away from defined benefit plans
to defined contributions. Only 21% of employees
have defined benefit plans, down from 35% in the
early ‘90’s. Companies also are working hard to
refine their offering. Overall, a survey by Mercer
Human Resource Consulting revealed that 96% of
employers changed one or more aspects of their
retirement programs in the last 3 years. For a
full DOL report on the trends in retirement plan
coverage over the past decade click MORE
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Medicare is defined as
the secondary payer when payment with respect to
services that should have been made under another
benefit plan. All employers that sponsor one or
more group health plans will be impacted by the
new interim regulations that go into effect April
25, 2006 clarifying and expanding Medicare
reimbursement requirements. Generally, the new
regulations provide that if a primary insurer
fails to pay a claim that Medicare later pays as
proper, Medicare may seek reimbursement directly
from the employer. The employer is then left to
obtain reimbursement from its insurer despite
having made an initial denial of the
claim. MORE
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Businesses increasingly
use criminal background checks during the hiring
process for the protection of the company and the
public. These checks can also serve as a defense
against negligent hiring lawsuits. But it seems
there is always something else to worry about.
Depending upon how you apply the results of the
investigations, you could be open to a
discrimination claim. You should be prepared to
show that disqualification of a candidate with a
conviction is job related and consistent with
business necessity or you may be open to a
disparate impact discrimination claim under Title
VII. MORE
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| Even groundless
employment claims can become a nightmare if an
employer doesn’t take action to preserve evidence
relating to the claims. Once put on notice, a
company must take action to suspend document
retention and destruction policies with respect to
documents, correspondence, email and other
evidence related to the charges. Failure to do so
can result in findings of ‘spoiliation’ by the
court. This can lead to sanctions and penalties
independent of the original charges. |
| |
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
of 2002 (SOX) provides protection for
whistleblowers. However, claims of adverse
employment action must be filed within 90-days by
the claimant whistleblower. According to an
Administrative Law Judge, this very short statute
of limitations may not be extended by agreement
between a company and claimant. A company had
agreed not to assert an untimely claim defense
under SOX against a terminated employee so that
settlement discussions could progress. While the
company honored the agreement, the judge dismissed
all SOX claims as time-barred because they were
not filed within the 90-day statute of
limitations. MORE
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| Current
Economic Indicators |
| Illinois
Chamber HELPLINE |
| Knowing what you can and
can't do will help you prevent costly mistakes.
Call Howard Parker, our Chamber HR expert. He will
help you deal with problems safely and avoid
disputes. You can reach the Helpline toll-free at
800-322-4722. |
| |
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Check out some of our other
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Illinois Chamber:
Learn more about these programs
and how they benefit your company when you Join
the Leaders! |
| |
 The Chamber urges
all Illinois employers to recognize their Guard
and Reserve employees by signing and displaying
the ESGR Statement of Support. To get yours,
simply complete
an online form and you will receive a
personalized certificate that demonstrates your
support. Also visit the SBA Veteran's Business
Development web site for assistance to small
business owners that have employees activated in
the Guard or Reserves. Click MORE
|
The Exec
Report - Wood S.
McComb, Editor
Copyright © 2006 The Illinois
Chamber
|
