Osman Gulum's Blog: Success is already yours - Posts Tagged "business"

Hello and welcome to my new monthly blog, which is exclusive to Goodreads!

I am Osman Gulum, author of the recently self-published business based autobiography ‘Climbing Mountains’, which details my exploits in the world of business from the most unconventional of beginnings.

Today signifies a landmark occasion for me as a writer, as this constitutes my first (and perhaps only) attempt to get involved in the ‘blogging hype’. In fact, apart from ‘Climbing Mountains’, this represents my first ever attempt at writing anything intended for public consumption. So please – go easy on me!

Business is second nature to me. I have lived and breathed business ever since I was little, ever since I got my first taste of working life - shining shoes in Imranli, Turkey. It is my great passion - something I love to be involved in, something that I am always eager to learn more about, something that I have devoted my life to.

Writing on the other hand is completely foreign to me. Having had no formal education to this day and with English being my second language, I have often struggled to give real justice to my thoughts, feelings and opinions via the written word. So in truth, this blog represents real unknown territory for me, which although daunting, is also extremely exciting, as it has been on my list of things to do for so long now!

So, background story aside, I guess what you really want to know is, as a reader, what will this blog have to offer you? Well, my objectives for this blog are simple, and are as follows:

1. To provide a platform for me to shamelessly publicise my book and business activities (well it’s always good to be honest!). My book, ‘Climbing Mountains’, for the record is available to buy via Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle form!

2. To provide a platform for open discussion on a variety of business based topics. I will be writing posts on a range of subjects that I have first hand practical experience of and will be inviting others to join the debate, offer their own experiences and ideas – in the hope that the blog can develop into a genuinely useful resource tool for all those aspiring to achieve their goals in the world of business.


3. To help me develop myself as a writer (certainly a lot of scope for this to happen) with the help of not only more exposure to simply writing on a regular basis, but also via the constructive and thoughtful criticism and advice from those who do this for a living!

4. To connect with like-minded individuals



I think that is plenty of information to be going on with for now. I will return the same time next month (16th December 2012) with my first blog topic which will be open for discussion – “Customer Service – Going the Extra Mile”. As well as with free exerts of my book, an update on my current business projects and some handy tips that have helped me get to where I am today.

In the mean time please feel free to Follow me on Twitter, Like my Facebook Page or Connect with me on LinkedIn for; free book giveaways, opportunities to exchange book reviews, weekly hot topic discussions, and so much more!

Thanks,

Osman

So, as promised, I have returned to post a new entry for my blog. A little later than I promised, apologies, but things have been very hectic this month. As I'm sure they have been for the vast majority of you guys - well it is the festive season after all!!

So as the title suggests, here is my attempt at the fabled 'difficult second album'. Not that I am implying that my first post was a huge success, more that this second one will be far more difficult to construct!

The intention for this post is to achieve the following:

1. To give the blog some substance and relevance to my book Climbing Mountains by discussing a business related topic area - which this week will relate to 'Customer Service'. Hopefully this will also inspire some discussion on the blog and allow me to interact better my followers!

2. To give out my social media links and book links, but this time using proper hyperlinks as opposed to typing them out (big thank you to Anne-Rae Vasquez for showing me how to do this!).

My book Climbing Mountains details my personal exploits in the world of business. It follows the highs and lows of my journey from a small farming village in Turkey to the United Kingdom.

In my 42 years on the planet, I have held a wide range of different employment positions; from shining the shoes of business men, to owning my own award-winning takeaway and a large property portfolio. Although all of these roles have required different skill sets and each varied dramatically in the day to day tasks, one similarity is glaringly universal - the importance of customer service never dwindles!

Never undermine your customers, never underestimate their importance to your business. Let's face it, the majority of industries depend on the end product/service user to generate the revenue required to run the business. The revenue that hopefully will be high enough to become profit at the end of the day.

Excellent customer care is the most important method for improving customer loyalty. Put yourself in the customers shoes. Why would you use a company, product or service again and again if you did not feel that you were receiving the highest standard of customer service? The market place is highly saturated in most sectors. It is easy for a customer to go out and find a competitor company who does understand the importance of providing exceptional service.

In any industry the true value of customer service comes from the relationship you build with a customer. Whether it be good or bad, you are building a relationship every day by the way you interact (or don’t interact) with your customers. If you can establish a personal relationship with your customers, you are on the right path!

So how can a positive relationship be built with your customers? I feel that the following points are pivotal in establishing long lasting (and lets face it, in the long term, profitable) relationships with your customers:

(a) Listen To The Customer - if your customer is telling you about an aspect of your company that he/she appreciates, thinks is positive, would like to see more of. LISTEN. Develop strategies based around this. Inform your staff of the positive feedback and instill the mindset of providing this preferred aspect of service on a regular basis. This could be for example, based on my time in the food industry, making your kitchen open plan. Following feedback from several customers I spoke to whilst working at a number of places in the food industry, I discovered that there was a definite demand to know how the food was being cooked and what happened behind closed doors in a restaurant. I utilised this information and when I opened my restaurant "Bella Roma" I made it so the kitchen was open plan. Customers could see their food being prepared, they could see that it was in a clean environment and that it was being cooked from fresh. They even got to witness the odd argument between the chefs - but this all added to the customer experience!

I think the fact I listened to the customers, listened to what they actually wanted and then acted in a way that ensured I delivered it, meant I provided excellent customer service. It also allowed my business to flourish, gave it a real USP and differentiated it from the competition - in what was a very competitive market. I think I was the first person with an open kitchen restaurant in Warrington at that time and it was through listening to the customers that I developed the idea!

Perhaps each more essentially, listen to customers criticisms. This information is gold dust, as from it you can learn how to improve your business, how to meet customer demands and how to establish yourself apart from your competition!

(b) Employ Staff Who Care - no matter how hard you personally try to deliver exceptional customer service. At the end of the end it is really down to the staff whom you employ, who are on the front line, to truly ensured this belief is upheld. If you are looking for the cheapest option in order to save yourself on expenses, I urge you to really evaluate what you require from your staff. If you pay peanuts, you generally get monkeys! If you want your staff to care, to deliver the highest standards and to truly instill your corporate beliefs - well the best incentive is to remunerate them accordingly. Spending that little bit extra on staff who are capable of fulfilling their roles effectively may cost more in the short term, but I have found it is always cost effective in the long term. Satisfied customers lead to repeat business. Repeat business is likely to lead to profits. Who has the main say on whether excellent customer service is provided? Your front line staff - always remember that!

(c) Adaptability - the customer is always right (well not always but in theory they should be). It is therefore essential that you are adaptable to this fact. You need to provide the service or products which your customers demand. You must be able to react to changes in society, advances in technology and changes in legislation. These changes will affect demand of not only the products your customers desire, but also the level of service they expect. Strategic planning is essential. Market research is pivotal in establishing what the customers want from you and what they may want/need from you in the future. Stay up to date with this and stay one step ahead of the competition!

So that is my brief discussion topic on 'Customer Service'. What I would like now is for you, the reader, to tell me what you think defines providing exceptional customer service?

As promised, following are the links to my book on Amazon, Kindle and Ebook:

Paperback

Kindle

E-book


Also, the links to my different social media platforms:

Twitter

Facebook Fan Page

Finally, please take a look at the recent interview I participated in, in relation to my book Climbing Mountains, on DigitalJournal.com. Here I was interview by the wonderful talent Anne-Rae Vasquez - author/journalist/film-maker and all round inspiration. My thanks to her:

Interview on DigitalJournal.com

Thank you all for taking the time to read my post. I hope I will have started some fierce and valuable business based discussion and hopefully I will also have given you some useful tips.

Until next time - may you all have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Little by little old enthusiasm begins to return.In your heart you know you are going to do something about this Business of yours.But deep down you are uneasy about the implications;you know for sure you can no longer play at this.If you are going to do it ,you are going to have to do it properly .You are going to have to be professional;you are going to have to become professional Business .It is at ones an exiting and a daunting prospect.

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Foreword

This isn’t your usual autobiography. There’s little on birth, marriage, divorce or death. There’s precious little on my beliefs outside of business – political, religious or otherwise.
That’s not because I’ve tried to hide anything in the writing of this book; I haven’t. What you see here is the truth as I remember it – but it’s the truth that surrounds my journey from the humblest of beginnings to becoming a successful businessman.
Where ‘life events’ played a part in that business story I have included them. Where they didn’t, in the main, I haven’t.
That’s not to say that I haven’t experienced births, marriage, divorce, death and the million other things that go to make up every one of our lives; of course I have – they’re just not a part of this story.
I want this book to be an inspiration to anyone seeking success in their life. Hard work, ambition, belief and application brought me to where I am today. I’ve always had those traits but I’ve not always had this level of success.
I’ve had more knockbacks than I care to remember. I’ve faced (amongst many other things) bankruptcy, physical violence, extortion and heartbreaking poverty.
This is the story of how I didn’t give in. It’s the story of how, if you put your mind to it and devote all your energy to it you will - you must - eventually succeed.
If I could do it then so can you.