10 Steps to Excellent Service

1. Define quality service
2. Make a commitment: "Excellent Service is everyone's responsibility"
3. Identify opportunities for improvement
4. Adopt continuous improvement
5. Ask for feedback
6. Listen, then take action
7. Facilitate change
8. Communicate and create space for improvement
9. Measure the performance
10. Acknowledge the success and celebrate

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

6 P's of planning: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

1. Schedule uninterrupted time every day to do your planning
2. Plan for tomorrow, today. Your subconscious will help you organise while you sleep.
3. Take advantage of music and natural the environment to help with your planning.
4. Use systems (such as MS Project) and techniques (Mind mapping, Fish Bone) to help when necessary.
5. Put schedules in writing. Share it with your team and clients.
6. Remember the 6 P's of planning: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Stretch yourself and Achieve More For Your life

Many of us are unable to live our fullest and richest lives because of the FEAR we created for ourselves. If we learn to manage our fear, we will be able to stretch out and achieve much more for our lives.

Following are a few types of fear that many of us experience:

• Fear of failure
• Fear of too much responsibility
• Fear of asking for help
• Fear of inability to receive help
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of change
• Fear of criticism

The secret is:

• Never face your fears ALONE and face them all at the SAME time.
• Handle one fear at the time and tick them off one by one.
• Write down the worst scenario that could happen and you might be surprised that the fear might not really that big.

One of top techniques to deal with fear is “Feel the fear and do it anyway!” Susan Jeffers

Another technique is think of this quote and make your own decision: "You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety." Abraham Maslow

© Camtu Pham

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Create More Ways For People to Reach Your Business

In today's business environment, organisations and their offerrings should not be closed at 5:00 PM and telephone might not be the tool that can function 24 hours without "supervision".

"How can I create more ways for clients and potential clients to reach my business" is one of the top questions that every manager should focus on.

What can you do to make it easier for your potential clients to do business with you? There are two effective Online methods you can use:

1. On your Web site: Provide directions to your office, indicate parking facilities, how close it is to the train and bus, etc. Your contact is likely to arrive at your office on time for a meeting with no stress and you can eliminate the waiting time Look at this example: http://www.cleverlink.com.au/contact/index.shtml
2. Provide a detailed Online form. We all know that Web sites work around the clock but often people might want to get a quote, express their interest at a late hour. Email is OK but most people don't get specific enough in emails. Give them a form so they can tell you what you need to know to help them See some examples at:
   • CleverLink contact form
     http://www.cleverlink.com.au/support/enquiry.shtml
   • Woonona High School contact form
     http://www.woononahigh.nsw.edu.au/contact.html
   • JAi Events contact form
     http://www.jaievents.com.au/contact.html

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Twenty Characteristics of Genius

From "Buzan's book of Genius"

Vision, Desire, Faith, Commitment , Planning, Persistence, Learning from mistakes, Subject Knowledge, Mental Literacy , Imagination, Positive Attitude, Auto-Suggestion, Intuition, Mastermind Group (Real), Mastermind Group (Internal), Truth/Honesty, Facing Fears/Courage, Creativity/Flexibility, Love of the Task and Energy (Physical/Sensual/Sexual)

Personal Note from Camtu

It has been five weeks since we welcomed our baby Anthony Binh An Pham into the world. Thanks to those of you who sent gifts, flowers, cards and emails. Sorry that we could not reply to each email individually, although your kindness is much appreciated.

I had a lovely time with my little man and I am really enjoying this special time. An is really good - at least he doen't keep his parents awake at night - Han & I get plenty of sleep. Francis enjoys his little brother but I can see sometimes he gets too excited and is ready to wrestle with An.

Below are some of our pictures. It was at An's Baptism last Sunday 22 Oct 06.

Have a lovely weekend

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

How to come up with brilliant ideas!

• Turn problems into challenges
• Believe that you can come up with brilliant ideas
• Reserve some time every day to do nothing else but thinking
• Share ideas with like minded people
• Experience a new environment. Visit somewhere you have never been to, eat at a new restaurant, choose a different path to walk on, etc.
• If you are awake at night and cannot go back to sleep, don't just stay in bed to toss and turn. Get up and experience your creativity juice flows. Some best ideas come in the middle of the night

Keep a journal. Always have a pen and paper by your bed side to catch the creativity of your sub-conscious mind :)

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Whats in a Web Title?

We get asked alot about maximising your websites search potential via the major search engines. There are some small things you can do to make sure that your website has maximum chance to be above others in a search. One of these is the title of your website.

The title of your home page and individual web pages are of paramount importance. There are two reasons why you should pay more attention to the title of your Web site:

1. The title of your Web site normally shows up at the top of your browser screen, and if a visitor bookmarks the page, you want the title to reflect and remind them what your page was all about.
2. Having a good description right in the title will increase the ranking of your Web site in most search engines.

There are 3 key ideas to make note of when constructing your title:

1. Many search engines are listed alphabetically and computers sort the alphabet in the following order: symbols, numbers, capital letters and then lower case letters.
2. By adding "s" or "ing" to your key words, you can double your hit rate.
   For example: house becomes houses and you will now be found by people who type house or houses because house is part of houses. Similar results occur by adding ing - buy becomes buying etc.
3. If your company name is an acronym, instead of only having the letters, have the entire name.
   For example; NRMA should be National Roads and Motorists' Association Limited - NRMA. This will mean they would be found if a person typed in any of the key words within their name.

Action exercise:
Check the title of your Web site, analyse it and take action to maximise your Internet opportunities.
Contact CleverLink on 1300 721 837 if you need any help.

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Diversity with full confidence!

Those who manage and value diversity, gain a competitive advantage in today's business world!

It is a fact that we are dealing with people from different cultures everyday!
Whether we are doing business locally or globally, we are facing diversity every single day of our lives. Not to mention that your employees, daughter or son-in-law could have been brought up with totally different customs.

Here are my 7 tips for building successful relationships and dealing with diversity:

1. Ask each person you deal with about his/her culture. Most people like to share with other people about their style and preferences
2. Do not make assumptions that everyone is the same! Even twins like different things.
3. Offer your support
4. Respect the differences and pay attention to the "cultural rules". For instance:
   - Give your business card with both hands when you are in Asia.
   - A weak handshake from an Indian business person does not mean he or she is not interested in you
   - Do not touch people's heads as in some cultures, the head is the "temple" for their ancestors
   - Do not throw freebies to people in workshops and seminars. If you give them something - give it to them in their hands
5. Focus on body language, it will help to get the message across
6. Speak SLOWLY as the person you are speaking to often needs to do the translation in their head
7. Smile more often. Smiling is a universal language and it is the best way to show that you are friendly and accepting the other person
   

Happy Relationship Building and enjoy the diversity!

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

10 Promotional Ideas for your Business

The Following are 10 Promotional tips which your Business can benefit from:

1. Be a speaker and present on your area of expertise.
2. Build a database to manage your contacts.
3. Design a brochure that sells your business benefits to your customers.
4. Build your image with a well designed Web site, logo, letterhead and business card.
5. Send newsletters to your clients and contacts.
6. Hold a promotional competition.
7. Provide a discount coupon on your Web site.
8. Provide free samples of your product or service.
9. Attend Networking functions.
10. Keep in touch with those contacts you already know on regular basis.

Suggested Actions:

• Review your situation.
• Do you have a system that keeps track of your contacts?
• When was the last time you contacted your clients?
• How will you "Connect" with your target audience in 2006?

Chris Carlaw
E-Marketing Consultant, CleverLink
chris@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Budgeting your time & Camtus new Baby!

Building a successful business or career takes lots of time and energy.
High achievers value their time, budgeting their hours and day better than those who don't know what they are going to do next or how they have spent their last hour.

Time is a big factor in achieving goals. Invest it wisely.

• Write down what you plan to do and allocate adequate time for each activity
• Do what you plan to do. Learn to overcome procrastinations
• Say "No" to unnecessary meetings and other time wasting activities
• Review your time log and identify areas for improvement
• Use systems to remind and schedule your future tasks

This will free your mind for other activities.

A woman has to budget her time and resources for not only in business but also in personal life.
For those of you who haven't heard the good news, Camtu had her baby on Wednesday the 20th at 5:38am!! :) She gave birth to a baby boy named Binh An (meaning 'peace'). Here are some pictures to share with you.

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
+61 2 4284 3600
http://www.cleverlink.com.au