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With rising advertising costs in lower returns, businesses are looking at managing their publicity more. Without exception is one small business called Dondy’s Trading.

Dondy’s Trading is a small wholesaler located at Tweedside Road, St. Michael in the island of Barbados.  Dondy’s sells a range of products including animal feeds, but more importantly they sell soft drinks.

They have taken a different approach where they start with healthy, wholesome ingredient bases for the manufacture of their products. These drinks carry an air of the exotic since they have their origins within the Amazon Jungle. These drinks derive their names from fruit, roots, and barks which include Acai, Ginseng, Guarana and a blend of the aforementioned along with the infusion of Catuaba (a bark) combine to form the drink Vita-Ade.

In their push to help the small man, Dondy’s has launched the Mehter’s Rehydration Station. An initiative that would see Rehydration Station posters and beverages popping up on the island whereever the beverages become available.  Dondy’s is offering attractive bulk pricing that would facilitate retailers being able to make purchases in larger quanities especially with the upcoming events during the Crop Over Season held annually in Barbados.

My visits to the Tweedside Road location in Barbados have always been met with a warm atmosphere where the team there is friendly, helpful and knowledgable. You can call them at (246) 431-1202 to make inquiries and place your orders.

One thing is certain, the soft drink industry is alive and well. The Mehter’s brand of drinks offers the enjoyment of the sodas without side effects. Sugar is very minimal, not at the levels of other soft drinks. The base ingredients are natural and the soda mixture makes it easier for the human body to realize the benefits that if the fruit were taken in alterate forms.

Remember to get your Rehydration Station posters from your delivery man today. As Larry Mayers speaks on the radio during the Dondy’s Trading talkshow this coming Saturday he will be highlighting that the public can get their beverages whereever they see the posters.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Richard Blades

Do you often feel like all you ever do is work?  If your day consist of early mornings and late evenings at the office then to have to take work home – LOOK OUT!  You may be out of balance.

When you really look at the time you’re using, how much of it is really productive?  Step back a few years to your time at school when everything was timetabled.  You had classes, homework, gym and still you had time to hang out with friends – not even counting the three vacations per year.

Then we transition from studying for a grade to working to get paid, then it happens.  We can’t even get three (3) week proper for the year.   We spend most of our lives at work, thinking about work, and often accomplishing very little at work.  Everyone’s talking about stress and we buy into the dogma.  Then we rush home to families and do everything for everyone and nothing for ourselves.  We book appointments to do things for everyone else and seldom book time for ourselves. 

Exercise, take time to visit friends and family, make a call to some of your friends just to touch base.  When was the last time you went on a fun picnic?  When did you last read a book that was not work related or career advancement material?

Let’s face it, I have driven past houses where people are paying mortgages for the views and the only thing visible is the blue hue of the television that if you per chance take a closer look they are sleeping rather than watching the program on the huge TVs they are paying their credit cards for. The vehicles of many people only seem to know the path between work and home that they can almost get there in autopilot.

Decide today to make a difference and make a change.  Strive towards work life balance.  You have worked so hard to become intelligent, it’s time to function in it.

Have a little fun along the highway of life!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Richard Blades

Learn what one entrepreneur is doing to empower others who desire to be entrepreneurs as well. His program is destined to help not only those in his country but reaches out to others in other countries first in his region, then to others within his hemisphere. A large dream for a small business.

Next there is another business, whose aim is to allow the tide of entrepreneurs to manage their accountability. Stay tuned for that story this week.

Others will be coming, continue to monitor how small businesses can have a big impact once they become known.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Richard Blades

Haven’t you grown tired of the needless dumb contacts that you engage in daily with various organizations of which you are a customer? The 10 minute phone calls when you are on long distance when you only get to listen to their recordings without solutions. The answering of many survey questions when you call to transact business only to be told on the back end that you have to go through a verification process. Speaking to remote representatives who have absolutely no idea of the product or jurisdiction they represent.

You know what I’m writing about, yet many companies remain numb
about the experiences they are creating. Don’t they shop their own products and services?

Customer service goes beyond smiling at the person who is the customer. Though we acknowledge that, there are still too many instances where the emphasis is placed more on the interaction with the customer rather than the planning of the interaction so the customer is minimally inconvenienced. There’s a greater need to plan the outcomes the customer will experience.

A good resource is the book The Best Service is No Service: How to Liberate your Customers from Customer Service by Bill Price and David Jaffe. They really lay out their thoughts on customer service and why so many businesses aren’t do better than they currently are. Pick it up from your favorite book store, even if it’s online. If you prefer the audio format then you’d be pleased to know that’s available too.

Why not share a couple of the experiences that annoyed you while interacting with various companies – please don’t mention their names though. Hopefully we can make a difference when they take the opportunity to read this article.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Richard Blades

We seem to be functioning in a world where the mind is completely baffled. There are more time saving devices but less time. There are more energy saving devices but less energy. Now here’s the next twist – Productivity enhancing technology which results in less productivity!

I am old enough to remember when we held meetings with note pads and pens. We captured all the elements of the meeting accurately and were able to do follow ups that we on point. Nowadays, we are seeing attendees turning up to meetings with mobile smartphones, laptops, and tablet PCs [together, not one or the other]; some with the network and maze of wires all interconnected. Seeing this rapidly growing feature among attendees, I am forced to examine:

• Is this not a duplication of effort from a technology standpoint?
• Has this person got super productive skills? If so, why are they meeting with me?
• Why have they got 3 devices not counting their wrist watch that have time and are woeful with their time management skills?
• Why have they purchased all these devices and then say that they don’t have the money to pay for services that are necessary for their success?
• Why are they interested in the new upgrades when they haven’t used all the features on their current model?
• Are we as a people succumbing to some technological peer pressure fueled by media and society?

Here’s another observation:

• These techno-wiz people fiddle with these bits of technology during a meeting, often not having the dexterity and skill in their use. [Can we have those who train in etiquette weigh in here?]

At the end of the day, we are getting inaccurate, inadequate, and often late summations of the meeting encounters and then we have to suffer as the producers of this information further fiddle with their technology to figure out, “what went wrong?”

Just like our appliances, perhaps it’s time we hit our “reset” buttons.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Richard Blades

Have you experienced tourism as a tourist? Too often tourism providers are so engaged in creating the experience for their guests that they seldom get to realize the benefits of their creations. In instances it is permitted, it is so fleeting and hurried that it does not really get to make a mark on their minds for a more permanent effect.

Recently I had the experience of being a tourist. While in Florida we stayed with one of the Marriott properties. It has been a long time that I have experienced staff that were so on the ball.

• They knew my entire party by name.
  
• Nothing seemed to be a chore or bother for them.
• They never made you feel that every request made of them was a financial decision.
• They followed up on every task to ensure satisfaction.
• They always explained everything that required just a little clarification, without making anyone feel their question(s) were too trivial.
• They not only smiled with us, they laughed with us. Never at us.
• In short, the property was so inviting that while checking out, the next trip to that area was booked at the same time.

   
   

  The team work was outstanding, from the gate, through reception and housekeeping. Everyone was on the same page, same chapter as it referred to service. To capture the experience in a word – Outstanding! The departments, though different, functioned like a well toned and fit body.

   
   

  BRAVO on providing an experience that others can only imagine!!! Continue to keep your standards high.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Richard Blades