My car insurance is due for renewal and being a bit short of cash at the moment I duly logged onto http://confused.com/ to get some quotes.
Quite frankly I was amazed in the difference between what my current insurer (MoreThan, also known as Sun Alliance) had quoted and the figures that came up on screen.
MoreThan had quoted me £525 and that was higher than the highest quote Confused.com came up with !
The lowest quote was for £287 from Budget and as you can imagine I'm investigating that route right now.
This experience led me to think about comparison shopping and the effect the Internet has had on people's shopping habits.
Right now if I worked for an old fashioned broker I'd be frantically trying to get into some other business, I can see the time when insurance brokers as we've all grown up with them will cease to exist, why bother paying the middle man for doing what you can achieve at home in a matter of minutes.
Have you seen Woolworths have jumped on the bandwagon at last and are really pushing their internet shop, as long as they’ve worked out the inevitable fulfilment problems, and believe me it’s a vexed issue, then it should be a roaring success, look forward to Woolies shares rising in January when their Christmas results are announced.
On a completely different subject, last week I went into hospital for the day to have a Cardio Angiogram, it was fascinating watching my own heart beat and see my veins in action, we were looking for evidence of plaque accretion, thickening of the vein walls, and I’m very pleased to report there was none to be found, not bad for a fat bloke.
I attended the Cornwall Hospital in Earls Court and can tell you it’s a different world, from signing in next to a woman who was handing over her gold card to pay a £980 bill for something she’d had done to being escorted to my room by a porter, to ordering my a la carte dinner and watching my free movie channels on my motorised bed it was as much of a joy as going into hospital could ever be.
My consultant came up to see me and got me to sign my release form, he explained how it would go what he was looking for and what the next steps might be before leaving me to get changed.
My wife M came with me to the hospital and whilst I was off having my Angiogram she was plied with trays of coffee and biscuits.
When I came back, a bit groggy from the sedative, I was attended by a staff nurse who took my measurements every 15 mins and showed genuine concern for my well being and happiness.
My a la carte dinner was served to me by an immaculate waiter and copious amounts of tea and coffee were served whilst I recovered.
My consultant made a re-appearance and explained to us both what his findings meant and what would happen next, M was amazed I was clear and he had to tell her twice.
After explaining everything he instructed the nursing staff on what to do before releasing me and wished me well before leaving.
Eventually I was discharged and made my sore way home.
Every time I use this BUPA coverage I remember the last time I went into a NHS hospital and working for a company that provides BUPA cover doesn’t seem so bad.
Next week I’m off for my next operation and I’ll let you know how that goes in due course, god willing.
Take care,
John
www.ffriar.com
Friday, October 20, 2006
Friday, October 06, 2006
Let's go good and fast !
When someone demands something yesterday I say to them do you want this quickly or do you want it to work? Try it, the looks on their faces the first time you say it is worth a fortune. When they reply, as inevitably they will, both !
You can say it's not an "and" it's an "either or".
One of the things I do for a living is build web sites and one of the primary things I worry about, when I'm doing so, is speed.
How fast:
For a long time I worried about this issue until one day I started looking at speed in a completely new way, in fact I started to look at it in the same way as I had been taught to look at money when I worked for a Pensions company and later for a cash handling company.
Get ready for another saying,
Speed is just another commodity.
Ok not earth shattering at first glance I admit, but when you start to apply this thought to your work it really starts to change how you perceive it.
In the past I have become incredibly frustrated because I couldn't go as fast as I perceived the end user wanted, I would rant and rail against those things that stood in my way, I tried to circumvent the barriers to the head-long charge for results and sometimes I came unstuck.
Do you know what?
The end users who seemed so pre-occupied with speed suddenly became very concerned about quality.
Eventually, and I don't claim to be a quick study, it dawned on me, when users say fast they actually mean good and fast and that is a whole different ball game.
When users say fast they actually mean good and fast.
So having learnt that fast means good and fast how have I implemented that and how has it helped me in my work?
I have often said "I can do this within your challenging time-scales but I can not guarantee that it will work, or I can do it in the time-scale I have laid out and I can guarantee that it will work, choose."
You'd be surprised how often the time-scales set in stone suddenly appear to be more fluid.
Of course you have to be realistic in your estimates and if your new time-scale is accepted then you have to come in on time.
If you get "we want it yesterday regardless" then you can proceed happily in the knowledge that should there be a problem you have pre-cleared yourself.
Of course I still try and do the best job I can and avoid problems but I find myself far more relaxed when I have followed this procedure.
Try it tomorrow and watch your stress levels drop.
By the way, giving excellent customer service is sometimes about saying no !
John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com
You can say it's not an "and" it's an "either or".
One of the things I do for a living is build web sites and one of the primary things I worry about, when I'm doing so, is speed.
How fast:
- will this load
- can a user get to what they want
- can they find information
- can they find the site through a search engine
- can I restore it from backup
- can I get this application built and ready to go
- can I move onto the next project
Sometimes it seems to me that this need for speed is in direct conflict with good customer service, if I'm rushing people through my site how can I give them the sort of personal service that will make them say wow?
For a long time I worried about this issue until one day I started looking at speed in a completely new way, in fact I started to look at it in the same way as I had been taught to look at money when I worked for a Pensions company and later for a cash handling company.
Get ready for another saying,
Speed is just another commodity.
Ok not earth shattering at first glance I admit, but when you start to apply this thought to your work it really starts to change how you perceive it.
In the past I have become incredibly frustrated because I couldn't go as fast as I perceived the end user wanted, I would rant and rail against those things that stood in my way, I tried to circumvent the barriers to the head-long charge for results and sometimes I came unstuck.
Do you know what?
The end users who seemed so pre-occupied with speed suddenly became very concerned about quality.
Eventually, and I don't claim to be a quick study, it dawned on me, when users say fast they actually mean good and fast and that is a whole different ball game.
When users say fast they actually mean good and fast.
So having learnt that fast means good and fast how have I implemented that and how has it helped me in my work?
I have often said "I can do this within your challenging time-scales but I can not guarantee that it will work, or I can do it in the time-scale I have laid out and I can guarantee that it will work, choose."
You'd be surprised how often the time-scales set in stone suddenly appear to be more fluid.
Of course you have to be realistic in your estimates and if your new time-scale is accepted then you have to come in on time.
If you get "we want it yesterday regardless" then you can proceed happily in the knowledge that should there be a problem you have pre-cleared yourself.
Of course I still try and do the best job I can and avoid problems but I find myself far more relaxed when I have followed this procedure.
Try it tomorrow and watch your stress levels drop.
By the way, giving excellent customer service is sometimes about saying no !
John Anslow
http://www.ffriar.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)