Business is tough? ¨C How do you treat and regard your Customers? Ask most managers "what is the purpose of your business"? and invariably you will get the same reply - "To make a profit" REALLY? Can you imagine any sales person approaching a customer and saying "Hi, I'm John and the purpose of my visit here today is to make a profit"- what do you think the customer would think? Or, do you think when a customer walks into John's shop, warehouse or office they are thinking I what can I do for John? - Certainly profits are important but what comes first, the chicken or the egg? However, one of the great truisms of business is. If you first focus on customers - profits are more likely to emerge as a result". Fact One:- Customers are the cornerstone of sales and sales are the cornerstone of profits Fact Two:- Sales can only be increased by finding new customers or selling more to existing customers Fact Three:- It is expensive to find new customers, yet, easy to sell to existing customers Fact Four:- UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS TALK Surveys reveal that unhappy customers tell from 7 to 11 people and very often the offending business is the last to find out Fact Five:- Most customers leave because of the inadequacies of the business. One survey on customer dissatisfaction came up with the following revealing insights ¨C three factors accounted for 91% of lost customers:- • Lack of interest on the part of employees C 68% • Unresolved complaints C 14% • Better pricing from a competitor C 9% There is not much we can do about the last reason (and probably don't want to) ¡­ but we certainly can do something about the first two. Effective staff training and a good customer service plan will really help you capitalize on your customer data base. Genius? – or Boofhead? In a famous battle against General Tsao Tsao, Jhuge Liang, one of China’s most creative generals, was faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem. His army had run out of arrows – that’s a problem! Liang came up with an idea. Before dawn, he had 20 boats filled with straw and ordered them to row across the river. Liang’s men began beating their war drums as if a major attack was taking place. Hearing the drums in the darkness, Tsao Tsao reacted and ordered his archers to shoot at the sounds. As the drums continued, the archers kept firing – and, being excellent archers, all of their arrows went directly into the bales of straw on Liang’s boats. When the boats returned, they carried with them over 100,000 arrows – Great Result! The moral of the story is “when everything seems against you – think outside the square”. Inspirational, don’t you think? BUT – how dumb was his opponent, General Tsao Tsao? Just 20 flaming arrows and Jhuge Liang could have gone down in history as one of the alltime great boofheads – no arrows and no boats. September Facts – 1/9/1948 –Australia’s first Holden car rolled off the assembly line – at a retail price of $1,466 8/9/1967 – James Packer (son of Kerry) was born – coincidentally on 8/9/1971 Lachlan Murdoch (son of Rupert) was born. 13/9/2001 – Ansett Airlines is placed into voluntary administration – causing 17,000 jobs to be lost and affecting as many as 45,000 contractors and suppliers. 24/9/1958 – The Tim Tam biscuit’s trade mark was registered. The popular Arnott’s biscuit was named after the racehorse of the same name who won the 1958 Kentucky Derby.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) What are the key factors in determining which printer you should purchase? The most important aspect to consider is the “Total Cost of Ownership”. Many new printers are provided only with a starter cartridge which contains minimal ink or toner. The result is that you will need a new cartridge much sooner than expected – this is particularly so with ‘cheap’ inkjet or laser printers. Of course the purchase price of a new printer is always a major consideration, but it has to be married to the purpose the unit was bought for. There are printers that will provide a large page yield, and the page cost is exceptionally low, if you are going to print 20,000 pages per month. However, if you are a SOHO (small office or home office) user and only print 2,000 - 3,000 pages per year, you may be paying way too much for the printer in the first place to return the economy that the unit is built to deliver. When working out page yield, consider what the advertised yield at 5% coverage really is. Consumables to consider are - toner, drum, fuser, transfer belt, waste bottles, fuser oil etc. The average length of printer ownership is now 2-3 years so some of the lesser known consumables such as fuser kits and transfer belts may never need to be replaced. Consequently, consumables required during that period play a vital role in determining what printer will be suitable for individual needs. For example, one well known colour printer has 4 toners, a drum, a transfer belt and fuser. All of these have a very finite life and the printer will indicate when they need replacing. Another example – one manufacturer uses a very high yield drum unit which may be good for 300,000 pages before a very expensive drum change, but if you only print 10,000 per annum, it will take 30 years to exhaust this drum, by which time you will have replaced the printer. Other important factors to consider are the print coverage relative to page  yield (if you don’t understand 5% coverage ask Focus), and warranties. Ask, and understand, what warranty you will get when you make a purchase decision. What is in the Warranty? These are just a few things to think about regarding your printer purchase – call us at Focus for help on this confusing issue. Ask for Roger or Duilia on (02)95534255. September 2007 Quiz Win a 4Gb Nano Flash Drive Please fill in Quiz questions below and click 'Send Quiz'. January Quiz 1. What are the two most common New Year’s resolutions? * 2. What is the first inhabited was place to experience New Year each year?* 3. What does “Auld Lang Syne” mean?* Your Email address*   Or print out and FAX to (02) 9553 4077.. Your details:- Name: ………………………………………………………………… Organisation: ………………………………………………….. Phone or Email: ………………………………………………. August Quiz Answers – how did you go? 1. In the Simpsons, Dr. Wolfe, the dentist, shows Ralph The Big Book of British Smiles. 2. The “W” in George W Bush stands for Walker and 3. The term “Up There Cazaly” refers to Roy Cazaly who played for St Kilda and South Melbourne (now the Sydney Swans) in the VFL (now AFL). Finally, we understand that some of you may find this newsletter of little or no value from either an entertainment or information perspective. If that is the case please let us know by calling on (02)9553 4255 and asking to be removed from the newsletter distribution list. We will understand and I am sure that the Editor will not be offended. Download a PDF Copy